Mythology Gag / Comic Books

"Feels like someone turned the symbolic homage up to eleven."

— Rocket Raccoon discovering Captain America's shield frozen in a block of ice in Guardians of the Galaxy #2

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Comic books with their own pages:

• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (Boom! Studios)

• Sonic the Hedgehog:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW)

• Supergirl:

• Adventures of Supergirl
• Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade

• Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
• Ultimate Spider-Man (2000)

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Examples:

DC Comics

• Batman:
  • In the standard Batman Backstory, Bruce Wayne is inspired by a bat that flies in through an open window while he's trying to come up with a motif that will strike fear into the hearts of evil-doers. In Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The Movie of Batman: The Animated Series, a flashback to the early days of Wayne's crimefighting career shows him trying to come up with a motif that will strike fear into the hearts of evil-doers... but it's raining, and all the windows are closed. (He eventually does have the bat inspiration, but later and under different circumstances.)
    • In the movie, the bat can be briefly seen before flying away.
    • Similarly, in The Batman vs. Dracula, he has a nightmare that starts with the window closed, and the bat crashes through it and dies.
    • The bat crashing through the window is canon in modern continuity (or at least it was): The bat was deafened by a scientific experiment done by Kirk Langstrom, who would become Man-Bat. Seriously.
    • In the Elseworld Detective No. 27, in which Bruce Wayne becomes the World's Greatest Detective without donning a costume, he is interrupted in his reverie by the arrival of Lee Travis (the Crimson Avenger) inviting him to join the Secret Society of Detectives. So he shuts the window and leaves the study, and doesn't even look round when something "thunk"s against it. Heck, the title itself is a Mythology Gag. Tell me, what comic and issue number does Batman debut in?
    • Similarly, in In Darkest Knight (where Bruce becomes Green Lantern instead), the bat is scared off by a projection of Abin Sur, who crashed on Bruce's property.
    • In Detective Comics #994, the version from Year One is retold... only, this time, it seems THE BAT LANDED ON ALFRED'S HEAD! An auspicious beginning, to be sure.
  • It's now semi-canon (in that it's made appearances in multiple video-games and a few comics) that there's a neighborhood of Gotham named Otisburg.
  • In Gotham High, which is an Elseworld High School AU, Bruce befriends a rebellious boy named Jack Napier, who he later has a falling out with. When he introduces himself, Jack states his real name is John, but friends call him Jack. Though there are plenty of Johns who go by Jack in the real world, this is very likely a reference to John Doe, who also became fast friends with Bruce before everything went wrong. Like John, Bruce is shown using their friendship in an attempt to get closer to people who might be connected to what's been going on in Gotham, and like John, he has a room full of pictures of people he's obsessed with, but where John had Bruce and Harley Quinn, Jack has Selina Kyle.
  • In the Nightwing issue of the "Night of the Monster Men" Bat Family Crossover, Alfred says that Hugo Strange's Monster Men formula (previously implied to be derived from "a quantity of Venom" Strange got from Bane) has similarities to patents by Dr Penelope Young and Dr Jackson Chappell. Young and Chappell both created Venom variants in other media; the Titan Project in Batman: Arkham Asylum and "slappers" in Batman Beyond.
  • Kevin Smith's Batman: The Widening Gyre opens with a flashback to the days when Dick Grayson was Robin, as they try to stop a Neo-Nazi supervillain stealing an ancient copy of the Torah. Robin makes his entrance shouting "Holy scrolls, Batman!"
  • The two-issue Batman: Orphans miniseries opens with a dead kid in a Robin costume. The boy is revealed to be Chris Ward, the estranged son of industrialist Adam Ward.
  • Batman Beyond Unlimited has Amanda Waller explaining to Terry how she's acquainted with the various members of the Justice League. How she knows him, on the other hands, is something best discussed over a cup of tea. The following issue has Superman talk about his orange-haired "pal" who takes care of their base while they're gone. The word "pal" is italicized.
  • In Justice Lords Beyond, it is stated that the Lords caused a superhuman civil war after gaining their powers back. Lord Superman lead the rest of the lords against Lord Batman, who tried to stop them from taking over the world. The mainline versions of the Justice League had to enter that alternate universe to help Batman win. So it was basically Injustice: Gods Among Us. Black Adam is even shown helping the lords, just like his Injustice counterpart did with the regime.
  • In Red Robin 19, Tim Drake, a former Robin, trapped in the Unternet, wakes up and wonders where he is, but then states, "Well that answers that", saying it's a nightmare. Next page reveals that he is looking at a Silver Age Batman and Robin fighting Silver Age bad guys to which Red Robin responds, "Holy make believe". This same statement also doubles as an answer to a riddle by the Riddler.
  • The African (later African-American) hero Batwing's costume looks a lot like the imaginary African-American Batman (aka "Bat-Wings") in the seventies comic "The Batman Nobody Knows". Only less seventies.
  • In Batman '66 #3 (the comic based on the 1966 TV series), there's a character called the Red Hood, who looks a lot like the original Red Hood from regular continuity (that is, the Joker before he became the Joker) and claims to be the Joker's greatest enemy. He turns out to be the Joker's psychiatrist, possessed by the Joker's subconscious through his brainwave helmet and acting out a plan to free him. In the same story, one of the other psychiatrists at the Arkham Institute is Dr. Quinn, who refuses to call the Joker by his criminal name, and therefore refers to him as "Patient J".
  • From Batman '66 #31, we have Joker using an Orphaned Punchline version of his final joke from The Killing Joke: "What do you think I am, crazy? You'd turn it off when I was halfway across!"
  • In '66 #37, a film director jokes that if he'd called Batman with some sort of Bat-Signal, he might have arrived sooner. (The Bat-Signal does exist in the 1966 continuity, but was rarely ever used and Comissioner Gordon more typically used the Bat-Phone to summon Batman.)
  • In Batman: Damned, the Enchantress' design and personality are almost identical to Cara Delevingne's portrayal of her in the 2016 Suicide Squad movie.
  • In "A Black and White World", a story in the Batman: Black and White anthology series, Batman spends some time in a waiting room where all the news magazines are TIME magazine; the receptionist tells him this is a result of a company policy. At the time the story was written, Time Inc. and DC Comics were both owned by the same media conglomerate (Time Inc. has since been spun off into a separate company again).
  • In Batman: Urban Legends #19, Bruce, in his Upper-Class Twit persona, implies that he's trying to impress a Hollywood actress, and the person he's taking to speculates that it's "Scarlett Basinger" or "Michelle Silverstone". This is an obvious reference to four real actresses (Scarlett Johansson, Kim Basinger, Michelle Pfeiffer and Alicia Silverstone) three of whom were the female leads of Batman movies.
  • Batman: Beyond the White Knight: The idea that the Joker implants a chip into a member of the Bat-Family's brain so that he could live on in AI-form is ripped straight from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, where the Joker's return is through a chip planted into Tim Drake during his Cold-Blooded Torture. Here though, it's Bruce's brain it was implanted in and it was Jack Napier who did the implanting, making him more of a Virtual Sidekick than a Jekyll & Hyde situation.
  • Poison Ivy (2022): Recalling the first costume she adapted when Pamela became "Poison Ivy" for the first time, the design is the exact one from Batman: The Animated Series.
• Green Lantern:
  • Xrill-Vrex is a bald humanoid extraterrestrial woman with the ability to take on elements of things around her who spends a lot of time orange. Someone fitting this description has been seen in a previous version of the DCU, as the Ace Pilot of Wonder Woman's Space Pirate crew in Wonder Woman (1987).
  • In Green Lantern Vol 2 #189, John Stewart says the Green Lantern's power is "like something out of of the Arabian Nights". The Golden Age Green Lantern's power really was inspired by the Arabian Nights, specifically Aladdin's lamp. Guy Gardner makes a similar reference in Vol 3 #12, even conjuring up a Magic Carpet.
  • The Green Lantern: The cover to issue #8 ("SPACE JUNKIES!") is a reference to the classic "Snowbirds Don't Fly" story first appearing in Green Lantern #85, where Green Arrow learns that his sidekick Speedy is an addict.
  • Green Lanterns: After taking the Phantom Ring for himself, Frank Laminski's (fake) Green Lantern outfit looks like Hal Jordan's, but with a few elements of Hal's Parallax outfit (like the shoulder-pads and the large cape).
  • Alan Scott: The Green Lantern: The Golden Age Red Lantern being a Soviet is one for the original Red Lantern story, which predates the modern Red Lantern Corps itself, and was instead about Kilowog defecting to the Soviet Union. Geoff Johns created both the new Golden Age Red Lantern and the Post-Crisis Red Lantern Corps - both are likely a nod to that story.
• Hellblazer: Lucifer Morningstar in Hellblazer: Rise and Fall has a lot more in common with his 2016 TV show iteration than his Vertigo counterpart; he's a dark-haired gentleman in a nice suit that likes to Troll people, has a short temper, has his moments of humility and involves himself with a police investigation when it involves his stolen angel wings.
• Superman:
  • The TV and movie adaptations of DC's Superman/Superboy characters have provided a rich treasure trove for fans of the Mythology Gag.
