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Fasten your seatbelts, Captain Marvel fans... we're zooming in for a closer look at the Easter Eggs, cameos and other hidden references you might have missed in Marvel's latest superhero blockbuster!
When Carol crash lands in the Blockbuster video store, she holds a VHS box of the movie The Right Stuff.
It is based on the true story of a group of Air Force military pilots who became the first American astronauts, an arc that Carol herself goes through as a pilot who ends up in space.
Also in the same Blockbuster video store, Carol accidentally fires at a True Lies cardboard standee.
This is a tribute to the movie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Less Curtis, which is the first ever film with a budget of over US$100 million, paving the way for the modern blockbusters Marvel now produces. Furthermore, the film contains a fighter jet prop that was repainted for use in 2012's The Avengers during Hulk's battle with Thor.
In the late Stan Lee's cameo scene, you can hear him repeating the lines "Trust me, true believer" while holding up a Mallrats script.
This is of course, a reference to his cameo in 1995's Mallrats where he shows up to give advice to the main character. Playing himself, this marked one of his very first Hollywood cameos and non-comic-book-related appearances.
For Captain Marvel, Kevin Feige took inspiration from the Captain Marvel comic book series by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick.
And what better way to credit her influence on the story than to give her a cameo! When Carol leaves the passenger train after a fight with a Skrull, she brushes against a very distinguishable DeConnick, who sports her signature red hair and glasses.
Maria's fighter pilot call sign is "Photon", alluding to a codename used in Marvel Comics by her daughter Monica Rambeau. In the comics, Monica eventually gains superpowers of her own and grows up to lead the Avengers for a period of time. She was also called Captain Marvel during this phase.
Before Carol becomes assimilated with the Kree, she was working with Mar-Vell the scientist at Project Pegasus, the secret facility where the lightspeed engine was being constructed. Eagle-eyed MCU fans will be quick to note that this is the same facility where Nick Fury was testing the Tesseract at the start of The Avengers.
When Talos the Skrull confronts Carol and Nick in Maria Rambeau's home, he can be briefly seen sipping on a fast food drink. The cup has the exact same design as the cup that Samuel L. Jackson sips from in Pulp Fiction.
Before Carol changes her Kree suit into her Captain Marvel colours, Monica tries out a few different combinations:
When the movie reaches its climatic battle, Carol is pushed to unleash her final form known as Binary. As Binary, she has enhanced strength and abilities, is able fly at the speed of light and can breathe in space. In the comics, this form only emerges on rare occasions.
During the final scenes, Nick Fury can be seen drafting the "Protector" initiative aimed at locating heroes like Carol and changes the name to "Avengers" after seeing her fighter pilot call sign. In the comics, Protector aka Marvel Boy aka Noh-Varr is a superhero who joins the Avengers and was, you guessed it, also called Captain Marvel at one point.
Photocredit @ Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Captain Marvel is now showing in cinemas everywhere.
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