Page 18 of 155
Crash Bandicoot's favourite snack makes an appearance too. Search around in Chapter 21 and you'll find a Wumpa Fruit tucked away as a collectible, a cheeky throwback to the game that put Naughty Dog on the map in the first place.
Sam Wilson pops up briefly here, joking that he's busy working "missing persons" cases while Cap handles the actual avenging. It's a low-key tease that he's quietly helping Steve track down Bucky Barnes, a thread that would pay off properly once Captain America: Civil War rolled around.
Nolan North has talked about how Amy Hennig was practically writing the story on the fly during motion capture sessions, shaping lines and scenes based on how the actors' performances were actually landing in the room rather than sticking rigidly to a finished script.
Long before she suited up as Pharah, Fareeha Amari was a kid who was completely obsessed with Overwatch and everything it stood for. It makes her eventual path into the organization feel less like a coincidence and more like something she was working toward her whole life.
That gut-punch opening with Hawkeye's family turning to dust was actually written for Infinity War. It got pulled because the editors felt that film was already jumping between too many characters, so it got saved and used to kick off Endgame instead.
Look closely at the official seal of the City of Los Santos, which appears on the side of every LSPD patrol vehicle, and you'll spot a small illustration of Bigfoot tucked into the bottom right corner, a quiet nod to the series' long-running cryptid mythology.
Co-creator Bryan Konietzko has said the whole idea began with a much older sketch he'd drawn of a balding, middle-aged bald man. He got curious about what that same man might've looked like as a kid, drew him herding a bison, and that image ended up being the seed for Aang and Appa.
In episode 6 of Season 1, the drunk jock that D.A. Sinclair kidnaps is voiced by Justin Roiland, the co-creator and voice of Rick Sanchez himself. It's an easy one to miss since the character barely appears, but the voice is unmistakable once you know to listen for it.
When the Prydwen makes its dramatic entrance over the Commonwealth, Nick Valentine will recite 'Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing...' if he's travelling with you - a line lifted straight from Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. Good bit of atmosphere for a giant airship showing up out of nowhere.
Next time you're playing against a Malphite, watch the ground when he slams down his ultimate. The crack pattern it leaves behind is shaped like Riot Games' own logo, a small piece of studio branding hidden in plain sight that most people run straight past without ever clocking it.