  • In Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie, there is a scene where Clark desperately needs to become Superman. He runs to the nearest pay phone, then stops — apparently expecting an old-style phone booth and ending up with a then-new phone-on-a-post instead.
    • That joke was foreshadowed in the 1975 inter-company crossover Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, only there it happened to Spider-Man.
  • Superman Returns comes a close second for Mythology Gags, referencing both the comic book version and the 1978 Richard Donner movie.
    • It also recreates on film an iconic image from the cover of the first issue of Action Comics, which featured Superman dashing the front end of a car into the ground — albeit that the film version inverts it as part of Superman's successfully lowering the out-of-control car to the ground. The image even reappears as a photograph of Superman later on in the film.
    • It gave a (parodic) nod to a catchphrase from the early Superman radio serials and later Silver Age comics ("Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"): Lois Lane, Perry White, and Jimmy Olsen are looking over some blurry photographs of something flying in the skies over Metropolis. Lane says the shape is a bird. White disagrees and says it's a plane. Jimmy Olsen begins to say "It's—" but is cut off by a knock on the door as Clark Kent enters, saying to White "You wanted to see me?"
    • The original Superman movie also subtly parodies the catchphrase. As Superman flies through the air in his first public appearance to rescue Lois Lane, a couple of reporters with a camera remark on camera "What the hell's that?"
    • There's also a scene where Superman utters the line "Well, I hope this experience hasn't put you off flying. Statistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel." In the first movie, it's said to Lois. In Returns, it's said to the plane full of passengers that Supes has just saved. For bonus points, Lois was one of the passengers in the latter film.
    • Also in the movie, Superman's first heroic deed upon returning is saving a space shuttle. In the comics, his first Post-Crisis appearance was also saving a spaceplane. Not to mention the entire plot being Superman foiling a real estate scheme by Lex Luthor that will kill millions.
  • Going the other way, JLA: Earth-2 had the League burst into LexCorp, and Luthor say into his intercom "Miss Tessmacher, hold my calls." Not a Canon Immigrant, because she doesn't actually appear, but...
  • In Superman: Space Age, Lex's main assistants are Otis and Miss Tessmacher, just like the movie.
  • During his time as President Evil, Luthor also had a bumbling PA called Nathaniel "Mac" Mackelveny, who was clearly modeled on Otis from The Motion Picture right down to calling him "Mr Lew-thor". He was eventually revealed to be the Martian Manhunter.
  • In at least three continuities (Superman: Red Son, Superman: The Dark Side, and Superman: The Animated Series), the Man of Steel goes evil (or at least benevolent dictator): two of those involved service to Darkseid. Somewhat similarly, Lex Luthor aspires to, or becomes, the US President in as many continuities (Superman: Red Son, Justice League, and the pre-Flashpoint DCU): only in Red Son is he remotely successful.
  • In an issue of his self-titled book, Superman faced a very clear Expy of Shazam! (then Captain Marvel), as a Poorly Disguised Pilot for the character's introduction to the DCU. That character was named Captain Thunder, which was Fawcett Comics' first idea for Captain Marvel's name.
  • In the Forever Evil tie in Action Comics #23.3 / Lex Luthor #1, much is made in the first few pages of Lex's loathing for his prison jumpsuit, which he states he never intends to wear again, and has burnt because there's nothing about that he wants to remember. This is a reversal of the Silver Age Luthor's reaction to Superman sending him to prison, which was that he would always wear the uniform to remind himself how much he hated Superman.
  • In Kryptonite Nevermore, Superman has temporarily lost his flying power but he is still "able to leap over the mountain with a single bound!"
  • From Superman: Up, Up and Away!:
    • Metropolis has a stadium called the Shuster Sports Arena, named after Joe Shuster, one of Superman's creators.
    • During his fight with Superman, Lex wears an outfit similar to the one he wore in the Silver Age.
    • The use of the Sunstone to construct the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic is taken from Superman: The Movie.
    • Superman's returned weakened powers are the same as they were in the original comics.
    • Radion, an enemy that hadn't been seen since Bronze Age storyline Krypton No More, makes a short-lived reappearance.
  • In Superman: Brainiac:
    • A Brainiac probe runs into Superman and sends the next message: "Kryptonian encountered. Locate. Attempt #242 in progress." Brainiac first appeared in Action Comics #242. The aforementioned probe also resembles how Brainiac himself used to appear during the Bronze Age.
    • Kara mentions that Kandor's lunar colony was destroyed by Jax-Ur, another bit taken from Pre-Crisis Superman lore.
    • Zor-El wears the same clothes that he wore in his first appearance in Action Comics #252.
    • Brainiac releases the baboon-like Koko on Superman in order to stop Supes' break into the ship. In his first ever appearance Brainiac had a small pet monkey called Koko.
  • In Who Took the Super out of Superman?, Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Steve Lombard attend "J. Schwartz's Judo School", named after Superman editor Julius Schwartz.
  • Who is Superwoman?:
    • Lyra Kam-Par is daughter of a Kryptonian called Kam-Par who made his single appearance in Superman Family #207.
    • At some point Superwoman is called a babootch, a species of Kryptonian three-eyed monkey which was mentioned every so often in Pre-Crisis comics.
  • In Superman: Grounded, the members of the Superman Squad of transtemporal Man of Steel descendants include "Kan and Leyna, the Super Twins who defend the planet Nexxor". Not only is this a Kryptonian play on Zan and Jayna, the Wonder Twins from the planet Exxor, but Kan and Leyna's costumes and appearance are clearly based on the possible-future versions of Superboy (Kon-El) and Supergirl seen in a single panel of Kingdom Come.
  • In Red Daughter of Krypton, the spherical Red Lantern Zillius Zox gets squashed in a battle with Shadow Thief, making him taller and narrower (but still basically a head with arms and legs). He looks a lot like the 2011 movie version of his fellow Noc'sagian Galius Zed.
  • Several to past incarnations of the Toyman in Brian Michael Bendis's Man of Steel, amongst the toys scattered around Winslow Schott's control room are a jack-in-the-box that looks like Jack Nimball and a doll that looks like the Toyman from Superman: The Animated Series. In addition when Superman rhetorically asks "What is wrong with you?" Schott replies that he's sure it has something to do with his mother. At first glance this looks like a standard Freudian Excuse, but it also refers back to the darker'n'edgier 90s version of the character, who talked to a voice in his head that he called "Mother" and which supposedly forced him to do things.
  • In Super Sons, Jon Kent somehow has a poster on his wall of the pre-Flashpoint Superboy and his "Ravers" team. (After Kon-El was erased from continuity and before he was brought back)
  • Death & the Family: One of the victims of Silver Banshee is found in the Suicide Slum, corner of Austen and Byrne. John Byrne was Silver Banshee's co-creator.
  • Adventures of Supergirl: In issue #5 of the Supergirl TV series tie-in, Winn says his Internet handle is "Supergirl_in_action_252". Action Comics #252: The Supergirl from Krypton was Supergirl's first appearance.
  • In the first issue of Supergirl Vol 1, Supergirl picks up a car and lifts it overhead.
  • Supergirl story Young Love's first half shows several scenes of the life of Linda Danvers: her arrival on Earth (Action Comics #252), Dick Wilson - later Malverne - taking a picture of her accidentally (Action Comics #256), Linda and Dick meeting again after several years (Supergirl Vol 2 #23)...
  • In The Supergirl from Krypton (2004), Ma Kent makes Supergirl's uniform... right like she made Superman's costume.
  • Day of the Dollmaker: As looking for the three missing kids, Supergirl beats Baroness Blitzkrieg, Doctor Sivana and another version of the Composite Superman/Batman, Puzzler, Shrapnel and the Gang. Most of them are villains who had never been faced by Supergirl; though, the Gang harassed Earth-One Kara Zor-El in the pages of Supergirl (1982).
  • In Supergirl (1984), one store is named after Julius Schwartz, the then-current editor of the Superman line.
  • In Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #53, Jimmy was turned into a giant rampaging Turtle Boy. Post-Crisis, this was sent up when Jimmy briefly got a job donning a costume to play Turtle Boy for a kids' show.
  • In Action Comics (New 52) #10, Jimmy drags Clark along to a screening of fictional movies "The Giant Turtle Man" and "The Human Porcupine".
  • In Countdown to Final Crisis, Jimmy's strange transformations are all the famous Silver Age ones. Which leads to Turtle Boy Jimmy vs. DARKSEID! Probably counts double considering Darkseid debuted in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen.
  • The Living Legends of Superman:
    • In the very distant future, people celebrate the Miracle Monday. Miracle Monday is a novel written by Elliot S! Maggin, who also penned this story.
    • In another scene, people finds tapes of The Adventures of Superman.
  • Another early Post-Crisis Superman story had Supes accosting what looked like Lex Luthor in his pre-Crisis Powered Armor... but which was revealed on the next page to be a robot the Corrupt Corporate Executive version of Luthor sent after him.
  • Given that it wasn't even an especially memorable story, it's amazing how many ways Post-Crisis continuity found to refer to Superman getting a big, red ant-head in Action Comics #296. In one case, a squad of "Super-Ants" were created by an insectoid alien who based her human form on Lana Lang, another Mythology Gag, because Pre-Crisis Lana was an occasional super-heroine called Insect Queen.
