Transcript

Taylor: Alright, listeners, we had an awesome break covering Across the Spider-Verse, but now we are back to our Guardians programming for one final episode before we start to dive into some Secret Invasion goodness. And in this episode, we are going to be talking about the top five Easter eggs, in our opinion, from the Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 movie. So without further ado, Katie, why don’t you kick us off with our first one?

Katie: Well, I think the first one is the most obvious. I want to say almost just because this little Easter egg has kind of been an Easter egg through ongoing Guardians content, and that is Howard the Duck, our bestie. I feel like we’ve also seen him in something that wasn’t Guardians related like an end-credits scene or something like that. He’s appeared since the very first Guardians. He’s always had a little bit – oh, I know. He was also in What If? he has made an appearance in What If?

Taylor: Oh yes, he was with Darcy. What an interesting pairing.

Katie: Yeah, but it worked.

Taylor: It really did.

Katie: But I was like, I know he was in something else and I can’t think of what it was that you know, he’s made his appearance there as well. And so we saw him in Guardians. If you weren’t paying full attention to the scene and maybe you missed him, it was when Kraglin and Cosmo were playing cards with a table full of people. There are actually a couple of people at that table worth noting, including the Broker from the first movie. He was also sitting there playing cards, which I think is kind of funny because he also ended up on Knowhere. But, you know, we got a Howard the Duck cameo. I’m pretty sure he was yelling at Kraglin to just tell Cosmo that she was a good dog and it didn’t work. But he was there and he made his, I almost said annual but like, yes, but no. 

Taylor: Obligatory. 

Katie: Yeah. There we go. Appearance in the Guardians Volume 3 movie.

Taylor: Yes, this is always a fun one. It’s almost like, you know, you’re going into a Guardians and if you don’t think about it, you’re like, oh Howard the duck. But if I was someone who remembered this better, I should have been like, Where’s Howard the duck? He’s almost like the Stan Lee of the Guardians franchise we all know for the first, like nearly ten years, we all got to look for Stan. And that was the fun part of the experience. And unfortunately, that’s not something that we get to do anymore but for the Guardians franchise specifically, I don’t know if it’ll do this moving forward, but at least these first three movies, we got to be like, oh, spot Howard, where’s Howard the Duck? So this is always just a fun one, you know, he obviously is a comics character and now we get to see him, albeit in a very small role throughout the Guardians franchise, which is again, just like super fun.

Katie: Yeah, I love Howard the Duck. I hope he almost becomes like Stan Lee and honestly just starts appearing in really random crap. I could see him just suddenly in the back of the Thunderbolts. I don’t know, just something so funny and random. And you’re like, why is Howard the duck there? And that’s just that. Like it doesn’t make sense, but it does at the same time.

Taylor: Yeah. I also, just like Bucky’s reaction would be priceless.

Katie: Exactly. That’s my point. I want it to be something so random that he appears in.

Taylor: Yeah, it’d be like, very bizarre, but in, like, the absolute best way ever.

Katie: Agreed.

Taylor: Amazing. So then the second one, which is something we definitely touched on in our reactions episode was the Kevin Bacon Holiday Special reference on the newspaper that Peter’s grandfather is reading. We put this on here because it’s just super fun. I know if you guys listen back to our reaction episode to the Holiday Special, we really enjoyed it. So this is a fun little callback to that and a property that we really liked. Not much else I think really to say about it. Other than that, I just really enjoyed that it was there and it made me laugh.

Katie: I thought it was a really smart Easter egg personally, just because I think with all the specials, I think and I say all as if there weren’t about two. But I do think the Guardians special is one of those that people maybe watched, maybe they didn’t. So I liked that it was placed in this film and it was a callback to that. Obviously, there was another big moment that was important to know from the Guardians special, which was Mantis being Peter’s sister. But beyond that, if they missed that aspect, I thought, you know, placing this little Easter egg in reference to something that not everybody considered part of the franchise necessarily, I think was smart, it kind of was like if you didn’t watch it, you missed the joke. So who’s the loser? You know?

Taylor: And that is such a James Gunn way to approach it, too, so I love that take. It is very spot on.

Katie: I know. I totally agree. And I just to your point, it was so funny. I didn’t like that end-credit scene beyond the point of that reference. That was the thing to me that I was like, that makes that funny.

