Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Easter Eggs and Marvel Comics References in "The End of the Beginning"

Tonight on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the writers went out of their way to be more comic book-y than usual. It was necessary; not only are there a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. agents floating around, about a third of whom have comic book counterparts, but the episode is set just prior to the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and takes not just a couple of story beats but even some footage right out of that film. As ever, we might not have spotted everything, so chime in at the comments thread below if we missed one...but here are the Easter eggs and Marvel Comics references we caught in tonight's episode:

Hunting for Santa Claus Okay, so this one's really stretching it...but Santa Claus is a character who has appeared in Marvel Comics before. Apparently, he's a mutant, which explains his longevity and preternatural speed.

Headed to "The Lemurian Star" The Lemurians are a branch of homo mermanus that migrated to the Pacific Ocean and settled in the ruins of ancient Lemuria. Currently ruled by Karthon the Questor, they have greenish, scaly skin (although it sometimes looks blue, as above, potentially raising some interesting questions on S.H.I.E.L.D.). That they get a mention at all is interesting; I would have thought their rights were tied up with Namor who, at least count, was still with Universal Pictures. Could Marvel have quietly reacquired those rights? Sitwell's got a boat to catch That would be the boat he's on at the start of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where he (among others) is being held hostage by Batroc the Leaper and Captain America, Crossbones, Black Widow and their backup have to parachute on board to protect their allies and assets. You can check that out below.

This is a long shot, but given the importance of Captain America's partner Bucky Barnes in this story, what are the odds that Dan Monroe is related to Jack Monroe, better known as Nomad, who was briefly Captain America's partner? Don't seem bad... Candidates Who are the candidates to be The Clairvoyant/ Well, both Elijah Fordham and Thomas Nash are based on historical figures but have no analog in the Marvel Universe. Noriko Sato is an interesting one because there are a couple of Norikos in the Marvel Universe, including one (Noriko Nagayoshi) who works with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Turn, Turn, Turn Hey, look! Next week's episode gets a title drop! In fact, so did the series title, later in the episode, but the "Turn, turn, turn" line from Garrett is interesting. It's not just the name of the episode but there's an implication in that title about a turncoat or traitor. While they go to great lengths to make us think it's May here, I don't buy it. I think she's been working with Fury and doesn't trust anyone, hence the "no contact," no admission rules. Who might actually BE a traitor? Well, I think it's pretty obvious this week...but more on that later. Oh my God! He killed Blake! That bast--(No he really didn't) Blake is hardly a nice guy, but he's been around the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a spell. First appearing in Item 47, he has appeared in some Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes too and is one of only a few named S.H.I.E.L.D. agents recurring and not on Coulson's team.

Multi-spectrum overlay When Skye orders the "multi-spectrum overlay" on her observation of Deathlok, we see...well, Deathlok. There's been a good deal of grumbling on the part of fans that J. August Richards looks more like a kid in a Lazer Tag outfit than a powerful government cyborg...but when you look at him in this light? Holy cow! He kinda looks like...Deathlok! The Fridge Metahuman prison from the comics and already previously referenced on S.H.I.E.L.D. That's where Garrett was supposed to take Ian Quinn until Coulson hijacked the prisoner a few weeks ago.

Hand is a traitor? Well, color me surprised! Looks like it's H.A.M.M.E.R. time, folks! ...Oof. Did I just say that out loud? Fans of the comics know that Hand was a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent who worked under Norman Osborn and ultimately defected against S.H.I.E.L.D. in favor of the more proactive and morally gray S.W.O.R.D. and H.A.M.M.E.R. iterations of the organization.

is officially not the first appearance of The Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe if you live in the United States. Weird. That's because we see him (and Nick Fury, who's already made one Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. appearance this season) in the post-credits tag, which is actually jsut footage from the new Captain America sequel out on Friday.