  • Superwoman: Lana Lang's initial powers and costume are those of the late '90s Superman Red, and an Insect Queen costume makes an appearance in issue #2.
  • In Action Comics (New 52) #12, Superman is given a vision of a "perfect world", which is basically the pre-Flashpoint universe: his parents are still alive; he started working at the Planet with Jimmy and Lois from his first day in Metropolis; the League headquarters is a moonbase; and he's married to Lois. That last one is when he realises this doesn't make sense.
  • Superman v3 #50, the conclusion of the Superman: Truth storyline, ends with Clark, Lois and Jimmy eating at the World's Finest cafe (referencing the title of the original pre-Crisis Batman/Superman team-up comic), at the corner of Siegel and Shuster.
  • In Superboy (New 52), Jon Lane Kent, the son of Superman and Lois from a possible future and template for Superboy, wears a costume that looks a lot like the 90s Superboy costume.
    • Adding on to that, Superboy's status as an opposite morality clone of another Superboy makes him the New 52 version of Match. Jon Kent and the Post-Crisis Superboy were emotional and extroverted teenagers, while Match and New 52 Superboy are their stoic and technically superior clones. Jon Kent was even mentioned as having genetic issues, a common problem for the first version of Kon-El.
  • In Adventures of Superman #520, Metropolis's largest toy store is J.L.E. Schwartz, a Bland-Name Product for F.A.O. Schwarz which doubles as another nod to Silver Age Superman editor Julius "Julie" Schwartz.
• Wonder Woman:
  • In Wonder Woman '77, a comic based on the Lynda Carter series, one issue has Diana trapped in an imaginary world where someone else is Wonder Woman/Diana Prince. This reality's Wonder Woman looks like the Cathy Lee Crosby version from Wonder Woman (1974). In addition, Diana is told her real name is Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl in the comics, and two people who look like Hippolyta and Drusilla introduce themselves as Julia Kapatelis and her daughter Vanessa, who were key members of Wonder Woman's supporting cast in the early Post-Crisis comics.
  • While each Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman tale takes place in it's own continuity many of them have nods and clear inspiration from former versions of Wonder Woman and the DCU. The covers also usually depict previous versions of Diana rather than what's actually inside the book:
    • The Phil Jimenez variant cover for issue one is a collage of versions of Diana and her supporting cast from over the years. Front and center is Diana is her most well known swimsuit-like Wonder-Outfit, beneath her are images of Diana from the 70's show and Diana and Hippolyta with hair and costumes from The Golden Age, then moving clockwise there's Space Pirate Revolutionary Diana from Wonder Woman (1987), Diana in ''Wonder Woman Odyssey" outfit, three Elseworld Diana's in front of Artemis, a corner of the invisible plane, Donna Troy in her red outfit, a Kanga, Wondy dressed for Christmas, Hippolyta as Wonder Woman, Diana in her white mod outfit, the clay statue of a child Hippolyta made, and Nubia in the original version of her armor. In the center background is the regular and sky bound versions of Themyscira.
    • "Taketh Away" references the original Sensation Comics with an iteration of the old "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, stronger than Hercules, and swifter than Mercury," though modified to make her equal to instead of greater than Hercules and Mercury.
  • The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016): The army recruitment officer recommending Diana become an army secretary is a nod to the fact that in the Golden Age Diana "Prince" was Phillip Darnell's secretary in the USAAF, though Darnell himself doesn't appear despite Steve Trevor's prominence in the tale.
  • Wonder Woman: Warbringer: When Diana decides to rescue the Warbringer, who has washed up on the shore of Paradise Island, she makes their raft invisible to hide their leaving from the other Amazons as no outsiders are meant to be able to make it to their shores in the first place.
  • Wonder Woman (2006): Tsaritsa conjures up several Wonder Women for Diana to fight that are all based off previous incarnations of the character; such as Golden Age Wonder Woman, Cathy Lee Crosby, Lynda Carter, and Post-Crisis Wonder Woman.
  • Wonder Woman (Rebirth):
    • The Amazons repair Steve Trevor's plane and even manage to turn it invisible for the return trip. After it lands, however, it quickly disintegrates.
    • The "Year One" title is a reference to the name used by several post-Crisis series when detailing the origins and first year of their respective protagonists, itself a reference to Batman: Year One.
    • In one issue, Adrianna dresses as Debbie Domaine, the short-lived second Cheetah from The '80s, presumably to get a rise out of Barbara Ann.
    • After the Adrianna AI is destroyed and subsequently brought back as Doctor Cyber, her holographic visage is shown to be scarred. In the Pre-Crisis comics, Doctor Cyber wore a mask to hide her scarred and disfigured face.
    • One of the newspapers in "Year One" has a picture of Diana in pose similar to her first appearances in All-Star Comics #8 (1941) and Sensation Comics #1 (1942).
    • In "The Lies", when Diana and Etta take a cured Barbara Minerva to a mall to get some clothes the stores all bear names of various Wonder Woman writers and artists from over the years. Such as William M. Martston, George Pérez, Brian Bolland, Phil Jimenez, Brian Azzarello, and Cliff Chiang.
    • In #47 the Fates appear to Jason as three ordinary women. When he questions this, they ask what he expected and take a series of other forms including their classic appearance and their The Sandman (1989) personae as Mildred, Mordred and Cynthia from The Witching Hour.
    • In #758 (they went back to the original numbering) Diana insists that the only person who can decide if Paula von Gunther is going to reform is Paula von Gunther, but that if she's willing, Themyscira could be an "island of transformation" for her. In the Golden Age, Transformation Island was off the coast of Paradise Island, where vilainesses like von Gunther were, er, forcibly reformed.
  • Wonder Woman: Earth One: Diana's costume is created by the Holliday Girls, with the strapless top being made out of the Holliday College band uniform. This is a nod to Diana's first ever interaction with the group that Etta Candy would moments later form the Holliday Girls out of, when a couple of the girls admired Di's strapless top and bemoaned that their dean would never let them get away with such an article as part of their band uniform.
  • Wonder Woman: Black and Gold:
    • "Beat the Heat" has Diana trying to lasso the Sun to pull it away from the Earth after the planet has been taken off its axis and gotten too close to the star. She makes reference to having done this before, which she did back in the Golden Age Wonder Woman comics.
    • Kurt Busiek's story, "How Wonder Woman Was Brought Low by a Mouse But Conquered the Stars", sees the return of Wondy's (in)famous Golden Age Weaksauce Weakness where she loses her powers if bound by a man.
  • Wonder Woman: Dead Earth:
    • The Silver Age concept of Diana's bracelets being removed giving her full strength, but also unstoppable rage comes into play in a tragic way.
    • The "They don't deserve you, Diana." line from the 2017 film is used.
• Being a time traveling superhero, this comes with the territory for Booster Gold, as he makes references to events and people in The DCU during his heroics through time. For instance, in an effort to keep Sinestro from meeting Guy Gardner early, Booster inspired the naming of the Sinestro Corps.
• In the Killer Frost one-shot during Forever Evil, Caitlin Snow's predecessor as head of the S.T.A.R. Labs outpost was Louise Lincoln, the previous Killer Frost in pre-Flashpoint continuity.
• At a "Heroes and Villains" costume party in Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica, the Gotham girls are "disguised" in their pre-Flashpoint costumes, and Archie is dressed as Pureheart, his Superhero Episode persona.
• In Teen Titans v5 #27, Captain Marvel Jr. is shown to be a big fan of Elvis. In real life, Elvis based his look on that of Captain Marvel Jr.
• Teen Titans Go!, being a Recursive Adaptation, makes a few rifts to the comic the cartoon was based on:
  • Issue #18 has Larry put the Titans "all back the way you should be:"
    • Starfire acquires her mainstream version's hair and exclaims "X'Hal!"
    • Beast Boy gets his old Doom Patrol costume.
    • Robin gets an older version of his costume. With no real pants.
  • Raven gets a lampshade hung on her more goth like appearance.
  • There's also the Terror Titans of Issue #48, three of whom are Red Robin, Arsenal, and Tempest — the same names used by certain older versions of Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad. As their team name indicates, they're decidedly twisted versions.
  • That same issue features Raven opening doors to various alternate realities, including the original flavor Teen Titans from the Silver Age, and in a blink and you'll miss it peek, Secret and Lobo of Young Justice.
  • In Issue #39, a Valentine's Day issue, Speedy and Cheshire get hit by an arrow, and fall in love. In the comics, they briefly fell in love, and had a child together.
  • The 36th issue has Robin work together with Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl. In the original comics, they were the members of the first Teen Titans.
• DC Comics Bombshells:
  • In the first issue, Batwoman saves the lives of Thomas and Martha Wayne during a robbery when they are leaving a theater with their son, Bruce. This appears to prevent the tragic origin of Batman, but could also reference To Kill A Legend, an Elseworld story where the Phantom Stranger sent Batman and Robin to another Earth to save the Waynes. That Bruce would also grow to become Batman, but that choice was made out of awe and gratitude, not grief and rage.