Taylor: Yeah. No. Agreed. And we’ll talk a little bit more about that end-credit setup just a little bit later in the episode. But number three on our list. And by the way, just one caveat. These are not necessarily in order of importance or any order in general other than what I was researching. So when I say number three, I just literally mean number three on the list. I am Groot. Now he says that the whole three movies, but then at the end it is ‘I love you guys’. And when we reacted just keep in mind we do our reactions like 24 hours, less than 24 hours sometimes after seeing the film. We talked about how, oh, like maybe Groot is like growing. I think that was part of our like, discussion. But what’s come out since and what I think is even better is that the real reason that we could hear him say, I love you guys is that throughout these films and however many years have taken place, I guess it’s been 10 to 11, if you do the math.

Katie: Roughly, yeah.

Taylor: Whether it’s his father or watching him grow up from little baby Groot to now, we have gotten to be part of the family and we now understand the language of Groot. Which is so meta, so smart, and way better than our take on it and I just wanted to bring this back around because even though we talked about it, we were off, and this is so much better.

Katie: I really like this. I really, as soon as I saw it and someone pointed out it was one of those moments, and Taylor and I live this every time. Every time a show comes out and we react an hour after watching it and every time we see something that’s so worth it, and we didn’t say it, and we’re just like, oh my God, every time. And this was one of those. I was really sad. I didn’t catch that and that I had to use the Internet and people on the Internet to tell me, that’s why we heard him say that. But I have two things to say. One, I’m a little offended it only took this long for us to be a part of the family and actually understand him. I’m a little offended by that. But additionally, now I question like, are we going to be able to understand Groot moving forward? Because that’s kind of what this precedent, in my opinion, would have set, is that if we heard him say, I,- not I am Groot, we’ve heard him say that enough. If we’ve heard him say, I love you guys, well, then any group version we see moving forward. Well, unless I guess he was to quote-unquote die again and then be reborn, we should really be able to understand what he’s saying. Right?

Taylor: Yeah, that was my big takeaway, you know, coming off of this Easter egg and doing the research after and the true meaning of it was, well, now we have to listen to Vin Diesel. Like truly listen to him because when he’s saying I’m Groot, there’s just something about his voice that is not, and look, no offense against Vin Diesel, you know, I have no ill will towards the guy. I just kind of like that he was like lost in the character. Right. And when he says, I am Groot, no matter what version of Groot it is, I never think about Vin Diesel. And we talked about this in the reactions episode but the only time I’ve ever heard Vin in this character is when he said, I love you guys. So is that what’s going to take me out of the rest of Groot’s appearances for the entirety of the time he’s alive is me just hearing Vin Diesel every time?

Katie: Yeah. Yeah. Because I do remember we talked about that and I was going to bring it up because I couldn’t remember if we talked about it or if I had said it during the movie. Yeah, I would not be – I think part of it is because we’re not used to hearing Groot so clearly as Vin that hearing Vin in the character is like, hold on this is weird. I think had he been, you know, what we hear from the start. But even when Groot would talk all those times, they obviously, I mean, he does voice acting, but I’m sure they were messing around with his voice. I mean, baby Groot did not just spawn with that voice, you know. So I think if they are going to allow us to understand him moving forward, I would appreciate some sort of voice distortion slightly, just so I’m not sitting here feeling like I’m in a Fast and Furious film.

Taylor: Yeah, because, I mean, the other comparable character is Rocket, and I don’t really hear Bradley Cooper in Rocket either. It’s not until you see, like a lot of the stuff has been coming out, the videos of him doing it, like actually in the recording booth. That’s what I like when I see him physically make the motions with his mouth. That’s when I’m like, oh, now I hear. But like in the actual setting of the film, I don’t hear Bradley Cooper. To me, he is just so purely Rocket and so like, I don’t know, like it would be weird to me to have another actor then sound so much like themselves when Bradley Cooper is completely lost within the character, but in the best way. 

Katie: Which is super interesting that you say that because I don’t think they distort his voice at all for Rocket. So I actually think that’s really interesting that you don’t hear him at all. I will say there are moments I hear him and then there are moments I don’t remember it’s him at all. And most of the time during the movie itself, I don’t remember to your point, I’m lost in the character. I am not paying attention to the fact that this is supposed to be Bradley Cooper, not even in the front of my brain. But I will say when I see clips afterward, there are certain times I’m like, oh, I yeah, I hear Bradley Cooper. I definitely – but he’s also not a celebrity I keep up with enough that I think of his voice immediately. Not like Sebastian Stan, where I’m like, I would know that voice anywhere, so I don’t know it will be interesting. I just really hope that they distort it a little bit. That’s just my wish is there’s a slight distortion and we don’t fully feel the full Vin effect on Groot, although I don’t know because now that he’s like mega swol Groot, I feel like they might try and go with the Vin voice just because he’s so huge and I think they’re going to kind of hope that voice comes through in this big I don’t want to say monstrous, but I mean monstrous as in gigantic body.

