Gotham: Easter Eggs and DC Comics References In "Damned If You Do..."

The Season Two premiere of Gotham aired tonight and gave fans a taste of what's coming up next in the city that will eventually give birth to the Batman.

And at this point in the night, we've told you the story, we've given you an idea about how to maximize your fun with it...now we'll try and pick through it with a fine-toothed comb a little bit and see what we saw.

Here's my disclaimer: Everyone always e-mails and tweets and asks, "Did you see that?!" every time a familiar name pops up on the screen in Gotham but the reality is this is not a show that does Easter eggs. So I'm doing my best here to make sure that the trivia heads are represented, even while I acknowledge that it isn't quite like this is The Flash or something.

So without further ado...

Zaardon

Zaardon is NOT something from the comics, although the image of Gotham's wealthy elite sending a guy in an armored suit out to do their bidding called the Court of Owls to mind for many of our readers.

Sionis

Todd Stashwick returns (and then departs) as Richard Sionis, tied in some way to the family of Batman villain The Black Mask. We last saw him taking up said mask and a sword against Gordon last year. Since this means we have a wealthy socialite with a thing for swords who likes to throw money at his problems...well, that sounds a lot like this new threat in the form of Galavan really is quite similar to Sionis.

"It's like having a cat around the house"

A not-too-subtle reference to Selina's future destiny. Take a drink.

Loeb is retired

In the comics, Gordon didn't use corruption to ferret out Loeb; instead, he revealed Loeb's own corruption and took him down. It didn't work that way in the show, but he fact that the ex-commissioner is still alive makes us wonder whether he might have a date with the Calendar Man, a serial killer who murdered him in the comics.

"There's magic here/everyday heroes"

A lot of talk about what makes Gotham so special and beautiful in Galavan's speech for Loeb's retirement could actually be taken literally instead of metaphorically to be talking about the events that will happen in the city's future, where both magic and larger-than-life heroes are a fairly everyday thing.

A note from Thomas

While this one wasn't hand-delivered by The Flash (pity...), it seems relevant that so soon after Flashpoint, we get a story in which Bruce's father knowingly puts himself in danger's path and leaves Bruce a note to explain his actions and give his son a sense of purpose.

Choose happiness

"You can't have both happiness and the truth; you have to choose. I beg of you, my son, choose happiness," the note urges Bruce.

That's interesting considering that right now in the comics, Bruce has done exactly that and is living a normal and happy civilian life that he thinks would make his parents proud.

Tigress

It's hard to imagine that a woman with a feline name and a whip won't prove to be an eventual influence on Selina...