  • Stargirl and Supergirl are from the USSR and were raised to love their country, albeit with reasonable wariness towards the government. In the Elseworld story Superman: Red Son, Superman landed in the USSR instead of the USA and was raised there.
  • On multiple occasions, Harper Row sings the theme song from the 1960's Batman TV show as she herself leaps into action, changing the final syllable as needed for different situations.
    Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na BATFAN!
  • The leader of the Batgirls is named Kathy DuQuesne, the same name as a character created for the DC Animated Universe movie Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman. In that movie, her name was itself a wink to Kate Kane herself.
  • Likewise, Ellen Yin from The Batman appears as one of Maggie's fellow police detectives.
  • The character of Big Barda, from the New Gods, is introduced as "'Big Barda' Free". The surname 'Free' comes from Scott Free (Mr. Miracle), her husband.
  • When the group of girls that dress as Batwoman grows to eight members, including boys dressed as Robin, they call themselves "A Bat Family". The term "Bat Family" is used both by fans and also official sources to refer to the cast of characters associated with Batman and Gotham City.
  • Harley's description of how Mr. J began as a Neighbourhood Friendly Gangster but turned truly evil is reminiscent of the Joker's change from his wacky prankster Silver Age persona to a wacky homicidal maniac in the Bronze Age and later.
  • In this continuity, Harvey Dent is the Mayor of Gotham. The first words said about him? "I believe in Harvey Dent." Those are the Arc Words from The Long Halloween.
  • In a reversal from traditional canon, Barbara Gordon is a vampire, and she does something horrible to the Joker.
  • Lex Luthor is a more heroic character and goes by his full name, "Alexander", much like in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
  • Batwoman and Renee Montoya had an unofficially adopted orphan boy in the Spanish Civil War who was killed by a sniper. His name was Jasón, named after the notoriously (for a long time) dead Robin Jason Todd.
    • And, in a reversal of Batman's origin story, it's Jasón's death which spurs Kate to become Batwoman.
  • Superman has a moustache. This may be a joke about how, in material from reshoots of Justice League (2017), a moustache that Henry Cavill had grown for a different role had to be digitally removed from his face. It may also be a Shout-Out to the fact that Siegel and Shuster originally imagined Superman's appearance as resembling an old-time circus acrobat. This is reflected in his outfit as well.
  • Following Wonder Woman's death and return she describes herself as being created from Donna's memories; a reversal of Donna being created as a duplicate of Diana in some of her origins.
• In DC: The New Frontier:
  • Captain Nathaniel Adam sacrifices himself by detonating the atomic bomb he's carrying. Don't worry, he'll get better, eventually.
  • The comic ends with the Justice League confronting Starro, echoing the classic cover of The Brave and the Bold #60.
• Legends of the Dead Earth: In Batman Annual #20, Batman is remembered as the Bat-Man in Old Posea's stories. The character was originally called the Bat-Man in his earliest appearances during The Golden Age of Comic Books.
• The return of the Injustice League in the 2006 Justice League of America run contains huge amounts of references to the DC Animated Universe. For example:
  • On the cover of the book, Toyman appears as he does in the DCAU, rather than as in the comic itself.
  • John Stewart jokes that Black Lightning's newly shaved head isn't a good look for him, but says that he, on the other hand, could definitely pull it off, especially if he added a Goatee.
  • Lex Luthor's plan appears to be, when he first reveals it, exactly what Grodd planned for the New Secret Society / Legion of Doom in Justice League, a protection racket for supervillains (he eventually reveals that it is something else). Later on, Grodd and Luthor have a conversation where Luthor gives orders and Grodd begrudgingly relents, apparently planning to overthrow Luthor, a reversal of the Justice League relationship.
• Yet another "Legion" example: Most of the characters in the Dark Age Space Police comic L.E.G.I.O.N. were callbacks (or callforwards?) to characters from Legion of Super-Heroes: Vril Dox and Lyrissa Mallor were distant ancestors of Brainiac 5 and Shadow Lass; Lar Gand and Phase were time-displaced versions of Mon-El and Phantom Girl; Strata, the Durlan, and Dagon-Ra were the same species as Blok, Chameleon Boy, and Element Lad; and so on.
  • The 2009 R.E.B.E.L.S. series continues this, with Dox's new recruits including Wildstar, who comes from the same planet as Dawnstar and combines Dawny's powers and name with those of her love interest Wildfire; and Bounder, who wears an inflatable armoured suit that duplicates Bouncing Boy's powers.
• The out-of-continuity Strange Adventures strip in Wednesday Comics includes a scene where Adam Strange has a conversation with Doctor Fate about his psychological block on finding the Zeta Beam. Dr Fate tries to help but points out that, like Strange, he's a doctor of archeology, and psychology isn't his forte. In The DCU, the then-current Doctor Fate, grand-nephew of the archeologist, was a psychoanalyst.
  • While we're on Doctor Fate, the psychoanalyst grand-nephew of the archeologist was the last Doctor Fate before the Flashpoint Cosmic Retcon. The New 52's first Doctor Fate, a medical student, also turned out to be a grand-nephew of the archeologist.
• The DC One Million 80-Page Giant included the first meeting of Superman 1M and Batman 1M, in which they both disguised themselves as villains to infiltrate a meeting of the Superman and Batman Revenge Squads. The meeting took place on an interdimensional freighter called the Varania, which also happens to be the name of the cruise ship where Clark and Bruce first learnt each others' identities in pre-Crisis continuity.
• The DC Elseworld story, Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy, written by Chris Claremont, is set in a universe where Artemis and Athena transform Lois Lane into Wonder Woman, while turning Lana Lang into the Oracle of Delphi so that they may join with Superman in battle against Ares and his followers. The story ends with Lois, Lana and Superman in a polyamorous relationship. In real life, William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, had a deeply committed polyamorous relationship with his wife and another woman.
  • In the same story, there's an easy-to-miss glimpse of "Otisburg" on a map of Germany, referring to the map joke from Superman: The Movie.
• In the Armageddon 2001 crossover event, one of Superman's alternate timelines is basically a more tragic version of the Superman IV: The Quest for Peace storyline, sans Nuclear Man, and with Superman using force instead of diplomacy and the goodwill of the nations to eradicate nuclear weapons, adding a bit of the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns finale as part of its ending.
• The Multiversity:
  • In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World #1, Vandal Savage is heavily implied to be Cain, just as he was in that position during Final Crisis.
  • Mastermen #1:
    • Overman holds the dead body of Overgirl aloft in the exact same way Superman did Supergirl on the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7.
    • Overman's wife is a self-focused redhead named Lena, whose maiden name is never given. In many continuities, Lex Luthor (who if he isn't bald has red hair) has a relative, either his sister or niece, named Lena.
  • In Pax Americana #1, Blue Beetle (I) suggests "the Sentinels" and "the Law" as names for the Pax. Sentinels of Justice was a proposed Charlton superteam shortly before DC bought the characters, and The L.A.W. was the 90s DC version.
  • At one point during Ultra Comics #1, the titular hero encounters several other DC Comics characters who were also named "Ultra," including Ultra, the Multi-Alien and Ultraa, who was originally Earth-Prime's sole superhero Pre-Crisis.
• In Teen Titans: Earth One, Garfield Logan wears a red hoodie with white stripes running down the arms, recalling the outfit his mainstream counterpart wore as Changeling during The New Teen Titans.
• In Gotham Academy #17, Klarion the Witch Boy is stuck in the sewers with Killer Croc, who he says "stopped being amusing after the second rock story".
• In the 2015 reboot of Prez, written by Mark Russell, a series of improbable events results in teenager Beth Ross winding up as President of the United States despite having no political ambitions or experience. Her mentor in her new role is a congressman named Preston Rickard — which is almost but not quite the name of the teen president in the original Prez, whom he is drawn to resemble. At her inauguration, the bible she's asked to swear on is clearly visible as a copy of Mark Russell's Bible-retelling graphic novel God Is Disappointed in You.
• In one Silver Age The Flash story (which was immediately ignored), Barry Allen meets a "Heavenly Helpmate" named Mopee, who claims that he gave Barry his powers. In the post-Crisis Life Story of the Flash, Barry is analysing a hallucinogen with the street name "Mopee", and briefly wonders if it being among the chemicals he was doused with is why he thinks he has superspeed.
• Jonah Hex, at different times in his 2005 series, uses the aliases of "Mr. Albano" and "Fleischer". The former being a reference to Hex's co-creator, John Albano, and the latter being a reference to Michael Fleischer, the longtime singular writer of Hex from 1974-1987.
• In Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl:
  • In two different flashback scenes, Supergirl and Batgirl show up with their original costumes.
  • Lex Luthor calls himself "The Man of Tomorrow".
  • Lex has a Kryptonite ring like his post-Crisis incarnation.
  • One of Barbara's books narrates how Batgirl captured Killer Moth. Killer Moth was the first villain encountered and fought by pre-Crisis Batgirl in Detective Comics #359.
  • Several of the reporters harassing Lex work for the Daily Planet and WGBS.

