I’m pretty sure the moment you heard those names you weren’t thinking of the intricate drawings in the comic books that breathed life into these peculiar characters, who always seem to have the most obvious names but instead thoughts of powerful CGI and amazing action sequences flooded your minds. Since of late we see an influx of movies made “based on” characters out of cartoons and comic books dominating the box office. The kids who enjoyed these characters have all grown up and you see these twenty-something’s storming the gates release after release.

Some might say that the studios are just trying to make a quick buck by just riding the waves till eventually this fad dies off, pretty much like how all the boy bands and girl bands did in the Pop Music arena during the early 90’s. Amongst all these corporate driven zombies who seem to be churning out one sleazy-money-making-superhero movie after another we saw one studio (Marvel) coming up with something a bit special. First to give you a bit about Marvel (in case you didn’t already know) Marvel is one of two major comic book companies (the other being DC comics) that have dominated and continue to dominate the comic book market. All these years the movies that were screened about comic book characters have been licensed and produced by other studios which in turn meant Marvel got only part of the profits and had little say in the creative aspect of the movie. But in May 2007 under the guidance of a new chairman Marvel decided to produce their own movies out of which the first movie came out a year later. “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey Jr went on to become one of the best movies of the year in 2008.

Now when you watched “Iron Man” (and if you haven’t please stop reading this, and go back to your cave) IF you stayed till the end of the movie, after the credits there was a small bonus scene that didn’t make any sense to most movie goers but left the geeks who really knew their comic book history stunned. Marvel started setting the stage up for what would turn out to be one of the most anticipated movies of all times “The Avengers” through a line-up of movies on individual super heroes that make up the ranks of “The Avengers”, and talk about creating hype. Every movie has little clues or “Easter Eggs” as some would call them. These clues may not seem obvious the first time one watches the movie but later on with the help of “rumors” the media latches on to them and automatically a major hype is created about the next movie lined up and it boosts DVD sales of the movie as well.

Below I will attempt to disseminate and analyze the true meanings and the history behind these little clues (much like an archeologist would with fragments of a fossil) Please note here on I will be switching into geek mode so try to keep up.