With the Arrowverse crossover come and gone, eagle-eyed fans kept an eye out for Batman references during the second hour. I’ve put together a list of fifteen Easter eggs I caught.
He’s the most famous DC Comics superhero outside of Superman. So introducing Ruby Rose’s Kate Kane in the Arrow hour of Elseworlds had fans scrambling to find Batman references. With help from a video by DC Comics YouTuber (and fellow Australian) Pagey, I’ve compiled a list of references from the Arrow hour.
15. Batman Daddy Figure Alfred Pennyworth
When Kate allows Oliver, Barry, and Oliver to work on the rooftop balcony in their quest to track down Deegan, she mentions the Wayne Enterprises password was Alfred.
Everybody knows who she was referring to. Yep, we’re talking about Bruce Wayne’s beloved butler and father figure, Alfred Pennyworth. This was my favourite Easter egg in the episode. Alfred was always my favourite member of the Bat-family because he put up with Bruce’s rebellious nature with grace.
14. Batman Signal
Upon their arrival in Gotham, Barry, Oliver, and Kara come across something on a rooftop under a large piece of cloth. Barry pulls the fabric off and discovers the Bat signal. He asks if Oliver thinks Batman exists now, and the archer still says no, proclaiming Batman to be
13. Batman Enemies: Arkham Asylum Villains
Doctor Deegan works at Arkham Asylum. When we arrive at the prison, we head down a hallway and see Batman’s villains’ cells. The cells show the civilian names of the characters:
- The Penguin
- Poison Ivy
- The Riddler
There are others I don’t quite remember. This was a terrific reference because that means these characters could appear in the Batwoman series. Also, we meet Nora Fries, a.k.a Lazara. She uses the cold gun of her husband, Victor Fries, a.k.a Mister Freeze, on Caitlin, which brings out Killer Frost. Psycho Pirate plays a minor role in the second hour but appears in the third hour as the inmate Deegan befriends during the tease for the 2019 Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.
12. Family Ties
The second hour of Elseworlds introduced audiences to Kate Kane, a.k.a Batwoman, played by Ruby Rose. During her chat with Kara in Wayne Enterprises, Kate reveals Bruce Wayne is her cousin and that he (and Batman) disappeared three years ago for unknown reasons.
11. Bane’s Mask
If you’re a fan of the Nolanverse Batman films, you might have spotted Tom Hardy’s Bane mask. If you can’t see it, it’s on the shelf Nora Fries searches while looking for the cold gun.
10. Batman Directors, Nolan and Burton
When Barry, Kara, and Oliver are cornered in the alley by the Gotham City Police Department, one of the cops mentions they’re on the corner of Nolan and Burton streets. These names are references to Christopher Nolan, who directed the Nolanverse Batman trilogy, and Tim Burton, the early 90s Batman films director.
09. Batman Territory: Wayne Enterprises
Wayne Enterprises itself is a reference to the Wayne family. Since Bruce went missing and he had no heirs (so we think), his cousin Kate takes over the company. It’s also likely the location where Kate’s Batcave is.
Note, Kate is a Kane, not a Wayne. Her father is likely Jacob Kane, the brother of Bruce’s mother, Martha.
08. Gotham City
You can’t have anything Bat family-related without Gotham City. Most of the second hour of Elseworlds is set in Gotham City. The location where the Gotham scenes for the crossover were filmed was Chicago, where the Nolan Batman films were shot.
07. William Shakespeare Bust
This next Easter egg is one for fans of the 1966 Batman series starring Adam West. When Kara is talking to Kate is Bruce Wayne’s former office, she picks up a bust of William Shakespeare from a box sitting on the desk. Batman and Robin used the bust in the original series to access the Batcave.
06. Kryptonite
While we don’t see Kryptonite, Kara mentions it to Barry and Oliver when the boys ask if they should be wandering around Gotham when Kate tells them to go home. Kara, wanting to talk Kate around, said she’d be fine as long as Kate didn’t have any hidden Kryptonite in her office.
05. Joker’s Chattering Teeth
During the scene with Nora Fries, there’s a blink-and-you-miss-it moment of a set of chattering teeth in a jar of water. The Joker was known to use chattering teeth to annoy his enemies. As far as we know, they aren’t anything lethal.
04. Scare Toxin
When Oliver arrives to help Caitlin with Nora Fries, he attempts to use a lightning rod to stop Fries, but it goes in the wrong direction and knocks into a scare toxin box. This substance was created by Scarecrow or Jonathan Crane as the package is labelled with Crane, J. Barry, and Oliver hallucinating each other’s arch-rivals, Malcolm Merlyn and Eobard Thawne, respectively. Because of the toxin, they fight each other while seeing the Dark Archer and Reverse-Flash.
03. Kate’s Batcave
We see Kate in an elevator going towards her version of the Batcave. Her lair looks like something from one of the comic book storylines Batwoman was involved in. The elevator itself is a reference to Christian Bale’s Batman and how he got to his Batcave.
02. Boomerang, Penguin Bombs and Joy Buzzer
During the prison escape scene where inmates get into fights with the guards, a boomerang from Captain Boomerang, Penguin Bombs from The Penguin and a Joy Buzzer from The Joker lay on the ground.
01. Name Drops
Throughout the episode, the names Bruce Wayne and Batman are said multiple times and not in necessarily that order. However, no one seems to have pieced together that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person.
Conclusion
There was a load of Easter eggs in the Arrow part of the crossover. Some were noticeable, while others weren’t. Unfortunately, it takes a keen eye and a quick finger on the pause button to catch all the more minor references.
