‘Captain America: Civil War’ Includes An ‘Arrested Development’ Easter Egg You Probably Missed

The fact that Captain America: Civil War has already grossed over $957 million at the box office means that plenty of you out there have already seen the blockbuster. In fact, some of you have probably already seen Civil War numerous times over.

But there was an Easter Egg inside Captain America: Civil War that most of you probably missed, which doesn’t tease a future Marvel film but actually pays tribute to one of the most popular television shows of all time: Arrested Development.

Want to see the proof? Well, check out this tweet from Janel Drewis, which shows that the famous Arrested Development stair car that the Bluths used to travel around throughout the series were in Captain America: Civil War:

The Russo brothers, who directed Civil War, also directed a few eps of Arrested Development so pic.twitter.com/lj0EYCfenG

— Janel Drewis (@the_jan_man) May 17, 2016

But how and why did this reference to Arrested Development, which ran on Fox for just three seasons between 2003 and 2006, only to return on Netflix in 2013 for a further season, fit into Captain America: Civil War?

Well, we have directors Joe and Anthony Russo to thank for deciding to include this delightful Arrested Development Easter Egg in the film. Together the sibling filmmakers oversaw 14 episodes of the comedy, including the “Pilot,” and they were even awarded an Emmy for their work on this episode.

After working on Arrested Development, the brothers continued to oversee numerous episodes of other television programs, including Community, Happy Endings, and Up All Night. At the same time they delved into cinema, too, writing and directing Welcome To Collinwood and directing You, Me And Dupree. But it was their work on Community that struck a chord with Marvel Studios though, and the pair were able to convince them to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

This success of the 2014 blockbuster proved to Marvel Studios that the duo were the perfect filmmakers for the studio, which they have now reinforced with Captain America: Civil War, and they will try to top in the future with 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 and 2019’s Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2.

During a recent interview with Empire Online, the pair spoke about their need to constantly reinvent the superhero genre, something that they’re very aware they need to do, and that they tried to do with Captain America: Civil War.

Anthony Russo explained to the publication, “We were saying to ourselves, the genre – and perhaps the MCU – has gotten to a point where the audience are sensing the patterns in the genre. Joe and I have always been about: how do we subvert genre?”

Meanwhile, during the same interview the Brothers also talked about one of the biggest influences on Captain America: Civil War — The Empire Strikes Back. In fact, the fifth episode of the Star Wars saga is even mentioned during Civil War‘s epic fight sequence that sees the Avengers finally going toe to toe against each other after picking their sides in Captain America and Iron Man’s dispute.

This weekend, see why #CaptainAmericaCivilWar is the #1 movie in the world. Get tickets now: https://t.co/2Ei6cbmucGhttps://t.co/mFwQ7SHG6D

— Captain America (@CaptainAmerica) May 13, 2016

Spider-Man brings down Giant Ant-Man by tripping him up with his web, with the 15-year-old Peter Parker describing the blockbuster as a “really old movie.”

Speaking about the importance of Empire Strikes Back on their careers, Joe explained, “I sat in the theatre when I was 10 years old and watched Empire Strikes Back six times in a row. It’s a seminal moment in our cinematic upbringing.” No doubt some young moviegoers have done exactly the same with Captain America: Civil War.

[Image via Marvel Studios]