DC Rebirth

• In the Batman (Tom King) storyline "The Gift", Booster Gold has made a misguided attempt to do For the Man Who Has Everything for Batman, and found himself trapped in a Crapsack World and going somewhat insane. He decides that the key to getting things back on track is to turn this world's Selina Kyle into Catwoman. There then follows a page of him babbling about how he's not very good at sewing before we see Selina in costume ... with huge visible stitches all over it.
• Detective Comics (Rebirth)
  • In the storyline "Intelligence", Batwing is working on a suit of AI armour that will access Jean-Paul Valley's Azrael abilities without making him Brainwashed and Crazy the way his regular suit does. And the obvious model is Batman, resulting in Jean-Paul temporarily reclaiming his AzBats persona from the previous continuity.
  • When Red Robin returns, he discusses computer security with Batwing, using the same technobabble he spouted in Batman/Punisher. Clayface refuses to believe they're real words.
  • In the annual, Clayface's origin story is basically a riff on Batman: The Animated Series's version of Matt Hagan, an actor is disfigured in a accident and tries to restore his good looks with a chemical that gives him shapeshifting, but makes him lose cohesion and drives him mad. The chemical is even made by the Daggett Corporation, although in this version it's clearly labelled not for use on skin, rather than being intended for that purpose. And the film Basil Karlo is desperate to appear in is about a silent movie star seeking revenge on the creators of a talkie remake. This is the plot of Detective Comics vol 1 #40, "The Murders of Clayface", which introduced a (then non-powered) Basil Karlo.
• In The Flash (Rebirth), the Mecha Mook guards at Iron Heights are called the Pipeline, after an old wing of the prison which was notorious for its inhumane treatment of metas. In The Flash (2014), the Pipeline was a prison built into the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator, where Team Flash kept metacriminals before the courts and prison system developed ways to deal with them.
• In Nightwing (Rebirth), a flashback shows Dick, after retiring as Robin but before taking on the Nightwing identity, creating a temporary costume out of his workout clothes, which looks a lot like the original "disco" Nightwing costume.
• In The Ray oneshot that precedes Justice League of America (Rebirth), Ray fights an alt-right militia called the Sons of Liberty. In pre-Flashpoint continuity the Sons of Liberty were a government conspiracy in Superman who funded the right-wing superhero Agent Liberty ... who joined Justice League America at the same time as the Ray.
• There are tons of little references in Supergirl (Rebirth) #1:
  • One of the bases of the DEO is called Ghost Site 252, a nod to Supergirl making her debut in Action Comics #252.
  • Kara's secret identity is again a brunette girl.
  • Kara fights the Kryptonian werewolf Lar-On, who first appeared in World's Finest #256 way back in 1979.
  • Kara's rocket is fitted with a Phantom Drive and a Regeneration Matrix, lifted right from The Man of Steel.
  • The Phantom Drive opening up a rift to the Phantom Zone is also similar to The Man of Steel.
  • A Zone portal opening up accidentally, and the fight eventually taking all fighters to the sunny side of the planet, is reminiscent of Lar-On's first appearance in World's Finest #256.
  • The bedrock of Kara's Doomed Hometown - Argo City - is Red Kryptonite. In the Silver Age it was Green K.
  • Director Chase says "Then it's a job for Supergirl" at the end of the first issue.
• In Flash Forward, the Linda Park of Earth-32 — the Composite Character Earth that is home to Green Lantern Batman and Super-Martian and so on — is a speedster called Lightspeed, based on Godspeed. The "Light" part is probably a reference to Arrowverse Earth-2 Linda, who was that world's Dr Light.
• Legion of Super-Heroes (2020):
  • Colossal Boy mentions his ability isn't to grow big, but to shrink from his already gigantic size, which was the character's backstory in the Threeboot Legion.
  • White Witch goes by the name Xola Aq, which was an alias she had when she was turned into the Hag during the Silver Age. She's also Mordru's daughter like she was in the Reboot Legion.
  • Mike Grell apparently refused to draw any of the new costumes when he worked on the ninth issue. Not only does he put Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy in the infamous bikini and corset costumes from the 1970s, he draws Dawnstar both with her original costume and physical wings instead of energy wings like she's had in the previous issues. (To be fair, it's a flashback, but there's been no previous indication these versions of the characters ever looked like that.)
• When the demon Neron is introduced into Earth-Prime continuity in Constantine the Hellblazer #8, he's described as a relatively recent power player in Hell who "started popping up on Earth in the 90s through the soul trade". Underworld Unleashed, the Crisis Crossover that introduced Neron, was published in 1995, and his primary concern was indeed buying souls.
• In DC Festival of Heroes, "Shoes" of the Alleytown Strays from Catwoman wears a Cheshire Cat mask that looks identical to that worn by the animated Young Justice version of Cheshire. This is foreshadowing that she's actually Lian Harper.
• In Titans United (a comic with a questionable place in canon, since it features the Titans TV line-up, but appears to be in a continuity closer to the current comics), Superboy's Brainwashed and Crazy persona takes the name Black Zero. This was the name of an alternate universe Evil Twin of Kon-El from the pre-Flashpoint Hypertension story, who took it from a Kryptonian anti-clone-exploitation terrorist organisation, who in turn were named after a pre-Crisis villain who was involved in Krypton's destruction. In this case, though, it represents how he's been convinced the Titans see him as "nothing" without his powers.
• Since the New 52 relocated Shazam! to Philadelphia, Fawcett City doesn't appear to exist in the current DCU. The New Champion of Shazam! #2 reveals that Philly is home to Fawcett Community College. The College Radio station is even W.H.I.Z., the same name as the commercial station Billy worked for in previous continuities. (Both Fawcett and W.H.I.Z. are, of course, further mythology gags to Captain Marvel's initial appearance in Fawcett Publications' Whiz Comics.)

DC Imprints

• In Watchmen, Walter Kovacs was sent to the Charlton Home for Orphans.
  • Also, the movie has something of a cross between this and a Discontinuity Nod in the codename of Ozymandias's movie-changed plan, seen on a computer in one scene. The name? S.Q.U.I.D. — which refers to the fan nickname for the comic's original method.

