Easter Eggs are the tiny–or not so tiny–clues implanted in movies for perceptive fans to devour and speculate on. Mickey Mouse appears, for instance, in Disney’s Aladdin (1992). Marvel has taken the practice to an all-time high. Mini-cameos like Lou Ferrigno appearing in Hulk. Stan Lee popping up somewhere in every Marvel Cinematic Universe entry. Or, as MTV writes: “Captain America’s shield can be found in the first Iron Man, which at the time seemed like a throwaway, until we realized that Tony Stark’s dad was integral in the hero’s creation.” MTV just produced a video called AWatch As We Explain Every Marvel Easter Egg Ever In One Video. It’s got some virality.
The Easter Egg used to be even more prevalent on records, especially 60s and 70s albums where messages were hidden all over the place–in cover art, when you played it backwards, all over. Albums still play these tricks–from backwards masking of The Beatles (Paul is Dead) to Radiohead. And then there’s when the movie Easter Eggs and the music world combine. Totalfilm.com’ s #3 Clever Movie Easter Egg is in Monty Python’s Life of Brian–one of the bearded extras is Beatle George Harrison. Stan Lee would love it.
