Mariah's former street name of Black Mariah is occasionally mentioned, which she hates. In the second season, it's revealed to have been a mocking nickname in reference to her dark, Caribbean roots.
The equipment attached to Luke during the experiment that gave him his superpowers looks exactly like the headband and gauntlets of his 70s comic book costume. He even swipes a yellow shirt that's several sizes too small - tight around his arms and baring his chest - after he breaks out of prison. Seeing his reflection in a car window, he mutters, "You look like a damn fool." He later jokes about his outfit when recounting his escape.
The title of "Power Man" is first used teasingly in "Moment of Truth" by Pop while Luke is lifting a washing machine. In the second season, D.W. has t-shirts made with the name.
Diamondback's protective suit is patterned on the outfit he wore when he first appeared in Hero for Hire #1-2. The fight he has with Luke in the old movie palace is a reference to Issue #21, when the villain Power Man fought him in the Gem Theater; it also ends the same way, with Luke throwing Stryker right out the doors.
Claire is at one point referred as the Night Nurse.
When Misty takes a bad gunshot to the arm, Claire tells her they can't leave the circulation cut off for too long or she may risk losing it. It turns into foreshadowing as Misty loses her right arm for real in the finale of The Defenders (2017).
Once again, an old name for Marvel Comics gets referenced. In Daredevil, it was the Atlas Investments office across the hall from Nelson & Murdock. Here, it's that the dumpsters in the lot where Diamondback pistol-whips Misty are labelled "Timely Trash".
Misty's getup in the final shots of the last episode of season 1 is very much like her 70s getup.
Colleen Wing gives martial arts classes, and in the comics is a supporting character in Iron Fist, along with a long-time friend and partner of Misty's.
Pop's barbershop has a kid's drawing of a big man in a grey suit with a horn: the Rhino, Spider-Man villain.
Cottonmouth spends the first episode in a green three-piece suit, a modern day update on his very 1970s Blacksploitation green suit.
Shades is given the the legal name of Hernan Alvarez for the show. In the comics, he had no name and grew up as a brawler in the streets. That part of his background is still part of the show, as he brings it up in a conversation with Mariah.
Season 2
Atreus Plastics, the plastics company that Piranha is encouraging Mariah to invest in, is from Daredevil # 184, and was involved in the creation of high-grade plastic explosives. One of their trucks appeared in the season 1 finale of Daredevil as part of Wilson Fisk's attempted escape from custody. Atreus is about to be bought out by Glenn Industries. Glenn Industries stands at the center of a string of tragedies stretching through the central part of Daredevil volume 1. Initially, Matt and Foggy are hired to investigate complaints of neglect and corruption by residents of a tenement owned by Maxwell Glenn. The situation becomes awkward once they realize that Heather Glenn, their new office manager and Matt’s girlfriend, is the guy’s daughter. After Heather inherits her father's company upon his suicide in jail, she discovers that “Atreus Plastics” is a front for the company’s illegal manufacture and sale of explosives. She shares this information with Matt and Foggy, and Matt– in a really emotionally unhealthy state at this point, thanks to Elektra’s recent death– gleefully sets about building a case to take Glenn Industries down. But for Heather, losing the company leaves her without a purpose, and her fiancé’s recent erratic behavior frightens her. She sinks into a deep depression, and eventually commits suicide.
Luke and James Lucas' first reunion, where James angrily scolds Luke for swearing, is a reference to their comic counterparts reunion in Mighty Avengers (2013).
Cockroach uses his signature six-barrelled shotgun "Josh" to throw Luke out the window of his gambling den.
In the final sequence of season two, the suit Luke wears as the new owner of Harlem's Paradise is reminiscent of how he appears in the 2016 -- 2017 run of Power Man & Iron Fist.
A man attempting to pick up Misty and Colleen in a bar quips "You can call me Mr. Fish." This is a reference to one of Luke's stranger villains.
Whilst protecting Piranha Jones for money, Luke semi-sarcastically asks, "Where's my money, honey?", a reference to an infamous incident in which Doctor Doom refused to pay Luke for a job. The above quote was what Luke said after bursting into Latveria to demand Doom pay him.
While holed up in the Rand Building, Luke has problems with a coffee vending machine. Luke having difficulties with a coffee machine was a running gag in the original Heroes for Hire series.
