{"slug":"avengers-endgame","type":"movie","title":"Avengers: Endgame","year":2019,"releaseDate":null,"franchise":"mcu","genres":["Adventure","Science Fiction","Action"],"creators":["Anthony Russo","Joe Russo"],"url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame","hook":"Three hours of goodbyes hide a second film underneath — storage unit 616, a de-aged Stan Lee, and a credits sting that ends the Infinity Saga exactly where it began.","intro":"A movie whose plot is literally revisiting old Marvel movies was always going to be wall-to-wall with callbacks — but *Avengers: Endgame* goes further than the time heist requires. The Russo brothers seeded the frame with farewells: Thanos creator **Jim Starlin** sits quietly in Captain America's support group, a de-aged **Stan Lee** takes his final drive past Camp Lehigh, and the last sound of the entire Infinity Saga is Tony Stark hammering out the Mark I in a cave in 2008.\n\nSome of these landed opening weekend, like Cap finally saying the words fans waited eleven years to hear. Others — the storage unit numbered **616**, Howard the Duck packing a machine gun in the final battle — took frame-by-frame hunts, and a few only surfaced because journalists asked the directors directly. The Russos have even gone on record saying there are still \"important\" eggs nobody has found.\n\nEverything below is documented, not guessed: where to look, how hard each one is to catch, and whether the filmmakers have confirmed it on the record.","identifiers":{"tmdbId":299534,"tmdbUrl":"https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/299534","imdbId":"tt4154796","imdbUrl":"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154796/"},"counts":{"eggs":19,"confirmed":14,"community":5,"theory":0,"sources":31},"postCredits":{"status":"no","verdict":"No — Avengers: Endgame has no post-credit scene.","scenes":0,"description":"There is no filmed post-credits scene — a first for an Avengers movie. Stay anyway: the very end of the credits carries an audio sting, the clang of Tony Stark hammering out the original Mark I armor from 2008's Iron Man. Disney confirmed the sound's origin, making it a deliberate full-circle farewell to the film that launched the MCU.","detail":"No — *Avengers: Endgame* has no post-credits scene, and it remains the only Marvel Studios film to end without one. Nothing interrupts the crawl and nothing is filmed after the last card.\n\nThe credits are worth sitting through anyway, and they are long: the story proper ends at 2:48:56 of a 3:00:57 runtime, so you are looking at roughly twelve minutes of scroll. The opening stretch is where the farewell actually lives. Each of the original six Avengers gets a solo title card built by the design studio Perception — the actor front and centre, eleven years of their own footage projected across them, and their real handwritten signature drawn on screen as Alan Silvestri's theme swells. It is the only time the MCU has treated its cast like a curtain call, and walking out when the lights come up costs you the most emotionally loaded three minutes in the back half of the film.\n\nThen, once every last name has cleared, one sound. A hammer striking metal in the dark, a handful of blows, then silence. Disney confirmed it as Tony Stark beating out the Mark I faceplate in a cave in 2008 — audio lifted from *Iron Man* and stripped of Ramin Djawadi's underscore so that nothing is left but the metalwork. The saga closes on the noise that opened it.\n\nWhat it sets up is deliberately nothing. Marvel had spent eleven years using the stinger as a delivery system — Fury in Tony's living room, the shawarma, Thanos smirking in the dark — and *Endgame* withholds it because a tease would have undercut a funeral. The next move was handled elsewhere: *Spider-Man: Far From Home* arrived roughly two months later and carried the two credits scenes this film refused, including the one that actually reset the status quo. So you can leave when the hammering stops. Just don't leave before the signatures.","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame/post-credits"},"eggs":[{"id":"storage-unit-616","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-storage-unit-616","title":"Scott escapes the Quantum Realm through storage unit 616","description":"Scott Lang stumbles out of a storage unit stamped **616** — the designation of Earth-616, the primary Marvel Comics universe. A rat scampering across the controls of the quantum tunnel in Luis' van is what spits him back into reality. It's a quiet claim that the MCU considers itself the 'main' continuity, and a one-frame wink that landed a year before *Spider-Man: Far From Home* said 'Earth-616' out loud.","scene":"The San Francisco storage facility — the unit number