Taylor: Yeah. I mean, to your point, Vin’s natural body type now fits Groot body type for perhaps the first time ever. Because even when we saw adult Groot in the first one, he was adult, he was tall but he was leggy. Now he’s to your point, he’s swol Groot and swol Groot has a body type very similar to the man who voices him, whose voice very much matches his body type, like when Vin Diesel speaks and you look at him, you’re like, that voice makes sense coming out of that body. It just it fits in your brain you’re like, yes, that makes sense. Cognitively, I get this whole thing you have going on so then if you translate that to a similar body type in this character, it would make sense to have a little more Vin in there. I like though, getting lost in the character again. Like I don’t have a problem with Vin Diesel. I know people are whatever about the Fast and Furious franchise it is what it is.

Katie: I have stopped watching those after like three. 

Taylor: Yeah. I mean, like once it stop being about car racing, I was like, we’re not out here being an MI6 or the CIA people. You drive cars. But anyway, you know, I just like the idea of getting lost in the character and if I hear too much of Vin’s voice, which is so recognizable, I will get taken out of any future films or shows or special presentations. I think that covers all the formats that he might be in. The only thing I want to ask you about this that I couldn’t remember now in that end credits scene, the second one where we see the new Guardians for the first time as a team, they’re all talking about their favorite songs. Do we hear Groot speak English or did he say I am Groot? I don’t remember.

Katie: So I’m really glad you asked me that because I was going to ask you. 

Taylor: Oh, no. 

Katie: I don’t remember either. I was thinking about it as well. I was trying to remember when they’re all talking, I remember him hitting Groot and he grunts, but I don’t actually remember if he ever speaks at all. I’m not sure he actually ever says any words in the end credit. 

Taylor: Yeah. Now that you say that, I kind of feel like he just kind of gets up and then he starts yelling at people, and then he was just kind of like Mega Groot.

Katie: Yeah, I don’t think he actually articulates any words, whether we hear them in English or Grootanian. 

Taylor: Grootanian. I think it’s just speaking Groot because I’m pretty sure that’s what Thor says he learned in school.

Katie: I thought there was an official language though.

Taylor: Yeah, and I’m pretty sure it’s Groot. Like that’s what Thor says he learned in school. Doesn’t he say like, oh, yeah, I learned to speak Groot in school?

Katie: I remember that. But I don’t know if he said it was Groot exactly.

Taylor: I think it is just Groot. 

Katie: I don’t know. I actively don’t rewatch Infinity War and Endgame very often. Actually. I would not be against rewatching Infinity War. I just need to turn it off within the last, like 10 minutes and then I’m good.

Taylor: Otherwise, it’s a really good film. It’s those last 10 minutes that will-

Katie: It’s one of the best MCU films in my opinion.

Taylor: Yeah. I mean, it’s just the last 10 minutes that will take you. It’ll rip you just that’s it. That it just you’re done. You watch those 10 minutes and like, you’re not okay anymore. So I too, do not watch that film regularly, but we will keep an eye out. You know, neither one of us. I don’t think I’ve gotten to see it, even though we said we would a second time. But if we do or that end credits scene finally ends up on the Internet, we’ll check it out and either tweet about it or put it up on her Instagram stories the answer to this, for now, we don’t know because we can’t remember. But I definitely want to know if I think that will give us a clue if we’re going to be able to understand Groot moving forward.

Katie: Yeah, I agree. And I also just to add to that, it feels like roughly two and a half months seems to be the mark of when they come on to Disney+ two and a half to three months. So we’ve only really got maybe a month, month and a half more to go before Guardians would come on. Also, though, I’m not sure because I think Marvel makes that call depending on how well they do in the blockbuster realm and Guardians obviously did a lot better than Quantumania. So I can’t and I’m mainly going off of Quantumania, so I can’t fully say with my full approval that that is a for sure timeline. 

