Does a Luke Cage Easter Egg in Iron Man 3 Short Link Marvel’s Netflix Shows to Its Movies?

Everyone has pretty much assumed that the kind of “Marvel Knights”-style universe that Marvel Television and Netflix were crafting with their Defenders shows would be a part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, but as with all things related to Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Daredevil, Marvel’s TV honcho Jeph Loeb has kept mum when asked the question directly.Well, there may be a hint in a still image from All Hail the King, the Marvel One-Shot short film that features Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery character from Iron Man 3.In the image above, the would-be Mandarin is in prison following his arrest in that film–but an eagle-eyed poster over at Comic Book Movie noted that the prison uniform seen on one of the men behind him places the character at Seagate Prison. That’s a building with some history in the Marvel Comics Universe.While Seagate later added a wing for super-powered villains, it’s most widely known as the prison Luke Cage was incarcerated in–and escaped after gaining super-powers. Such a conspicuous Easter Egg coming so soon after the confirmation of the Netflix series seems like an obvious nod in the direction of Marvel’s and Netflix’s “Defenders-verse,” at least.While it’s far from a guarantee that the Marvel properties will be linked, the fact that most fans had already assumed so, coupled with this little reference, will likely be enough to convince most viewers that they know more or less what’s up with the Netflix shows’ continuity for now.The short is available on Blu-ray copies of Thor: The Dark World, due in stores on February 24.