Nick Fury: I'd like to know what Loki did to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.
Thor: Monkeys? I do not understand—
Captain America: I do! [beat, while Cap proudly smiles] I understood that reference.
Thor: Monkeys? I do not understand—
Captain America: I do! [beat, while Cap proudly smiles] I understood that reference.
Works set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have a tendency to refer to other works:
Films with their own pages
- Phase One
- Phase Two
- Phase Three
TV shows with their own pages
Films
- Thor:
- The Destroyer walking through a wall of flames is one to the famous opening scene from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- He also bears a strong resemblance to Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, another tall, silver automaton who shoots a heat beam from his head.
- One to the original comics, when a billboard says "Journey into Mystery."
- "Uh, base... we've got a Xena, Jackie Chan, and Robin Hood."
- When people are trying to pull out Mjölnir from the boulder, it is reminiscent of the Sword in the Stone from Arthurian Legend.
- Heimdall's sword, Hofund, looks almost identical to the Elven Longsword or Elven Claymore
from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
- The Destroyer walking through a wall of flames is one to the famous opening scene from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- Thor: The Dark World:
- The scene at the beginning with an abandoned building with strange physics is highly reminiscent of the "Beyond" segment of The Animatrix, especially the gravitational anomalies and oddly behaving bottles.
- When a Dark Elf ship crashes into the Asgardian throne room, it appears to be a shot-for-shot rendition of this cinematic trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
- The Dark Elf fighters resemble the B-wings, also from Star Wars.
- Bor's helm looks a lot like a Balrog's head and horns.
- Thor and Malekith sliding down London's Gherkin may be a Shout-Out to the climax of Adventures in Babysitting, where a Thor-obsessed/costumed little girl gets stuck on the windows of the similarly-sloped Smurfit-Stone building in Chicago.
- When Fandral covers Thor and Loki's escape, he swings from ship to ship on a rope, much like Errol Flynn, who the character is based on, is famous for doing.
- Algrim, before his transformation, is a dark-skinned blonde reminiscent of an entirely different take on "dark elves".
- The scene where Loki is lying on his prison bed while tossing a goblet in the air and catching it is a reference to the movie The Great Escape, where Steve McQueen's character is tossing a baseball in solitary.
- The scene where a flock of starlings is flying through a portal beneath Jane, Darcy and Selvig and startling them is a nod to Hitchcock's The Birds.
- Ant-Man and the Wasp:
- Hope used to play hide and seek in a wardrobe as a girl. As an adult, she uses the alias "Susan", which was the name of the girl in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe who had long black hair.
- The name of the Wombats' security company, X-CON, is an obvious play on the X-COM video game series. Their logo even resembles the tile for the 2012 XCOM: Enemy Unknown expansion "Enemy Within".
- While miniaturized inside a car, Scott gets a scare from a gigantic eye peering at him through the window — in fact a mere pigeon. The setup makes it a clear shout-out to the iconic scene from Jurassic Park.
- The climactic Car Chase through the streets of San Francisco can be seen as one to Trope Codifier Bullitt, especially Luis's Slo-Mo Big Air jump. It does verge into Affectionate Parody territory.
- Toward the end, Cassie, Scott and Hope watch Them! (a movie about giant ants) on a portable computer, although reduced in one of Pym's cars to get the feel of an old-school drive-in. Also, when Bill Foster is working in the lab and sees a bunch of ants, he shouts, "It's them!"
- Early on there's a brief clip from The Incredible Shrinking Man as well.
- Black Widow:
- The nature of Natasha's Family of Choice (Soviet agents who have blended in suburban America as moles) is a PG rendition of the premise of The Americans—with even the attendant drama it causes to all involved.
- The sequence with Ross following the intro strongly resembles a scene from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, at nearly the exact same place in the film: the protagonist is alone in a room, watching security footage of a task force surrounding the building they seem to be in. The troops close in on what appears to be the room the protagonist is in, only for a sweeping shot to reveal that they are in another part of the world entirely.
- Ross refers to Ant-Man as the "The Incredible Shrinking Convict."
- The film has significant thematic and aesthetic similarities to The Bourne Series—particularly with the nature of the Red Room being agents enhanced and controlled against their will, not to mention Natasha, the best among them, being on the run from both the assassination agency and global authorities.
