Movies

An 'Arrested Development' Character Appears In 'Avengers: Infinity War'

Infinity War cameo
By Ben Pearson/

Before they became known as the directors of some of the biggest blockbusters in history, Anthony and Joe Russo were two of the creative forces behind Arrested Development, one of the funniest and most layered comedies in television history. The filmmaker hermanos snuck a reference to the show in Captain America: Civil War by dropping the famous stair car into that movie's airport fight scene, so it's no surprise that they included another shout-out to the series in Avengers: Infinity War. Did you catch the blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference in the latest Marvel movie?

Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War ahead.

The Russo Brothers directed the Arrested Development pilot and four other episodes throughout the show's early run, so it makes sense that they'd want to include a brief nod to the beloved comedy.

A clip from Infinity War leaked online last year, revealing the scene in which Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) confront Thanos (Josh Brolin) on Knowhere. They're at The Collector's (Benicio Del Toro) museum, and in the background, a certain Arrested Development character can briefly be seen in one of his cages (via Vulture):

That's Tobias Fünke, the hilarious therapist/wannabe actor portrayed by David Cross on the show. I admittedly didn't notice this cameo or see Cross's name in the credits of Infinity War on my first viewing, so I can't be sure that he reprised the role here, but I'll keep a close eye out next time I see the movie and come back to update this article accordingly. However, the film's credits did specifically include a thank you to Arrested Development for allowing the use of one of the show's characters, so you can bet your featherbottoms that Tobias shows up in one of those Knowhere scenes.

Here's the aspect that fascinates me the most: when the Guardians show up to Knowhere, they are seeing a fake projection of Thanos questioning The Collector that Thanos created utilizing the Reality Stone. If Tobias only shows up in that section of the movie, before Thanos reveals his trick, it'll mean that Thanos is personally a huge Arrested Development fan and decided to include the Easter Egg for his own amusement.

Let us know if you spotted this cameo and when exactly Tobias Fünke shows up in Avengers: Infinity War.

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