Mythology Gag / The LEGO Batman Movie

Finally! A Two-Face played by Billy Dee Williams and not Tommy Lee Jones.

The film is stocked full of references to Batman's past:

• Batman's many batsuits include his costumes from New 52, Gotham by Gaslight, Batman Beyond, the Knightmare sequence in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, caveman garb reminiscent of his resurrection in the Grant Morrison run and the original 1939 Batman comics.
• At one point, Batman does a Rapid-Fire "No!", which segues into his beatboxing of the Adam West Batman TV series theme song.
• When Batman and Robin become Back-to-Back Badasses, Batman tells Robin that they're going to hit so hard, the force of their punches will spontaneously form words. Cue the big, flashy, comic-book "BAM!" "KAPOW!" "BLAMMO!" word effects from the 1960's show.
• During the final battle Alfred's costume looks like Kato's from The Green Hornet, which crossed over with Batman. ^note  Both shows were produced by William Dozier and Lorenzo Semple, Jr.
• When Robin first gets into the Batmobile with Batman, we hear the famous "Atomic Batteries to power, turbines to speed", from the opening of the '60s Batman — which is immediately followed by Robin asking where the seatbelts are. The iconic phrase of the '60s show was always preceded by an emphatic shot of the Dynamic Duo fastening their seatbelts...
  Batman: The first lesson is: life doesn't give you seatbelts!
• Batman's massive collection of Batmobiles include his cars from Batman (1989)/Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, and the Tumbler from The Dark Knight Trilogy.
  • Speaking of which, this film's Batmobile briefly spins around on its own vertical axis during the opening battle, much like the Batman: Arkham Knight version.
• Harley Quinn wears a Smylex T-shirt. She also wears roller skates, referencing her New 52 solo series. At one point, she gains a nurse outfit, likely a reference to her outfit in Batman: Arkham Asylum. One of her weapons is a baseball bat, which either refers to her use of it in Suicide Squad (2016), or her earlier bat-wielding in the Arkham games. Lastly, her Harleen Quinzel getup includes an argyle sweater under her jacket — a nod to her alter ego's famous diamond motif.
• Catwoman wears a purple suit; her original purple and green costume^note Or her 90s Balent outfit combined with her current Darwyn Cooke black catsuit.
• The Joker has tattoos on his forearms, similar to his portrayal in Suicide Squad (2016), has shark teeth like he did in The Batman, and his hairstyle is reminiscent of the Batman: Arkham Series series design, with the purple suit from the '60s Batman TV show and the 1989 Batman movie and yellow eyes from Batman: The Animated Series.
• Poison Ivy takes cues from the Batman & Robin version, with winged eye makeup resembling Uma Thurman's mask.
• Bane is mostly traditional, with his classic hulking stature and mask, but he wears the The Dark Knight Rises version's coat and talks with the same accent. The very idea of hijacking a plane in mid-flight from the outside for the first scene also comes from that movie.
• The Riddler wears a smoking jacket and bowler hat similar to his design from the 60's Batman TV show, and chuckles with a similar laugh, but sports scraggly red hair much like Jim Carrey's version from Batman Forever.
• Killer Croc's only role in the film is to swim underwater and start a time bomb, in a dig against his similar actions in Suicide Squad (2016).
  Croc: I did something!
• While not in the film itself, Killer Croc's bio on the movie's website includes the following Bat-Fact:
  Claims he almost "got" Batman once by throwing a really big rock at him.^note Which is not accurate, since it was Batman in disguise claiming it.
• Batman asks the computer how to put the Joker in Arkham Asylum. By the way he asks the question, is he asking about bringing the Joker to the place or for a cheat code in Batman: Arkham Asylum?
• When Batman gets caught stalk- uh, surveillancing the criminals in Arkham, he goes into a Private Eye Monologue (that Barbara can hear anyway) while posed just like the well-known logo of Batman: The Animated Series.
• Though this Robin is Dick Grayson, his use of green-tinted glasses as opposed to the traditional mask is taken from Carrie Kelly.
• The portraits of Thomas and Martha Wayne seem to be based on the actor and actress that played them in Dawn of Justice.
