The Future Of The MCU, Seen Through Captain America 2 Easter Eggs

[Insideout Ink Demon]

I dont mean to be a douche, because I really enjoyed reading this, but didn't this all start with Hulk, not Iron Man?

EDIT: also don't worry, not at all douchey. Fun question, in fact.

The Eric Bana/Ang Lee Hulk from 2003 doesn't count because it was a different studio, as Marvel didn't have the rights all to itself. After the rights reverted fully to Marvel, they produced the 2008 film as a reboot to bring the hulk into the same continuity as Iron Man.

Note that the 2008 film even gives hulk a different origin: In the 2003 film, it was blah blah DNA research blah blah boosted immune systems and strength for soldiers blah blah Bruce had been experimented on as a child. Convoluted nonsense really. In the 2008 film, it's expressly stated that the military was conducting research into the super soldier serum that produced Captain America back in the 40s, but had lied to Bruce Banner about it (telling him that it was research into helping create immunity to gamma radiation poisoning), and thus caused his accident that creates his hulking problem.

Also, Iron Man came out in April, 2008. The Incredible Hulk came out in June, 2008.

Sidenote: I remain convinced that the reason TIH underperformed is that it came out far too soon after Iron Man. Had they waited until Fall, or the following spring, there would have been more time to prime the audience for the idea of shared continuity. And we'd be guaranteed Planet Hulk, which I WANT SO BADLY.

oh god, no, I never meant the Ang Lee Hulk. sorry yes the incredible hulk. always thought Incredible Hulk came first.
I think another standalone Hulk is likely with how popular he is after avengers, although I guess how well Guardians does depends on whether the risk of a Planet Hulk is worth it for Disney

 

[RossaLincoln]

I think another standalone Hulk is likely with how popular he is after avengers, although I guess how well Guardians does depends on whether the risk of a Planet Hulk is worth it for Disney

Here's hoping it's as awesome as it looks.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Midway through we find out that Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) ... is still alive as a digital construct. When his body died in the early 70s, he transferred his consciousness into a computer system housed in a secret HYDRA/SHIELD warehouse. As a living computer program, he has devoted his energies to creating an algorithm that can detect threats before they can occur, which in this case means "anyone who can harm HYDRA"

He's going to turn out to be the Clairvoyant from Agents of SHIELD isn't he, I figured it would have been Ultron but this seems more reasonable.

That was pretty much what i thought when he told his story in the movie but like ross said will they do the sensible thing in AoS or do the dumb thing it's 50/50.

Well, not to spoil anything from the latest episode, but it's still a possibility.

Spoiler: Spoiler for the April 8 episode of Agents of Shield

They set up Coulson's friend as the Clairvoyant, but the twist at the end seemed to take him by surprise. Not to mention that he seems pretty dumb to be the ultimate mastermind. It could still be Zola. There's still time to be intelligent!

Sidenote: I remain convinced that the reason TIH underperformed is that it came out far too soon after Iron Man. Had they waited until Fall, or the following spring, there would have been more time to prime the audience for the idea of shared continuity. And we'd be guaranteed Planet Hulk, which I WANT SO BADLY.

Do you really think Planet Hulk is the one they'd choose to make? The more likely option to me is a modified World War Hulk (where he just decides to punch every hero, which should probably wait until they have a bigger roster of heroes), especially if the Days of Future Past movie sets up the idea of parallel universes in a good way for regular audiences to understand(that the MCU can steal). Planet Hulk is a little far out there.

 

[faefrost]

I think Bob missed the major importance of Loki's staff in the stinger. Notice that you can barely see the staff itself. It's very dim, almost overwelmed by the glow coming from the gem in its head. The big blue egg shaped gem... that let Loki somehow control minds... like some sort of "Mind Gem". That gem is one of the 6 Infinity Gems. The Mind Gem. (oh and that mention of Stephen Strange. Anyone want to bet that is our first clue that the "Eye of Agamotto" is the Soul Gem? The Cube is the Space Gem, the Aether is the Power Gem. Chances are the Round sphere the Guardians of the Galaxy are after is the Time gem. leaving the Reality Gem as the central McGuffin of Avengers 3.) So most of the pieces are quietly on the board for Phase 3. (plus the presence of the Mind Gem in SHIELD explains why Fury was willing to let Thor take the Cube.)

