12 Fiendishly Clever Comic Book Movie In-Jokes You Probably Missed

2. The Winter Soldier Foresight

There's a big jokey Easter Egg in the first Captain America movie that actually hinted way back then of the direction that the forthcoming sequel would take. Just before he supposedly bites the big one in The First Avengers, there's a scene in which Bucky picks up Captain America's shield and attempts to use it.

This not only nods forward towards Bucky's "rebirth" as the Winter Soldier in the comic book timeline, and now the movies, it also references Bucky's time as Captain America's replacement, after Cap is assassinated by Cross Bones and Dr Faustus at the culmination of the Civil War event.

Cap leaves instructions for Bucky to take over, and the comic book continued to be released with the sidekick promoted to centre-stage before Cap returned from "death" in Captain America Reborn, thanks to the frankly ridiculous "time and space travel gun" plot device that made precisely no sense.

It feels a little less like a fan-service in-joke now, since Bucky will return as the Winter Soldier in the soon-to-be-released sequel, but at the time, that's exactly what the brief moment felt like.