Taylor: Yeah, No, I think you’re right. I think, you know, based on how Guardians did, I think it’s very possible it’ll have a little bit longer of a theatrical exclusivity run, but we will keep an eye out regardless. Things start to come out on the Internet within the next week or so. Probably just because we’re getting, you know, a little over a month now since the film has been out. So I think soon we’ll be able to get the answer even without it being on Disney+. Alright, now, number four, I am actually really, really excited to talk about this one because I think this has the most meat in terms of future MCU projects. And this fourth one is actually a title card right after Katie’s least favorite end-credit scene where we see Star-Lord eating his cereal and the end-credits scene in which we got the Kevin Bacon Easter Egg. There’s a title card that says the legendary Star-Lord will be back. The legendary Star-Lord talks about a specific run of comics. There is a very specific solo comic run that is called the Legendary Star-Lord, and now Katie, I know you are, despite your feelings about Peter Quill, excited to talk about this one. So take us away.

Katie: Okay, okay. Hold on. He’s not the worst anymore.

Taylor: He’s redeemed himself a little bit.

Katie: I’m not sure if redeemed is the word I want to use, but at least maybe the time just has gone on long enough that I’m like, it’s okay now. But yes, as to what Taylor was saying, this is a very specific comic line in which pretty much we see Star-Lord going out and doing his own thing. So not a part of the Guardians, not a part of any other team up here is just him, you know? So, Captain America, Iron Man, all those guys who had their solo films and did their own thing, maybe that’s what we’re seeing with Star-Lord coming up, question Mark? if you guys are signed up for our newsletter, the June issue was about Peter quite possibly joining the Avengers. But one of the things I did mention was the fact that this storyline also exists where he might just be a solo hero. He actually ends up with a mutant named Kitty Pryde. They end up in a relationship together, and that’s part of this whole comic run there’s a whole adventure, he goes on. The reason this is important is because this very much might be solidifying that the next thing for Star-Lord is a solo film or movie since we will see him again. That has been fully confirmed. That’s not to say I don’t think he might end up with a team-up eventually, like the Avengers. I actually wouldn’t be shocked at that at all. But I do think our next time, possibly seeing him past Kang Dynasty and all that is going to be a solo adventure. And if we get the mutants and we see Kitty appear, I think that’s a really, really good way of confirming that’s what’s going to happen. 

Taylor: Yeah, I agree. I actually think that a solo film in this case for Peter Quill would be the great bridge between us knowing him and associating him with the Guardians that would kind of establish him as his own hero. The same way that Cap, Thor, and Iron Man were all established as their own heroes before they became a part of the Avengers, right? So I could see this kind of being his, like, bridge content of him being his own dude before he goes in and joins the Avengers further down the road. Now, I do think that you know, if they’re going to do this and go this way, you have to involve Kitty, their relationship is a major plot point within this run. There is a part of me that almost wonders if they’re going to try to fit it in before a Kang Dynasty just because then he would be able to be a part of that as an Avenger. Because I don’t know that you can take Peter Quill in his current state and then bring him into a Kang Dynasty. However, I don’t think they’re there yet with the mutants unless something crazy happens in just over a month at ComicCon and they’re like, by the way, the X-Men are coming out and they’re filling in some of these gaps that we currently have pre-Kang Dynasty on the slate. They’re established. He meets Kitty Pryde. They have their relationship established in this film and then we go into Kang Dynasty. But that’s a lot to try to establish before that film comes out. Now we have some time, but that’s a lot.

Katie: That’s why I think I think logically seeing it, I see where it fits and where it should be before Kang Dynasty, but I do think as far as timing and with the Mutants especially, and I think that that part of this was the whole reason Gamora’s storyline happened the way Gamora’s storyline happened. On top of all that, you needed to remove Gamora from the playing field for Peter because that was a relationship that was or at least a liking the relationship itself is not really as established until the second Guardians, but even just the liking of Gamora and his relationship with her was starting and was you know, the flames were just beginning if you will, in the first Guardians. So we needed her pawn to be removed. I think Guardians 3 you know, that being the 2014 Gamora and leaving her with the Ravagers and all of that, I think that’s a good way to just remove her in a good and a good and easy way. And then this opens the door for Kitty to come. So I don’t think the Mutants are where they need to be to do this all before. Kang and because not only would we have to bring the Mutants in, but they would have to tell this story and then do Kang and I just don’t think we have the timing for that. But I do think we’re going to see Kitty. I think that, you know, Gamora being removed was just the other spot, the other confirmation.

