Guardians of the Galaxy might be Marvel’s most elaborate film to date when it comes to easter eggs.  I’ve watched the film twice now and have noticed a ton of inside jokes, references to characters from the comic books, 1980’s callbacks and more. I attempted to compile the most complete listing of Guardians of the Galaxy easter eggs, including (possible spoilers teased in the following):

Who is Peter Quill’s father?  Does Peter Quill’s mother have a relationship with Captain America? 

The geography of the four revealed Infinity Gems (which stones have been revealed and where are they?) 

Many Marvel comic book characters you didn’t see appear in Guardians (including a prominent female Krylorian techno-artist)

A look at many of the treasures which can be seen inside The Collector’s museum (who or what is in the cocoon?) 

8 cameo appearances from filmmakers, actors and even pets revealed (Nathan Fillion and Seth Green, where?) 

The stars behind the CG characters (who played Rocket on set?) 

A look at the 1980’s pop culture references in the film (did you know Star-Lord’s ship is named after a 1980’s television star?) 

How the comic book canon differs from what appeared on screen

Funny credits and more

Take a look at /Film’s Guardians of the Galaxy easter egg list after the jump. 

The following article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy, contains spoilers for some of the previous Marvel Studios films, and sometimes talks about the comic book origins of characters and storylines which could hint at the future direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Be aware. 

Updated: Nova concept art, An image of the Dark Elf in The Collector’s Museum, An image of Nathan Fillion’s character, Howard the Duck information and photo, Dancing Groot video, Spartoi concept art, James Gunn teases Peter Quill’s father, Broker’s inclusion. 

Peter Quill’s Mother

Laura Haddock plays Peter Quill’s terminally ill mother Meredith Quill.  But you might also recognize Haddock from a previous Marvel Studios movie.  Haddock played a brief role as a woman seeking Captain America’s autograph in Captain America: The First Avenger.  You can see her appearance about 2 minutes and 10 seconds into the following clip:

Is it possible that Peter Quill’s mother was also in attendance at Steve Rogers’ 1940 show appearance?  The ages make this rather unlikely, but hey, you never know.  Meredith Quill did encounter Peter’s father, an alien from another galaxy — so its possible their journey together could have displaced time.  However, its very unlikely the Marvel films will explore this. 

The character Meredith Quill first appeared in Marvel Preview #4 – The Starlord: Who he is and how he came to be, and has had 15 appearances in the history of Marvel comics. 

Who is Peter Quill’s Father? 

In the movie Starlord’s father is teased in a couple different ways.  In the opening of the film, an ill Meredith Quill tells Peter that his father was an angel made entirely of light.  After the final battle of the film, the Nova Corps reveal to Peter that they have found something strange when they scanned him.  Quill says, “You mean I’m not Terran?”  and Nova Prime responds that his mom is human, but that his father is something incredibly ancient that hasn’t been seen before.  Gamora theorizes that his mysterious biology might be why he was able to hold the Infinity Stone for so long without being destroyed.  And a quick scene with Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) reveals that he was originally hired to abduct 11-year-old Quill to deliver the boy to his “jerk” father, which he decided against. 

So who is Peter Quill’s father?  Here is some information on the comic book backstory of the character courtesy of the ComicVine database:

Once there was a man called Prince Jason of Spartoi, and he was wrongly accused of being a traitor by his father.  This action caused Jason to run away.  When war broke out Jason was asked to come back home.  But on the way home Jason’s ship converter blew out.  He then had to make a crash landing in the Earth’s Colorado Mountains.  A woman named Meredith Quill helped him out of the ship.  She would get him back on his feet and help rebuild his ship.  He fell in love with her and conceived a child.  In order to return to the war he had to leave Meredith behind so she wouldn’t get hurt.  Jason locked her memories so that she would be spared the pain he felt. …  When the war against Spartoi and Ariguan had been in Spartoi’s favor, Jason asked his uncle Gareth to bring his family to him.  But, instead Gareth put a hit on the Quill family.  When Peter was eleven he saw men come in and kill his mother.  The men left not knowing Peter was there.  Peter swore that he would kill those men.  Gareth had told Jason that his family had died during birth.  Peter with much hope ran away from his orphanage to go to a greater destiny. 

