The Elevator Scene Do-Over
The trip back to the aftermath of The Avengers unexpectedly becomes more of a homage to The Winter Soldier. First of all, it features cameos from Jasper Sitwell, Brock Rumlow and Robert Redford’s Alexander Pierce, all of whom were revealed to be secret HYDRA agents in the 2014 movie. The callback to TWS then becomes most explicit as Cap enters an elevator with Sitwell and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team.
This is, of course, a redo of the classic fight scene in a Triskellion elevator from Winter Soldier. In a brilliant twist, though, Steve Rogers is able to use his knowledge of their treachery against them here to fool them into giving him the Mind Stone. To convince them he has permission to take the item off their hands, Cap whispers in Sitwell’s ears: “Hail HYDRA.” The ruse works and Steve exits with a smirk.
Comic books readers will immediately realize this as a nod to one of the most controversial Marvel moments of the decade, when Cap was revealed to have been a secret HYDRA agent all along (except that didn’t turn out to be the case). It’s very mischievous of the Russos to reference the controversy here in such a tongue-in-cheek way.