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10 hidden easter eggs in Captain America: The First Avenger

Posted by Patrick Sauriol on Sunday, July 24, 2011

Ever since the release of the first X-Men movie back in 2000, there has been an intelligent attempt to build up the layers of the Marvel film universe. With thousands of characters created throughout the years, and millions of people now familiar with the heroes that populate the Marvel universe, the creators of the modern Marvel movies, as well as the executives running Marvel Studios, are trying to appease fans by giving them quick cameos or mentions of characters and equipment from the comic books.

With every new Marvel movie there seems to be more linkage between other Marvel films. Captain America: The First Avenger doesn’t stray away from that trend, and now with the release of the movie Coming Attractions can give you a list of what easter eggs you may have missed and why the ones you caught were in there.

 

   1.  Yggdrasil and the Tree of Life:

After the opening where Captain America’s body is found in the Arctic we see the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) searching for the tesseract, a lost piece of powerful technology once owned by “the gods”. He finds the tesseract hidden inside a monastery in Tønsberg, Norway, where the image of a tree is carved.

If you watched this summer’s Thor movie than you know that the gods the Red Skull talks of are actually the Asgardians, human-looking aliens that also provided the basis for Norse mythology. Yggdrasil is lifted right from ancient Norse legends and is supposedly the tree where all life stems from. And just as there’s a line in the Thor movie that says what we call magic the Asgardians call their science, we’re shown in the Captain America movie that mysterious occult artifacts can really be lost alien technology.

 

   2.  Raiders of the Lost Ark:

After he holds the tesseract in his hands, Johann Schmidt/The Red Skull makes a comment about how the Fuhrer “searches the desert for trinkets.” That has to be an in-direct mention to the Lost Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not only does it infer to another supernatural relic that will supposedly bestow upon its owner incalculable power, Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of the movies that Captain America director Joe Johnston worked on as a special effects supervisor. Johnston won an Oscar for that gig.

 

    3.  The Cosmic Cube:

 

captain_america_first_avenger_red_skull

 

If you’re wondering why The Red Skull called it a tesseract instead of a cosmic cube, the reason is probably because the former sounds way more scientific and less like it came from a comic book. The Cosmic Cube played an important part throughout the Captain America comics, and in the company’s storylines which spanned centuries and light years. In the comics the Cube can destroy galaxies and even create new universes.

In the Marvel movie universe the “jewel of Odin’s treasure room” is never really explained further than being some kind of ultra-powerful energy source. The Skull uses the tesseract to power his engines of war and has plans to wipe major cities off of the map with its power. If the Red Skull knew about the other capabilities of the tesseract/Cosmic Cube, he never displayed that knowledge to us in the movie.

 

    4.  Arnim Zola’s introduction:

The right-hand man and chief scientist of HYDRA, Arnim Zola shares the same background of his Marvel Comics counterpart. He’s still around in the present day Captain America comics, creating sinister genetic monsters.

In the comics Zola doesn’t often appear in the flesh to fight. Instead, he appears via hologram or a screen in the chest of robots, often looking like a detached giant head. In the Captain America movie director Joe Johnston chooses to introduce us to his Zola in a similar way: as a giant, somewhat deformed floating head speaking with the Red Skull via a monitor.

 

    5.  The original Human Torch:

Here’s an easter egg that was included for real old school fans of Marvel Comics. On display at the expo that Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) go to is a red superhero costume inside a glass display case. This is the costume of the original Human Torch, a character in the old Marvel comic books from the 1940s.

Whether this was meant to establish that there could be other superheroes fighting in World War 2 or as an in-joke to Evans’ role as the modern Human Torch in 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four movies is something that the director knows (and so far, he hasn’t spoken about it.)

 

   6.  Iron Man’s dad and his flying car:

Howard Stark (played by Dominic Cooper) is one of the more important secondary characters in Captain America. After watching the way the elder Stark is played in the 1940s we can see where a lot of Tony’s charisma comes from.

Stark’s introductory scene shows him wowing a crowd with a hovering automobile. After hanging a few seconds in the air, the auto comes crashing back down.

