After months of teasing and anticipation, Avengers: Endgame has finally dropped, seeing fans rush to midnight screenings around the world to be the first to catch the film. And they weren’t disappointed, with high praise across the board.
But for those who were also fans of directors the Russo Brothers earlier work, the film will hold some extra special moments. Anthony and Joseph Russo were both executive producers on college sitcom Community, and eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed a handful of cameos from the cast in the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe instalment.
Ken Jeong, who played teacher Ben Chang in the sitcom, appears fairly early on the film. In a non-speaking role, he’s appears a security guard who releases Scott Lang (Ant Man) from a storage facility in a San Francisco. Yvette Nicole Brown, who played Shirley Bennett in Community, later appears as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent in an army facility, and notices that Captain America is acting unusually, so reports him.
I AM LIVING FOR THE COMMUNITY CAMEOS IN #AvengersEndgame pic.twitter.com/R73uR3dIJP
— SuperHeroNexus (@SuperHeroNexus) April 26, 2019
Me spotting actors from community doing cameos in #AvengersEndgame pic.twitter.com/cc5YgFbLg0
— Mike Rennison (@MikeRennison) April 25, 2019
One of my favorite moments in #AvengersEndgame had to be the #Community cameos #6SeasonsandaMovie
— Ty (@tylikesmovies) April 26, 2019
But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Community cast members appear in MCU films, with the Russo brothers peppering their additions to the franchise with Easter Eggs.
Danny Pudi, who played Abed Nadir in the sitcom made a brief appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Also directed by the Russo brothers, he played a communications officer for S.H.I.E.L.D, who’s held at gunpoint by Maria Hill and Falcon when he’s the unlucky person who opens the door to them.
And we also saw Jim Rash, who played Dean Pelton, appear in Captain America: Civil War, playing a M.I.T. liaison who speaks to Tony Stark after he’s finished giving a speech at the university.
But these two Endgame cameos could be the last. With the Russo Brothers saying that they’re done with the Marvel Cinematic Universe for now (They told GamesRadar: “It’s our Endgame, at least for now…We don’t have any plans for now to make any more Marvel movies.”), it’s not looking like we’re going to have an Avengers paintball showdown anytime soon.