FILM · 2012 · USA
The Avengers
- Directed by
- Joss Whedon
- Runtime
- 143 min
- Studio
- Marvel Studios
297 archived facts 7 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Sep 2026
When an unexpected enemy emerges and threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins!
Summary: TMDB
21 Easter Eggs and References in The Avengers
- #027
Contains a major spoiler — show
There are two spoken references to the early days of The Incredible Hulk comics. While giving orders, Captain America says "Hulk, smash," a slogan the Hulk used in the comics and in The Incredible Hulk (2008). After defeating Loki, the Hulk says "Puny god," a nod to "Puny humans," another phrase the Hulk often repeats. The Hulk's first on-screen utterance of "Puny human" was in a brief nightmare scene in Hulk (2003), in which the Hulk reached out of a mirror and grabbed Banner by the neck.
- #032
Contains a major spoiler — show
Hawkeye's and Dr. Selvig's blue eyes were added late in post-production to better show audiences that both were under Loki's influence. A short fight scene between Iron Man and a brainwashed Hawkeye was originally planned, a nod to Hawkeye starting out as an Iron Man villain in the comics.
- #051
Contains a major spoiler — show
At around the 56-minute mark, after Loki is brought aboard the Helicarrier, Tony Stark can be seen wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt. Black Sabbath is best known for the song "Iron Man." Although the song was not originally associated with the Marvel Comics character, it has since been referenced in the comics and in Iron Man (2008), when Tony quotes the lyric "I am Iron Man" at the end.
- #053
Contains a major spoiler — show
At around the 56-minute mark, Bruce Banner refers to the fact that the last time he went to New York he "broke Harlem." This is a reference to The Incredible Hulk (2008), in which Hulk fought The Abomination in Harlem, New York.
- #064
Contains a major spoiler — show
Loki brings the Chitauri alien race to Earth to help him invade it. The Avengers is formed to prevent this from happening. This is consistent with the first issue of the comic book series bearing his name, in which Loki is responsible for manipulating a chain of disasters that brings the Avengers together in the first place.
- #070
Contains a major spoiler — show
At roughly 1 hour 40 minutes, the confrontation between Tony Stark and Loki initially led Loki to continue his series of threats against the Avengers, but director Joss Whedon felt it did not work and reshot it instead with Tony comically boasting to Loki. When Tony describes his group as "Earth's mightiest heroes, that kind of thing," this refers to the famous slogan that has appeared on the cover of "The Avengers" comics since its debut in 1963. The phrase was also used as the subtitle of the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010).
- #090
Contains a major spoiler — show
(At about 2 hours 10 minutes) At the end of the film, when waitress Beth's news clip appears on Nick Fury's computer screen, she is listed as S.H.I.E.L.D. File A113. "A113 is the room number of the animation classroom at CalArts. The A113 reference is a running joke in films made by Pixar and Disney that began, in part, with Toy Story (1995), written by Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed this film."
- #095
Contains a major spoiler — show
Thor spends most of the film in his Asgardian armor but with bare arms, a nod to his first appearances in the comics. During his time aboard the Helicarrier, he also appears without his cape as a reference to his Ultimate Comics look.
- #106
Contains a major spoiler — show
(At about 19 minutes) Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) tells the council that "Phase Two is not ready." Later, when Tony Stark decrypts S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret files, he asks Nick Fury questions about "Phase Two." This is a nod to the phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films: this film is the end of Phase One, and Iron Man 3 (2013) is the beginning of Phase Two.
- #127
Contains a major spoiler — show
At roughly the 55-minute mark, in the scene where the Avengers discuss Loki and his scepter, Fury asks how Loki brought Hawkeye and Dr. Erik Selvig under his command by turning them into "his personal flying monkeys"; Thor does not get the reference, but Captain America says he does. This is a nod to The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which some of the Wicked Witch of the West's slaves are large, winged monkeys. That film was released in 1939, so Captain America had probably seen it before he was frozen; Thor, on the other hand, is from another world and has not seen the film, so the joke goes over his head. Chris Evans was initially worried that the "I understood that reference" line would make Steve look bad, but in the end he came to love the reaction it got in theaters.
