From the off, the MCU made clear that it was attempting something practically no movie franchise had done before in building up a cohesive shared world from the beginning. As well as showy cameos like Nick Fury in Iron Man and Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk, little nods and easter eggs helped feed into the sense that it really was all connected.
Take this new discovery for example, which a fan made recently that ties together the events of Thor with Captain America: The First Avenger. Reddit user Comrade_Batman noticed that the town of Tonsberg, Norway, features in both Phase One movies. In the former, it’s the location of the Asgardian battle with the Frost Giants in ancient times. In the latter, it’s where Red Skull uncovers the Tesseract.
See for yourself in the comparison below:
The return of the town from Thor in The First Avenger is a neat touch that helps explain how the Tesseract AKA the Space Stone came to be found in that small church by Johann Schmidt during World War II. Clearly, the Asgardians had the Infinity Stone with them when they came to Midgard to stop the Frost Giants from invading but lost it during the conflict. The relic was then kept safe by the locals for centuries until the HYDRA villain pinched it.
There’s a real-world significance to this location as well. As commenter DrAlright explained, Tonsberg’s the oldest town in Norway and is known to be founded by the vikings in the 9th century. This must be why it was chosen by the filmmakers to represent a town with a thousand-year connection to the Norse Gods.
Now, 7 years on from this easter egg that explained the origins of the Space Stone, the Infinity Stones have finally just come into focus in Infinity War, with the danger they possess in the wrong hands presumably set to be wrapped up for good in Avengers 4. It’s little connections between MCU films like this one that made it possible for this unprecedented movie crossover to happen in the first place, and it’s great to see they’re still being discovered all these years later.