- The protagonist's family member sends them the MacGuffin to keep it safe, only for the protagonist to bring it right back to that family member, just as in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
- Yelena's favourite song as a child is "American Pie". Alexei later sings it to her while trying to prove he genuinely cares about her.
- Natasha watches Moonraker, another spy movie featuring a physically unassuming Big Bad with a giant implacable henchman with Hidden Depths, a mid-air action sequence involving unconventional use of a parachute, and a hidden fortress above the Earth. It might be enough to count as Foreshadowing.
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings:
- Shang-Chi mentions an incident where he almost got into a fight with a racist guy who called him Gangnam Style.
- During the final scene of the movie, Katy mentions to her friend how Shang-Chi used the Ten Rings like a Kamehameha fireball. Shang-Chi does indeed make the famous hand motions of the move during the battle.
- Shang-Chi spends a part of the movie wearing an orange jacket with blue sleeves, the same colors as Goku's iconic gi.
- One of the songs Shang-Chi and Katy sing during their karaoke montage at the beginning of the movie is "Old Town Road", and at the end, they're back at the karaoke bar, this time singing "Hotel California" with Wong, which becomes the music for the end credits.
- Shang-Chi's apartment is decorated with posters of The Warriors and Kung Fu Hustle.
- Shang-Chi using his jacket as an Improvised Weapon in the bus fight scene was a deliberate reference to the fight choreography of Jackie Chan's films.
- In her first fight with Wenwu, Ying Li throws her hat at him in a manner similar to Kung Lao. Her special martial arts stance also heavily resembles Airbending.
- Trevor was fascinated by watching Planet of the Apes as a child... though he apparently never grasped that the apes were all just people in costumes.
- The tunnel leading to Ta Lo shares a close resemblance to the Magic Railroad, from the dark road to the luscious green landscape once they emerge.
- The Ten Rings are inspired by the iron rings used in martial arts training such as Yau Kung Mun and Hung Gar, producer Jonathan Schwartz says the inspiration was the movie The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, but the rings also appear in the aforementioned Kung Fu Hustler.
- The final battle in which a water dragon known as the Great Protector assists in defending Ta Lo from the Dweller-in-Darkness might remind you of Raya and the Last Dragon, if you replace the titular water dragon Sisu with the Great Protector and the Druun with the Dweller-in-Darkness and its allies - but the Protector is a much more serious lady than the comical Sisu. Bonus points for both movies briefly showing the heroic dragon in trouble and having Awkwafina in a role.
- Eternals:
- When the Domo decloaks for the first time and only the front is visible, it resembles a monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, another movie about aliens influencing the evolution of Humanity.
- Dane Whitman recites part of Walt Whitman's "Song of the Universal" to students at the Natural History Museum while buying time for Sersi, who's late.
- Kingo compares the Eternals to Peter Pan, with Ikaris as Peter, Sersi as Wendy, Sprite as Tinker Bell, and the others as Lost Boys. With his point being that again Tinker Bell has an unrequited crush on Peter.
- To the Distinguished Competition, of all things. Karun being described as Kingo's butler makes Gilgamesh note "Like Alfred to Batman!", and Phastos's son excitedly compares Ikaris to Superman.
- Ikaris pretends to read a Star Wars book while spying on Phastos and his family.
- Kingo says he's getting a cameo from BTS in his movie. The BTS song "Friends" is also features in the film.
- Makkari has spent the last 500-some years of downtime in the Domo with a hoard of stuff. Kingo calls her "Miss Havisham", referencing the Great Expectations character who spends her days as a shut-in in her mansion.
- Makkari's modern-day attire includes an H. G. Wells shirt.
- Spider-Man: No Way Home:
- Two for DC Comics:
- Flash Thompson's memoir is titled Flashpoint.
- At one point during their fight in Happy's apartment, Peter has the Green Goblin pinned against a wall and is pummeling his face — and the Goblin only laughs.
- After Matt Murdock advises Happy to lawyer up in preparation for the feds investigating Stark Industries' ties to Mysterio, Happy gives a panicked Motor Mouth spiel of his alternate options, specifically citing (and likely misremembering) a line from GoodFellas as an example of pleading the fifth.
