Avengers: Endgame co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo have said in the past that Back to the Future is one of their favourite films of all time, and while we know there’s reference to the 80s flick in the Marvel film, a fan has found another subtle nod we hadn’t noticed before.
Given the fact that Endgame features time travel, it should come as no surprise that there would be some comparisons to Back to the Future – even Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) says to Smart Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), “So you’re saying Back to the Future is bulls**t?”
The two movies even share the same composer Alan Silvestri.
Now, Reddit user u/malechite has found a much more subtle tribute to the Back to the Future franchise.
The user wrote, “Did anyone else catch this visual reference to Back to the Future: Part II in Avengers: Endgame?”
The reference is in an Endgame scene with Rocket (Bradley Cooper), which is very similar to Back to the Future: Part II when the Jaws 19 hologram “attacks” Marty McFly (Michael J Fox).
Here’s the video:
There’s no doubt it’s an intentional reference.
Back to the Future co-writer Bob Gale spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the references made to his films in Endgame.
Gale said, “I was delighted to learn from Endgame that all of the Marvel superheroes are fans of Back to the Future. I knew our movie had been seen in almost every part of our world, but I had no idea we’d been playing in other parts of the multi-verse too.”
He also joked, “Now I need to find out if we’re owed some money from those multi-verse theatrical runs, and if not, why my contract didn’t cover those territories!”
Speaking with the Los Angeles Times earlier this year, Anthony Russo revealed how difficult it was to present the idea of time travel in a way that hadn’t already been done on screen.
He explained, “Back to the Future is one of our favorite films, and the rules of that movie are ubiquitous; they have informed pop culture for 40 years. And we wanted to do something different.
“We didn’t realize how complicated it would be to create new rules and have people go with us, but we learned very early on in the test screenings that people are really committed to those Back to the Future rules — if you shoot yourself, you should die. We spoke with a few physicists, and there’s a lot of theories about how time travel could work. We chose the multiverse theory.”