‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Easter eggs explained

Haven’t seen “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2” yet?

Then STOP READING NOW. Seriously. Major spoilers ahead.

But if you have seen it – and judging from the film’s $145 million opening weekend, many of you have – then you know there are lots of “Easter eggs” within the film – hidden messages for overly eager fans to discover.

Director James Gunn prides himself on these Easter eggs, so much so that he says there is even one in the first film that no one has unlocked, but that he will never reveal. (Darn him.)

Here is a look at some Easter eggs hidden within “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2” (there are lots more), with help from the good folks at Screen Rant and Nerdist (like I’m smart enough to figure this out on my own).

▪  The coordinates spell a message. This Easter egg is really from the first film, but it’s explained in “Vol. 2.”

Every time the “Guardians” films go to a new location, the name of the planet pops up on the screen with a bunch of numbers below it, presumably just jibberish. But those are actually coordinates to the planet’s location within the Andromeda Galaxy where the film takes place.

In the first film, we see the slate for Ronan the Accuser’s ship with the text: The Dark Aster, followed by coordinates T8IS IS1301319+31N3518. Fans applied the alphabet to the numerals (1=A and so on) and deciphered the code to say “THIS IS MOMS+CANCER.”

Fans then applied the alphabet to the screen coordinates underneath the “Knowhere” slate: M3RD 17H17211+2121224, or “MEREDITH QUILL X.”

This points to Ego (played by Kurt Russell), who is revealed in “Vol. 2” to have given Peter Quill’s mother, Meredith, the cancer that killed her in the first film.

▪  Peter Quill’s shirt. One Reddit user fan did some research and found concept art of the computer keyboard used in the Kyln prison scene in the first movie, which appeared to match the symbols on the shirt. He applied them going in alphabetical order and deciphered the symbols to read: GEARS SHIFT. Below the symbols on the shirt read “A TenEyck Galaxy Invention.” A Google search revealed that Karen TenEyck is a graphic designer who worked on “Vol. 2.”

▪  Eternity. Peter whispers “eternity” with spacey black eyes while Ego has him under his control, but it might not be the figurative term we assume. It could be a nod to the Marvel character Eternity, which ties into the MCU Infinity Stones storyline.

▪  Howard the Duck. The speaking, martini-sipping humanoid duck appeared in a post-credits stinger at the end of the first film and appears again in “Vol. 2,” seen on the pleasure planet Contraxia. Howard is again voiced by Seth Green.

▪  End and post-credits scenes. There are five scenes scattered throughout and after the end credits, including the introduction of a character named Mindframe, which is voiced by none other than Miley Cyrus.

▪  Adam, divine. In one of the end credit scenes, we see the golden-toned Ayesha unveil a golden cocoon that she calls “Adam.” This is a reference to one of Marvel’s most notorious heroes, Adam Warlock, who will probably play a key role in the upcoming “Avengers: Infinity War.”

▪  Yes, that’s Jeff Goldblum. He is seen as the Grandmaster dancing during the end credits of “Vol. 2,” even though he has no connection to the film. He will be seen in the upcoming “Thor: Ragnarok,” though, but the crossover reference is unclear. Maybe they just had extra footage? Of him dancing?

▪  Yes, that’s David Hasselhoff – again. There’s a returning comedic gag in “Vol. 2” related to David Hasselhoff and the “Knight Rider” TV series, and Hasselhoff does appear in the film briefly. But, he also returns for the end credits to lend his voice for the song “Guardians Inferno,” written by Gunn and composer Tyler Bates.

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 1:59 PM with the headline "‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Easter eggs explained."