- At one point of the film, Ned can be seen wearing a shirt with a very familiar moth on it. It bears a striking resemblance to Mothra from the Godzilla franchise.
- Doctor Strange tells Peter that an episode of The Equalizer was shot in the undercroft of the Sanctum Sanctorum in The '80s.
- When the villains all realize they were fighting Spider-Man prior to being sucked into the MCU, mentally unwell Electro quotes fellow mentally unwell electronic artist Wesley Willis thus: "I whipped Spider-Man's ass."
- Two for DC Comics:
TV Series
- Agent Carter:
- In the first season, the name of the dairy company that Peggy Carter investigates at one point is "Daisy Clover". It's a reference to the 1965 film Inside Daisy Clover with Natalie Wood and Robert Redford.
- The "long-distance" typewriter Green Suit uses to report to and receive orders from his superior is similar to the typewriter Fauxlivia used in Fringe to report to and receive orders from her superior in the other dimension.
- Angie performs a brief monologue from A Doll's House in "A Sin to Err". Dooley also name drops King Kong.
- Word of God says that Ovechkin, the Russian private seen in the flashback in "SNAFU", is a reference to hockey player Alexander Ovechkin. Interestingly enough, with the knowledge that "Ivchenko" is actually an alias, Dr. Fennhoff may have intentionally chosen it as an anagram for the soldier's name.
- WandaVision:
- The first episode uses the same set design as The Dick Van Dyke Show, complete with the opening kitchen.
- The second homages the Bewitched theme.
- The third homages The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family. The doll Vision practices diaper changes with in the third episode is Kitty Karry-all, Cindy Brady's doll.
- The fifth episode's opening credits pay homage to Family Ties (the family portrait being painted), Growing Pains (old photographs of the cast) and Full House (running and frolicking in a park).
- The episode taking place in The '90s / The 2000s is done in the style of Malcolm in the Middle, shot single-camera style and complete with the twins Tommy and Billy making Aside Comments to the camera.
- The episode set in The New '10s takes obvious cues from faux-documentary-interview formatted sitcoms like Modern Family, with its title sequence being a combined pastiche of Modern Family, The Office, and Happy Endings. The It Was Agatha All Along outro is inspired by The Munsters and The Addams Family.
- A marquee shown in Episodes 8 and 9 is showing a movie apparently called Tannhäuser Gate, a reference to Blade Runner. Fitting for a series with a self-aware android.
- In Episode 6, The Incredibles appears on the movie marquee in town and that nod continues in Episode 9, when Wanda, Vision and the children strike a battle ready pose very similar to one taken by the Parr family on Syndrome's island in as seen here◊.
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier:
- The title of the miniseries itself is a play on the 1985 spy thriller The Falcon and the Snowman.
- In Episode 4, Zemo befriends some children at the shelter by offering them Turkish Delight, in order to gain information from them. In other words, he's acting in a similar manner to how the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe offered Turkish Delight to Edmund Pevensie to win him over to her side.
- Loki:
- Miss Minutes has the exact same accent as Mr. DNA, another cartoon character used to give scientific exposition.
- Episode 1:
- Loki is called "that criminal with the blue box" by Casey, a description that is often used for another time traveler with a less than stellar reputation with their own Time Police.
- Blink and you'll miss it, but Casey has a T206 Honus Wagner baseball cardnote in his drawer.
- Loki repeatedly being dropped through a trap door during his introduction to the Time Variance Authority is a reference to Wallace & Gromit as per Word of God.
- The TVA worker who asks Loki to sign the stack of paper with everything he's ever said is playing Solitaire on his display.
- Episode 2:
- Loki mentions an Asgardian saying that goes "Where there are wolf's ears, wolf's teeth are near", which is actually a line from chapter 19/20 of The Saga of the Volsungs.
- "Holding Out for a Hero" is played when the Loki Variant takes control of Hunter C-20 and causes her to fight against her colleagues when the first team of Minutemen is investigating the Renaissance fair. And speaking of the fair, the Ogre from Time Bandits can be briefly seen wandering the place.
- Episode 5:
- Loki witnesses an entire warship being pruned by the TVA. The name on the ship's side is USS Eldridge — the ship that inadvertently time-travels in The Philadelphia Experiment.
- A Polybius machine can be seen standing in the lair of the Lokis.