Now, the thing of it is that the both The Avengers and SHIELD have anti-gravity technology in the comic books. With The Avengers movie coming out next summer and the recent reveal that the Helicarrier and the Avengers’ Quinjet will likely appear in the movie (as seen in this recently released artwork showing Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow), this scene in Captain America could be seen a precursor to the flying vehicles we’ll see in The Avengers movie. After all, it’s not like Marvel Studios hasn’t laid this kind of groundwork before.

 

black_widow_avengers_painting

 

 

    7.  Vita-Rays:

During the process which turns Steve Rogers into Captain America’s super soldier, Stanley Tucci’s Dr. Abraham Erskine explains that they will bombard Rogers’ body with “vita-rays”. As hokey as it sounds today in the 21st century, that’s lifted right from the original Cap comic books.

 

    8.  The nod to the cover of Captain America #1:

 

captain_america_cover_issue_1

 

On the cover of the very first issue of Captain America from March 1941 there’s our patriotic superhero knocking out Adolf Hitler. While there isn’t a literal interpretation of this scene in the film, there is an homage to the famous cover by way of the USO stage show that Steve Rogers is in. As the hero later says, he has the experience of knocking out Hitler over 200 times.

 

    9.  The Vibranium shield:

When Steve discovers the gunmetal circular shield in the development office of Howard Stark, he asks what it’s made from. Vibranium is a fictional element in the Marvel universe that comes from the country of Wakunda, the land where another Marvel superhero lives, The Black Panther.

The Captain America movie establishes that the red-white-and-blue Captain shields we saw in the first two Iron Man movies aren’t the same shield that Captain America took into battle. The original was recovered from the crashed bomber along with the frozen body of Steve Rogers – which leads one to wonder how that frozen shadow in the ice from The Incredible Hulk movie could have also been Steve Rogers/Captain America.

 

    10.  Asgard:

During the concluding moments in the final battle between Captain America and The Red Skull, the tesseract opens a dimensional portal. Inside the rift we see what looks like a nebula in open space. This is very much what Asgard looked like in the Thor movie released two months previous to Captain America: The First Avenger, and it suggests that the Skull was taken from Earth and is now somewhere in Asgard (or one of the realms connected to Earth and Asgard by the Rainbow Bridge.)

What it also does is keep the door open for a return of the Skull in a Captain America sequel set in the modern day – or even re-introduce the villain in Thor 2 or a sequel to The Avengers.

 


 

Read More:

 


10 Easter Eggs in Marvel's Ant-Man Movie  



 

I'd like to think that my hardcore nerd analysis of Captain America: The First Avenger was pretty through but maybe you found another easter egg, have a question about what they might mean for Captain America 2 or want to ask a question about the movie? Sound off in the comments below and share your thoughts, ideas and musings with the rest of us.

Quasar
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Posts: 7588
Posted: 13 years 15 weeks ago

I think the actual 1941 comic itself was in the movie. When the Captain America hype was sweeping across the nation, we see stacks of comics being plopped down with eager kids digging in, and you could make out the cover with Cappy popping ol' Adolph on the jaw.

As far as Cap's shield being made of Vibranium, I'm not sure if that's something from the Ultimates comic (it probably is). Cap's shield in the Marvel universe is made of Adamantium. He briefly had a Vibranium shield when he gave up the identity of Captain America, and went solely by the name The Captain in a similar but different costume, but gave up that shield when he went back to being Cappy. When he did, he mentioned the Vibranium shield never felt quite right.

Faster and faster, a nightmare we ride. Who'll take the reins when the miracle dies? Faster and faster till everything dies. Killing is our way of keeping alive. - Virgin Steele, Blood and Gasoline
Avengers1
Location:
Posts: 3
Posted: 13 years 15 weeks ago

I have one that I don't think I am really reaching for.  When Cap attacks the base and finds the prisoners, he finds Bucky strapped to a table and very out of it.  Why would he be strapped to a table?  Later Bucky falls to is apparent doom into the frozen river.  In the comics Bucky becomes Winter Soldier (where did his powers really start?  On that bed with Zola?) and he is (like Cap) frozen and found (much like what could have happened on that train.  I don't think this is a stretch, I think this is purposeful.  Maybe for another movie?  maybe just a homeage.  Not sure.

upandadam
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Posts: 2
Posted: 13 years 15 weeks ago

 @Quasar:   The comic version of Cap’s shield is most commonly said to be a mixture of Vibranium and Adamantium.  Vibranium = the shield’s ability to absorb vibrations; Adamantium = the shield’s (near) invincibility.  However, I think that because of the X-Men/Wolverine movies (which are not a part of the “Marvel Studios” universe), Marvel Studios left the Adamantium part out to avoid confusion with moviegoers who would then think that the Cap movie is referencing Wolverine.