Marvel Comics

• Avengers: Back to Basics: The comic's central premise is a revisitation of several earlier points of Avengers history, including slapping the modern group in their outfits from the Eighties and sending the modern Ms. Marvel back in time to the era of the original team.
• Best Defense has the Dread Dormammu and one of his children meet an aged Doctor Strange, now having become the Last of His Kind. Dormammu explains: "He is only a man! Never have you seen his like!" In Strange's first comic appearance, he was introduced to us with the words "Men call him Dr. Strange! Never have you known his like!"
• Blaze of Glory:
  • Kid Colt's description page in Issue #3 calls him Kid Colt, Outlaw, which was the name of one of his ongoings.
  • Matt Hawk's new identity Clay Harder is the same name as as an earlier version of the Two-Gun Kid published by Marvel's predecessor Atlas in the 1950s.
• Deadpool:
  • The famous breaker of the fourth wall once commented, "And the Boy Scout branch made a big show of cooperating, by having Spider-Man reveal his identity on national TV... as if we hadn't seen the movies already and didn't know it was dreamy doe-eyed Tobey Maguire under the mask!" Maguire, of course, played Spider-Man in the Spider-Man Trilogy.
  • In the fourth issue of his first ongoing series, he sings the theme song from the 1960s Hulk cartoon when describing his reluctance to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk.
  • When he was being controlled by the Hypno Hustler in Avenging Spider-Man, the trigger word to free Deadpool from his trance was "Ryan Reynolds." Reynolds portrayed Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and was cast as him for the Deadpool solo films.
• Fantastic Four:
  • In one story, they rescue a pair of amateur filmmakers from aliens, and Reed refers to them as "wannabe Roger Cormans." Roger Corman made the unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four movie.
  • In the Marvel Two-in-One 2017 revival, the second issue's cover is a recreation of the very first Fantastic Four comic's, but featuring only the Thing, Human Torch and Dr. Doom (in his Infamous Iron Man persona) in the place of Reed Richards - but instead of saying it'll take more than ropes to keep him from the action, he says it'll take more than the monster Torch and the Thing are fighting to get him involved in it.
  • The one-shot all-humor 1982 comic "The Fantastic Four Roast" does a little zig-zagging. When Dr. Doom takes the podium, he says that he became Dr. Doom after being upset that Reed Richards and his college brothers didn't invite him to go on a panty raid.
  • In the Spin-Off FF, the adult members of the Future Foundation include Darla Deering, a pop singer wearing the Thing-suit Reed invented one of the times Ben lost his powers. Later, Ant-Man improves it so she can summon the suit by touching two rings together — a reference to Benjy Grimm and his Thing Ring from the Fred and Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series.
• Infinity Warps
  • Weapon Hex: Considering every character is a Composite Character, this was inevitable.
    • One page is a direct homage to Wanda's famous "No more Mutants" line.
    • Hellhound calling Weapon Hex "Runt" comes from Sabretooth.
    • This exchange seems to be a reference to Logan claiming to be an art teacher in X2: X-Men United:
      Sarah: Training's over. Laura has to study.
      Hellhound: She is studying. Art, at that!
      Sarah: Yeah, the art of death.
      Hellhound: That's what I was gonna say!
  • Secret Warps:
    • In addition to all the mashed-up superheroes, the Terrific Two operate out of a mix-up of the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building and Four Freedoms Plaza.
    • Continuing the Civil War references of the first issue, U.S.Archmage likes imprisoning folk in Purple Dimension 42, a mix of the regular Purple Dimension and the otherdimensional Prison 42.
    • Weapon Hex's back-up story has her fighting the warped version of Wendigo. Wolverines and Wendigos have a history of fighting.
    • Dr. Wyndham uses his magic to make the streets of New York come to life, much like what happened in Inferno.
    • The first thing one of the Supreme Seven (the mash-up of the Squadron Supreme and the DP7 say? "We've found a way into this new universe".
    • Hyperbrand, the merged version of Hyperion and Starbrand, mentions causing a disaster in Pittsburg. In the original New Universe, Starbrand turned Pittsburg into a crater trying to get rid of his powers, in a one-shot labelled "The Disaster".
    • The Supreme Seven refer to super-powered folks as "super-normals", a mix-up of the usual "superhuman" and the NU's own "para-normal".
    • Arachknight's back-up story is a warped version of Spidey's own attempt to join the Fantastic Four, all the way back from Amazing Spider-Man issue 1.
    • In Iron Hammer's back-up story, he temporarily loses control of his hammer, and it's taken up by a Distaff Counterpart partially made from Jane Foster. The difference here is he's not unworthy - Jane just messed with his hammer because Sigurd is too drunk to trust with it.
• The Invaders: Roy Thomas revealed in one of the annuals that the team's battle-cry ("Okay, Axis - here we come!") was derived from an old Timely Comics ad.
• In an Affectionate Parody story in Iron Man #178, a Kid Hero who dresses up as Iron Man to deal with problematic children in his neighborhood alongside the rest of The Avengers' fan-club battles another kid who'd been impersonating him, arriving at the scene with roller skates. Seeing Kid!Cap's shock, he quips, "I see even you've forgotten the roller skates that are part of my arsenal, Cap!", which minus saying Cap's name at the end, is word for word something Iron Man said to Captain America once. Yes, including the part with the roller skates.
• Marvel 1602:
  • A man named Peter Parquah keeps nearly getting bitten by a spider.
  • Rohjaz/Captain America is referred to as "the Forerunner", and is basically the universe's trigger to kick off the age of superheroes; the character in question was one of Marvel's first superheroes, predating most of the other characters' publications by two decades.
• Marvel 2099:
  • Ravage 2099 was an environmentalist superhero who was mutated by exposure to radiation on the radioactive mutant-filled island of Hellrock, where Alchemax sent their political and other enemies under false pretenses. In the alternate 2099 seen in a 2019 Spider-Man event, there is a place very similar to Hellrock, but it's called "The Ravage" instead.
  • At the end of the Exodus storyline, Green Goblin creates a new suit that heavily resembles his first live-action costume, albeit with the addition of purple coloring in the places where his original costume had it.
• Marvel Adventures often references the main Marvel 'verse with these.
  • When Bruce Banner tells the Avengers to eject him from their rocket if he hulks out mid-flight, Iron Man responds "Oh please Bruce, that's just silly. Like we would ever throw Hulk into space."
  • Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #4 had Klaw founding a country music band. He mentions three upcoming guests stars on his show, Kevin "Keen" Marlow (who absolutely destroys on the bass), Bob Frank (who's a whiz on the violin) and Comet Pierce, who apparently plays the banjo very fast. Kevin Marlow and Robert Frank were the secret identities of Golden Age heroes called the Destroyer and the Whizzer, respectively, while Comet Pierce is an equally-old space racer character.
  • Avengers Issue #3 has several, such as the movie Captain America telling the viewer to buy war bonds, or Bruce Banner scoffing at the idea of one of Cap's WWII foes also getting stuck in suspended animation until modern day (which did happen to the Red Skull in the main continuity). There is also a moment where Wolverine is let down that the war recreation film didn't show the moment in which Captain America gets frozen, referencing the fact that the Golden Age Captain America comics don't actually feature that incident due to it being a Retcon.
  • Quicksilver has a thing for redheads with green eyes.
• Ms. Marvel:
  • Ms. Marvel (2016): In issue #34, the possible future Kamalas seen in the portal include President Khan from the "Old Woman Laura" story arc in All-New Wolverine and Khan of the Exiles.
  • Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit:
    • In the first issue, when musing about potential alternate selves and the way her shapeshifting works by moving matter between her past and future selves, Kamala wonders if some of them are "regular" superheroes who got their powers by being bitten by radioactive spiders or by studying under an ancient one.
    • In the second issue, one of the future Kamalas is seen reading a Spider-Ham picture book to her child.
• Spider-Man:
  • Web of Spider-Man #75 includes multiple cameos as various heroes deal with the villain causing a snow storm in New York, but makes a point of having Spidey interact with Iceman and Firestar, as a reference to the animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
  • Web of Spider-Man Vol. 2 #8 has a job recruiter mistakenly call Peter "Peter Palmer", which was a consistent mistake across the second Spider-Man story (much like the Hulk being called "Bob Banner" in a few early stories).
  • Referencing Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends is also the whole point of the Ultimate Spider-Man arc "Amazing Friends", in which Gwen Stacy becomes Firestar, and she, Human Torch and Iceman all end up staying at Aunt May's. Human Torch's appearance is a Development Gag, referencing how he was supposed to appear in the series but was replaced with Firestar due to rights issues. In another issue where everyone holds a memorial for Peter Parker, Iceman has an Imagine Spot that references both Amazing Friends, and the then current Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, featuring Spidey leading a team consisting of Firestar, Iceman, Nova and White Tiger.
  • In Miles Morales Spider Man #16, when Ganke can't use his real name for fear of giving away Miles' identity, he calls himself "Ned". Spider-Man: Homecoming had a character very similar to Ganke, but named after Ned Leeds.
  • The 2009-2010 version of The Clone Saga sees how the Norman clone dies be this, taking the blades of the Goblin Glider intended for Peter, both to the '90s story ended with Ben dying to save Peter and —though the context is different — how Norman died in The Night Gwen Stacy Died, doubling as a Call-Back to that story.
  • Spider-Man & The Secret Wars: When Spidey recaps the events of the crossover up to the "beneath 150 billion tons stands the Hulk" moment, he mentions "And it wasn't only heroes. The Beyonder brought on the bad guys" (emphasis in the original). This is a reference to the famous trade paperback Bring On The Bad Guys: Origins of Marvel Villains.
• What If?: In the cover of What If #36 "What If The Fantastic Four Had Not Gained Their Powers?", the four are battling the Mole Man's giant monster with ray guns, except for Reed, who is tied up and saying "If only these ropes weren't keeping me out of action!" The regular Reed, or course, would not have such a problem. Indeed, the cover is a close duplicate of Fantastic Four #1, where he's confidently declaring precisely that.
• In one Marvel What If? story, Logan is an Expy of The Punisher and takes on the Chicago mob in the Roaring Twenties. He never pops his signature claws, but when we get to see Al "Scarface" Capone from the front, the mob boss has a scar suspiciously reminiscent of the wounds that 616-Wolverine would cause.
• The X-Men movies and comics do these gags toward each other:
  • In the first movie, Logan isn't thrilled by his black leather X-Men costume. Cyclops taunts him, asking if he'd prefer yellow spandex — Wolverine's traditional costume in the comics.
  • Rogue has a poster of The Piano (in which Anna Paquin, movie-Rogue, appeared) and Nightcrawler puts down Brainchild's fake English accent (as Scottish actor Alan Cumming was put down for the fake German accent he used with movie Nightcrawler.)
  • In an issue of Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and Storm go to see the Broadway production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Wolverine comments that the lead actor reminds him of himself; it was Hugh Jackman.
  • Additionally, in an issue of X-Treme X-Men (2001), Storm is at one point complimented on a recent James Bond movie, having evidently been mistaken for Halle Berry, who played both Storm in the X-Men movies and Jinx in the then most recent James Bond film, Die Another Day.
  • X2: X-Men United has a line from Magneto: "When will these people learn how to fly?" which, according to the screenwriters, was supposed to be a subtle Self-Deprecation at the movieverse Rogue and Storm (and to a lesser extent, Jean), who of course can fly in the comics.
  • A comic-to-comic Mythology Gag: For those who remember the original Phoenix Saga, in which the alien Shi'ar Empire sentence Jean Grey to death (not to mention the recent story where they wipe out her entire family, just to be on the safe side), there's something very ironic about Ultimate Marvel's human "Church of Shi'ar Enlightenment" funding the X-Men because they want Jean to manifest the Phoenix. All the same players (more or less), very different game.
  • Ultimate X Men: When Hank dies, Storm changes her outfit and cuts her hair into a mohawk, referencing the punk period the original Storm went through during the eighties.
  • In an issue of X-Men, shortly after the Grey massacre by the Shi'ar Death Commandos, Scott enters his daughter Rachel Summers' room and finds several rented movies on her bed. The films all star cast members of the X-Men film series, such as Swordfish, which featured Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman, who played Storm and Wolverine in the X-Men movies, respectively.
  • There was an issue where Beast says, "In the words of my favorite TV psychiatrist, I'm listening." Dr. Frasier Crane's catchphrase, played by Kelsey Grammer, who also played Beast in the movies.
  • X-Men Noir: The Show Within a Show, a dime novel story called "The Sentinels" written by this universe's version of Bolivar Trask, has what can only be described as Shout-Outs to the main continuity in rapid succession during its second chapter, as the main character dispatches several 'muties' with distinctive descriptions - one who fought with the ferocity of Shakespeare's Caliban, another was a beast who fought with hand-like feet, yet another had skin that felt like that of a leech... you get the idea.

