Agents Of SHIELD: 20 Easter Eggs And In-Jokes You Probably Missed
14. "Journey Into Mystery"
There have been plenty of famous Marvel quotes and comic references plonked into the first season, with some of the more famous ones being awkwardly shoehorned into dialogue and the less iconic plugs passing many viewers by, hidden in relatively innocuous lines (usually spoken by Fitz/Simmons, as theyre clearly the nerd audiences surrogate in terms of oblique references and crippled social abilities). Occasionally, however, the writers decide to put a reference that more or less no comic-illiterate viewers would get in a line or two that has no real purpose other than the fact that its an easter egg, confusing and embarrassing in equal measure. The earliest (and possibly most ostentatious) of these appears in the pilot, when Simmons mentions to Skye that shell be joining them on their journey into mystery, something that no scientist has ever said outside of a comic convention or a sci-fi themed bar and thus sticks out like a sore thumb as something of a desperate attempt from the shows makers to remind the audience that theyre watching a show born of a cultural phenomenon that, until recently, used to be way more niche. Simmons strained delivery of the line doesnt help matters much. For those not in the know, Journey Into Mystery was no prizes for guessing this one Marvels mystery comic up until Thor joined the book, which retained its title until it became a titular vehicle for the Norse hunk. The title was recently resurrected (confounding numbering and all) by writer Kieron Gillen and focused on a reborn Loki trying to do good. It developed a huge cult following right up until Gillen left the book last year, at which point it switched focus to having Sif as its lead character and was promptly cancelled.
