A Shawshank Redemption Nod
During the Hearts of Stone side quest The Drakenborg Redemption, a letter mentions a hidden stash and a promise to reunite with whoever left it there, a pretty clear wink at the setup from The Shawshank Redemption.
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Ryder's Voice Actor Was a West Coast Rap Legend
MC Eiht, frontman of Compton's Most Wanted, lent his voice to Ryder, the unpredictable Grove Street member who ends up betraying the crew. Fittingly, Ryder's look is widely thought to be inspired by the late Eazy-E.
Hulk Nearly Flew the Quinjet Into Space
An earlier version of the ending had the Hulk piloting the Quinjet off into space rather than just wandering off on his own. Marvel apparently nixed it because they didn't want fans reading it as a setup for a Planet Hulk adaptation, which is a bit funny given where his story eventually did go years later.
Blow Open the Warden's Secret Office
Once you've got the Explosive Gel and made your way to the Arkham Mansion, there's a specific wall in Warden Sharp's office that can be blown open. Inside is a hidden room stuffed with blueprints for a walled-off section of North Gotham, complete with Sharp's official stamp - basically a sneak peek at Arkham City a full game before it existed.
FDR's D-Day Prayer Opens the Game
The D-Day mission actually opens with a real excerpt from Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous D-Day Prayer speech playing over black-and-white footage before the fighting even starts. It's a proper gut-punch of an intro for a game that gets a lot bleaker before the credits roll.
A Secret That Went Unnoticed for Seven Years
Years after release, players including Pariah87 and goldenplaysterraria stumbled on a spider-web symbol carved into a telegraph pole that nobody had ever documented before. It went viral in the community all over again, and even with plenty of digging, nobody has managed to fully explain what it's actually referencing.
The Ten Hour War for Ahn'Qiraj
Opening the gates to Ahn'Qiraj wasn't a patch you just installed, it was a server-wide event. Both factions had to hoard war supplies, one elite guild had to rebuild a legendary scepter, and once the gong was finally rung a ten-hour battle kicked off at the Scarab Wall. The first server to finish the whole thing was Medivh, on January 23, 2006.
Vergil Isn't Just a Random Name
The AI subroutine that watches over Sadie throughout her half of the story is called Vergil, and that's a direct pull from Dante's Inferno, where the poet Virgil guides Dante through the circles of hell. In Sadie's Story, Vergil plays much the same role, steering Sadie and Mike (and eventually the Rookie) through a New Mombasa that's very deliberately structured like Dante's descent.
Kratos Recast Because Of His Height
Terrence 'T.C.' Carson had voiced Kratos since 2005, but he wasn't tall enough for the full-body motion capture this game needed. That's the reason Christopher Judge, best known as Teal'c from Stargate SG-1, ended up taking over the role.
Franclorn Forgewright Built the City He Now Haunts
Before he was a ghost handing out quests in Blackrock Mountain, Franclorn Forgewright was the celebrated Dark Iron architect responsible for the Stonewrought Dam and much of Blackrock Depths itself. He watched Ragnaros's corruption spread through his own people and, believing he had no other choice, stood by as the very city he'd designed became a prison for his kind.