Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ Share an Unusual Easter Egg

Jordan Peele’s Us finally hit theaters this past weekend and broke horror box office records with its $70 million domestic debut, unseating Captain Marvel for the first time since its release and delivering the second-biggest opening weekend so far in 2019. While it may seem like box office success is the only thing that ’90s superhero adventure Captain Marvel and R-rated social horror flick Us have in common, their connection actually goes a little bit deeper than that. These two movies both share a pretty unique Easter egg, one that you may not have noticed right away.

In both Captain Marvel and Us, you’ll find a VHS copy of the 1983 movie The Right Stuff, Philip Kaufman’s film about the Mercury 7 astronauts. This Easter egg is easy to spot in Captain Marvel. When Carol Danvers first returns to Earth and crashes through the roof of a Blockbuster, she walks through the aisles of VHS tapes and stops to examine The Right Stuff after she notices the pilots on the cover. Of course, this is a hint at Carol’s story as a talented pilot who adventures out into space.

The Right Stuff popping up in Captain Marvel makes a ton of sense given the film’s story, but it’s inclusion in Us goes a lot deeper. It’s also a bit harder to notice since the camera doesn’t actually focus on it.

In Us, the VHS copy of The Right Stuff appears in one of the very first scenes of the film. As a child in 1986, young Adelaide is watching a commercial for Hands Across America on TV. On either side of the TV, a few VHS tapes sit on shelves. Alongside The Goonies, C.H.U.D., and The Man With Two Brains (all of which have big obvious connections to Us), The Right Stuff is hidden in place on the shelf, giving fans one more thing to try and dissect when the movie is over.

Spoiler alert: The plot of The Right Stuff does have some parallels with Us. They aren’t quite as obvious as those in the other tapes on the shelf, but they’re certainly present, and enough to add yet another layer to Jordan Peele‘s already thought-provoking film.

What other Easter eggs did you notice in Us? Let us know in the comments!

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