Now of course, the comic book storyline doesn’t play out with 11-year-old Peter escaping after aliens killed his mother.  The fiery symbol which Star-Lord wears in the movie is actually the insignia of his father’s race, the Spartoi.  Screenwriter Nicole Pearlman’s original draft of Guardians of the Galaxy involved Quill finding out about his father, and visiting the king on his planet.  You can read more about that and even see a bunch of concept art created by Marvel for the abandoned Spartoi sequences, here. 

When it was revealed Nathan Fillion has a small part in Guardians, some fans speculated that he may be playing Jason of Spartoi.  He does not, but more on that later. 

Update: Director James Gunn has now gone on record to say that Peter Quill’s father will “definitely not” be the character who was in the comics. 

That’s been part of the plan since the beginning, that’s something I had to work out before we shot the screenplay.  We wanted to make sure Yondu’s place in everything made sense and it does, so it’s all very specific stuff. 

Gunn says that only four people know who Star-Lord’s father is: Kevin Feige, Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn. 

The Planet of Morag

After the opening of the film, we see grown up Star-Lord on the planet of Morag.  Peter Quill has landed on the deserted wasteland planet in hopes of stealing a treasure hidden inside the temple ruins, lost for many centuries.  The planet doesn’t appear in the Marvel comics but the name Morag is a tribute to the first leader of the Kree. 

The Kyln

The prison where the Guardians of the Galaxy come together is called The Kyln.  In the comics, The Kyln looks very different, a series of spherical units located next to the galactic barrier known as the Crunch.  The Kyln was primarily used as a power plant for neighboring worlds but also serves as an “inescapable, intergalactic prison known to hold very powerful prisoners inside.”  Peter Quill even did time at the comic book version of The Kyln. 

Knowhere

Straight out of the Marvel comics is Knowhere — the mining colony located on the edge of the universe in the decapitated head of a long-dead Celestial being.  In the comics, Knowhere becomes the base of operations for The Guardians of the Galaxy. 

The Fourth Infinity Gem

Guardians of the Galaxy introduces us to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s fourth Infinity gem.  The Orb which Peter Quill steals from the Morag temple ruins contains the Power Gem (confirmed by Gunn).  Star-Lord himself describes the orb as possessing “a real Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon vibe”.  So there are only two (or three) more Infinity Gems not introduced on screen (as far as we know). 

Everyone is expecting Avengers 3 to be about Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet storyline.  The classic comic book story was released as a six-issue comic book limited series in 1991.  Written by Jim Starlin and penciled by George Pérez and Ron Lim, the story involved Thanos gaining control of the six Infinity Gems, which he mounted on his left glove to form the Infinity Gauntlet. 

Each Gem grants its bearer complete mastery over one aspect of the multiverse: Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Reality, and Power.  Now all-powerful and desperate to win the affections of Death, Thanos decides to offer the entity a gift of love by completing a task she had given him, erasing half the sentient life in the universe (including most of the X-Men, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four),quite literally with a snap of his fingers.  The surviving heroes on Earth band together—guided by the newly resurrected Adam Warlock—to battle Thanos. 

In the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, Loki’s staff is with Baron von Strucker on Earth (speculated by some fans to be an infinity gem, while other dispute that theory), the Tesseract is on Asgard with Thor (or someone), the Aether is with The Collector on Nowhere and the Orb is on Xandar protected by the Nova Corps. 

The Infinity Gauntlet has already appeared on screen in a Marvel Studios film, however very briefly.  The infamous glove could be seen in the background of Odin’s treasure room during the attack by Frost Giants in Thor, seen above.