I have this crazy theory that Gunn slipped a Mandarin Easter egg into one of the movies.

My reasoning?

The Ten Rings start off the MCU.

Then comes Iron Man 3.

Iron Man 3 and its one shot show the MCU’s Ten Rings is becoming more and more active.

There’s a guy from the Ten Rings in Ant Man checking out the Hornet tech that could take you to another dimension. Ant Man and the Wasp is the next movie in the series and will expand on that place in time and space.

I think it’s odd for Antman to be the only MCU movie to use the 10 Rings as an Easter egg. Especially if actually fighting the Mandarin means leaving Earth.

Captain Marvel is rumored to set up Secret Wars.

Secret Wars introduces Battleworld, a planet in a far off galaxy! (Start looking for them eggs!)

The Mandarin appears on Battle Planet in “Secret Wars” (2015) which ties heavily into the Ultimate universe.

Are the 10 Rings the key to turning back time and defeating Thanos?

That’s why I think there’s a 10 Ring/Mandarin reference somewhere in GotG/GotG2.

Christopher Yost, editor of Iron Man Armored Advetures and writer of “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”(2010), recently became involved in the screen writing process for the MCU. This is from the Iron Man Armored adventures wiki:

“Mandarin with all 10 rings Godhood: When the rings are all together, it gives the Mandarin power over everything, including reality itself. The Mandarin knows and sees everything, every molecule and every electron. With this, the Mandarin isn't even mortal anymore, he becomes raw power. The Mandarin has a green aura surrounding him when he attains this state.”

I think the only thing going against my Secret War theory is the lack of X-Men and F4. We’re even getting the introduction of Venom/symbiotes between Antman 2 and Captain Marvel. Venom was introduced in Secret Wars #7 and the black spider suit was introduced in #8.

If you read all of this, thanks! I’d love to hear what you think!