is visible as Scott staggers out of the van","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["visual","reference"],"difficulty":3,"difficultyName":"Freeze Frame","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"GeekTyrant — Endgame's nod to Marvel's 616 universe","url":"https://geektyrant.com/news/avengers-endgame-featured-a-fun-nod-to-marvels-616-universe"},{"label":"ComicBook.com — Endgame's clever nod to the Marvel 616 universe","url":"https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/avengers-endgame-marvel-comics-616-ant-man/"}],"motifs":["blink-and-miss-signage"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"community-cameos","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-community-cameos","title":"The Community cameos: Ken Jeong and Yvette Nicole Brown","description":"Two *Community* alumni hide in Endgame: **Ken Jeong** as the storage-facility security guard and **Yvette Nicole Brown** as a 1970s S.H.I.E.L.D. employee. Before Marvel, the Russos directed *Community*, and they smuggle former cast members into every MCU film they make. Jeong (Chang) is the guard who finds a bewildered Scott Lang; Brown (Shirley) eyes time-traveling Cap and Tony suspiciously at Camp Lehigh. The tradition started with Danny Pudi in *The Winter Soldier* and Jim Rash in *Civil War*.","scene":"Jeong: the storage facility after Scott's return. Brown: the Camp Lehigh corridors in 1970","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","meta"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"TheWrap — Endgame has two special cameos for Community fans","url":"https://www.thewrap.com/avengers-endgame-has-two-special-cameos-for-community-fans/"},{"label":"ScreenRant — Why Endgame and the MCU have so many Community cameos","url":"https://screenrant.com/avengers-endgame-community-cameos-explained-ken-jeong/"}],"motifs":["casting-in-joke"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"jim-starlin-support-group","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-jim-starlin-support-group","title":"Thanos' creator sits in Cap's support group","description":"Thanos' creator, comics writer-artist **Jim Starlin**, sits in Steve's Brooklyn support group as the first man to describe life after the Snap. Starlin created Thanos in 1973, along with the Infinity Gauntlet saga the whole two-film arc adapts. The Russos arranged the cameo after Starlin posted about *Infinity Gauntlet* on Facebook, replying \"We've got your close up ready, Mr. Starlin.\" So the man quietly processing the Snap's grief is the person who invented the villain who snapped. He's credited as a support group member, and later said of the film: \"My firstborn leaves the nest to wreck havoc on the heavens.\"","scene":"The support group scene, roughly 20 minutes in — the older man who speaks first about his loss","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","meta"],"difficulty":5,"difficultyName":"White Whale","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ComicBook.com — Jim Starlin reveals his Avengers: Endgame cameo","url":"https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/avengers-endgame-jim-starlin-cameo-thanos-creator/"},{"label":"Nerdist — Endgame's big comic book creator cameo","url":"https://nerdist.com/article/avengers-endgame-cameo-jim-starlin/"}],"motifs":["cameo-by-source-creator"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"joe-russo-grieving-man","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-joe-russo-grieving-man","title":"Co-director Joe Russo plays the MCU's first openly gay character","description":"Co-director **Joe Russo** plays the MCU's first openly gay character, credited as \"Grieving Man\" in Steve's support group. He is the man who describes crying through a first date since the Snap — his date crying too, over his own losses. Russo told Deadline the choice was deliberate: \"We felt it was important that one of us play him, to ensure the integrity and show it is so important to the filmmakers that one of us is representing that.\"","scene":"The support group scene — the man sitting near Steve who talks about his first date since the Snap","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","trivia"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Deadline — Russos discuss Endgame's first openly gay Marvel character","url":"https://deadline.com/2019/04/avengers-endgame-marvel-first-openly-gay-character-directors-joe-russo-anthony-russo-discuss-1202601583/"}],"motifs":["director-cameo"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"ronin-tattoo","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-ronin-tattoo","title":"Clint's Ronin tattoo","description":"Clint Barton carries a large **Ronin** tattoo on his left arm, the sleeve