Taylor: Yeah. You know what, I’m really excited about it. You know, when I was doing research for different Guardians episodes, as we’ve kind of been in our quote-unquote Guardians era minus across the Spider-Verse, I came across that fact and I was like, that is so interesting. Like, I never would have thought Peter Quill, Guardian of the Galaxy with a member of that team. I mean, honestly, I never thought of him with anyone but Gamora just because that’s what I’ve always known, but especially just an X-Men, is just really shocking to me. And to be honest, I think because we haven’t really seen them in the MCU, I don’t really think about them often. Anyway, I like the idea of that. I think to your point, all of the pieces are in place now to make that happen with the major glaring exception of the actual X-Men. But in terms of Peter and his orbit, we are ready to go. Now, the one other two other things really quick, actually three sorry, three things that I want to talk about with this run that I think are also really interesting and important to point out. One of his major foes is Mister Knife, who actually is his biological father in the comics. Now, I think we may have touched on this when we did the replay episode for Guardians 2, but Ego is not his biological father in the comics. His father is J’son. J’ason?

Katie: It’s J apostrophe S O N for the listeners. So there’s not like officially an ‘a’ there. So that’s why she’s struggling with understanding the pronunciation.

Taylor: Yeah, I want to say, Jason, but I know like technically-

Katie: You can just say Jason for right now that I just explained why you’re saying it.

Taylor: Okay. So his dad’s name is J’son and he’s like the leader of Spartax. But anyway, so he actually goes up against his father in this run, which is an interesting thing. We obviously we’ve already seen that in the MCU and his dad is not J’son. So that will have to change. Maybe they’ll make Mister Knife J’son but J’son’s not his dad. That seems like a pretty easy switch to me. Not sure how you’re going to lose some of the tension because I haven’t read the comics, but I’m sure they’ll figure it out. That’s literally their job. The second thing that is smaller than I’ll get to, the last big thing is another character who’s involved in this comic is Thane. Now, Thane is the son of Thanos, and I know we have moved on from our big purple, ugly grape friend, but how interesting would it be to have this Peter Quill, who Thanos took everything from him. We saw him grieve Gamora, yes, but it would be so interesting to then have to fight the son of the man who took that away in his own solo film. Maybe that’s how they change it, right? Maybe instead of it being Mister Knife/J’son, who he has to fight, maybe his main antagonist is Thane, son of Thanos because that’s something that has an emotional grip on him. I could actually see that change being made. So I wanted to bring that up because obviously, we are unfortunately very familiar with Thanos. He never mentioned any kids in the movies, but hey, he wasn’t exactly doing things other than killing a bunch of people and talking about balance.

Katie: Well, and he could also be Thanos’ son, just not biologically how he had Gamora and Nebula and they were not his children. They were just children who he literally abducted, but they were not biologically his. So it’s very possible he had more children.

Taylor: Yeah, no, you’re absolutely right. I will say, having seen images of Thane in the comics, he looks like Thanos. So I think he in the comics at least, is a biological son. But don’t quote me on that. I’m just kind of going off of looks. It may just be they’re, although, I was going to say, it may just be the same species but Thanos is like a mutant in his own species, so that’s like a whole other thing. But anyway, Thane, son of Thanos, may be a good antagonist for a future Star-Lord movie. The last thing that I want to talk about that I think is really interesting because it’s something that we had touched on in our last Guardians-related episode when we were talking about the really powerful kids and specifically Love getting her powers from Eternity. There is an object in this run called the Black Vortex that is able to give people cosmic powers. And when I was reading about this and what it’s able to do, all I could think about was Eternity giving its powers to Love. Could this be two things one another talisman like Eternity, where we’re starting to see again more of these cosmic things interconnecting in different franchises, or B, could that be swapped out for Eternity? Again, that is something that I could actually see happening as we translate this comic run into a potential movie.

Katie: I think if this happens after Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, which I’m assuming it will, I think we will see – because also remember who’s the rumored big bad of phases seven through nine and or ten if they decide to do four: Galactus. So I’m thinking that could be a very, very viable theory to have that brought in somewhere. Because I love Bucky, but my guy is not going up against Galactus, you know?

