The love for the cult TV seriesArrested Developmentruns deep, andAvengers: Infinity Wardirectors the Russo Brothers have a pretty special relationship with the show. The brothers directed the very first episode ofArrested Developmentwith Anthony Russo directing four more episodes and Joe Russo directing an additional nine episodes. As it turns out, the duo has been peppering the MCU with someArrested Developmentspices, starting withCaptain America: Civil Warand now there’s a new reference to the show in the upcoming, highly anticipatedAvengers: Infinity War.
Late last week, images and unfinished footage fromInfinity Warwere leaked on to the web as a threat to Marvel to release the long-awaited trailer. Many assumed that the footage was all from the then upcoming trailer, but that is not the case as only a few of the shots ended up in the finished clip. Many were disappointed that the leaked footage lacked acertain purple villain, butArrested Developmentfans were treated to a blue surprise instead, which did not end up in the trailer and instead focused on the purple Thanos guy who is kind of a big deal inInfinity War.
Eagle-eyedArrested Developmentfans noticed a blue man in tiny cut-off jean shorts as an item in The Collector’s museum.Tobias Funkeis seen in the background of a shot that features Zoe Saldana as the focus, but when the clip is freeze-framed, Tobias Fünke steals the shot. It doesn’t look like it’s actually comedian David Cross who famously played the mustached never-nude, Blue Man Group rejected, first ever Analrapist, Tobias Fünke, but it’s definitely his likeness and it’s really hard to miss. This Easter Egg is a lot bolder than the last one that the Russo Brothers snuck intoCaptain America: Civil War.
There’s a scene inCivil Warthat featuresAnt-ManandCaptain Americaand the world- famousBluth family stair-carin the background of its big airport fight scene. The Bluth Company’s logo isn’t seen in the movie, but the red, white, and blue paint job on the personal stairway vehicle is very obvious. It’s just a shame it didn’t get used during the big fight, even if a vehicle that takes a full minute of standing on the gas pedal to get up to top speed isn’t all that practical for a rapid, successful escape.
TheRusso Brothershave come a long way since directing episodes ofArrested Development, but they have not forgotten their roots. In many ways, working on a big ensemble show likeArrested Developmentwith such diverse characters including Gob and Tobias Fünke, really helped prepare the directing duo for the massiveAvengers: Infinity War, which some might say is just one longArrested Developmentepisode, but with superhero weirdos as opposed to the regular weirdos on the comedy sitcom. You can check out the image in question below, courtesy ofFun with Guru’s Twitteraccount and see Tobias Fünke’s introduction into the MCU.