marking his transformation from Avenger to vigilante. It is visible when Natasha finds him cutting down cartel members in Tokyo. Ronin is a comics identity with real pedigree: it was introduced by Maya Lopez (Echo) in *New Avengers* before Clint Barton himself adopted it after the *Civil War* comics event, making the Endgame arc a faithful lift. The katana, the hood, and the darker suit all come from the same comics run.","scene":"The Tokyo alleyway sequence — visible on Clint's exposed left arm","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["visual","reference"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — Every easter egg & Marvel reference in Endgame","url":"https://screenrant.com/avengers-endgame-easter-eggs-hidden-references/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"i-love-you-3000","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-i-love-you-3000","title":"\"I love you 3000\" came from Robert Downey Jr.'s own kids","description":"\"I love you 3000\" came from Robert Downey Jr.'s own son, not the screenplay — Morgan's bedtime line was scripted as \"I love you tons.\" Downey told the Russos that one of his sons — Exton, then around eight — actually said \"I love you 3000,\" and screenwriter Stephen McFeely confirmed they rewrote the exchange to match. Downey later explained the logic: before kids can quantify love, \"they just think of the biggest number they know.\" The popular fan theory that 3000 equals the combined runtime of the Infinity Saga is charming math, but the on-record origin is Downey's family.","scene":"Tony tucking Morgan into bed at the lake house — and echoed in his recorded farewell","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["trivia"],"difficulty":5,"difficultyName":"White Whale","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"CBR — The real origin of 'I love you 3000'","url":"https://www.cbr.com/i-love-you-3000-origin-avengers-endgame/"},{"label":"CinemaBlend — How Endgame came up with Tony Stark's 'I love you 3000'","url":"https://www.cinemablend.com/superheroes/marvel-cinematic-universe/story-behind-how-avengers-endgame-came-up-with-tony-stark-i-love-you-3000-line"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"time-travel-movie-roll-call","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-time-travel-movie-roll-call","title":"The time-travel movie roll call (and why Back to the Future gets trashed)","description":"Rhodey and Scott rattle off eight time-travel movies while planning the heist, and then Hulk dismisses the whole genre. The roll call runs *Star Trek*, *Terminator*, *Time Cop*, *Time After Time*, *Quantum Leap*, *Somewhere in Time*, *Hot Tub Time Machine*, and *Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure*. The writers consulted a quantum physicist who told them Back to the Future-style time travel is, verbatim, \"bullsh*t,\" and they handed the word straight to Scott Lang. Bonus paradox: Sebastian Stan actually starred in *Hot Tub Time Machine*, meaning the Winter Soldier's face exists in a movie inside the MCU.","scene":"The Avengers compound briefing where the team works out the rules of the time heist","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference","meta"],"difficulty":1,"difficultyName":"Plain Sight","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ComicBook.com — Physicist told Endgame writers BTTF time travel is wrong","url":"https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/avengers-endgame-writers-time-travel-back-to-the-future-quantum-physicist-bullshit/"},{"label":"Nerdist — How Endgame's movie references explain its plot","url":"https://nerdist.com/article/avengers-endgames-movie-references/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":"back-to-the-future","referencesWork":null},{"id":"hail-hydra-elevator","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-hail-hydra-elevator","title":"\"Hail Hydra\" — the elevator fight that never happens","description":"Cap whispers **\"Hail Hydra\"** to a lift full of undercover Hydra agents and walks out with Loki's scepter without throwing a punch. The 2012 Stark Tower elevator is packed with Sitwell, Rumlow and the exact setup of *The Winter Soldier*'s legendary elevator brawl. It's a double reference: a con built on his own future movie, and a nod to Nick Spencer's controversial 2016 *Secret Empire* comics run, in which Captain America said those words as a Hydra sleeper agent. Writers Markus and McFeely have said the beat was originally set at the Triskelion before they moved it to Stark Tower.","scene":"The 2012 Battle of New York sequence — the Stark Tower elevator","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["callback","reference"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":true,"sources":[{"label":"Fandango — Endgame writers break down the movie's biggest moments","url":"https://www.fandango.com/movie-news/exclusive-interview-the-avengers-endgame-writers-break-down-the-biggest-moments-in-the-movie-spoilers-753736"},{"label":"Variety — Endgame writers answer all your Marvel questions","url":"https://variety.com/2019/film/features/avengers-endgame-answers-spoilers-captain-america-women-1203211392/"}],"motifs":["quoted-line-homage","restaged-famous-shot"],"referencesSlug":"the-avengers","referencesWork":null},{"id":"loki-tesseract-escape","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-loki-tesseract-escape","title":"Loki's Tesseract escape secretly launches a TV series","description":"Loki snatching the Tesseract and vanishing in 2012 is the moment that launches the *Loki* television series. It happens when Hulk crashes out of the stairwell and 2012 Tony fumbles the Tesseract case — a loose thread the film never resolves. It wasn't an oversight: Marvel confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con that this exact moment is the jumping-off point for the show, where the Time Variance Authority arrests that unreformed variant for breaking reality. Endgame quietly seeded an entire Disney+ series in a ten-second beat.","scene":"The 2012 Stark Tower lobby, immediately after Hulk bursts out of the stairwell","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["foreshadowing","trivia"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":true,"sources":[{"label":"TheWrap — What happened with Loki and the Tesseract in Endgame","url":"https://www.thewrap.com/avengers-endgame-where-loki-go-with-the-tesseract-space-stone-time-new-york-2012-disney-plus-show/"},{"label":"TIME — Loki and time travel in the MCU","url":"https://time.com/6052097/loki-time-travel/"}],"motifs":["sequel-tease"],"referencesSlug":"loki","referencesWork":null},{"id":"stan-lee-final-cameo","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-stan-lee-final-cameo","title":"Stan Lee's final cameo, built from a real 1970s photo","description":"**Stan Lee**'s final MCU cameo has him digitally de-aged roughly 45 years, speeding past Camp Lehigh in 1970 shouting \"Hey man, make love, not war!\" Cap and Tony are infiltrating the base as he drives by. The bumper sticker reads **'Nuff said**, one of Lee's signature catchphrases from his Marvel Bullpen days. The look wasn't invented: the hair, shades, and outfit were modeled on a famous real photograph of Lee from the seventies. He filmed the cameo before his death in November 2018.","scene":"Camp Lehigh, 1970 — the car driving past the front gate as Cap and Tony walk in","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","trivia"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ComicBook.com — Stan Lee's final cameo was based on a famous seventies photo","url":"https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/avengers-endgame-stan-lee-final-cameo-inspired-famous-1970s-photo/"},{"label":"Yahoo Entertainment — Endgame easter eggs explained, including Stan Lee's final cameo","url":"https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/avengers-endgame-easter-eggs-explained-from-back-to-the-future-to-stan-lees-final-cameo-215012065.html"}],"motifs":["stan-lee-cameo"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"jarvis-agent-carter-crossover","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-jarvis-agent-carter-crossover","title":"Howard Stark's driver is Jarvis — Marvel TV's first jump to film","description":"Howard Stark's chauffeur in 1970 is **Edwin Jarvis**, played by James D'Arcy reprising his role from ABC's *Agent Carter*. It was the first time an actor from a Marvel television series crossed over into an MCU film. It's a layered egg: Jarvis was the flesh-and-blood butler whose name Tony would later give to his AI, J.A.R.V.I.S., which in turn became Vision. For two seasons of a cancelled show to get canonized in the biggest movie ever made was a genuine deep-cut gift to Agent Carter fans.","scene":"Camp Lehigh, 1970 — Howard Stark's car, as Tony says goodbye to his father","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","reference"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Yahoo Entertainment — Endgame easter eggs explained","url":"https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/avengers-endgame-easter-eggs-explained-from-back-to-the-future-to-stan-lees-final-cameo-215012065.html"},{"label":"ScreenRant — Every easter egg & Marvel reference in Endgame","url":"https://screenrant.com/avengers-endgame-easter-eggs-hidden-references/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"cap-lifts-mjolnir","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-cap-lifts-mjolnir","title":"\"I knew it!\" — Cap was always worthy of Mjolnir","description":"Thor's delighted **\"I knew it!\"** when Mjolnir flies into Steve's hand pays off the *Age of Ultron* party scene, where Steve was the only Avenger to budge the hammer. The Russos settled the long-running fan debate on the record: per Anthony Russo, \"In our heads, he was able to wield it\" — Cap realized he could lift it back in 2015 and chose not to, out of humility and deference to Thor's ego. The whole arc is also a nod to the comics, where Cap has hoisted Mjolnir in stories like *Fear Itself*.","scene":"The final battle — Thanos pinning Thor, seconds before the hammer changes course","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["callback","foreshadowing"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":true,"sources":[{"label":"CBR — Endgame directors on why Captain America could wield Mjolnir","url":"https://www.cbr.com/avengers-endgame-captain-america-mjolnir-worthy-thor/"},{"label":"Nerdist — The Russos explain who wields Mjolnir in Endgame","url":"https://nerdist.com/article/avengers-endgame-mjolnir-russo-brothers/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"on-your-left","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-on-your-left","title":"\"On your left\" — recorded in Anthony Mackie's pantry closet","description":"The first voice Steve hears as the portals open is Sam Wilson's **\"On your left\"** — the words Steve used lapping Sam on their first jog in *The Winter Soldier*. Sam threw them back from his hospital bedside in that film too. The production story is stranger than the callback: the line wasn't captured during the shoot, so Joe Russo phoned Anthony Mackie during post-production and had him record it at home — reportedly inside a pantry closet for sound dampening. The MCU's biggest goosebump moment came from next to the cereal.","scene":"The 'portals' sequence — audio only, just before Sam flies out of the first ring","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["callback","trivia"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"community","spoiler":true,"sources":[{"label":"ComicBook.com — Mackie recorded 'on your left' in a pantry closet","url":"https://comicbook.com/movies/news/avengers-endgame-anthony-mackie-on-your-left-line-recorded-home-pantry-closet-mcu-facts/"}],"motifs":["quoted-line-homage"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"avengers-assemble-finally","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-avengers-assemble-finally","title":"\"Avengers... assemble\" — eleven years in the making","description":"Cap's rallying cry before the final charge is the first time the team's classic comics catchphrase is spoken in full across 22 MCU films. It was withheld deliberately: *Age of Ultron* ends with Steve saying \"Avengers...\" and smash-cutting to credits, and Joss Whedon confirmed he never even filmed the rest of the word so the studio couldn't complete it later. That left the payoff sitting on the shelf for the Russos, Markus, and McFeely to cash in at the exact moment every hero in the franchise was finally standing in one shot.","scene":"The final battle — Cap, shield and Mjolnir in hand, as the assembled armies land behind him","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["callback","meta"],"difficulty":1,"difficultyName":"Plain Sight","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia — Avengers assemble scene","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers_assemble_scene"},{"label":"CinemaBlend — Joss Whedon explains Age of Ultron's final line","url":"https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Final-Line-Avengers-Age-Ultron-Explained-By-Joss-Whedon-71295.html"}],"motifs":["quoted-line-homage"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"howard-the-duck-portal","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-howard-the-duck-portal","title":"Howard the Duck joins the final battle with a machine gun","description":"**Howard the Duck** joins the final battle against Thanos, armed with a machine gun. Look to the right of frame as the Ravagers pour through their portal, just as Hope van Dyne steps into view. He wasn't in the script — Joe Russo asked Weta Digital to add him about a month before release, after watching the finished Battle of Earth VFX footage. The Russos also confirmed the canon implication: Howard, last seen in the Collector's museum in *Guardians of the Galaxy*, survived the Snap.","scene":"The 'portals' sequence — right-hand side of frame as the Ravagers arrive with Hope","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","visual"],"difficulty":3,"difficultyName":"Freeze Frame","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — Endgame director explains Howard the Duck's cameo","url":"https://screenrant.com/avengers-endgame-howard-duck-cameo-explained-russo/"},{"label":"CinemaBlend — The story behind Howard the Duck and Endgame","url":"https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2471902/the-story-behind-howard-the-duck-and-avengers-endgame"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":"guardians-of-the-galaxy","referencesWork":null},{"id":"doctor-strange-one-finger","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-doctor-strange-one-finger","title":"Doctor Strange's single raised finger","description":"Mid-battle, Doctor Strange raises **one trembling finger** to Tony — the single winning future out of the 14,000,605 he foresaw on Titan in *Avengers: Infinity War*. No dialogue needed: it tells Tony this is the timeline where they win, and what the price is. It reframes Strange's earlier line — \"If I tell you what happens, it won't happen\" — and turns a tiny hand gesture into the hinge of the entire Infinity Saga.","scene":"The final battle — the wordless exchange between Strange and Tony before Thanos reclaims the gauntlet","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["callback","foreshadowing"],"difficulty":1,"difficultyName":"Plain Sight","verification":"community","spoiler":true,"sources":[{"label":"ComicBook.com — Every Endgame easter egg and reference","url":"https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/all-avengers-endgame-easter-eggs-marvel-movies-comics-iron-man/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":"avengers-infinity-war","referencesWork":null},{"id":"harley-keener-funeral","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-harley-keener-funeral","title":"The mystery teenager at Tony's funeral is the kid from Iron Man 3","description":"The teenager standing alone behind the family at Tony's funeral is **Harley Keener**, the kid from *Iron Man 3*, played again by Ty Simpkins. He is the Tennessee boy who helped a stranded Tony fix his suit. Simpkins has said he kept the cameo — and Tony's death — secret for two years, and that the Russos directed him with a single note: think about what Tony meant to you. It's the quietest confirmation of how far Tony's mentor streak reached, from a garage in Rose Hill to Peter Parker.","scene":"The funeral — the unaccompanied teenager standing behind Pepper, Morgan, and Happy","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","callback"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":true,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — Ty Simpkins details his surprising Endgame cameo","url":"https://screenrant.com/ty-simpkins-avengers-endgame-cameo/"},{"label":"Inverse — Harley Keener's Endgame cameo explained","url":"https://www.inverse.com/article/55314-avengers-endgame-harley-keener-ty-simpkins-cameo-iron-man-tony-stark-spoilers"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"its-been-a-long-long-time","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-its-been-a-long-long-time","title":"Steve and Peggy dance to the song from The Winter Soldier","description":"Steve and Peggy's long-promised dance plays out to **\"It's Been a Long, Long Time,\"** Harry James and Kitty Kallen's 1945 hit. It is the same song spinning on the turntable in Steve's apartment in *Captain America: The Winter Soldier* when he finds Nick Fury waiting in the dark. The choice is a bullseye twice over: it's a song about a soldier finally coming home from World War II, and it had already been established as Steve's private soundtrack for everything he lost. \"Kiss me once, then kiss me twice...\" — the dance he owed her from 1945.","scene":"The final scene — Steve and Peggy's living room dance","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["music","callback"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"community","spoiler":true,"sources":[{"label":"Tunefind — Avengers: Endgame soundtrack","url":"https://www.tunefind.com/movie/avengers-endgame-2019"}],"motifs":["music-cue-callback"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"mark-1-hammer-credits-sting","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame#egg-mark-1-hammer-credits-sting","title":"The clanging at the end of the credits is Tony forging the Mark I","description":"Endgame's credits end with sound, not footage: an unmistakable **clang of hammer on metal**. Disney confirmed it's audio of Tony Stark building his first Iron Man suit in the Afghanistan cave from 2008's *Iron Man* — the film that started the MCU. As a substitute for a traditional post-credits scene, it closes the 22-film Infinity Saga on the literal sound of its own creation, part memorial and part full-circle punctuation mark for the character who built the