We are so excited about Back to the Future and Back to the Future II arriving on Netflix in May. It is pretty clear that we are not the only people that love this film, and unsurprisingly, filmmakers are among the fans of the film. Many filmmakers have inserted references to these films within their own films over the years, paying tribute to the movies that defined cinematic time travel.
Let’s take a look at 7 classic Back to the Future Easter Eggs in other films. Warning, there may be spoilers…
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
During the film, the Avengers start to talk about how they might be able to use time travel in order to reverse what Thanos did and save the universe. As everyone is saying that it is too dangerous, Ant-Man assures everyone that they’ll be fine as long as they follow the rules of time travel: don’t talk to your past self, don’t bet on sporting events. Tony Stark intervenes: “I’m going to stop you right there Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?”
Big Hero 6 (2014)
While at the Tech Expo where Hiro is presenting his Microbots, we see the project of another contestant. They have invested a brainwave analyzer, which was already invested by Doc Brown in 1955 in Back to the Future.
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1998)
Another classic time travel movie from the 1980s, Bill and Ted’s time machine is a phone booth. When it leaves one time and enters another, it leaves behind a flaming square where the box was, just like the Delorean leaves behind flaming tire tracks.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
When Rex explains his backstory, in which he reveals that he is Emmet from the future, his back story is basically that of Marty McFly in Back to the Future down to a mentor named Doc and a flux capacitor to power his time traveling machine. When the timeline is changed and he begins to fade from existence, he says that he is “back to the future-ing”.
A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
Albert Stark is attracted by some strange lights emanating from a barn and he goes to investigate. Inside the barn he finds Doc Brown fixing the DeLorean. He asks what he is up to and he responds “weather experiment”, the same excuse he gives for his work in Back to the Future.
The Pagemaster (1994)
When our protagonist Richard enters the library to meet the librarian played by Christopher Lloyd, they pay homage to the scene in Back to the Future when Doc meets Marty in 1955. Doc keeps trying to guess why Marty is there to see him until Marty interrupts and tells him. Lloyd’s character does the same thing with Richard, who must also try and interrupt to inform him of his purpose.
The Polar Express (2004)
Paying tribute to Back to the Future III, which sadly is not on Netflix, in one scene, the train stops uncomfortably close to the camera, re-enacting the scene where Clara stops the train just in time frame by frame. Later in the film, the hero boy pulls the train blow horn several times and says “I’ve wanted to do that my whole life”, the same thing that Doc does and says in the film.