Other

• Achille Talon: A gag features Achille Talon (Walter Melon), the main character, searching the phone number of his foe Lefuneste in a directory. He reads to himself the names that he comes across before he can find Lefuneste. Among the names is Lefunèbre, which the author once intended to be Lefuneste's name until he decided that Lefuneste was funnier.
• Amalgam Universe:
  • Robin and Jubilee being combined to make Sparrow, aside from working due to both of them being protégés of the heroes that make up Dark Claw's being, is doubly cool due to part of Jubilee's look being inspired by the Carrie Kelly Robin from The Dark Knight Returns.
  • Spider-Boy's secret identity takes the first name of Peter Parker and the last name of his father, General Ross. Thus, it's Pete Ross, which was name of Superboy's best friend and Secret-Keeper.
  • One of the artifacts Strangefate collected is Sir Kal's sword from Elseworld's Superman Kal.
  • In Exciting X-Patrol, Niles Cable discusses a Morton's Fork situation he finds himself in, and tells Raveniya the Healer that it's a matter of which doom will hurt the patrol the least.
• Punisher Batman Deadly Knights: The famous scene where The Joker is accosted by The Punisher starts with Joker saying the situation reminds him of a joke... but he refrains from saying it because "you've probably already heard it". Yes, we have.
• Rachel's letter to Melissa at the end of Animorphs: The Visitor is signed with the "A" from the TV show's logo.
• In Archie vs. Sharknado, Melody Valentine is told she looks like April Wexler. The character's actress, Tara Reid, played her in the 2001 film.
• The Beano dated 5th April 2014 includes a flashback to when Dennis's Gran was a little girl. Her dad (Dennis's great-granddad) looks just like Dennis's Dad did before the 2012 revamp of Dennis's parents.
• In the zero issue of IDW's Dungeons & Dragons comic, halfling rogue Bree attempts to pry the ruby from the left eyesocket of a familiar looking statue◊. (The gem in the right socket has already gone, of course.)
• ElfQuest — the second series titled Wavedancers features one insane and deformed character whose delusions apparently are based on the first Wavedancers series, which was removed from the canon because of differences with the team that made that.
• At the end of Hanna-Barbera Beyond's Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, Snagglepuss, having been blacklisted as a playwright, gets a job with Hanna-Barbera as a cartoon character. In order to have plausible deniability, HB dye him orange and call him Snaggletooth, with the explanation that if they get away with it, he can go back to his real name and fur colour later. This is a reference to an early version of Snagglepuss who appeared on Quick Draw McGraw ... and it's McGraw who gets him the Hanna-Barbera gig in the comic.
• Future Quest:
  • From Issue #1:
    • In the prologue, the unnamed captain who will become Space Ghost is wearing a uniform identical to what Jan and Jace wore during the original series, and is given his signature powerbands by a general who looks identical to the person who gave Space Ghost his equipment in the 2005 comic-book miniseries.
    • Zin's spiderbots appear identical to the ones from the Jonny Quest episode "The Robot Spy".
    • The signature "BIRDMAN!" scream appears as onomatopoeia when he transforms.
    • The portal that Jonny and Hadji look through appears to use stock art from the original shows.
• The fourth issue of IDW's The New Ghostbusters has a subtle nod to Louis Tully from the movies combined with a Shout-Out to Scooby-Doo when Egon says the group has to split up:
  Ron Alexander: Do you guys also have a talking dog?
  Ray: Not since our accountant left New York.
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel) would make a few oblique references to the toys:
  • In issue 86, the original G.I. Joe (later given the full name Joseph Colton) is introduced into the ARAH mythos, as the head of a secret SDI installation located in a New York skyscraper; the project director, Jane, was also the team nurse of Joe's original team. Upon the revelation, a stunned Muskrat quips, "I always thought you guys were... bigger," referencing the difference between the 3.75" ARAH toys and the original 12" action figures.
  • Issue 123 introduces the Eco-Warrors sub-team, with veteran Flint assigned to lead a new group of Joes. One of them points out that their new Hazmat Suits are made from recycled action figures.
• IDW's Godzilla series.
  • Kingdom of Monsters had the president ask what would happen if they dropped a nuke on Godzilla with the supposed consequence giving him laser eyes.
  • Battra coiling around the Eiffel Tower harkens back to Mothra.
  • The way Godzilla, Anguirus and Rodan are introduced are very much in line to how they were introduced in their respective movies.
  • Godzilla Legends, full-stop. Issue one, we have cameos by King Ghidorah and Gigan, issue three has the retro style MechaGodzillas and issue four has a cat seen in the sludge covered remains of a city and a quip about Godzilla flying.
  • Godzilla Gangsters and Goliaths: the fairies of Mothra are referred to briefly as the Shobijin, the Cosmos and finally, as they're called in the comic itself, the Elias.
  • Godzilla: The Half-Century War is chock full of these. In issue one, it's a P.O.V. Sequel of Godzilla 1954. There's also a building with a squid logo resembling Gezora. Issue 2, Anguirus doing his spike move from the Showa series (in that he turns around and launches himself backwards). Issue 3 has a guy named Dr. Deverich (it also counts as a Take That! to Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin). Issue 4 is a narrowed down Whole-Plot Reference to the original script of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla but with a container that was supposed to be used in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II's original script. Issue 5 is a homage to Godzilla vs. Gigan and is set in Antarctica just like Final Wars, At World's End and Godzilla Raids Again.
  • In issue 11 of the ongoing Godzilla comic, Godzilla uses his breath ray to propel himself upward like a rocket to escape the ravine he gets trapped in during his battle against Hedorah.
  • In the Rulers of Earth series, just the very preview pages are full of MGs. Zilla's arrival is almost like the 1998 film and the Yahlen boat from Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, not to mention a cameo by Shockirus. There's also an appearance of the the Gotengo as a model, Godzilla's Japanese name and the fact Lucy's hotel room is called 1954, a not so subtle reference to the first film.
• The late 1980s-early 1990s NOW Comics adaptations of The Green Hornet featured a number of Mythology Gags referring to both The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger (another property created by the creator of The Green Hornet). In the entire series (an ambitious reconciliation of the Hornets of the radio series, 1940s film serials, and the TV series), the second Kato (partner of the TV series Hornet) is named "Hayashi Kato", a reference to actor Raymond Hayashi, the first actor to play Kato in the radio series. In the comic book Green Hornet: Dark Tomorrow, the Green Hornet of the future, is named Clayton Reid. This is a reference to the actor Clayton Moore, best known for playing the Lone Ranger, who is often claimed as the Hornet's ancestor. Also, a family tree feature giving the genealogies of the Reid and Kato families gave Clayton Reid's father the name "Gordon Reid" (a nod to actor Gordon Jones, who played Britt Reid/The Green Hornet in the 1940 film serial) and stated that a future Kato would be named "Luke" (a nod to actor Keye Luke, who played Kato in both the 1940 and 1941 film serials).
• The Hack/Slash and Re-Animator crossover ends with Doctor West being approached by government agents, who tell him the president is dead and the country needs him, a nod to the unmade House of Re-Animator.
• In Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode, the Silver Shamrock masks from Halloween III: Season of the Witch appear for one panel in a store.
• Mega Man (Archie Comics): The first issue's Short Circuits has Mega Man asking if he was now a Super Fighting Robot. As it turns out, he was upgraded into the infamously bad cover art from Mega Man.