- #139
Contains a major spoiler — show
At a low point in the film, as Tony Stark begins to rally the team, he is seen wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt. The shirt featured a design from the cover of the Never Say Die album.
- #162
Contains a major spoiler — show
Before Tony mentions the shawarma restaurant, Captain America can briefly be seen in the background fighting Chitauri soldiers.
- #169
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the post-credits scene, a large letter "A" is visible on the restaurant wall. Although this appears to be a clear reference to the Avengers, it is actually a health inspector's certificate. Letter grades are similar to the academic grading system, so the best score a food establishment can receive would be an "A".
- #170
Contains a major spoiler — show
The music playing while Natasha fights her captors is a nod to the British TV series "The Avengers."
- #174
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the prison cell scene, Loki tells Black Widow he knows everything about her past and about "Dreykov's daughter," a reference to Black Widow killing a young girl during an assassination attempt in Budapest, later shown in the Marvel film Black Widow (2021). During the Battle of New York, Widow tells Hawkeye it is "just like Budapest all over again," though Hawkeye clearly remembers Budapest very differently. In Black Widow (2021), the Budapest mission turns out to have been Black Widow's ticket into S.H.I.E.L.D., where she and Hawkeye fought half the Hungarian army after bombing a five-story building, though Hawkeye likely has the stronger memory of the two hiding from the authorities for 10 days (2 of them in a ventilation duct).
- #181
Contains a major spoiler — show
As each character is introduced, the preceding scene references that character. It begins when Fury says to call in the rest of the team, leading into Black Widow's next scene being called. In that scene she is told to bring in "the big guy," a reference to the Hulk. The next scene has her recruiting Bruce Banner. In the next scene, Fury is in a video conference with the World Security Council saying the war is won with soldiers, leading into the next scene with Captain America. In that scene he says the Tesseract should be left in the ocean, which leads into the next scene with Iron Man in the water. After his introduction, however, this plot device, used in nearly every film, falls apart when it introduces Thor.
- #192
The film's Chinese title reads "Fu Chou Zhe Lian Meng" (literally Avengers Alliance), while the online fan base and community like to abbreviate it as "Fu Lian," a homophone of the abbreviation for "Women's Federation" in Chinese. Because this homophone is easier to type using common Chinese Pinyin input methods, online forums and communities continued to refer to The Avengers that way.
- #193
Contains a major spoiler — show
The Bilgesnipe creature Thor refers to is an animal native to Asgard in the comics. Many fans assumed that the creature seen on Jotunheim in Thor (2011) and Thor: The Dark World (2013) might be a Bilgesnipe or a subspecies of the creature, but that claim has since been disproven.
- #220
Contains a major spoiler — show
In an alternate Marvel Universe, the world's superheroes turn into zombies. When Zombie Spider-Man forms the New Avengers, his call is "AVENGERS DISMEMBER!", a reference to the iconic Avengers' rallying cry.
- #225
Contains a major spoiler — show
(At around 00:19:50) The World Security Council asks Fury why he has not started Phase Two. Fury says Phase Two is not ready yet and that they need a response team. This may be a nod to the fact that this was the final film of Phase One and the film in which they finally brought everyone from the previous great films together in a response team: The Avengers. However, it is not a reference to that.
- #250
Contains a major spoiler — show
Harry Dean Stanton has a cameo as the security guard Bruce Banner meets. Stanton appeared in the original Alien (1979), while Joss Whedon wrote Alien: Resurrection (1997). Stanton also appeared in The Godfather Part II (1974). His co-stars Al Pacino and James Caan appeared in Disney's first comic book film, Dick Tracy (1990). John Marley, who appeared in the original The Godfather (1972), also made a guest appearance in The Incredible Hulk (1977). He appeared in The Green Mile (1999) alongside Dabbs Greer, who also guest-starred in the Incredible Hulk TV series.
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