Summary
- Marvel films use nostalgia bait effectively through iconic songs, character reunions, and cameos, enhancing audience engagement.
- Connection between characters from different timelines, emotional reunions, and significant cameos create strong nostalgia moments.
- Nostalgia in Marvel movies extended with direction of previous actors, crossover events, and iconic quotes resulting in memorable scenes.
Marvel movies are incredibly popular for several reasons, but one thing that Marvel films have become renowned for is their implementation of nostalgia bait. The Marvel Cinematic Universe first began in 2008 with Iron Man, which means that the studio is able to reach back in its extensive catalog for these nostalgia bait moments, but some of the best nostalgic moments use callbacks that extend even further. And, outside of the MCU, Marvel movies from other studios have also found nostalgia bait to be an effective marketing tool.
However, it’s important to remember that some nostalgia bait can be heavy-handed, forced, and purely a trap for viewers. Fortunately, in most cases where the Marvel films have been concerned, they implement moments that resonate with audiences in a way that fits the story, and its tone. Whether it’s Deadpool breaking the fourth wall to make a joke, or a major crossover movie, Marvel has turned nostalgia bait into an art form.
Related What is the MCU’s most underrated movie?
Counting Deadpool & Wolverine, the MCU has released 34 movies so far. Not all of them found box office success, and some of the films that rank among the MCU’s lowest-grossing are definitely underrated. That also expands to some of the MCU entries with a lot of money, as Iron Man 3 broke $1 billion, and I still believe it is overhated to this day. Among the MCU’s most underrated movies to me are The Marvels, which did not deserve to be the franchise’s biggest box office bomb, Black Widow, and the first Thor movie.
10 Dancepool Parties To A Classic 2000 Pop Song
Deadpool & Wolverine
First up, nostalgia bait in Marvel movies extends beyond just cameos and callbacks. Occasionally, the MCU uses popular and iconic songs to evoke nostalgia. While James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy made some hidden gems into modern hits, Deadpool & Wolverine included tracks that would transport its typical audience back to their youth. And the movie wastes no time in making this happen, as the opening scene of the movie includes NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” in a now viral clip.
Deadpool delivers an outstanding dance performance in the film’s first few minutes, while the scene switches between him fighting a hoard of TVA agents, and busting a move to NSYNC’s iconic song. Everything, from the dance routine, to the music is extremely nostalgic, but the absurdity of the moment transforms this into something better than the sum of its parts. And clearly, fans agreed when this scene and dance once again became ridiculously popular online after more than two decades.
9 The Final Battle In Deadpool & Wolverine Is Also Perfectly Scored
Deadpool & Wolverine
While the song, “Like A Prayer” by Madonna featured heavily in the marketing for Deadpool & Wolverine, and the scene that it plays over where Deadpool and Wolverine march into a battle is automatically nostalgic due to Hugh Jackman’s return, the song does a lot for the nostalgia bait here. Madonna is a timeless artist whose music has consistently remained popular for decades. Despite “Like A Prayer” being released in 1989, it remained an enduring popular hit for many more years.
Now, Deadpool & Wolverine brought the song back into vogue, while also drawing on the nostalgic excitement around the track to emphasize one of the biggest moments in the whole movie. Wolverine and Deadpool have an elaborate battle against dozens of Deadpool variants with this song playing in the background. And, when Deadpool and Wolverine both put their lives on the line to stop the timeline ripper, the song returns to emphasize the moment.
Related Deadpool & Wolverine’s Box Office Just Bulldozed One Of Captain America’s Biggest Milestones
Deadpool & Wolverine’s box office reaches a new landmark, matching and surpassing a huge Phase 3 hit and leaving Captain America in the dust.
8 Jennifer Garner Reclaims Her Role As Elektra
Deadpool & Wolverine
However, some of the more impactful nostalgic moments in the Marvel movies are tied to characters that haven’t been around for literally decades. In 2003, Jennifer Garner appeared in Daredevil opposite Ben Affleck as Daredevil. Then, in 2005, she got a chance to shine in her own solo outing, but this became the last entry where she would tackle the role, until nearly 20 years in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Garner’s role was significantly more than a cameo, as she played an essential part in helping Deadpool to accomplish his goal to get out of the void and save his timeline. Seeing Jennifer Garner suit up in the costume was a huge moment for fans of the earlier titles, and a great callback to an era before the MCU when Marvel movies were still finding their feet. As a result, this was a huge nostalgic moment from the film, and one that leaked before the movie’s release, further increasing excitement for the film.