• The opening scene of Boom Studios' Muppet Snow White comic introduces Gonzo and Rizzo as The Brothers Grimm. Not only is their dialogue closely based on the opening scene of The Muppet Christmas Carol, which introduces Gonzo as Charles Dickens and Rizzo As Himself, but Rizzo lampshades the unlikeliness of them being brothers by saying "I'm a rat and you're a ... whatever", the same thing he said in Muppet Treasure Island, when talking about him and Gonzo being Jim's family. Gonzo replies that it worked for Kermit and Fozzie.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW):
  • Not only do we get a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo of the G1 pony Firefly, on the same page there's a building that says "Est. 1982", the same year the first My Little Pony toys came out.
  • The emo/goth pony seen during the news interview montage in My Little Pony Micro Series Issue #2? She's actually the 2011 Comic Con Special Edition Pony!
  • During the "Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair" arc, we see Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity relating an adventure involving giant bees and a Sun Stone, a nod to the My Little Pony 'n Friends arc "The End of Flutter Valley".
  • Cheerilee has a twin sister named "Cherry Blossom". In My Little Pony (G3) Cheerilee was a unicorn until the "Core 7" soft-reboot made her a Composite Character with the unrelated "Cherry Blossom" character.
• In the first issue of Roger Langridge's Popeye comic, when Castor Oyl asks Popeye if he'll help them "round up a critter", Popeye quips "Round up? Ja t'ink I'm a cowboy?", a nod to his first line from the original Thimble Theater strip that introduced him.
• In the first issue of Greg Rucka's Queen and Country, SIS agent Tara Chace comments, "the last time I was this cold, I was in Antarctica," which is a nod to Lily Sharpe, the SIS agent in the writer's first comic, Whiteout. Rucka originally intended to use Sharpe as the lead for Q&C, but in the course of development, Chace became more of a Spiritual Successor.
• Redman has quite a few:
  • Most of the Kaiju Redman fights are from the original TV series, and the original Kaiju Redmon and Big Liger are both based on elements from the show (Redmon is based on the show's unrecognisable Pigmon/Garamon suit and Big Liger is a cancelled Kaiju who was intended to appear in the series).
  • Redman jumping on Stegon's back whilst depowered is confirmed to be an homage to Return of Ultraman. Stegon's death, being thrown off a high area, is also how he died in the Redman TV series.
  • Kanegon’s mutated form in Episode 3 is directly based on his design from the Redman TV series.
  • The flashing blue lights on Redman’s head seen in Episodes 2 and 5 appear to function similarly to the original Ultraman’s colour timer, warning him of when his power is low. However, Redman transforms into a blue version of himself rather than a human.
  • The pictures of the series' Kaiju on Matt Frank's DeviantArt also include lots of references to past Ultra Series content, such as mentioning Birdon's clash with Ultraman Taro or stating that Gudon is the natural predator of the Twintail species.
• Scooby Apocalypse:
  • Daphne is still working for the news industry.
  • Fred attacks Velma under the impression she was Mole-man.
• Star Trek (IDW):
  • At the beginning of "After Darkness", Bones interrupts Kirk reciting the classic credit scroll ("Space, the final frontier...") by barging into the Captain's ready room. Soon after, he asks Kirk if he actually wrote that himself or stole it from someone else.
  • The cover for the first issue of Manifest Destiny (much like the marketing campaign for Star Trek Beyond) is styled after the poster for the very first theatrical film.
  • Issues 1 and 2 of "Boldly Go" has several references to "Q Who?". In issue 2, the assimilated Captain Terrell uses the same warning the Borg gave to the Enterprise-D, and their second target is a Federation colony on the Romulan Neutral Zone, which they abduct using their cutting beam.
  • In the same issue, Uhura dons Vulcan dress, specifically the kind T'Pring wore in "Amok Time".
  • According to Gary Mitchell in Boldly Go #17, there are universes where the Enterprise is "powered by mushrooms", presumably referencing an alternate verison of the spore drive from Star Trek: Discovery.
• The Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes comic, the Trek part of which is firmly Star Trek: The Original Series continuity, rather than the 2009 movie, nonetheless has Uhura refer to having an Orion roommate at the Academy. It makes sense, since if the destruction of the Kelvin didn't affect her up until then she likely was in the Academy at that point anyway.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation². When the TARDIS crew explores San Francisco, they come across Tom's Bakery on 4th Street. Tom Baker, of course, played the Fourth Doctor.
• Graphics Classics: H. P. Lovecraft: "Sweet Ermengarde" is a comedy rather than cosmic horror, but for this product, it was illustrated as a play put on by humans for an audience of Eldritch Abominations. The front row of the audience includes a Deep One, Herbert West (with a severed head and a syringe), Keziah Mason and Brown Jenkin, referencing "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", Herbert West–Reanimator and "The Dreams in the Witch House".
• In the second issue of the crossover between the IDW versions of Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Venkman notes that it's handy that the Turtles are Colour-Coded for Your Convenience, a reference to how the Ghostbusters themselves were color-coded in their own cartoon.
  • In the third issue, both teams are riding in the former's van, and Michelangelo says he wants one and that they could get a full kitchen in there easily. Raphael sarcastically asks if he'll want a blimp next. Both are references to the 1987 cartoon and toy line.
• In a The Transformers (Marvel) UK comic, Optimus Prime mentions that Swoop was known as Divebomb on Cybertron. When the toys were originally being released, Divebomb was considered as a name for the toy that ended up being named Swoop.
  • In a movie tie-in comic, Optimus has been recently found out to be a Prime. He makes a comment saying it might not be important, commenting along the line of "For all we know, Prime could mean 'records clerk' or something." In the Dreamwave comics Optimus was a records clerk before he became Prime.
  • In one Dreamwave comic Megatron basically beats the ever living slag out of and kills Cy-Kill the Gobot (not sure if that's a mythology gag or a shout out though).
  • At the end of the IDW Transformers storyarc All Hail Megatron, as the defeated Deceptions flee into space, Starscream ponders on what to do with the badly injured, near dead Megatron, saying at one point "I'd unceremoniously toss him out the air lock if I didn't have a nagging suspicion that he'd somehow return, more powerful than ever." This is exactly what Starscream did in the original animated movie, which ended with Megatron becoming the more powerful Galvatron and returning to kill Starscream in revenge.
  • There's also a reference to the animated movie in The Transformers: Autocracy. Megatron uses Hot Rod as a Human Shield while threatening Orion Pax. However, instead of this resulting in Orion getting shot (as happened to Optimus in the movie), Hot Rod simply transforms into his alt-mode and drives off while Orion shoots Megatron in the chest and nearly kills him.
  • Another reference to this occurred in The Transformers: Monstrosity. Scorpionok betrayed Megatron and left him for dead in order to assume control of the Decepticons himself. Just as he was doing so, Megatron came storming in, complaining that it was "bad comedy." Scorpionok looked up to see the strange (Megatron had repaired himself using Junkion tech) 'Con standing at the end of the room.
    Scorpionok: Megatron? Is that you?
    Megatron: Here's a hint! (Shoots Scorpionok in the chest)
  • In Issue 54 of Transformers: More than Meets the Eye we get another reference to the animated movie, this time courtesy of Ultra Magnus. When Rewind wants to discuss something with him during a battle, his response is "I'm sorry, Rewind, I can't deal with that right now.''
  • Late in The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, Whirl wonders if Functionist Cybertron's giant robot mode is Primus. There are plenty of continuities where Primus is indeed Cybertron. Just not in this one. In this one, Primus is an Amnesiac God and one of the main characters.
• In Youngblood (2017), Badrock introduces Vogue, Doc Rocket, Sentinel and Suprema to Shaft and refers to them as "The next generation of heroes". That was the tagline of the very first issue of Youngblood.

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