• Another scene shows various civilians showing their support to Batman with signs. One sign has the onomatopeia POW! written on it, while there's another that says "Batman Forever".
• Batman is still a Master Builder.
• When Dick Grayson is running amok in the Batcave and having fangasms over all of Batman's stuff, Batman finally allows him to touch the Bat-Shark-Repellent Spray, which famously appeared in the beginning of 1966's Batman: The Movie as a parody of how Crazy-Prepared Batman is. In both movies, the spray also defeats an unexpected, fake-looking shark attacking Batman's legs.
• The Penguin and Two-Face are based solely on the Tim Burton versions of the characters, with the latter even being voiced by his actor in said Tim Burton version (Billy Dee Williams, who only got to play the Harvey Dent stage of the character). The Penguin even rides on a vehicle looking like a rubber ducky from Batman Returns.
• When confronting Batman about his brooding, Alfred remarks that he's seen him undergo such phases before in 2016, 2012, 2008, 2005, 1997, 1995, 1992, 1989 and "that weird one in 1966." Each phase (with the exceptions of 1997 and 1966) is accompanied by a shot ripped straight from its respective film, recreated in the LEGO artstyle.
  Batman: I have aged phenomenally.
• Alfred dons the 1966 Batman outfit, stating he missed the 60's. Alan Napier, who played Alfred in the 60's, once donned the 1966 Batman outfit during the show.
• When Barbara Gordon describes Batman's long history we see a screen from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as well as other LEGO recreations of title and poster shots of The Dark Knight, the famous shot from the opening credits of Batman: The Animated Series of Batman posing dramatically on top of a skyscraper in a lightning storm, the cover of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman as one of the Super Friends, Batman trying to dispose of a bomb, the Batman and Robin (minus Robin) in the spotlight cover of Batman Issue number 9, then Detective Comics number 27 (the first ever Batman comic), and a shot from the 1940s Batman movie serial.
• Barbara Gordon replaces her father Jim Gordon as Commissioner, as she did in Batman Beyond.
• Barbara cleaned up Blüdhaven, Nightwing's home city.
• Gentleman Ghost is listed among Batman's Rogues Gallery, in spite of being a Hawkman villain, much like how the character was more associated with Batman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
  • The same also applies to Clock King and (to a lesser extent) Captain Boomerang. The former was a Batman villain in the the 90s animated series, while the latter a member of the Suicide Squad in the Arkham series.
• Early on when Joker hijacks the plane full of explosives, the pilot flying asks him if it's anything like his plan with the two boats or the one with the parade and the Prince music.
• During the opening logos, Batman refers to DC Comics as "The House that Batman Built". The company is named after Detective Comics, best known for introducing Batman. The Batman symbol from The Dark Knight Trilogy can be also seen behind the DC logo.
• The Joker gleefully states he now knows Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys? when plundering the Batcave.
• When Dick decides to emulate Batman, he grabs a suit called "Nightwing". (It doesn't resemble any Grayson Nightwing outfit, though, but was Superman's costume that he wore inside Kandor, the first instance of the hero Nightwing.)
• Batman tells Joker "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!", much like Bruce does in the 1989 Batman movie.
• Among the merchandise Batman gives to the orphans include T-shirts with The Batman logo on them (albeit with "The" removed) and baseball caps with the 1966 Batman logo on them.
• At one point, Harley fights people in an elevator.
• In a reference to the series' finale of Justice League Unlimited, "Destroyer" — at the end of the movie, to thank them for all their help, Batman gives his rogues gallery a thirty-minute Mercy Lead.
• A Freeze-Frame Bonus one — the parenting book that Alfred reads was written by Bartholomew Wolper, the quack psychiatrist from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
• Billboards around Gotham advertise Ferris Air, Black Canary's band, Big Belly Burger, a butcher shop run by Professor Pyg, Janus Cosmetics (Black Mask's company), and a cologne called Musk of the Phantasm, among others.
