Ready Player One could get the rights to the characters and franchises referenced. The final movie doesn't disappoint, with over 120 Easter Eggs and Cameos to look for - and that's just the ones we've spotted so far.
The number of Easter Eggs in Ready Player One could rise into the thousands when all is said and done, filled with more fictional character cameos, video game references and secrets, and superhero tributes than can ever be spotted in theaters. But fans have to start their hunt somewhere.
With one last massive spoiler warning, let's get started in counting down the 120+ Ready Player One Easter Eggs, References & Cameos.
120. Climb Everest With (Michael Keaton's?) Batman
The movie wastes no time embracing the historic popularity of DC's characters, proposing that Oasis s would want to spend time with superheroes regardless of context. Why make your dream of climbing Mt. Everest come true if just as easily one can "climb Mt. Everest... with Batman." The scene depicted alongside the first namedrop of a Justice League member may demonstrate exactly why, showing Batman's climbing partner dangling dangerously below him, ed only by the grip of the Dark Knight.
The first appearance is more clever than it appears, since younger viewers may not make the link between Batman and his effortless ability to climb a sheer surface. While that gag was a regular one on the Batman '66 TV series - showing Batman and Robin "walking up" the side of a building - the actual Batman shown isn't a match for Adam West. True to the 1980s nostalgia of the film, the Batman appears to be wearing the black and yellow-insignia-ed suit of Michael Keaton's portrayal (not the only Tim Burton nod in the movie, either).
119. The Flash Cameo
The sheer volume of possible cameos is made instantly clear when Wade's narration of the opening sequence swoops from isolated recreation or vacation planet to the first 'entrance' point. As s stream into the Oasis, viewers realize how James Halliday designed the Avatar system to make dreams come true. As Wade explains, people stay in the Oasis "because of all the things they can be. Tall, beautiful, scary, a different sex, a different species, live action, cartoon-- it's all your call."
Superheroes rise to the top of that fantasy list for obvious reasons, but keep your eyes peeled on one as they slide into, then out of the left side of the camera's view. Their regular appearance is replaced by the red and yellow bodysuit of The Flash just as they disappear from sight - perhaps an inside joke about the speedster's ability. It's a memorable look, but it's probably better off not thinking too deeply about how a person could use Flash's powers in a shared virtual world.
118. Robocop Cameo
If the underlying message of Ready Player One is to warn against the blurring line between humans technology, then it shares more DNA with RoboCop than might appear on the surface. Sure, the tech in the film is simply worn as opposed to infused cybernetically, but... you get the idea. Still, the playing with reality inherent to the Oasis isn't lost on one particular , seen entering the virtual world in the same sweeping shot of the 'entrance' plaza. They've embraced an existence as RoboCop himself.
Considering how a character like Alex Murphy - or someone role-playing as Alex Murphy - would actually view the sometimes-wireframe world of the Oasis proves this is a criminally small cameo. But any nod to Paul Verhoeven's classic action film is a welcome one. And we have some terrific news for fans of the future Detroit police force and their experiments with robotics: there are even more RoboCop nods coming soon.
117. Marvin the Martian Cameo
Another cameo in a field of what is certain to be dozens more characters in this shot is nearly impossible to miss. Well, for fans of the original Looney Tunes, anyway. As Wade's narration points out, it's possible for people entering the Oasis to choose an avatar that is "live action or cartoon." To drive home that point, a miniature space man comes scooting out of the incoming portals unmistakable in his helmet, green skirt, and featureless black orb of a head. In hindsight, of course somebody was going to transform into Marvin the Martian as part of their ultimate wish fulfillment.
It's a curious detail, since the rest of the movie doesn't actually feature many, if any, cartoon Oasis Avatars. In fact, given the technology used to simulate physical presence in the Oasis, it's a bit difficult to comprehend the kind of translations needed to turn an actual body into a cartoonish, animated one. Not to mention one that stand only two or three feet tall...
116. The Ready Player One Logo Easter Egg
It should probably be called out, since many, if not most movie fans are likely to miss the film's most subtle and silently brilliant hidden prize. The movie Ready Player One may be filled to the limits with Easter Eggs... but the logo for Ready Player One is hiding one in plain sight. While giving viewers a hint at the many mazes waiting ahead for those movie characers hoping to claim the same prize.