Taylor: Yeah, Yeah. And here’s, here’s the thing to like going back to that timeline I could see say they use Secret Wars as the way to bring in the X-Men. Having read the comics, it’s not exactly how it would work, but it could be finessed in there sort of. Look, there are amazing writers whose job it is to figure this out. Let’s just say hypothetically, they use Secret Wars in order to officially bring in the X-Men. X-Men in Secret Wars. Secret Wars happens then we have an X-Men movie where we get to really dive into them. I don’t think they’re going to do like some sort of origin thing. I think it’s going to be a fully-fledged X-Men team, especially if they’re potentially coming in from another universe. They will have been established, they will have been a unified unit. We get to see a film of them in the MCU. Deadpool will probably make a cameo. Great. Cool. Then from there, that’s where I could see a well, one, possibly a Peter Quill cameo in that movie so he can meet Kitty and then moving into a Peter Quill solo film where we get to explore that relationship further. That I think despite wanting to see Peter as an Avenger in Kang Dynasty, I think that’s probably the most logical progression for this storyline in order to get that really major final piece on the board to set up his potential solo film. 

Katie: Well, that’s not to say he wouldn’t be an Avenger and then end up in his solo film. I think logically, it does make sense to what you were saying earlier about bridging the gap using his solo film, but I could also see it working the other way around just with what’s coming next and the timing available.

Taylor: Yeah, no, totally. I mean, it could go either way and I think it really just depends on what Marvel is going to prioritize. Are they going to prioritize his relationships that he already has with existing Avengers and use that kind of as the bridge to get him on the team for the next big event? Or are they going to prioritize his character development, sit him out for the next big crossover, and then make him a major player when we potentially start to work towards a Galactus it really just again depends on what they decide to prioritize.

Katie: I am in favor of saying that they’re probably going to bring him in for Kang Dynasty just because if we really break down I mean, we don’t in any way know what happened in Endgame. We don’t know how long heroes hung out. We don’t know what the Soul world was like. We don’t know any of that. I mean, Peter gave us kind of an insight saying by saying Doctor Strange was able to talk to him while he was there, So who knows? But also, the Soul world was probably full of so many beings because, you know, half the universe was there. I wouldn’t have expected, you know, Peter to be hanging out with everybody. But if we really think about who we can 100% know or say he knows, it’s Peter Parker, Doctor Strange and Iron Man. Well Iron Man is dead. Doctor Strange is messing with crap he shouldn’t be. So who knows what his fate is? So the last one that I will confidently say will be standing after Avengers after the next two Avengers films is Peter Parker. So I think if they’re going to bring him in now would be logically the time just because he still has the connection to Doctor Strange and Peter Parker. He has two connections and Strange brings everybody in everywhere. He makes literally all his problems everyone else’s. So I would not be shocked if Strange is the one who shows up at his door, pulls him in and is  like, we got to go, let’s go.

Taylor: Yeah. No, I think you’re right. I think in terms of Strange being the one to kind of bring everyone together to your point, he makes everyone kind of deal with his problems. And if Clea is to be believed, he caused the incursion. And regardless of who all was involved in creating the Multiverse and opening that up, the prime problem in Secret Wars, or really the catalyst of the whole story of the main storyline of Secret Wars is an incursion between 616 and another Earth and that’s what leads to Battleworld and all that. So if Strange is the reason that that happened, then yeah, it makes sense for him to be the guy who’s captaining it, to bring everyone together to stop it. That’s not, you now if you’re really looking at the Secret Wars storyline, though, that’s not how it happens. He actually ends up becoming the right-hand man of Doom and helping him with his reign.

Katie: Yeah. And I mean, which we talked about, by the way, if you’re in need of that, we do have a whole Secret Wars episode. It’s definitely a little older now because we did it after MoM, so you’ll have to scroll back a little bit to look for it. But we did have a whole episode covering kind of the storyline behind Secret War. As far as what you were saying, Taylor I just I also think while, you know, obviously it’s not how it happened in the comics and the MCU, isn’t always very notorious for following certain things to T. Actually, they never do, which is both good and bad. We’ve talked about that before. As you were talking, you kind of knocked something loose. Also, to just say Strange, in my opinion, is one of the last Avengers that I think people would follow. I don’t think Peter Parker, as much as I love him, could get on a phone call or swing his way into someone’s like neighborhood and be like, ‘I need your help’ and people would help him.

Taylor: Well, especially because no one knows him now. 

