The Marvel Cinematic Universe loves a good pop culture reference. It dates back all the way to 2008’s Iron Man, where Tony Stark is in a Humvee and mentions the iconic Tom Hanks character Forrest Gump. Over the years, the Easter eggs got less subtle, with James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, in particular, showing love to real-life musicians, movies, and actors. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special even provides a major role for Kevin Bacon, who plays himself and gets kidnapped by a few members of the titular team because they want to make him a present for his biggest fan, Peter Quill.
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While the MCU’s pop culture references are fun, they can be a bit much during a rewatch. It’s a lot more fun to go back through the franchise’s greatest hits and discover connections that only make sense years later – such as the one between The Avengers (2012) and the popular video game franchise The Last of Us.
Captain America Is Rediscovering His Place in the World At the Start of The Avengers
The Avengers is the first MCU movie to release after Captain America: The First Avenger, which features a post-credit scene that shows Steve Rogers waking up after his time in the ice. He realizes pretty quickly that he’s not in the 1940s anymore, and Nick Fury is there to calm him down. Steve lays low after that, reacclimating himself to New York because he doesn’t recognize the city. In a deleted scene for The Avengers, he even goes to a cafe near Stark Tower and takes it all in when his waitress, Beth, approaches and tells him that people often come to her workplace to get a good look at the “big guy.”
Despite not going to the cafe in the final cut of the movie, Steve still finds himself outside of Stark Tower when Loki sets up shop there to open the portal for the Chitauri. The area outside the cafe takes the brunt of the attack, and Beth runs away with other patrons into a nearby building. Cap arrives to take care of the aliens holding them hostage, but he goes flying out of the building due to an explosion. Fortunately, Beth makes it out alive, as we see her appearing one last time to thank the Avengers for saving her, via a news interview at the end of the movie.
The rest of The Avengers‘ deleted scenes reveal that Beth, at one point, had a substantial role, being the civilian perspective on the ground during the Chitauri invasion. It made sense to cut Beth’s scenes at the time because the movie already ran well over two hours, but Kevin Feige and Co. might regret it now because of how famous Beth actress Ashley Johnson has become.
The Avengers‘ Ashley Johnson Plays One of the Most Important Video Game Characters Ever
A year after The Avengers hit theaters, video game developer Naughty Dog released The Last of Us, which followed a man named Joel, who finds himself with an important mission on his hands after meeting a young girl, Ellie, played by Johnson. The game became a smash hit, with many praising Johnson’s performance as a child just trying to find her place in the world. It took a few years, but The Last of Us got a sequel in 2020, and Ellie found herself with an even bigger role the second time around. And with another winner on its hands, Naughty Dog’s only move was to make the jump to live-action.
Initially, making the first game into a movie was considered. However, the powers that be finally landed on developing a show for HBO. The first episode premiered in early 2023, and before long, it was clear the property was on its way to dominating two different mediums. Johnson even had a cameo in the first season, playing Ellie’s mother, who never appeared in the games.
While it probably would’ve been nice to have several minutes of screen time in a major Marvel movie, Johnson ended up doing alright for herself. She poured all of her energy into making The Last of Us games and never looked back. At least playing Ellie allowed her to let out some of her rage from being tormented by the Chitauri for nothing.
The Avengers is streaming on Disney+.
Did you know about the connection between The Last of Us and The Avengers? How do you think Ashley Johnson’s career would’ve changed if most of Beth’s scenes hadn’t been cut? Let us know in the comments below!
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