'Avengers: Age of Ultron': 12 Pop Culture References You Might Have Missed

‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (Photo: Marvel)

This weekend, Avengers: Age of Ultron smashed the box-office, making it already one of the year’s most successful movies. It’s further proof of just how far Ultron writer-director Joss Whedon has come since the ‘90s, when he was the creator of the beloved Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, a show known for its well-crafted group dynamics, unexpected bursts of mid-catastrophe comedy, and zingy references to movies, TV, and books. If those elements seem familiar to Marvel fans, it’s because Whedon’s brought many of them to the Avengers films — especially those smartly placed one-liners: In Age of Ultron, the characters riff on everything from cartoon characters to highbrow literature to the Bible. Here are 12 pop-culture references we caught in the film; let us know what we missed in the comments below:

1. Bruce Lee
Emblazoned on Tony Stark’s t-shirt in one scene is an image of the late martial arts film star reimagined as a DJ (you can see the shirt above, worn by Robert Downey Jr.).

2. The Roadrunner
We could swear we heard Black Widow say “meep meep!” while riding her motorcycle — surely a nod to the classic Looney Tunes character.

3. Yahtzee
“Once all those pieces are in position - triple Yahtzee,“Stark says at one point. (If that’s not enough, you can actually buy an Ultron-themed Yahtzee.)

4. Archie Comics
The computer that powers the Hulkbuster suit is named after Archie’s on-again, off-again brunette girlfriend, Veronica Lodge. Director Joss Whedon himself has confirmed this.

5. "God Is My Co-Pilot”

(Photo: MrSteiners/deviantart.com)

A bumper sticker, in popular 1970s-era typeface, is spotted in the Avengers quinjet. It says, “Jarvis Is My Co-Pilot,” a new twist on a classic bumper sticker maxim. (And fans have already started recreating it.)

6. ‘Pinocchio’
The song “I’ve Got No Strings,” originally featured in Disney’s 1940 cartoon classic Pinocchio, creepily takes on new meaning when Ultron references it several times in the Avengers sequel.

7. “Excelsior!”
Stan Lee recites his longtime Marvel comic book catchphrase while in character as a drunken World War II vet exiting an Avengers party. Fun fact: Lee is a WWII vet in real life, too.

8. Banksy
When the Avengers see a photo of a dead Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann), presumed to have been killed by Ultron, Tony Stark notes its similarity to the famed graffiti artist, who was captured in the 2010 doc: Exit Through the Gift Shop: “He did a Banksy of the crime scene, just for us.”

9. The Bible
“Upon this rock I will build my church,"says Ultron as he prepares to build his robot factory of doom. This is a direct quote from the Bible, specifically the book of Matthew, verse 16:18.

10. Eugene O'Neill
At one point, after Scarlet Witch has successfully wreaked havoc on the minds of the Avengers, Stark notes that “It’s been a really long day — like, Eugene O’Neill long” — a reference to the famed writer of such plays as Long Day’s Into Night and The Iceman Cometh.

11. “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”

Tony Stark says (at the 13-second mark, above): “We’re the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live-long day but that up there, that’s the end game.” He incorporates a line from the famed American folk song “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”

12. 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid’
At least one of Hawkeye’s kids is seen reading a book from the popular series as the Avengers take refuge at his rural country home.

Gwynne Watkins and Marcus Errico contributed to this report.