6. Loki Is... Captain America?
By far the best and most memorable MCU reference in Thor: The Dark World comes at the movie's mid-point, and is without a doubt one of the funniest (if not the funniest) inter-references to have ever been included in any Marvel movie to date. And it involves a genuine cameo from the one and only Chris Evans, who you'll also know as Captain America. This moment occurs once Thor, in desperate need of his brother's help, frees him from his prison cell in the dungeons of Asgard. Thor needs to travel to the titular Dark World, and only Loki knows the way. As the two brothers begin to characteristically bicker amongst themselves, Loki jokingly suggests that he might take a different physical form in order to better please Thor. After transforming into a couple of Asgardian characters, Loki wonders whether Thor might like him to take on the appearance of one of the Avengers, and promptly turns himself into Captain America. What we get, then, is Chris Evans himself, as Loki does his best impression of what Captain America would say. The word "patriotism" totally comes up. A stroke of genius!