My take on Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, Strucker pretty much outright says, or strongly implies that they are not "Mutants" per se. (nor are they his children) They were made to be what they are. They are the ultimate evolution of the Red Skull and Zola's experiments. The final end point of the Super Soldier program. (Which oddly kind of appropriates Jessica Drew Spider-Womans origins. I wonder if we might not see her at some point?)

 

[faefrost]

Midway through we find out that Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) ... is still alive as a digital construct. When his body died in the early 70s, he transferred his consciousness into a computer system housed in a secret HYDRA/SHIELD warehouse. As a living computer program, he has devoted his energies to creating an algorithm that can detect threats before they can occur, which in this case means "anyone who can harm HYDRA"

He's going to turn out to be the Clairvoyant from Agents of SHIELD isn't he, I figured it would have been Ultron but this seems more reasonable.

That was pretty much what i thought when he told his story in the movie but like ross said will they do the sensible thing in AoS or do the dumb thing it's 50/50.

I don't think Zola is the Clairvoyant per se.

Spoiler

I think we get the role of Zola wrong. Zola wasn't running the whole show. he was his usual brilliant flunky. Pierce controlled him and kept him locked in a bunker and limited his outside access. That's why he was still on ancient hardware and not running loose on the net. It's why Pierce thought he was destroyed when the missiles hit. I think part of this was Zola in some ways engineered his own escape. he managed to plant some clues in his algorithm that brought Cap and Black Widow to his bunker. In 1972 he needed 200 yeards of data banks to store himself. But in 2014? A super sekrit SHIELD uber jump drive would probably do the trick. Black Widow unwittingly carried him out of the bunker when she pulled the jump drive just before the missiles hit. I'm thinking we will see him again in Cap 3. maybe in some sort of robot body? I also don't think we have seen the end of the Red Skull yet.

 

[RossaLincoln]

I think Bob missed the major importance of Loki's staff in the stinger. Notice that you can barely see the staff itself. It's very dim, almost overwelmed by the glow coming from the gem in its head. The big blue egg shaped gem... that let Loki somehow control minds... like some sort of "Mind Gem". That gem is one of the 6 Infinity Gems. The Mind Gem. (oh and that mention of Stephen Strange. Anyone want to bet that is our first clue that the "Eye of Agamotto" is the Soul Gem? The Cube is the Space Gem, the Aether is the Power Gem. Chances are the Round sphere the Guardians of the Galaxy are after is the Time gem. leaving the Reality Gem as the central McGuffin of Avengers 3.) So most of the pieces are quietly on the board for Phase 3. (plus the presence of the Mind Gem in SHIELD explains why Fury was willing to let Thor take the Cube.)

My take on Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, Strucker pretty much outright says, or strongly implies that they are not "Mutants" per se. (nor are they his children) They were made to be what they are. They are the ultimate evolution of the Red Skull and Zola's experiments. The final end point of the Super Soldier program. (Which oddly kind of appropriates Jessica Drew Spider-Womans origins. I wonder if we might not see her at some point?)

So yeah, this sounds... exceptionally plausible. My thinking is that the Asgardians wouldn't just leave an infinity gem behind, but if it's the mind gem, then they might not have been thinking about it. In any case, well done. Now I need to retire, but first pretend all of this occurred to me first.

 

[faefrost]

This is the age of miracles mutants, doctor. There's nothing more horrifying than a miracle mutant.

I like how they got around the M word.

I agree. But now of course this means The Watcher is going to be St. John of Patmos. J/k

I dont mean to be a douche, because I really enjoyed reading this, but didn't this all start with Hulk, not Iron Man?

EDIT: also don't worry, not at all douchey. Fun question, in fact.

The Eric Bana/Ang Lee Hulk from 2003 doesn't count because it was a different studio, as Marvel didn't have the rights all to itself. After the rights reverted fully to Marvel, they produced the 2008 film as a reboot to bring the hulk into the same continuity as Iron Man.

