Flora & Ulysses director reveals there are Easter eggs in the film that only “a true comic book fan will notice”

The upcoming film, which arrives on Disney+ later this month, follows Flora (Matilda Lawler), a precocious comic book fan who adopts a squirrel with superpowers named Ulysses.

On whether she was a fan of superhero comics prior to directing the film, Khan told RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview that she "grew up" reading about iconic Marvel characters.

"It's like a certain subset of comics like X-Men and Spider-Man and things like that, and I have a brother who's a total comic book nerd so he would gather a bunch of comic books – actually he has enough knowledge by himself – and we would research with him and put all those sorts of things into the movie.

"So there's Easter eggs in the movie, all kinds of things that like a true comic book fan will notice in the background, and then there are things that are the tropes that you see, like a lot of the poses that Ulysses does."

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She added that she even gave Ulysses similar characteristics to existing characters, saying: "Even just like the act of doing a superhero thing while taking a bite of something, which is something Spider-Man would do or Thor would do."

"And so kind of just weaving those all in based off of that research and my background growing up."

Based on Kate DiCamillo's children's novel of the same name, Flora & Ulysses was penned by Arrested Development writer Brad Copeland and stars the likes of Alyson Hannigan, Ben Schwartz, Danny Pudi, Janeane Garofalo and Kate Micucci.

You can buy Kate DiCamillo's novel Flora & Ulysses on Amazon. Flora & Ulysses arrives on Disney+ on Friday 19th February. Sign up to Disney Plus. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our list of the best movies on Disney Plus and best shows on Disney Plus, or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.