'Avengers: Endgame' Easter Eggs: 11 References You Might Miss (No Spoilers)

It shouldn’t surprise you that Avengers: Endgame is one of the biggest Marvel movies of all time. (It might also be one of the biggest movies of all time, period.) A celebration and conclusion to 11 years of cinematic storytelling, directors Joe and Anthony Russo cap off a 22-film era with style, grace, tears, and laughs. And yes, there are Easter eggs.

There are so many Easter eggs, in fact, that we’re not going to list them all for you in a typical blogging fashion. Instead, we’re going to give you a handful of Easter eggs you need to know about before seeing the film, free of spoilers.

Read our spoiler-free review of Avengers: Endgame right here.

Because Avengers: Endgame contains so many references to all 22 previous movies, some obtuse and others sort of bizarre, consider this just a contextual understanding to what Marvel is about to throw at you for three hours.

Once again, this is free of spoilers, so fret not of what’s ahead.

11. “A Suit of Armor Around the World”

“A suit of armor around the world” is a line originating from 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) said it to Banner (Mark Ruffalo) after he proposed to make an intelligent defensive program using the Mind Stone inside Loki’s scepter. The process backfired, and Stark wound up creating the rogue A.I., Ultron.

10. Ronin

Hardly a spoiler at this point, but it bears repeating: Clint Barton’s ninja identity is based on his alternate superhero moniker, Ronin, which originated from the comic books (natch). Read all about Ronin here.

9. Hail Hydra!

There is a legitimately wild moment in Avengers: Engame that involves Hydra, the supernatural Nazi cabal that Captain America fought in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and again in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).

As Winter Soldier revealed, Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. from within, meaning there are Hydra agents working and hiding in plain sight. For a sequence in Endgame, the Avengers use this to their advantage.

8. Budapest

Clint and Natasha/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) have a history together they keep bringing up but that they’ve never actually explained. All anyone knows is that it was in Budapest. Expectedly, fans have spent years wildly speculating over what went down in Hungary.

The first time it was ever mentioned was in 2012’s The Avengers, during the Battle of New York, when Natasha says their predicament reminds her of Budapest. Says Clint, “You and I remember Budapest very differently.”

7. Pass the Salt

By any metric, this is hardly an “Easter egg.” But the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe tend to gather around meals at important moments. Avengers: Endgame keeps this tradition going as the Avengers plan some very important stuff around Chinese food delivery.

6. “Proof That Tony Stark Has a Heart”

Back in 2008’s Iron Man, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) gifted her then-boss Tony a keepsake of his original “heart,” the one he engineered out of car batteries in a cave in the Middle East. Engraved were the words, “PROOF THAT TONY STARK HAS A HEART.”

In the climax of Iron Man, when Stark needed it, he smashed the keepsake in order to fight on again as Iron Man.

5. The Elevator

Arguably one of the coolest and most memorable moments from Captain America: The Winter Soldier is when Steve Rogers fights a bunch of Hydra agents inside a moving elevator. Just know that it happened, that it was awesome, and that Endgame has some fun with it.

4. “I Can Do This All Day”

When skinny Steve Rogers was in a back alley brawl in 1940s New York, he told a bully, “I can do this all day.” He said that again to Tony Stark when the Avengers tore apart in Captain America: Civil War. This line is revisited one more time in Endgame in a very fun way.

3. Fortnite All Day

Just verging on “How do you do, fellow kids?” territory, Avengers: Endgame has a very fun moment involving the popular video game Fortnite.

The Russo brothers are reportedly huge fans of the game, which explains why last year, Epic Games announced a crossover collaboration with Marvel that allowed players to temporarily play as Thanos. Another crossover is being planned this year for Avengers: Endgame.

2. Stark Loves Cheeseburgers

Once again, back in 2008’s Iron Man, one of Stark’s first requests upon returning to the US is “an American cheeseburger.” (Happy, played by Jon Favreau, gave him a Burger King Whopper.)

While the burger was obvious product placement for Burger King, which sold licensed Iron Man toys as part of its kids’ meals, actor Robert Downey Jr. credits the fast food chain for saving his life.

In a 2008 interview with the New York Daily News, Downey Jr. said that five years prior, while in the midst of well-publicized drug abuse, he stopped for Burger King in a car filled with “tons of f-cking dope.”

“I have to thank Burger King,” Downey Jr. said. “It was such a disgusting burger I ordered. I had that, and this big soda, and I thought something really bad was going to happen.” Immediately afterward, Downey Jr. dispensed of his drugs and sought help. Years later, he was cast as Tony Stark in Iron Man.

Eleven years later, Avengers: Endgame references Stark’s taste for burgers.

1. “I Am Iron Man”

This was Stark’s final, and very memorable, line in 2008’s Iron Man before the credits roll.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26.