Warning: this article contains a minor spoiler that you might not even catch when you see Avengers: Infinity War. Read on at your own risk.
Okay, so given that we last saw the Aether in the collection of Tivan (Benicio Del Toro), and it was established as one of the Infinity Stones in Age of Ultron, it’s shouldn’t be plot-ruining to say the Collector and his massive haul appear in Infinity War. And as before, with great collections come great easter eggs. In a junket interview with Radio Times, the Russo brothers confirmed that there will be hidden things to catch (skip to around the 2:32 mark for this item), and that Arrested Development fans might be especially pleased:
Was it a banana stand, perhaps?
[Ron Howard voice] “It wasn’t.”
No, like Howard the Duck, this reference is apparently an actual character, and it had to be one worthy of a cigar-chomping duck who previously starred in one of the most punchline-worthy movies of all time. Who could possibly stand alongside such a hero on the writ-large version of an action figure shelf that spans the galaxy?
OF COURSE it’s the blue guy. Tivan probably thought he was a Kree. As sussed by Redditors a few months back from some early footage, Tobias Funke (David Cross, though it may or may not actually be him in Infinity War), the analyst/therapist who hybridizes those two words in a manner inappropriate for reprinting here, is sitting in a glass case behind Gamora in one shot. The Russos directed a handful of Arrested Development episodes, so it’s a double in-joke.
Tivan is indeed going to need some therapy, but like everyone, we question Tobias’ track record.
Did you catch Tobias onscreen? Did you see anything else that might have been hidden in there? Comment below and let us know.
Images: Marvel Studios, Imagine Television
Avengers ad infinitum:
- Where does Infinity War fit in the timeline?
- The Avengers cast sing their own Brady Bunch theme.
- Does the movie live up to the hype?
