As we’ve pointed out before, Avengers Campus is loaded with Easter Eggs. The new Marvel land at Disney California Adventure is hiding plenty of Marvel and Disney details all over for eagle-eyed fans to find. One of those Easter Eggs though, comes right out of Marvel Comics and it is not exactly a reference to happy times.
First, some backstory on Avengers Campus. The land that is currently occupied by Avengers Campus was previously owned by Howard Stark. During that time, it was home to a number of Stark Industries facilities, including Stark Motors. Eventually, the land was inherited by Tony Stark who then turned it into Avengers Campus, building and Avengers headquarters right there.
All caught up? Ok, so while exploring the land, guests will find a map of what the land looked like when it was still occupied by Stark Industries. A closer look at this map will show various locations like Stark Aeronautics, Stark Motors, Pym Labs AccuTech (which is itself a Marvel Comics Easter Egg, but not the one we’re talking about here) and more. One of the other locations on this map is Geffen-Meyer Chemicals, a name that might be familiar to fans of Marvel Comics.
Geffen-Meyer Chemicals has had a few appearances throughout the history of Marvel Comics, but there is one that is far and away the most memorable and it came during the Superhero Civil War. In “Civil War #4,” Captain America and Iron Man had already drawn a line in the sand and picked their sides in the fight for superhuman registration. But even with Cap and his friends in hiding, they still responded to a distress call from a chemical plant that had caught fire because it was the right thing to do. When they got there though, they quickly learned that Geffen-Meyer Chemicals was a subsidiary of Stark Industries.
Iron Man and his team of heroes had spring a trap on Cap and his team, which lead to one of the biggest fights of the whole story arc. Eventually, Tony had to call in the big guns – a clone of Thor he made with Hank Pym and Reed Richards.
The clone proved to be very effective in the fight, pushing Cap’s team to their limits and nearly forcing the end of the war. Eventually though, the clone went a bit too far. Bill Foster, better known by his superhero name of Goliath, engaged the Thor clone and tried to turn the tides in the fight. The clone went far beyond his protocols and things didn’t end well for Foster…
That’s right. Geffen-Meyer Chemicals is the site of the death of Bill Foster. This was a turning point in the Civil War comic arc. It was a moment that caused a lot of heroes to question which side they were on, including Spider-Man and Sue Storm. If Tony, Reed and Hank were willing to employ a murderous Thor clone, how could they possibly be on the right side? It also served as motivation for a lot of the heroes involved. But most importantly, it was an extremely tragic occurrence, with a great hero being lost.
So the next time you’re walking by this Stark Industries map in Avengers Campus, just remember Bill Foster and maybe double check that Thor you’re meeting right around the corner.