An Oscar-winning Japanese auteur’s work has inspired pop culture from all over the world and even an Avengers sequel paid homage to one of his movies.

Hayao Miyazaki is a living legend of Japanese animation, and the influence of his work can be felt in all sorts of media, including 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. Having animated, written, and directed some of the best Studio Ghibli films, Miyazaki’s legacy lives on in heartwarming and surreal anime classics like Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro, among many others. The Japanese auteur has also received appreciation from the Oscars, earning Best Animated Feature in 2003 for Spirited Away and repeating the feat in 2024, with The Boy and The Heron winning over Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Hayao Miyazaki’s wildly imaginative visuals and morally endearing themes have been heavily referenced in many other movies and shows, including the likes of the Nickelodeon fantasy adventure Avatar: The Last Airbender and the 2023 anime blockbuster Suzume. Strangely enough, one Miyazaki favorite has also found life in the MCU timeline. Essentially a blink-and-miss Easter Egg hidden in the peripheries of a Phase Two movie, the nod to Miyazaki and his filmography is more than evident with a “special thanks” that the credits offer to the two-time Oscar-winning director.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron Briefly Features The Robot From Castle In The Sky

Hayao Miyazaki Was Also Thanked In The Credits

While Hayao Miyazaki has never joined forces with any Hollywood productions, his filmography is often referenced in movies as diverse as Toy Story 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. The 2015 superhero ensemble blockbuster offered a partial look at a Laputa robot from Miyazaki’s 1986 cult adventure film Castle In The Sky. In the animated original, a robot descends upon Earth from the flying dimension of Laputa. As the colossal robot is reanimated to life, it acquires a protective attitude towards the movie’s orphaned protagonist, Sheeta. The robot’s physiology was defined by stretchable, slender arms accompanying its colossal metallic frame.

One such robot arm can be spotted briefly in a scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron when the Marvel superheroes jokingly attempt to lift Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, at Tony Stark’s house. The arm resembles that of a Laputa robot. Interestingly enough, the movie later finds Ultron using a device to lift the city of Novi Grad skyward, much like the floating world of Laputa. The movie’s credits also thank Miyazaki, with director Joss Whedon being a self-professed fan of the Ghibli canon. In fact, Whedon’s previous sci-fi series Firefly also featured a moon named Miyazaki in the Oscar winner’s honor.

How Castle In The Sky’s Laputa Robots Can Actually Be MCU Canon?

The Possibilities Are Endless

Considering that the MCU offered multiple nods to pre-existing pop culture like Star Wars and Spongebob SquarePants, it wouldn’t be surprising if Miyazaki’s movies exist in the same world as the Avengers. In this case, the Castle in the Sky robot can just be a replica adorning Tony Stark’s house. But it is tempting to speculate about the many worlds of Ghibli movies existing as parallel dimensions in the MCU multiverse, implying that Stark experimented on or collected technology from other realms like Laputa in Castle in the Sky (much like the Nine Realms and other planets in Thor movies).

Castle in the Sky can be streamed on Max in American territories and on Netflix in most non-American territories.

But these are merely possibilities as Marvel’s owner, Disney, has had a tumultuous history with Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. When Princess Mononoke was due to be released in the US by The Walt Disney Company, Miyazaki was heavily opposed to the decision to trim down the English dub. Despite future Studio Ghibli features receiving limited theatrical distribution in the US by Disney, none of them can be streamed on Disney+ and are available on Max and Netflix instead. Still, a nod to Miyazaki’s 1986 classic in Avengers: Age of Ultron proves how timeless and influential his creations are.