The Vibranium/Adamantium thing has been debated by comic fans for a while, due to contradicting/retroactive info in various Marvel comics.  But what is in question is the Adamantium, not the Vibranium. (for example: some say Adamantium was created as the result of a metallurgist's attempt to recreate Cap's Vibranium shield).

For more on the subject, check out this link and read about Cap's "Circular Shield":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America's_shield

Thus, the use of Vibranium in the Cap movie is accurate and could theoretically set up Wakanda for a future Black Panther movie or Avengers sequel, as Wakanda is known to have the largest amount of Vibranium on the planet.


As for the Captain America comic book easter egg in the Captain America movie, you’re totally right.  This is one of the most clever things Marvel has done yet.  In real life the movie is inspired by the comic book, while in the movie the comic book is inspired by “real life”.  

upandadam
Location:
Posts: 2
Posted: 13 years 15 weeks ago

 @ Avengers1: I think you're on to something there.

Avengers1
Location:
Posts: 3
Posted: 13 years 14 weeks ago

Here is another that my wife found.  The nurse in 1940s attire at the end (when cap wakes up) is played by Amanda Righetti idbm.com states she is a SHEILD agent.  She also plays Sharon Carter (Peggy Carter's granddaughter and love interest of Steve Rogers in comics) in the Avengers 2012 movie.  I am assuming that she is Sharon Carter in Cap as well.  That is some serious forward thinking by Marvel.

Avengers1
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Posts: 3
Posted: 13 years 14 weeks ago

oops, I meant IMDb, but you guys know what I mean.

Duzzle
Location:
Posts: 1
Posted: 13 years 14 weeks ago

 I'm surprised I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere yet. The power the Red Skull harvested from the cosmic cube/tesseract looks very similiar to Tony's arc reactor technology, and the new element he creates to power his suit in the end of Iron Man 2. Both of which were technologies pioneered by his father, who got his hands on both the Red Skull's technology and eventually upon the cosmic cube/tesseract. 

James41143
Location:
Posts: 1
Posted: 13 years 14 weeks ago

 @Duzzle.

     I agree, I was surprised no one else has mentioned it.  The tech that Zola was constructing looked incredibly like a larger version of Tony Starks ARC reactor.

MarzAce
Location:
Posts: 2
Posted: 13 years 13 weeks ago

What about the park where they see stark talk about the car....is that not the same one from Ironman 2 where stark expo is held and isnt that the globe that tony flies through and gets a bunch of the drones to collide inside of it?

Makiki
Location:
Posts: 1
Posted: 12 years 41 weeks ago

"Quasar" wrote:

Cap's shield in the Marvel universe is made of Adamantium.

Sorry Quasar, but Cap's shield in the main Marvel universe isn't Adamantium. It's a unique alloy of vibranium and iron, created in a process which hasn't been duplicated. Adamantium was created through attempts to make more of the alloy, but it's not quite as tough.

That's why they say Wolverine's skeleton and claws are virtually indestructable, while Cap's shield is totally indesctructable ... uh, except for those times it's been destroyed.

But you know, that's comics for you.

xboy_wonderx
Location:
Posts: 1
Posted: 12 years 30 weeks ago

 I was watching Captain America to prepare myself for The Avengers (can't f**king wait!) and I noticed something that caught my eye. It's a really quick scene, but I'm hoping they bring him back for the sequel. This is the scene when Dr. Zola is rushing out before one the HYDRA base explodes and he is getting all his blueprints. It's Zola's robotic outfit, but I'm pretty sure you can tell, right? Lol.

http://imgur.com/2f71Z