7 Charlie Cox Joins The MCU As Matt Murdock
Spider-Man: No Way Home
In 2015, a very different version of Matt Murdock appeared, played by Charlie Cox in the hit Netflix Marvel series, Daredevil. The series ran for three spectacular seasons, but was eventually canceled along with the other Netflix Marvel titles to prepare for Marvel Studio’s official expansion into connected TV shows for the MCU. This caused an uproar for fans of Cox’s performance, and petitions to see the actor return to officially play Murdock in the MCU gained traction.
However, it wasn’t until 2021 that the MCU finally welcomed Cox in when he appeared, reprising his role as the blind lawyer in Spider-Man: No Way Home. While the film did not see Cox suit up, it whets audiences’ appetites with the character catching a stone which was thrown into Peter Parker’s apartment in a truly super fashion. Despite only being a few years since Daredevil was canceled, this was a huge callback, evoking a more recent nostalgia for fans of the series.
Related Don’t Worry About Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom Casting, Deadpool & Wolverine Already Proved It Can Work
Robert Downey Jr.’s casting as the MCU’s Doctor Doom has been controversial, but one recent returning hero already proved there’s no need to worry.
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6 X-23 Has An Emotional Reunion In Deadpool & Wolverine
Deadpool & Wolverine
In 2017, Hugh Jackman appeared in what was set up to be his final outing as Wolverine. Of course, he evidently returned to play Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine, despite being a different version of the character from another timeline. However, there was another character from Logan who made a triumphant return in Deadpool & Wolverine, and was revealed in some of the last trailers released before the movie hit theaters.
X-23, also known as Laura, is a character played by Dafne Keen, and the daughter of Wolverine. While her reunion with Wolverine is not nearly as emotional as if she had her actual father back, the pair have a connection and kinship that is incredible to watch. And, this moment provides a huge nostalgia hit thanks to a reunion that was never expected to occur when Logan passed away in the 2017 film.
5 Deadpool Fixes The Timelines
Deadpool 2
Deadpool has always been a franchise that uses the lead character’s awareness and fourth wall breaking abilities to interact with the audience on a much more direct level. As a result, the franchise loves a cameo, and playful jokes that resonate with the audience beyond the world of the film. But at the end of Deadpool 2, the movie speedruns several moments that spark nostalgia in the audience as Deadpool seeks to correct the timeline.
From Deadpool shooting Ryan Reynolds in the head after he reads the script for the incredibly unpopular Green Lantern movie, to the character abducting an alternate version of themselves from the 2009 movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this whole sequence is packed with nostalgia bait. However, the execution is done to great comical effect, and it makes this scene into something truly exciting and fun rather than mindless fan service.
Related Deadpool & Wolverine Box Office Closes In On 11-Year-Old MCU Movie In Highest-Grossing Films Of All-Time
Deadpool & Wolverine climbs up the chart of the highest-grossing films of all time, nearing the box office total of an 11-year-old MCU movie.
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4 Two Worlds Collide In X-Men: Days Of Future Past
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
In 2000, the first X-Men movie came out and became a huge hit that was widely celebrated and praised. However, when the trilogy wrapped up in 2006 with X-Men: The Last Stand, that was the end for most of the characters who had become synonymous with these roles. Outstanding actors like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen had become the faces of Professor X and Magneto respectively, but it appeared their story was over, and they wouldn’t return again.
Then, in 2011, the series was rebooted with a new younger cast in X-Men: First Class. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender put their own spin on these iconic characters, but the original actors remained highly celebrated and they were missed. Fortunately, in 2014, the original leads returned to a major crossover event in X-Men: Days of Future Past. This was a remarkable and incredibly nostalgic moment for the films and the actors involved that stands out as the best entry in the rebooted series.