Katie: Well, then there’s that, you know. That was about the example but regardless, I don’t see a lot of heroes having that authority. I mean, come on. We had Iron Man who was just everybody knew him before he was Iron Man, let alone the fact he made a spectacle of himself. Then the soldier that was in the ice for 70 years? Yeah, we know him. And the god from space? Yeah. Like everybody was going to follow them, they were very natural leaders because they had quite the resume. And I’m not saying Peter doesn’t. I’m not saying a lot of other Avengers don’t. But Strange was the Sorcerer Supreme and only lost it because he was sort of dead for five years and even then, I mean, he holds a lot of power. He’s a very respected individual. And anybody who kind of has crossed his path, you can tell that’s how they feel about him. If, you know, a magical wizard showed up at my door, yeah, I’d follow him. If he told me I had to, I’d be like, don’t worry, my guy, I’m with you. Take me wherever we have to go.

Taylor: Yeah. No, totally. I’m with you on the magical wizard train.

Katie: And now you know how to abduct us.

Taylor: Why would you point that out, Katelyn, gosh. Anyway. That is the legendary Star-Lord Easter egg, which I think arguably is the biggest and the most important of all of them that we haven’t already talked about. I think just quickly before we get into the last one, Katie and I were mentioning this before we got on the call or before we started recording that really it’s Phylla who’s kind of the biggie, right? Her character is going to be massive. She’s going to be very powerful. And she is probably going to be a big player whenever that time jump happens and we see her at her full adult strength. This one is definitely number two for me in terms of hints towards the future and potential for new storylines coming out of this very much era ending film. So that’s why we want to spend quite a bit of time on this one because it is super, super important, and Legendary Star-Lord is something to keep an eye out for in future slates as we had this ComicCon or next year’s ComicCon whenever it’s announced, because I think there’s something there, whether it’s a special presentation, a solo film, a solo show, it’s got legs, and I think we’re going to see it someday soon.

Katie: Definitely. I couldn’t agree more with that.

Taylor: Amazing. And now into our fifth and final Easter Egg of this show. This one’s a really, really small one. But the High Evolutionary does mention in the film that he created both the Xeronians and the Ani-Men and the Ani-Men were his creations in the comics. So that is very comic-accurate. And then for the Xeronians, they are not actually the High Evolutionary’s creations in the comics, but the reason I want to bring them up is because in the comics they do have a king who fights the Hulk. And now we’ve seen the Bruce is like weirdly comfortable with space travel. We’ve seen that things around the Hulk are starting to grow in ways that they hadn’t for the first really 15 years of his existence, where he was just another member of the Avengers. Now we have his cousin, who’s a Hulk. We have Red Hulk coming down the line. We have his son, we have oh my gosh, what’s the guy from the end of the first movie who’s coming back? He’s-

Katie: Abomination!

Taylor: No. Yes, but no.

Katie: Oh, the Leader.

Taylor: Yes, the Leader. But also Abomination. So a lot of Hulk family people are coming in. That means to me that’s signaling the Hulk is going to be a more present character in his own right and potentially his own franchise, knowing that some of the rights deals that were holding him back from that in the past are coming up and they’re ending and potentially open for Marvel for the taking. So say we have a World War Hulk-type event where we have Bruce out in space. Well, he could meet some Xeronians king and there you go. So this is just something small, but I want everyone to keep it on their radar. As the Hulk family grows, as the Hulk franchise grows for the first time solo-wise since 2008 or 9, this is a potential minor cameo. I don’t think he would be truly an antagonist in the film because he has some way more iconic antagonist to fight, but it could be an interesting cameo. That would then be a really nice callback to this film.

Katie: And I think it would be really nice to take the Hulk franchise somewhere that still connects. I think this is something Taylor and I’ve talked a lot about, not just through the podcast but in our own time with one another, because what else do we do half the time? And it’s really nice when there are small pieces you don’t realize until it happens. And I think this has the potential to really be one of them. Yeah, we’re talking about it now and that just happens to be because we picked up on it and we have a moment to talk about it. But I mean, first off, how many times have we done reaction episodes that for a long time we did not have enough space or time to really hit on a lot of things? And so we didn’t have the platform available to be able to really hit some of the small things versus right now we’re really diving into this. So hopefully this is one of them. But there’s been a lot through even phases one through three. If you go back and watch those, they were like notorious for just one lining something, even if it’s a reference to a movie we already saw or whatever, it was just enough that it really helped bring the universe together. And so I really hope this is kind of one of those.

Taylor: Yeah, no, I agree. I think they haven’t been as prevalent since, you know, we finished End, you know, phase four, I don’t think there was prevalent even in phase five. I think we’ve maybe seen a little bit more of them in the two films we’ve had, but not a ton. So it will be exciting to have even just those little reminders that, hey, you’re in a joint universe and not everything is as disparate as it feels right now. So yeah, let’s get back to bringing some of those in, please, because I would really, really love that.

