Marvel has been for decades, creating movies that never fail to entertain everybody. Each movie has layers of little things that not everybody catches. These things are often hidden in alternate versions of the comics or just something that ties back to reality.

Here are some of them. A word of caution, this post may contain spoilers, so if you haven’t watched any of these movies, tread lightly. 

 Little Known Marvel Universe Part 1

• Supernatural star, Jensen Ackles, actually auditioned to play the role of Captain America. He lost the role to the Captain we know and love today, Chris Evans. Marvel, still impressed with Ackles, offered him the role of Hawkeye but he turned them down.
• It cost $10,000 to get a tank top of Bea Arthur in Deadpool, which stars Ryan Reynolds. If you don’t know, in the comics, Wade Wilson is Arthur’s self-proclaimed number one fan. Reynolds argued that you just can’t have Deadpool without her.
• Only a few people had the entire script to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. This is due to having previous problems with actors dropping hints to their fans. *cough Tom Holland, Mark Ruffalo cough*. With the exception of Rober Downey Jr., none of the actors knew who got dusted or where they left off until they saw the premiere. Robert Downey Jr., who played Iron Man, was allowed to read the full script.
• Avengers: Endgame was re-released to take the title of top-grossing movie of all time from James Cameron’s Avatar. It promised extra footage to give fans incentive other than bragging rights.

Little Known Marvel Universe Part 2

• Zoe Saldana plays Gamora for Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar’s Neytiri.
• There were actually two actors who played Thanos. Damion Poitier portrayed Thanos in his first on-screen appearance in The Avengers while Josh Brolin played Thanos in Infinity War and Endgame. Josh Brolin also played the Deadpool 2 villain, Cable.

Source: Shutterstock

Source: Shutterstock

• This isn’t the first time that Marvel replaced or reused actors for other movies. Chris Evans played the Human Torch in the original Fantastic Four movies, then later starred as Captain America, Steve Rogers. Terrence Howard played Rhodey in the first Iron Man movie. But Don Cheadle replaced in in succeeding films. Captain America: The First Avenger features Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, who reprises his role in the Agent Carter series. In later movies, John Slattery portrayed Howard to add the on-screen age difference.
• Aaron Davis portrayed the arms dealer that Spiderman interrogates in Spiderman: Homecoming. Davis goes on to fill the role of the future uncle of Miles Morales, the new Spiderman featured in Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.
• On the topic of Into the Spiderverse, the mentor Peter Parker we see throughout the film has been confirmed to be the same Spiderman from the live-action Spiderman movies Marvel has created, starring Tom Holland.
• During the opening title card music to Avengers:Endgame, they eliminated half of the orchestra from the original music to mimic the half of everything Thanos snaps out of existence.
• The end scene to Black Panther holds a cameo for Sebastian Stan, the Winter Soldier/ Bucky Barnes recovering from the events of Captain America: Civil War. They referred to him as the White Wolf, who in the comics is T’Challa’s adopted brother.

 Easter Eggs, AKA Hidden Surprises

• In Guardians of the Galaxy, look for a Howard the Duck cameo at the Collector’s store where the team inspects the infinity stone. He is drinking a martini in one of the glass boxes.
• Also at the Collector’s is a box containing a Dark Elf, a villain of Thor: The Dark World.
• In Spiderman: Homecoming, you’ll see Bruce Banner’s photo beside other well-known scientists at the front of Peter’s classroom.
• Throughout Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Endgame, Black Widow wears a small arrow necklace as a tribute to her friend Hawkeye.
• At Iron Man’s funeral in Avengers: Endgame, Harley Keener, the boy who helps Tony Stark throughout Iron Man 3, stands in the back of the group of mourners.
• During Spiderman: Homecoming, Happy Hogan turns on music as Peter creates his new suit. The music he chooses is Iron Man’s theme (AC/DC’s Iron Man), to which Peter yells, “I love Led Zeppelin!”

This is only a fraction of the little known facts Marvel has to offer, which is not surprising considering how much content they’ve put out over the years. Hopefully, it’s gotten you excited to see the upcoming movies and shows Marvel is releasing and gives you time to reminisce about the characters we’ve said goodbye to over the years.