The logo for the movie is actually one massive maze, with the desired Easter Egg concealed in the circle of the 'O'. The real wit of this detail is that it is guaranteed to go unnoticed by almost everyone who isn't outright told to look for it. Seeing how many movies put nowhere near as much time or creativity into their marketing materials or text title cards, that's a call-out that we can't possibly forget.
115. Halliday Buried in Spock's Coffin
The entire invention of the Oasis demonstrates just how much of a "geek" James Halliday really was in his life, and his unspoken love of all things 1980s science fiction film fandom is shown in references throughout all his recreated memories. But perhaps the best goes unexplained, appearing in the video he recorded before his death (to be played to the world once he had finally ed away). His funeral, surrounded by floral arrangements in the shape of Star Trek insignia - and even a scale model of the Enterprise.
Most in the audience will chuckle at his choice of flowers, emphasizing his dedication to Starfleet even in death, but the greatest touch is the coffin itself. The black pod's "Mark VI" label can just be seen in red, revealing that it is the exact same coffin in which Spock's remains were placed at the end of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (a photon torpedo, to be more accurate). Ammunition for those who hope that Halliday, like Spock, was destined to return...?
114. Jason Voorhees Cameo on Planet DOOM
Once Wade starts to make his way from introducing the worlds of the Oasis to actually entering the simulation, he makes with his best friend, Aech. The pair meet up for the race later on, but Aech is currently busy earning coin on the apparent Deathmatch world, Planet DOOM (seemingly a nod to the video game that defined blood-and-guts badassery for more than one generation). The planet plays host to several cameos, including the infamous slasher Jason Voorhees.
The horror icon is visible when the perspective shifts from Aech to their fellow allies Sho and Daito, as the two team up to overwhelm and, for a welcome change, slash Jason to pieces. An extra bit of trivia? The pair of in-game "brothers" Daito and Shoto's names combine to form daishō, which literally means "big-little," and refers to the long and short sword worn by samurai.
113. Duke Nukem Battle Cameo
The loud-mouthed first person shooter hero Duke Nukem may have wound up doing as much harm as good to the video game industry... and its perception by outsiders. But that doesn't lessen the love felt for his crude, macho brand of humor - either in the real world, or the simulated one of the Oasis. Fans can catch not one glimpse of the brash badass during Aech's initial string of kills, first visible in the background of the shot trying to take aim at the hero's best friend with an oversized rocket launcher.
Aech is on a tear, and when the action jumps away and back to his kill chain he finally drops Duke, revealing an even clearer close-up of everyone's favorite modern American gunslinger - shades and all. Everything considered, being blasted into coins by an Orc/Terminator on a literal Hell planet is actually a pretty tame day, buy Nukem standards.
112. Freddy Kreuger Battle Cameo
In the entire running length of the movie, there may be no better encapsulation of the style and tone of modern action shooter games, and the total irreverence of its players than Aech's run on Planet DOOM. From the actual camera path down to its surface, it seems like the end of the world made real (more befitting the opening of a grand epic fantasy or nightmare of a Lord of the Rings movie). The characters are just as terrfiying... or they would be, if Aech weren't blasting them all into gold coins with a grin on her face.
The most recognizable of her targets is probably Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Kreuger, leaping into the air with signature striped shirt, hat, and two clawed hands. It's a small moment, but return to it after learning that Aech isn't a fan of horror movies, and this sequence takes on added meaning.
111. Halo's MA5B Assault Rifle Easter Egg
Most audience may be so concerned with spotting and identifying each and every pop culture character cameo, they may never even stop to think of examining the guns that the heroes are using to eliminate them. It's a good lesson to be carried throughout the rest of the movie - since the choice of weapons is guaranteed to be as un-random as the characters. And for Aech's kill-tacular run on Planet Doom, only the Master Chief's favorite assault rifle will do.
That's the MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System, the standard machine gun used by most military characters in the Halo series of video games. We'll let fans decide on repeat viewing just how well the movie's effects team captured the look and feel of the MA5B in action, but the design itself is actually impossible to miss, once Halo fans know to look for it in the first place.
