Avengers: Endgame contained a hard-to-catch possible reference to Brian Braddock, better known as Captain Britain.
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Spoilers ahead.
When Captain America (Chris Evans) time travels to 1970 New Jersey with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to retrieve the Tesseract, he catches a glimpse of long-lost lover Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) who is too preoccupied with S.H.I.E.L.D. business to notice she’s being watched by the believed dead star-spangled superhero.
According to reports on social media, Peggy says an agent referred to only as “Braddock” hasn’t checked in, and notes an undefined meteorologic event is “not lightning.”
On Reddit’s Marvel Studios subreddit, user u/wolfthang88 reports the reference was heard only through the assist of a closed captioning device, possibly explaining why the apparent name-drop is going mostly overlooked and unheard.
Two French websites, Fan Actu and Les Toiles Heroiques, also reported on the covert Easter egg.
In Marvel Comics lore, Brian Braddock premiered in 1976 and is a United Kingdom-based superhero who was granted superhuman powers by the wizard Merlin and his daughter, Roma, through the Amulet of Light after he was gravely wounded in a motorcycle accident.
Now possessing superhuman strength, durability, the power of flight, and the ability to wield inter dimensional energies hailing from the magic-based pocket dimension called Otherworld, Braddock acts as Britain’s costumed champion and its chief defender.
In the books, Braddock served as a member of government-sponsored team Excalibur, military intelligence agency MI13, and superhero team The Champions of Europe, among others.
His twin sister, Elizabeth Braddock, is better known to X-Men fans as the half-mutant psionic-powered superhero Psylocke. Betsy’s live-action screen rights were until recently controlled by 20th Century Fox — whose entertainment assets have since been purchased by Marvel Studios owner Disney as part of a $71.3 billion acquisition — and the character last appeared in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, where she was portrayed by Olivia Munn.
Brian’s father, James Braddock, possessed similar powers and acted as a member of the Captain Britain Corps, a league of Captain Britains assembled across alternate realties. Brian and Betsy’s decade-older brother, James Braddock Jr., also possessed reality manipulation abilities and was a studied sorcerer.
It’s not yet clear if the “Braddock” mention is set up for the eventual introduction of the Braddock family or an in-name-only Easter egg.
Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige in 2017 did reveal Marvel has “discussed” Captain Britain, saying in an interview, “There are a lot of actors that come in and ask about that part, so we’ll have to see.”
In September, Marvel was rumored to be interested in a potential Captain Britain and the Black Knight film, teaming Brian Braddock with American superhero Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, who sports a suit of armor and wields an ancient, mystical sword. According to that report, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword director Guy Ritchie was being eyed for the project.
Some fans have since nominated Superman star Henry Cavill for the role of Captain Britain, while Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings star has expressed a passing interest in the role.
Part of Marvel Studios’ next film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, takes place in London as Peter Parker (Tom Holland) participates in an overseas class field trip. In the Marvel comics, Braddock was once Parker’s college roommate while the Brit visited America as part of a study abroad program.
Avengers: Endgame is now playing. Spider-Man: Far From Home opens July 2.
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