The Captain America Easter Egg you missed in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man

Nowadays, It's common for audiences to expect superhero movies to be filled with Easter Eggs and secrets. After all, that's one of the advantages of sharing an interconnected universe of projects on the big and small screen. There are always little nods and references to other well-known characters on stand-alone projects, and sometimes we even get to watch many heroes come together in epic crossovers. However, it wasn't always like that.

There was a time when superhero movies weren't as popular and - most importantly - they weren't interconnected. Such was the case for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. That's why the smallest of references were absolutely mind-blowing - such as when J. Jonah. Jameson said the name "Doctor Strange" was already taken when deciding how to name the new supervillain in town. However, there was another subtle reference to a popular Marvel hero which wasn't easy to spot. So chances are that, more than 20 years later, it could still take you by surprise.

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man hides a Captain America Easter Egg

There's a quick scene in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man where Norman Osborn is shown reading a newspaper piece that discusses the creation of Oscorp's "performance enhancer" (you know, the one that turned Norman into the Green Goblin). In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, the camera shows the article that hides many important details about Norman's personal life, including who his wife was and how he rose to power. More importantly, audiences can also see the following question written in between all the lines: "What happens to Norman Osborn if OsCorp loses its defense contract for the Super Soldier?".

Furthermore, it's mentioned that Norman is "far too closely tied to the Super Soldier program" for him to keep his position at Oscorp if the contract goes sideways. Finally, it's explained that the objective of this project is to "increase the strength, endurance, reflexes, and mental acuity of the subject". If any of this sounds familiar, it's because the very first Super Solider program (and serum) was responsible for turning Steve Rogers into Captain America. Similarly, the serum used on Cap enhanced all his physical abilities - a goal that Norman Osborn aspired to achieve in the Sam Raimi movies.

Granted, the mention of the Super Soldier program in Sam Raimi's movies is simply a nod to another beloved Marvel character and nothing more. As far as we know, Captain America does not exist in Tobey Maguire's universe (with his version of Peter Parker not knowing what The Avengers are). However, the story is a little bit different in comic book pages.

Ultimate Green Goblin was created when trying to replicate Cap's powers

In the Ultimate universe, Oscorp was hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. to recreate the Super Soldier serum that gave Steve Rogers his powers. Norman's attempts to replicate such a scientific feat resulted in the creation of the Oz formula - which was later tested on animals giving birth to the radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his powers. After keeping tabs on the super-powered teenager and concluding that the human trials were successful, Norman decided to use Oz on himself.

As you could've guessed, this experiment went horribly wrong (since Norman decided not to mix the Oz formula with spider venom but rather with his own DNA). So after a big laboratory explosion, multiple casualties, and even the creation of Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin was finally born. This means Captain America and Spider-Man's greatest nemesis have a deep connection in the Ultimate universe.

It isn't surprising to learn Sam Raimi hid a little bit of comic book history in his first Spider-Man movie. However, this obscure detail remains mostly hidden to this date. Even more than 20 years later we're still finding new things in the original wall-crawler trilogy, which is a testament to how much love, care, and thought was put into it.

Did you know about this Captain America Easter Egg in the first live-action Spider-Man? Let us know on our social media pages! And stick around Whatever A Spider Can for more secrets and news related to the web-slinger.