Following the recent release of Ant-Man, your next Marvel Cinematic Universe fix is more than nine months away, as May 2016 will see the release of Captain America: Civil War.

The eagerly-anticipated offering will pit two teams of opposing heroes against each other, as their views over the implementation of the Superhuman Registration Act differ greatly.

It will signal the opening of Phase 3 of the franchise – and there are nine other movies coming your way in said phase. Of course, that means Captain America: Civil War will be full of Easter eggs.

This article will take a look at some exciting and plausible examples of Easter eggs that we hope to see in the movie, which may well actually happen – five, to be exact, so let’s get started.

Red Skull

The emergence of Brock Rumlow in his Crossbones guise and the definite inclusion of Sharon Carter in this movie point towards it including strong elements of the Civil War comic book arc.

In the comic book, Crossbones goes after Captain America and a brainwashed Sharon Carter kills him – with both characters acting as pawns of the red-faced Nazi.

Rumours of Red Skull returning (he was seemingly killed in Captain America: The First Avenger, but there’s every possibility he was merely absorbed into the Tesseract or transported across the universe) have been doing the rounds for some time and Captain America: Civil War certainly seems like a good opportunity to reintroduce him.

Perhaps at the end of the movie, Crossbones and a brainwashed Carter could be seen talking to an unseen leader, discussing how they plan to kill Captain America, prior to the leader in question being revealed to be the Red Skull (his return could be explained in a future movie and he could potentially become an ally of Thanos in the Infinity War movies).

Spider-Man Villains

Captain America: Civil War will be the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for which production began after the announcement of Spider-Man’s arrival into the franchise.

The Webbed Wonder will, of course, make his first appearance in the movie and he has already briefly been mentioned (albeit cryptically) in Ant-Man, but Civil War represents the first real opportunity to begin expanding his mythos in the franchise.

Therefore, it would be cool to see some clues about the direction in which Marvel Studios want to take the character – and perhaps that could come in the form of some hints towards his villains.

Maybe we’ll finally get to see that Oscorp Easter egg? Perhaps a Spider-Man villain associated with HYDRA will be seen working alongside Baron Zemo? Maybe we’ll see Eddie Brock working for The Daily Bugle? Either way, some clues towards who Spidey might be facing would be great.

N.B. Although he’s not a villain, it would also be pretty awesome to see J. Jonah Jameson!

A Doctor Strange Mid/Post-Credits Scene

Captain America: Civil War will see the introduction of both Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther – two characters who aren’t getting their own movies until one and two years after the ensemble movie respectively.

However, even though Doctor Strange is the movie directly following Civil War in the same year, there is no sign of Benedict Cumberbatch appearing as the Sorcerer Supreme.

Therefore, it would be cool to see the character appear in some capacity in a mid-credits or post-credits scene.

He could be seen following the accident that injured his hands, he could be seen venturing through harsh terrain to find the Ancient One or he could be seen scrying and foreseeing Thanos’ plans with the Infinity Gauntlet.

Either way, including him in a scene after the movie ends would be a nice teaser for fans (alternatively, it would be cool to see him make an appearance in the main body of the movie – perhaps as a passive onlooker to the war, just like he was in the comics).

Another Thanos Mid/Post-Credits Scene

Thanos has now truly made his presence felt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As well as a part in the main body of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, he sandwiched that appearance with two mid-credits appearances in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Having been confirmed as the “big-bad” of the franchise, it has been revealed that he is looking to piece together the Infinity Stones in order to wield the completed Infinity Gauntlet in the Infinity War movies.

In his most recent appearance (the aforementioned Avengers: Age of Ultron mid-credits scene), the Mad Titan signalled his intent to start collecting the Infinity Stones himself, following the failure of his lieutenants to do so on his behalf.

It would, therefore, be cool if he was to get his hands on one of them in a mid/post credits scene after Captain America: Civil War.

Perhaps, for example, we’ll see him in Asgard taking the Tesseract, which would lead nicely into Thor: Ragnarok, as well as putting his plans for the Infinity War officially into motion.

A Phase 4 Clue

Marvel Studios love to lay the foundations for future plots in their movies, although doing so ten movies prior to them happening is asking a lot (bearing in mind that there are indeed ten movies in Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

That being said, wouldn’t it be cool to kick Phase 3 of with a massive bang by hinting towards a major plot in Phase 4? Of course it would!

Perhaps there will be a Secret Wars movie in Phase 4, in which case seeing the Beyonder or the Beyonders (depending on whether it was based on the 1984 or 2015 version of the story) in a mid/post-credit scene plotting the creation of Battleworld would be awesome (watching the events of Civil War might make them think they enjoy fighting each other!).

Maybe there will be a Dark Reign/Siege movie in Phase 4, in which case seeing Norman Osborn forming the Cabal or looking to take over as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. could be a good idea.

Or maybe we’ll see a major villainous team in Phase 4 – the Masters of Evil, perhaps – in which case seeing a group of new and existing MCU villains coming together would be a good idea.

Regardless, it would show brilliant planning by Marvel Studios if Phase 4’s major plot was hinted at – and it would really make fans excited for the long-term future of the franchise.

What do you think? Would you like to see these Easter eggs in Captain America: Civil War? Which other Easter eggs do you want? Have your say below.