Note that the 2008 film even gives hulk a different origin: In the 2003 film, it was blah blah DNA research blah blah boosted immune systems and strength for soldiers blah blah Bruce had been experimented on as a child. Convoluted nonsense really. In the 2008 film, it's expressly stated that the military was conducting research into the super soldier serum that produced Captain America back in the 40s, but had lied to Bruce Banner about it (telling him that it was research into helping create immunity to gamma radiation poisoning), and thus caused his accident that creates his hulking problem.

Also, Iron Man came out in April, 2008. The Incredible Hulk came out in June, 2008.

Sidenote: I remain convinced that the reason TIH underperformed is that it came out far too soon after Iron Man. Had they waited until Fall, or the following spring, there would have been more time to prime the audience for the idea of shared continuity. And we'd be guaranteed Planet Hulk, which I WANT SO BADLY.

All of it actually began with the end credits of Iron Man when Nick Fury stepped out of the shadows. That was the first time we got hit in the face that the full Marvel Universe was becoming a reality. Incredible Hulk did a huge amount of cameo and Easter egg world building. It is probably only second to Winter Soldier for that. As Easter eggs and background it introduced Project Rebirth and tied the Hulk's origins to captain America and the Super Soldier program. (OK technically the Incredible Hulk really just took most of this stuff as given from the Marvel "Ultimate" universe.)

The one interesting quirk with the Hulk's backstory in the movie. They blew off the Ang Lee movie completely, and instead referenced the Bill Bixby / Lou Ferigno origin from the 70's TV series. (queue slow walking away music). Which amazingly, fits in perfectly with someone researching the Super Soldier formula. Back in the 70's Bill Bixby Banner was researching adrenaline derived super strength when he tried it on himself and things went wrong.

 

[sleeky01]

OK. I'm kinda OCD about stuff like this but:

There is a semi-secret organization the has a huge building built specifically for it in the middle of Washington DC, that apparently includes an underground hanger that is able to hold 3 flying aircraft carriers (not to mention the fabrication facilities to build the damm things) employing god-knows how many people.

My question is- Where does/did SHIELD get its funding from? I'm not an economics major or anything, but geez I have to imagine it would take 1/2 of the world GDP AT LEAST.

 

[octafish]

On a side note, no Australian would ever truly trust a man named Alexander_Pierce [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pearce], even if it is spelt differently in the movie.

Also is there anyone even remotely interested in Cap who doesn't know the identity of the Winter Soldier? I expected it to actually be some kind of fake out, but no it is what everyone knew it to be. I remember when there were three characters who would always stay dead in comics, Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben, now only Uncle Ben remains.

 

[RossaLincoln]

Well, not to spoil anything from the latest episode, but it's still a possibility.

Spoiler: Spoiler for the April 8 episode of Agents of Shield

They set up Coulson's friend as the Clairvoyant, but the twist at the end seemed to take him by surprise. Not to mention that he seems pretty dumb to be the ultimate mastermind. It could still be Zola. There's still time to be intelligent!

You know what? I just finished tonight's AOS episode. I hate to admit it, but I really liked it. I kind of loved the way it tied directly into the events of TWS, but more importantly

Spoiler: Spoiler for the April 8 episode of Agents of Shield

it at least didn't cop out and have some bullshit about how the clairvoyant wasn't connected to HYDRA, instead made it explicit that, like Baron von Strucker, Bill paxton is a sort of independent actor within HYDRA ready to go out and fuck shit up now that they're out from hiding. Also, holy shit I was genuinely surprised by agent Abercrombie and Fitch turning out to be part of HYDRA too. Maybe we'll be spared endless Skye shipping for a few episodes. Though obviously, this means he'll die sacrificing himself for her when it counts. Assuming this gets a second season, we probably won't see him back next year.

 

[Undomesticated Equine]

OK that gravestone really cracked me up. Pure genius. Should have paid more attention in the cinema.

 

[K12]

It's kind of weird that Cap's list of stuff to catch up on includes "Sherlock" (I'm pretty sure that's what the top one says) since Benedict Cumberbatch is now playing a character in the MCU. Does this universe's version of Sherlock have a different person playing Sherlock?

Does this mean "Sean Connery" is going to be in something (since he's also on that list) because that would be great!

...I might be overthinking this just a little bit...