Katie: And that isn’t to say, of course, that the movies can’t be so separate. I think sometimes I say this, but like everybody complains about everything in general in life. So I’m going to just say this, but it’s not like there aren’t people who complain about this and the other side of the coin at the same time. But there has been a lot of complaints I’ve seen in arguments, you know, not everything needs to tie into the bigger MCU. I agree. I think these one-liners don’t really count. I think it’s one thing to kind of be like, oh, this entire movie had nothing to do with the rest of the MCU or it had everything to do with the whole MCU versus like these little one-liners that just helped string things along. But since we’re kind of on that line, I want to get into the very last part of this episode, which is me just running through any of the small Easter eggs or callbacks that have appeared in this film. And this is a great segway because speaking of a callback to another film, Peter admits to his wrongdoings in Infinity War, which is kind of what I was referencing earlier when I was like, he’s kind of okay now because at least he’s admitted that he single-handedly is just about responsible for everybody getting dusted. So that was a fun little callback. I think that was once again, a really important way to kind of bridge that gap between the Guardians and the Guardians as a part of Avengers and all that. So I think that was a really good one. Another one, this is just a cameo that wouldn’t have been hard to miss was Yondu. Of course, we saw as a cameo that was, in its own way, a little heartbreaking just to see him, but it made a lot of sense with Kraglin and the Arrow. So that was a great little callback to a fallen hero or Mary Poppins, whichever you prefer. And then we and I’m sure this could have been pretty obvious to people, but Mantis’ new little friends, they’re not really that little are the Abelisks. I don’t know if I’m saying that right, but I think I am. And they were the same species as the alien that they’re fighting at the very beginning of Guardians two and actually one of my favorite one-liners that just was thrown out there was, well, they only eat batteries and I was like, of course we know that. We were taught that at the very beginning of the second Guardians. So that was a really cool little reference. Then if you missed this, the Statue of Liberty on Counter-Earth was the High Evolutionary with a monkey. I don’t know if anybody missed that, but if you happen to not look at that time, I thought that was just funny. This next one, it was a really obvious one as far as you should have known it was a reference, but I’m not sure if everybody got what it was to. When Adam Warlock saves Quill. The reference that’s being made is God and Adam. It’s a picture that was painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. It’s a very famous painting, but if you’re not in any way an art nerd or just aware of the art world as much, you might not have actually gotten what it was a reference to. But it was very clear it was a reference. I thought that was just funny, was hilarious, and so well done then. This small, small little one but Drax finally dances after all the movies of saying losers dance like nobody but the losers are dancing. Drax, he finally danced. So that was a big one. This next one very, very obvious: Knowhere, that was from the very first Guardians is also a Celestial head. So that kind of ties into the second movie as well. So that was kind of cool. And then this very, very last one is actually kind of something Taylor was talking about earlier. So in the comics, Peter’s real father is named, we’re going to say J’son and in the movie, his grandfather’s name is actually Jason. And so this is a nice little like nod to the comics of saying, you know, we know who his real father is and we’re just going to kind of bring that out and just, you know, mention this. So I thought that was really cute and a really good way to kind of wrap up everything because I don’t think his name was ever mentioned in the first film, but we kind of got to see it finally here and so that was pretty cool. But yeah, those are a ton of Easter eggs and callbacks that happened and if you missed them, I just told you them. So don’t worry because I got you covered.

Taylor: Well, now that we have talked about our top five Easter eggs, as well as that fabulous speed round that Katie just gave us, we’re going to call it a wrap on this episode as well as all of our coverage relating to the Guardians at this current moment. Katie in just a couple of minutes, will give us the rundown of what to expect coming up. But if you’re looking forward to any of our future coverage and you haven’t already, please, please, please follow on your podcast platform of choice. Also, please check out the blog. There’s all kinds of goodies on there where you can also find our affiliate links if you’re looking to support the show, which we would of course greatly appreciate.

Katie: Make sure you guys are also following us on Twitter at SisAssembledPod and Instagram at SistersAssembled. And as Taylor mentioned, go hit up the blog and our website for all sorts of fun things. Coming up next, is all Secret invasion. Enough to hurt your head, if you want to, because we will be doing our predictions episode and from there will be hitting every episode as they come out. So don’t worry because full coverage is coming and I’m really excited because this is our first show of 2023. So get ready because Secret Invasion is coming. And with that makes you guys keep up with all the content because Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.