- One of the Loki Variants led by President Loki is a female variant with dyed red hair, serving as a reference to the timeline branching film Run Lola Run.
- Alioth looks and acts similarly to the Rhino from James and the Giant Peach. Both are ravenous Eldritch Abominations who take the form of living tempests, but Alioth's head appears to be the skull of either a big cat or a bear rather than a rhino's.
- The battered pizza-delivery vehicle that Sylvie and Mobius escape from Alioth in is likely an allusion to how beaten-up pizza-delivery cars are a frequent Easter Egg in Pixar films.
- The score that plays while Classic Loki distracts Alioth with an illusion of Asgard is reminiscent of "Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner.
- The Void, Alioth, and their entire purpose (with the former serving as a storage area for the "worthless matter" that is no longer needed in the universe according to the rulers of the universe and the latter serving as ravenous monsters from beyond normal space-time that consume this "worthless matter") are reminiscent of Stephen King's The Langoliers.
- Loki waving a flaming sword while running away from Alioth closely resembles Ian Malcolm's attempt to distract the T-Rex with a flare in Jurassic Park.
- Hawkeye:
- The staging of Rogers: The Musical takes a few cues from real-world Broadway shows:
- The Mononymous Biopic Title, posters featuring silhouettes on a gold background, and onstage balcony all come from Hamilton.
- The onstage Avengers wear normal outfits designed to give the idea of their costumes, rather than full recreations of them, as in The SpongeBob Musical.
- Being a stage musical based off of a beloved, New York-based superhero makes Rogers into a Fictional Counterpart to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The Stylistic Suck of Rogers is a possible reference to Turn Off The Dark’s own mixed critical reception.
- While in the elevator with Yelena in Episode 6, Kate frustrates Yelena's plan to find and kill Clint by pressing all the elevator buttons, similar to a scene from Elf.
- The finale fight is set in and around Rockefeller Plaza, including the adjacent FAO Schwartz toy store. During the fight, Kate jumps onto a light-up floor piano à la Big.
- In Episode 5, the Tracksuits try to cheer themselves up by rattling off other famous track suit wearers, including Tony Soprano. Doubles as a Celebrity Paradox, as Vera Farmiga (Eleanor) appeared in the Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark.
- The staging of Rogers: The Musical takes a few cues from real-world Broadway shows:
- Moon Knight:
- Episode 1:
- When Arthur goes on a diatribe describing "Avatars" to Steven, the latter is confused as to whether he's referring to the blue people or the "anime".
- When Steve tells the pet shop seller that his fish used to have only one fin, she replies that fish don't look like in Finding Nemo.
- The scene with Steven trying to hand the scarab over and getting overruled by Khonshu is very similar to what Venom does to Eddie in his movie.
- Episode 2:
- Steven tells JB that a jackal was responsible for the destruction of the bathroom at the museum. However, only Steven himself is visible on the surveillance footage, and JB compares the situation to The Hound of the Baskervilles.
- At one point, Marc tells Steven that his "Mr. Knight" suit makes him look like "psycho Colonel Sanders".
- The final scene in the episode has the troubled Marc sitting in a hotel room in his underwear with a broken mirror and a bottle of scotch, much like Willard's introduction in Apocalypse Now. Both men are even in a hot environment during the scene (Egypt for Marc, Vietnam for Willard).
- Episode 4:
- It shows Marc's favorite movie is "Tomb Buster", which appears to be a mashup of Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones and Ghostbusters.
- The whole Cuckoo Nest situation at the asylum with the patients and orderlies being comprised of characters we've previously met and the main villain being the protagonist's main psychiatrist who also has a cane in both the real world and the hospital is heavily reminiscent of The Darkness II, which preceded the Lemire run in the comics this sequence also heavily draws from.
- When Harrow confronts Marc in the tomb of Alexander the Great, he says "The rest is silence", which are the last words of Hamlet before the titular character dies.
- When Steven first encounters "Dr. Harrow" in Episode 5, he mockingly declares that he looks "very Ned Flanders" after making note of Harrow's new haircut, glasses and mustache.
- In the Season 1 finale, Khonshu shouts back "Because I choose to!" when he's fighting Ammit and she questions why he's still fighting her when they (ostensibly) have the same goals.
- Episode 1:
