The Avengers 2

Though Joss Whedon recently said not to expect many Avengers 2 easter eggs, there are still some things in Age of Ultron that eagle-eyed Marvel fans will notice if they're paying attention. We've compiled a list of all the easter eggs we noticed after our second screening of the film. Is there anything you noticed that we missed? Drop it in the comments below and we'll add it!

Just before filming began on Avengers: Age of Ultron, Scarlett Johansson found out she was pregnant. A movie like Avengers can't just be delayed, so Marvel used a variety of tricks to hide the pregnancy including shooting her from the waist up, using three stunt doubles and CGI-ing out her growing belly. This is just one of the facts packed into the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies, which follows the latest adventures of Earth's Mightiest Heroes!

The superheroes at the center of Avengers: Age of Ultron resonate so strongly with so many people because they’re so deeply entrenched in popular culture. Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk were around for years before Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo were even born. These aren’t just characters – they’re icons. And while serious comic book nerds know how much Earth’s mightiest heroes have changed with the times, taking a look back at what the likes of Black Widow and Hawkeye and the Vision used to look like is both entertaining and (dare we say it?) educational.

If Marvel won’t listen to the rest of us, then maybe they’ll listen to a valuable person on their payroll. Recently, we learned that Marvel and Disney’s officially-licensed Avengers: Age of Ultron merchandise featured very, very little in the way of Black Widow (options include a shopping bag), and absolutely no Scarlet Witch merchandise at all. Apparently fans weren’t the only ones bothered by this, as Avengers star Mark Ruffalo also has something to say about it. Hey Marvel, you don’t want to make him angry. You won’t like him when he’s angry.

At some point, we’re not sure when, Sesame Street stopped being a low-key educational children’s program and started being an educational children’s program that finds time to create internet-friendly parodies of whatever pop culture event is huge in a given week. So yeah, of course the show has made an Avengers-themed sketch and of course it’s called The Aveggies: Age of Bon Bon and of course it recasts Cookie Monster as the Hulk.

Just in time for the arrival of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel is teaming up with Adidas for a line of new, superhero-inspired sneakers. Most prominently, the collaboration has yielded a pair of Quicksilver kicks to celebrate the introduction of the new character, although the color of Quicksilver’s sneakers makes them look like they might belong to Bruce Banner.

Marvel has long included Easter eggs in their films, referencing other superheroes and properties in the MCU throughout its current run with Disney. But there’s another Disney property that’s been acknowledged in the MCU: Star Wars. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige reveals that they’ve used the same Star Wars Easter egg in each and every one of their Phase Two films, although you probably didn’t notice it.

There’s a lot to like about Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the coolest thing about it is the way it reclaims the comic book part of the phrase “comic-book movie.” Rather than using these characters to do something “edgy” or “adult” or “important,” or sanding down their quirkier edges to appeal to as broad and mainstream an audience as possible, Age of Ultron doubles down on its source material’s geeky origins.

The moment Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was announced, fans wondered if any Avengers might pop in on Coulson’s new adventures. Recent rumors suggested Netflix’s Defenders might instead cross over to celluloid in Avengers: Infinity War, but a new report offers surprising insight on which MCU TV characters may make the leap, and what it would take to see Avengers on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

If The Avengers feel like one big, slightly dysfunctional family, it's because they are. And that applies to off-screen as well as on. Playing off that chemistry, the cast of Avengers: Age of Ultron — Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner — appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night and played a rousing game of Family Feud.