An Impossible-to-Spot Avengers: Endgame Easter Egg Revealed
With Avengers: Endgame available for digital download and Blu-Ray, we’ve been sorting through all the juicy reveals the bonus materials have provided us. We’ve gone through the commentary track from directors Joe and Anthony Russo and screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, which gave us some awesome bits of trivia. We’ve parsed the comic book callbacks, the bloopers, and the creation of Smart Hulk. Now, thanks to Cinesite, one of the VFX firms that helped create Marvel’s most ambitious film ever (and the highest-grossing film of all time), we know about another very well-hidden Easter Egg that connects all the way back to Captain America: The First Avenger.
Cinesite has released a VFX breakdown reel that covers a lot of ground in four and a half minutes. The table football match between Nebula and Tony Stark, the grim landscape of Morag, the assorted Avengers time-traveling and more. In one of those time-traveling moments, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers head back to a SHIELD base in 1970, and that’s where Cinesite reveals this hidden Easter Egg that winks back at one of Cap’s oldest foes.
At the 0:41 second mark of the reel you’ll notice a familiar face. Have a look and then we’ll discuss.
That face, ladies and gentlemen, belongs to Arnim Zola (Toby Jones), who was hidden on a screen in the background of the basement as Tony searched for the Space Stone. It’s a delicious little Easter Egg considering Zola—who died in 1972—was a brilliant Hydra scientist who had been captured by the Allies at the end of WWII and pressed into service for SHIELD. Yet this “former” Hydra heavy ended up rebuilding the nefarious organization from inside SHIELD and was responsible for turning Bucky Barnes into the Winter Soldier. Eventually, Zola uploaded his consciousness into SHIELD’s computer network, which was a major plot point in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. While Howard Stark (John Slattery) does mention him to Tony, we’re guessing nobody saw his little face tucked away on that screen in the background.
Until now.
Featured image: Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: ENDGAME. L to R: Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Photo: Film Frame. ©Marvel Studios 2019
