It’s no secret that Avengers: Endgame was packed full of Easter Eggs, most of which diehard Marvel fans picked up on right away. But there was one hidden reference that even the biggest Marvel fans missed — and it has something to do with a storyline in the Captain America comics. Here’s a look at Endgame’s biggest kept secret that most fans missed out on.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ star Chris Evans | Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

The one ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Easter egg everyone missed

The tone of Avengers: Endgame was considerably darker than previous Marvel films, mostly because of the events in the previous movie, Avengers: Infinity War. Half of the life in the universe was wiped out with the snap of Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) fingers, which contributed to the darker storyline.

Although the studio lightened things up with some amazing Easter eggs, there was one hidden secret that references a dark time in Captain America’s (Chris Evans) story.

Interesting Easter egg from Endgame…



Roscoe Simmons was Capt America in 70s when Steve Rogers originally retired. When Red Skull “killed” Cap, it was actually Simmons forcing Rogers back into action. pic.twitter.com/fjdOonHv4v — Peter Toledo (@peterocc) January 7, 2020

The scene in question was when Cap and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) went back in time to secure the Space Stone in the 1970s (after having flubbed a previous attempt in New York City).

As the heroes infiltrate Camp Lehigh in Avengers: Endgame, Cap rocks an old military uniform with the name “Roscoe” on the chest. While most fans thought the uniform belonged to a random guy, Roscoe actually holds significance in the Captain America comics.

Who is Roscoe?

According to Screen Geek, Roscoe is a reference to a character who showed up in the comics in the 1970s. Roscoe took up Cap’s mantle in the comics after he retired from duty.

But Roscoe’s time as Captain America was short-lived. At one point, Red Skull caught Roscoe thinking he was Steve. When he discovered his true identity, Red Skull killed Roscoe and left his body for Steve to find.

In Endgame we see Cap wearing a uniform belonging to Captain Roscoe. This is a reference to Roscoe Simons, who wore the mantle of Captain America while Cap was Nomad. (Sorry for the quality. Couldn’t capture from my gaming console) pic.twitter.com/z2x2531Mbv — Movie Details (@moviedetail) August 16, 2019

After discovering the body of his fallen friend, Steve came out of retirement to take out Red Skull.

The storyline is a pretty dark and sad ending for Roscoe, though the reference in Avengers: Endgame was a nice little tribute to the character. It is also a fairly obscure storyline, so even the biggest Marvel fans likely missed out on it.

What other Easter eggs were in ‘Avengers: Endgame’?

Another obscure Easter egg wasn’t actually featured in Endgame. With award season in full swing, Marvel recently released the script for the film hoping to snag a nomination.

The script revealed some additional information about a scene in the film that involved Evil Nebula (Karen Gillan) fighting with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) in 2014. In the theatrical version, we never learn the name of the planet where Gamora and Nebula are fighting.

Avengers: Endgame is FILLED with callbacks and Easter Eggs, so we’ve narrowed our finds down to the biggest ones.https://t.co/UXXgOXxbVV pic.twitter.com/R5Cz7UJ4JZ — IGN (@IGN) May 4, 2019

But in the Avengers: Endgame script, it says that they are on Korbin, which means they were duking it out with some Korbinites. This also means that the two were on the home planet of Beta Ray Bill.

Beta Ray Bill has been mentioned in a previous MCU film. In Thor: Ragnarok, a statue of the character was on the side of the Grandmaster’s tower. We never got to see Beta Ray Bill in action, but the mentions are a promising sign that he’ll eventually be introduced.

Did Thanos really die?

With Marvel heading into Phase 4 of the MCU, fans are already speculating about which supervillain will be the next big bad. But what if Thanos didn’t actually die in Avengers: Endgame as previously thought?

In a deleted scene from the film, Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) has a discussion with the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) in New York about what really happened to the people in the snap.

As she explains it, everyone who turned to ash in the first snap didn’t actually die. Instead, they were willed out of existence, which means that their passing was not permanent.

Kevin Feige says Scarlet Witch was going to kill Thanos in #Endgame



'That's as scared as I've ever seen Thanos, and if he hadn't said 'decimate my entire team to get her off of me,' I think she would have done it'



(via @CBR) pic.twitter.com/rgpniQ8nfj — Culture Crave (@CultureCrave) January 2, 2020

This is one reason why Hulk was able to snap everyone back (except for the people who had truly died). It also opens the door for Thanos to return at some point down the road.

That said, it was probably take something of equal power to will Thanos back into existence, though it is an interesting thing to think about.

Avengers: Endgame is available to stream on Disney+.