Harley Quinn Drops An Avengers Movie Reference In Birds of Prey

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Birds of Prey.

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) features a subtle The Avengers reference. Warner Bros.' latest comic book film debuts a string of new female heroes who team up with Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. Huntress/Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Dinah Laurel Lance/Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bett), Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) all join forces with the fan-favorite character as they go up against Ewan McGregor's Roman Sionis/Black Mask - the film's primary antagonist - as well as Chris Messina's Victor Zsasz.

The film, directed by Cathy Yan with a script from Christina Hodson, exists in the DCEU lore, although devoid of any other characters from the franchise. It does build on the continuity established in David Ayer's 2016 movie, Suicide Squad. Despite falling in DC's own universe, Birds of Prey has a sneaky reference from Marvel Studios' The Avengers film. Helmed by Joss Whedon and released in 2012, the blockbuster solidified Kevin Feige's plans of building an interconnected film series mimicking storytelling format from the comic books.

At first glance, there are barely any similarities between Birds of Prey and The Avengers. They have very different stories and cater to very different audiences (the former is R-rated, while the latter is PG-13). However, they have one similarity.

Both superhero teams grab food after their respective missions. After their intense encounter with Black Mask and his army of Gotham goons, Harley suggests they all grab some Mexican food, which they eventually do. Aside from the girls wanting Margaritas, they hope that by having Cass load up on burritos, she'll finally flush out the diamond that holds the key to the Bertinelli fortune.

In MCU's The Avengers, the titular heroes go up against the Thanos-backed Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his army of Chitauri during the Battle of New York. Although there were snags along the way, they eventually learned to work together, successfully defeating the God of Mischief with Iron Man hauling a nuclear weapon to Thanos's galactic troops on standby. After a near-death experience, the ever-so-quippy genius billionaire asked everybody to gather up for shawarma. In the post-credit scene for the movie, all six characters look spent after a day of evil-fighting huddled in a wrecked shop as they devour their meals. Throughout the years, despite a string of newer stingers, this remains one of the iconic ones from the MCU.

As simple as both Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and The Avengers' scenes are, they're pivotal in building rapport among characters. Seeing these heroes sit down and eat a meal together somehow makes them relatable, and in turn, fans are more likely to be invested in their stories. Like MCU's original six heroes went on to have their own individual and collective arcs throughout the years, culminating in Avengers: Endgame, it would be nice to see Harley, Black Canary, Huntress, Renee, and Cass go through their journeys in the DCEU. And while there's no official word for their joint project yet, it's safe to assume that they'll all be back together to take on another villain.

More: Birds of Prey Ending Explained: Harley Quinn’s DCEU Future