• At one point, Batman confronts Joker in a corridor that he's vandalized in a very familiar-looking way. Shortly thereafter, the two fight in a hall of mirrors...which leads to a chamber that includes a throne surrounded by piles of dolls.
• When Joker's bomb breaks Gotham in half, a shot of the news shows the headline "CATACLYSM IN GOTHAM". In the comics, the story where an earthquake nearly destroyed Gotham (leading into No Man's Land) was called Batman: Cataclysm Cataclysm]].
• During the Dance Party Ending, Joker can briefly be seen wearing his "vacation outfit" from the shooting scene in The Killing Joke, sans hat.
• Like The Dark Knight Rises, the villain's Evil Plan involves turning a power plant into a giant bomb to completely destroy Gotham.
• A Shreck's department store, similar to the one Catwoman blew up in Batman Returns, can be spotted in one shot of the city.
• Several villains appear in the movie but are not explicitly named; often based on one particular incarnation of the character:
  • Magpie, whose hair and outfit are based on her design in Beware the Batman.
  • The Mutant Leader from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
  • Hugo Strange, seemingly based off his Arkham Series incarnation.
  • Penguin's Kabuki twins from The Batman.
• The fortress of solitude's doorbell plays the opening of John Williams' main Superman: The Movie theme. The Fortress also resembles the crystal versions from the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, though it has the giant gold colored door and keyhole (sans the giant key) from Silver Age Superman comics.
• When Batman is tossing away Superman's Kryptonian memory crystals, Superman's father, Jor-El, appears as the Marlon Brando version of the character from Superman: The Movie.
• Alfred's outfit in the final battle is a more formal chauffeur's uniform with hat and a Batsymbol, which ends up resembling the uniform of DC's WWII-era heroes, the Blackhawks.
• The idea of Batman acquiring a family unit is very similar to the 1956 - 1966 run of the comic, where Batman gained a love interest in 'Batwoman' Kathy Kane and Robin became more explicitly a son figure. Ironically Barbara Gordon replaced her as 'Batgirl' after a reboot, partly to remove the family and romance aspects of the character.
• Penguin has an army of actual penguins with rocket launchers strapped to their backs.
• Also, Batman nearly runs over an old lady crossing the street, just like Penguin in Batman Returns.
• Using just a rope tied around the control as the Batplane's "autopilot", looks like a dig at how Two-Face used "The Club" automobile locking device to lock a helicopter's steering in Batman Forever.
• A magazine ad mentions "Barris Automobiles" - George Barris was the legendary auto customizer who built the Batmobile for the 1960s TV series.
• The logo on the hood of Harley Quinn's cannon truck is one of her pet hyenas.
• Bruce does a Double Take when Dick says he's "jazzed" to meet him, and asks suspiciously if he just said "jazzed". It's a reference to Batman Jazz, which had jazz-themed villains.
• Catwoman exclaims "Meowch!", which was the title of the infamous New York Post review of Catwoman (2004).
• The Joker's cell in Arkham Asylum has a lighting and tile scheme similar to the Major Crimes Unit's interrogation room from The Dark Knight.
• Among the weapons arsenal that Batman turns in to enter Arkham is a live dolphin. A scene in the movie spun off from the Adam West TV series has a quick mention about a dolphin saving the Dynamic Duo from a torpedo (by Heroic Sacrifice).
• Batman references "spending a life with Russian ballerinas", a reference to The Dark Knight.
• Barbara as Batman's love interest.
• Condiment King gets a punch in the stomach from Batman and crumbles. The same thing happened in his debut.
• The Justice League 57th Anniversary Party includes members from the Superfriends, including the Wonder Twins and Apache Chief. It also includes Cyborg, who was a late addition to the League.
• When the Joker storms the cargo plane at the beginning, the pilot states that Batman will stop him, mentioning the time with the two boats.

There are also some shoutouts to LEGO lore:

• Killer Croc, to hammer home the LEGO aspect of the film, uses the classic crocodile head design first introduced in LEGO Pirates.
• There's a theater marquee that mentions the movie Two Shades of Bley - "bley" is the fan nickname for the new, slightly bluer shades of grey (officially "Dark Stone Grey" and "Medium Stone Grey") used in LEGO sets starting in 2004.