Since its inception in mid-2021, ‘Marvel’s Phase 4’ (as it’s popularly called) is already 5 movies and 6 series deep. With Kevin Feige helming these projects, this new phase does not shy away from experimenting with new genres and characters. In this new phase, few stories follow the plot of previous films while some chose to introduce new characters. Even then, there are bread-crumbs of easter eggs, references, and callbacks to the previous three phases (now known as – The Infinity Saga). Let’s list some of the best of these callbacks.

10. The Rogers Musical – Hawkeye (2021)

While she was just a child, Kate Bishop was inspired by Hawkeye’s daring jump while shooting an arrow at an ugly alien. Later we see Hawkeye himself watching a hilarious (and catchy) musical of the battle that he was in with his family. Marvel showed the much-loved battle of The Avengers sequence from two different perspectives. And we fans, can’t thank them enough.

9. Loki Laufeyson – Loki (2021)

Loki was never proud of his inheritance. In Thor, he learns that he was not Odin’s real son. Rather, he was the son of Laufey, the King of Jotunheim. The news devastated him. However, in Loki he proudly declares his name as ‘Loki Laufeyson’. Showing clearly that he has now embraced his reality.

8. Abomination’s reappearance – Shang Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings (2021)

Marvel never seemed to acknowledge the events of The Incredible Hulk (except in a short clip shown to Tony Stark in The Avengers). However, a re-designed Abomination appeared in Shang-Chi fighting alongside Wong in Ten Rings’ battle ring. In the coming, Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Tim Roth will return with portrayal of the character.

7. The Red in the Ledger – Black Widow (2021)

Black Widow in The Avengers speaks about ‘The Red in her Ledger’ while interrogating Loki. This was later cleared in one of the flashbacks in Black Widow. Widow had to unwantedly kill Dreykov’s innocent little daughter in one of her missions. Maybe this was the Red in her ledger.

6. The Living Tribunal – Loki (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

First mentioned in Doctor Strange, the Living Tribunal is one of the Marvel universe’s mightiest forces. The penultimate episode of Loki saw his huge severed head in ‘The Void’. He was later shown in a quick shot in Doctor Strange 2. It can also be seen in one of the shots in the trailer of the upcoming Thor-Love and Thunder. Feige clearly has big plans for the big guy.

5. The Ten Rings – Shang Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings (2021)

Marvel first teased the evil organization – Ten Rings, way back in Iron Man. But with Iron Man 3, Marvel received immense fan’s backlash on Mandarin’s gimmicky portrayal. 8 years later, Shang Chi introduces the ‘real’ Mandarin. The movie expanded on the legend of the magical ten rings that Mandarin possessed and also introduced the ruthless organization of the same name.

4. Those Commercials – Wanda Vision (2021)

WandaVision has a clever use of various commercials that appeared in between events of the series. They served as fun nods to a particular character or past Marvel events. Toast Mate 2000 – designed by Stark Industries, Strucker Watch –referring to Baron Strucker who experimented on the Maximoff Twins, Hydra Soak – referring to the evil organization Hydra and Lagos Paper Towels – referring to the unfortunate killings in Lagos because of Wanda, leading to Civil War events.

3. Thanos was right – TFATWS (2021)

TFATWS (The Falcon and The Winter Soldier) series builds on the event of Endgame, where the world is slowly returning to normal after the reappearance of the blipped population. However, there is a portion of people who believed that the world was better without them – that ‘Thanos was right. This led to the creation of rebellions – The Flag Smashers. They were the antagonists to the series and offered a political take to the Marvel series in form of issues like equal rights, democracy, corruption, and communism.

2. Celestials in full glory – Eternals

Quill’s father Ego called himself a Celestial (‘god with a small g’) in GOTG 2. But, the Celestials appeared in their full glory in Eternals. It introduced us to various kinds of these beings (Arishem, Eson, Jemiah, Nezarr, and Hargen in the flashback). It also dived deep into Marvel Celestial’s cosmic lore (their origin and real purpose).

1. Tony Stark’s Dream – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

In Doctor Strange 2, Chavez says to Strange that dreams are gateways to observing other versions of the dreamer in alternative universes. In Avengers: Infinity War, Stark dreamt of his son named Morgan. He convincingly talked about it to Pepper. So maybe, Stark indeed was watching a different universe where he did not die. In it, he lived happily with her wife and son – Morgan. So Stark must have foreseen a male variant of his future daughter in an alternate universe.