Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Best Easter Eggs

It’s Easter, and that of course means that our attention turns to Easter eggs……but as an [...]

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It's Easter, and that of course means that our attention turns to Easter eggs… …but as an entertainment website, we're really less concerned with the painted, hard-boiled variety and more interested in the ones hidden in movies and TV shows to reward viewers paying close attention. While Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't exactly been Arrow this year with the constant name-drops, and has taken a while to really get to the point where it felt integral to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the last few weeks have exploded with them since Captain America: the Winter Soldier. With only a few weeks to go before the season finale, though, and Easter coming but once a year, we figured we would run down some of our favorites from the season so far. We've had a number of Asgardians, including Lady Sif and Lorelei, plus Peter MacNicol's Berserker. Those were all great, but aren't really "Easter eggs," per se, since their presence shaped the whole episodes they were in. From November 26's "Repairs" came... Roxxon Oil The Exxon stand-in used in Iron Man 3's hostage scenario reappeared as a gas station in tonight's episode, as seen in one of the clips released ahead of the episode:

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D. 616."

The Bus's callsign (or maybe Coulson's?) is apparently the designation for the Marvel Universe, as seen in Thor: The Dark World (and countless comics over the years). This one has been used in the series a bunch, obviously.

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Phase Transition It's one of the phrases that appeared on the Rip Hunter Chalkboard in Thor: The Dark World, and it applies here pretty well. Could the "Hell" that they all thought they were seeing be Muspelheim, the realm of Surtur? Reader Александр Титов e-mailed us shortly after Thor: The Dark World was released, noting that Erik Selvig's chalkboard featured only eight of the nine realms and then the additional note that "S…. is the one of reliving." We did catch a brief, fiery glimpse of Muspelheim in Thor: The Dark World (or at least, that's what most viewers are assuming it was) and the first movie featured a quick shot of the Surtur's Eternal Flame in Odin's vault, so it doesn't seem unlikely. From April 2's "The End of the Beginning"... 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.

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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 before...and then became a major plot point going forward. From the following week's "Turn, Turn, Turn" comes...

Victoria Hand

Hand the double triple agent In the comics, Victoria Hand doesn't work for Hydra — but that doesn't mean she stays good all the time. After Norman Osborn took control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and rebranded it as H.A.M.M.E.R., it was Hand who played a key role in helping him out…although she ultimately turned out to be a triple agent who died protecting Nick Fury. "Don't trust anyone" The last thing we see Weaver tell Simmons is the same thing Nick Fury told Captain America with his "dying breath" in The Winter Soldier. That it comes from a trusted Agent we've seen already in the show is a nice touch. Recruited by Agent Sitwell Last episode, we saw Jasper Sitwell head off to the Lemurian Star, a ship where he would enter into the story of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Here, he gets a name-drop as the man who recruited the troop of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who get the drop on Coulson, May and Fitz. True believer "I wouldn't say I'm a true believer," Garrett tells Coulson. That's a wink-and-a-nod to one of Stan Lee's famous Mighty Marvel catch-phrases. The timeline A lot of people have wondered whether the current storyline on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took place just before, just after or during Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and how much spoilage there would be as a result. Turns out, quite a bit. The film took place during the film, with Captain America's victory against HYDRA spelled out (but not seen) during the episode. Unfortunately, Cap's big, dramatic Captain America Speech didn't appear on the episode, which was something that we'd heard some fans speculating would give us an exact timeline. From last week's "Providence," which had a TON of them... Captain America: The Winter Soldier Footage from Cap 2 on the news report toward the beginning of the episode, including the falling Helicarriers at the Triskelion. Coulson references the Triskelion battle as well. The Cube One of the facilities that Coulson references as still being active is a pretty familiar setting to many comics fans. A S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, The Cube is where Marvel Boy was imprisoned after his attack on the U.S. government. After the events of Civil War when S.H.I.E.L.D. fell and was under the control of Norman Osborn, and then the events of Secret Invasion, the base became the home base for The Thunderbolts.

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Colonel Talbot Talbot is a longtime antagonist of The Incredible Hulk. At one point, he was married to Betty Ross, Bruce Banner's eventual wife.

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