franchise.","scene":"The very end of the credits — audio only","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["callback","trivia"],"difficulty":5,"difficultyName":"White Whale","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Motion Picture Association — The mysterious sound in the Endgame credits revealed","url":"https://www.motionpictures.org/2019/04/the-mysterious-sound-in-the-avengers-endgame-credits-revealed/"},{"label":"SlashFilm — The Endgame end-credits sound symbolizes an ending and a beginning","url":"https://www.slashfilm.com/566063/endgame-end-credits-sound/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":"iron-man","referencesWork":null}],"faq":[{"question":"How many easter eggs are in Avengers: Endgame?","answer":"We've catalogued 19 substantiated easter eggs and hidden details in Avengers: Endgame, 14 of them confirmed on the record by the directors, writers, or cast. Highlights include Thanos creator Jim Starlin's support-group cameo, the Earth-616 storage unit, Stan Lee's final MCU appearance, and the hammer-clang credits sting. The Russos have said more 'important' eggs remain unfound, so the true count is likely higher."},{"question":"Does Avengers: Endgame have a post-credits scene?","answer":"No — Endgame has zero post-credits scenes, breaking a Marvel Studios tradition. There is a hidden audio sting at the very end of the credits, though: the sound of a hammer striking metal, which Disney confirmed is Tony Stark forging his first Iron Man suit in the cave from 2008's Iron Man. It's a farewell to the character and the film that started the MCU."},{"question":"Why does Captain America say \"Hail Hydra\" in Endgame?","answer":"It's a con, not a conversion. In the 2012 Stark Tower elevator — packed with the same undercover Hydra agents from The Winter Soldier's elevator fight — Cap whispers \"Hail Hydra\" so they'll hand over Loki's scepter without a brawl. The moment also winks at Marvel's controversial 2016 Secret Empire comics story, in which Captain America was revealed as a Hydra sleeper agent."},{"question":"What does \"I love you 3000\" mean in Endgame?","answer":"The line came directly from Robert Downey Jr.'s home life: one of his young sons, Exton, really told him \"I love you 3000,\" and the writers swapped it in for the scripted \"I love you tons.\" Kids pick the biggest number they know before they can quantify love. The fan theory that 3000 matches the Infinity Saga's combined runtime in minutes is fun, but coincidental."},{"question":"Who is the kid at Tony Stark's funeral in Endgame?","answer":"The teenager standing alone behind the family is Harley Keener, the boy from Iron Man 3 who helped Tony repair his suit in a Tennessee garage, played again by Ty Simpkins. The Russos brought him back to show the reach of Tony's mentorship, and Simpkins kept both the cameo and Tony's death secret for roughly two years before release."},{"question":"Is Stan Lee in Avengers: Endgame?","answer":"Yes — it is his final MCU cameo. Digitally de-aged roughly 45 years, Lee speeds past the Camp Lehigh gate in 1970 shouting \"Hey man, make love, not war!\" while Cap and Tony infiltrate the base. His car's bumper sticker reads \"'Nuff said,\" one of his Marvel Bullpen catchphrases, and the hair, shades and outfit were modelled on a real photograph of Lee from the seventies. He filmed it before his death in November 2018."},{"question":"Why can Captain America lift Mjolnir in Endgame?","answer":"Because he always could — the Russos have said so on the record. Anthony Russo's line is \"In our heads, he was able to wield it\": Steve realised he could lift the hammer back at the Age of Ultron party scene, where he was the only Avenger to make it budge, and chose not to out of humility and deference to Thor's ego. That is what Thor's delighted \"I knew it!\" is paying off. In the comics, Cap has hoisted Mjolnir in stories like Fear Itself."},{"question":"What happens to Loki and the Tesseract in Endgame?","answer":"During the 2012 Stark Tower detour, Hulk crashes out of a stairwell, 2012 Tony fumbles the Tesseract case, and a shackled Loki grabs the cube and vanishes — a thread Endgame never resolves. That was intentional: Marvel confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con that this exact moment is the jumping-off point for the Loki series, in which the Time Variance Authority arrests that unreformed variant for breaking reality."}],"publishedAt":"2026-07-08","updatedAt":"2026-08-12","source":{"name":"The Things You Missed","page":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/avengers-endgame","api":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/api/titles/avengers-endgame","methodology":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/about"}}