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Taking over Bruce Banner from Edward Norton wasn't easy for Ruffalo, and he apparently spent the first few weeks of filming feeling seriously insecure about it. Both Whedon and Downey Jr had to keep reassuring him he was the right fit, with Ruffalo later saying Norton had essentially 'bequeathed' the part to him.
Long before it became one of the biggest shows on the planet, Stranger Things was turned down by roughly 15 to 20 different networks and studios. Execs weren't sure what to do with a story mixing kids, adults, sci-fi and horror all at once, and some even suggested reworking it into either a straight-up kids show or an adult mystery centred on Hopper. The Duffers held their ground and kept pitching the version they actually wanted to make.
According to a breakdown from a professional MHA translator, the series' famous motto is basically Horikoshi signing his own name into the story. The 'koshi' in his surname uses the kanji for 'go beyond,' making Plus Ultra a sly bit of wordplay hidden in plain sight.
Alduin, the 'World-Eater' players fight throughout Skyrim's main quest, is a child of Akatosh, the God of Time, whose true purpose is to eventually devour the world so a new one can begin. His war against humanity stems from pride and a refusal to accept that duty rather than pure malice, and after his defeat, Arngeir suggests he may one day return to fulfil it.
In young Marc's childhood bedroom during episode five, there's a poster for Star Wars: A New Hope on the wall. It's a nod both to Marc's room in the original comics and a cheeky wink at Oscar Isaac himself, who of course played Poe Dameron in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Building out the tangled, organic look of the Upside Down for Season 5 took a genuinely absurd amount of materials, roughly 27.3 miles of pool noodles and 81 miles of rope, all turned into around 52 miles of finished tendrils. One crew member reportedly hand-rubbed 70 percent of the noodles themselves just to keep the texture and colour consistent throughout.
Right at the start of Chapter 9, after Nate and Cutter have their scuffle, Cutter mutters something that sounds oddly literary: 'Next you'll be standing behind me with a gun, telling me about the rabbits.' It's a direct nod to Of Mice and Men, dropped in so casually most players run straight past it without clocking the reference.
There's a trophy called Stage Fright that pops up in Chapter 11 if you just stand still for 30 seconds after a certain cutscene. It's Naughty Dog poking fun at themselves, referencing the famously awkward E3 2015 stage demo where the controller froze up mid-presentation.
