Spider-Man: Homecoming: Easter Eggs and references to the wider MCU

As with all Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) instalments, Spider-Man: Homecoming is absolutely littered with Easter Eggs, including references to the comics, films, and Tobey Maguire.

Here, we attempt to unravel the major Easter Eggs — of course, there will be some we miss, such is the nature of minute references.

Obligatory **spoiler warning** as we will be discussing many of the major plot-points. For The Independent’s review of the superhero flick, click through here.

Marvel released the short film seen towards the beginning of the film, featuring Peter’s homemade video, featuring the events of Civil War. During a school lesson later on, the teacher is trying to discuss the Sokovia Accords as Ned asks Peter more questions about being Spider-Man.

The Tony Stark owned clean-up group, the US Department of Damage Control, who have appeared multiple times throughout the comics and been referenced in Agents of SHIELD, make an appearance at the film’s beginning, Tyne Daly playing their leader. Notably, ABC was once said to be creating an entire comedy show based on the clear-up group based in the MCU.

As the Marvel Studios logo appears on-screen, an orchestral version of the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon blasts out. Unfortunately, no singing.

As we know from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Lee is an omnipotent Watcher in the MCU series, overlooking all the major events happening on Earth. During Homecoming, the comic book creator plays an annoyed neighbour, shouting: “Don’t make me come down there, you punk!”

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Kenneth Choi previously played a member of the Howling Commandos, Jim Morita, in the first Captain America, Agents of Shield, and Agent Carter. For Homecoming, he plays the school’s principle, also named Morita, the soldier’s son. There’s even a picture of Choi in the old role in the character’s office.

One of the major pot-points is Michael Keaton’s villain, the Vulture, using Chitauri weaponry that came from space. This, as any Marvel aficionado will tell you, all stems from the events of the first Avengers, where the Chitauri army — led by Loki — came to Earth.

Notably, there are also weapons fashioned from the Dark Elves seen in Thor: The Dark World and Ultron drones seen in Age of Ultron. The Shocker’s gauntlets are also based on those seen used by Crossbones in Civil War. REFERENCES.

There are two notable moments which draw direct comparisons to Raimi’s original trilogy. The first comes thanks to Ned. The loveable comic character jokes that, if he were Spider-Man, the first thing he would do would be to go atop a building and fire out web — this is exactly what Maguire does in the first film.

The second reference comes at the Washington memorial as Peter’s AI Karen tells the hero to “kiss her now” as he hangs upside down having saved the day — a nod towards that famous scene from the first.

Thanks to Disney now owning LucasFilm, dozens of Star Wars references are now making appearances in the Marvel Universe. In Civil War, Peter references the AT-ATs from Empire Strikes Back. During Homecoming, there’s an ongoing joke about a LEGO Death Star. CROSS PROMOTION.

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Donald Glover plays the character Aaron Davis, better know by the alias Prowler, as listed in the film. Notably, Aaron also talks about his nephew, who, in the comics, is future Spider-Man Miles Morales. The car’s number plate is also UCS-M01, a reference to Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 01 in which Miles introduced. Fittingly, Glover voiced Miles in an animated Spider-Man show. FUTURE SET-UP.

During the post-credit scene — which we discuss in full here — we see Michael Mando as Mac Gargan, better known as the villain The Scorpion. There’s even a scorpion tattoo on his neck. The character mentions having “boys on the outside” who want to exact revenge on Spider-Man for locking them up; could we finally see the Sinister Six on the big screen?

Just before the film concludes, Zendaya’s character — Michelle — is revealed to have the last name Jones, the group nicknaming her MJ. Of course, Peter’s main love interest has always been Mary Jane Watson, who Zendaya certainly isn’t playing. Perhaps, like Ned, she’ll be a mixture of various comic-book characters.

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At the film’s conclusion, we see Tony Stark offer Peter a new metallic suit, itself fashioned on the Iron Spider from the comics. There’s also the referenced ‘magi belt’ Stark ahs created for Thor, better known as Megingjörð (which neither us, nor Happy can pronounce), a literal ‘power belt’ that enhances the God of Thunder.

There are a heap of hidden references in the cargo ship transporting Stark’s stuff from the Avengers tower. Most notably, we see a new Captain America shield and an Ultron head. Expect a more detailed analyses come the film’s DVD release. Also worth a note: many fans believe that Norman Osbourne could be the possible buyer of the Avengers tower from Stark. A great way to possibly introduce the famous villain?

Following Civil War, Captain America is still on the run. "The guy is a war criminal I guess but whatever,” says Hannibal Buress’s gym teacher as one of Cap’s many educational videos plays. Looks like the First Avenger remains a cultural icon despite the controversy.