There was an awful lot going on in Avengers: Endgame, and it’s impressive that a film with so many moving parts managed to give a huge number of characters satisfying arcs, but it was arguably Chris Hemsworth’s Thor who had the strongest journey of all.
His reintroduction as the beer-swilling, gaming recluse of New Asgard was initially played for laughs, morphing into a tragic examination of his self-perceived failure ruining his confidence, before he ultimately restored himself to his former glories. When we first meet the Odinson after the five-year time jump, he’s shacked up with his new buddies Korg and Miek, where they waste away their days playing Fortnite and being accosted online by Noobmaster69.
It was nothing more than a throwaway joke in Avengers: Endgame, so you can’t help but admire Marvel’s desire to pander to the fans and pay off even the most minor moments in the company’s shared universe, even if it does boil down to a shameless cross-promotion between The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Xbox.
A new ad sees Sam Wilson being given the hard sell by an employee, who in an even more admirable feat of MCU consistency is played by D.C. Pierson, who we last saw in Captain America: The Winter Soldier working at the Apple store when Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were undercover.
After letting Sam use his Xbox Game Pass, Pierson’s Aaron reveals that his gamertag is Noobmaster69, but says his cousin was responsible for it. Even when trying to sell consoles to the masses, Marvel are still tying up insignificant plot threads from years ago, proving once more that everything we see unfold on the big screen is indeed connected somehow.