One of the joys of watching a Pixar movie is seeing references to the studio’s other films. Think: the Pizza Planet delivery truck in WALL-E, or A Bug’s Life toys in Toy Story 2. Sometimes, Pixar will even introduce new characters for films that haven’t even been released yet, like Nemo from Finding Nemo (2003) in Monsters, Inc. (2001) or no-good Lotso from Toy Story 3 (2010) in Up (2009). That last example is an interesting case, because it appears Pixar may have once again hidden the villain, in this case for Toy Story 4, in a previous film.
Before the release of Incredibles 2, sets supervisor Nathan Fariss told BuzzFeed that there’s a Toy Story 4 Easter egg hidden somewhere in the movie, but “it probably won’t make any sense until Toy Story 4 comes out. I didn’t even know anything about it before. You might see it and go, ‘What the heck is that?’ And then move on.” Based on the Nemo and Lotso examples, we can assume it’s a pivotal character, and we know it’s Forky or Ducky and Bunny, because we’ve already seen them. But there’s one major character we haven’t been introduced to yet: Duke Kaboom, voiced by Keanu Reeves.
The Observer reports that the horse-riding John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum star “is playing a character named Duke Kaboom, who hails from a place where discontinued toys are sent… Apparently, Bo Peep (voiced by Annie Potts) seeks out his help in retrieving her sheep after they’ve been taken from her.” Reeves has since confirmed the news, adding that Pixar “pitched the character to me and then we spoke and they allowed me to kind of riff on it.” Pixar has otherwise remained mum on Duke’s role in the film, but a convincing YouTube video suggests he’s the secret Easter egg in Incredibles 2, appearing in Jack-Jack’s crib while surrounded by blocks reading “W,” “D,” and “Y,” or Woody.
Look at that handlebar mustache: that toy has to be important and/or evil! But I guess we’ll find out on June 21, when Toy Story 4 comes out.
(Via BuzzFeed and Seamus Gorman)