3 Wesley Snipes Surprised The World By Returning To Play Blade
Deadpool & Wolverine
Wesley Snipes was one of the earliest actors to play a live action version of a Marvel superhero in film, and to date, he remains the only actor to physically appear in the role of Blade. From 1998 to 2004, Snipes led the cast in the Blade trilogy, where he played the daywalker and earned a cult following for the films. However, by the time that the trilogy ended, there were strained relationships, particularly between Snipes and Blade: Trinity director, David S. Goyer that meant Snipes left the franchise with a sour taste in his mouth.
However, despite any bad blood or frustrations that may have existed at that point in his career, things clearly mellowed out enough for Snipes to join his fellow Blade: Trinity co-star, Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool & Wolverine. This callback is particularly exciting because of how unbelievable and impossible it appeared to be. Apart from any interpersonal relationships, the MCU has already cast a new actor to take the role of Blade, and bringing Snipes back came as a total shock.
Related Deadpool & Wolverine’s Chris Evans Cameo Makes Steve Rogers’ Captain America Even More Impressive
Chris Evans reprised his role as Johnny Storm in the MCU, with his appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine making Captain America look way more impressive.
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2 Chris Evans Returns To The MCU, But Not As Captain America
Deadpool & Wolverine
By far, one of the most spectacular nostalgic moments in Deadpool & Wolverine comes early in the film’s run when the title characters are dropped into the Void and struggling to make sense of their surroundings. When the heroes are surrounded by a crowd of villains, a booming voice draws their attention, and is soon revealed to be Chris Evans, playing a character in a blue suit, with much of the upper half obscured under a scarf. This could have easily been Captain America, but what follows was even better.
As Evans sets up to speak an iconic line, Deadpool clearly anticipates him to say “Avengers assemble,” but when Evans says “Flame on!” instead, it becomes immediately clear that this isn’t Steve Rogers, but another Marvel legend played by Evans. In 2005, before Evans ever joined the cast of the MCU, he played Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four. This character is intrinsically different to Rogers, but Evans does a great job in both roles, and seeing him play the Human Torch in the MCU was a seemingly impossible Marvel movie moment.
1 Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, And Tom Holland’s Spider-Men Join Forces
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Before the Multiverse fully broke down in the MCU, Spider-Man: No Way Home introduced the concept of multiple realities colliding when Peter Parker asks Doctor Strange to perform a spell to conceal his identity from the world. However, things go wrong, and figures from other realities begin to appear and challenge Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Fortunately, it wasn’t just villains that found their way to the MCU.
Tobey Maguire first appeared as Spider-Man in 2002, and starred in his own trilogy directed by Sam Raimi. Then, in 2012, the character was rebooted with Andrew Garfield starring as the Web Slinger. However, while each actor became fan favorites in their own rights, there was never any expectation that these figures could crossover, until leaks from the set began appearing ahead of No Way Home’s theatrical release. Ultimately, the movie was a huge hit, with some of the most incredible nostalgic payoffs of all time in any Marvel movie.
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Created by Kevin Feige First Film Iron Man Latest Film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Upcoming Films Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania First TV Show WandaVision Latest TV Show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Upcoming TV Shows Secret Invasion First Episode Air Date January 15, 2021
Summary
The monolithic franchise that kicked off with Iron Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), is one of the industry’s longest-running and largest cinematic franchises. Based on the heroes from Marvel Comics, the MCU is a new way for fans and newcomers alike to enjoy the ever-expanding universes of some of the world’s most famous superheroes. Releasing as “Phases,” Marvel Studio’s first three Phases came to be known as “The Infinity Saga,” which surrounded the formation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and their showdown with the Mad Titan known as Thanos as he sought to collect the Infinity Stones. With his ultimate goal of indiscriminately wiping out half of all life in the universe, this plot ultimately reveals itself over ten years of films, ending in a two-part finale that changed the world’s fate – and the core cast forever. Currently, the MCU is preparing to enter the fifth phase, focusing on Kang the Conquerer as the new core series villain.
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Upcoming MCU Movies
- Captain America: Brave New World
Release Date February 14, 2025
- Thunderbolts*
Release Date May 2, 2025
- The Fantastic Four (2025)
Release Date July 25, 2025
- Blade (2025)
Release Date November 7, 2025
- Avengers: Doomsday
Release Date May 1, 2026
- Avengers: Secret Wars
Release Date May 7, 2027