Arrow: The Scientist Easter Eggs and DC Comics References

Tonight's episode of Arrow--part one of a two-part midseason finale--saw a hell of a lot happening--and almost all of it revolved around a few key figures in Oliver Queen's comic book life. Barry Allen, Slade Wilson and Roy Harper all took center stage this week in big ways--and heck, even the B- or C-story featuring Moira Queen got a little DC Universe-centric with her references to...well, we're getting ahead of ourselves. What were the Easter eggs and DC Universe references we noticed while watching "The Scientist?" Well, try these on for size:

Barry Allen Alright, so this one didn't really need to be said, since everyone already knows...but hey, it is technically the first appearance of a new figure from the DC Comics Universe. And every other time we've had one of those, we've called it out in the postgame. So, yes. Barry Allen. For the three of you who might not know, he's better known to comic book fans as The Flash. He's already had one TV series, and his introduction on Arrow is meant to acclimate fans to Grant Gustin as the character ahead of a new pilot for a Flash TV show on The CW. We're all very excited about it. Barry's Always Late This is one that just kind of fits into the above, but we wanted to mention it anyway: Barry Allen, in the comics, was habitually clumsy and late before becoming the Fastest Man Alive. That helped him, actually, becuase once he became a superhero there was no suspicion about the fact that he was never where he should be. It was a previously-established pattern of behavior that he was never on time, so people didn't worry much about it. There were, in fact, so many things about Barry and The Flash that were either stated directly or clearly implied that we're doing a story all its own, which will run shortly after this one does. Qward Kord Enterprises The Qward Enterprises 2VX-900 is the name of the centrifuge that's stolen from Queen Consolidated. It's hard not to wonder what powers that sucker, given that the Weaponers of Qward are a society of smiths and engineers that comprise a large population of the native Qwardian race. Who are they? Well, they designed Sinestro's yellow power ring, which runs on fear. It's probably unlikely we'll see the actual antimatter universe in which the planet Qward resides but, like Metamorpho and Amazo, it's a cool way to bring characters and concepts unlikely to to turn up on Arrow to the small screen. Umm...yeah, so I heard "Kord" as "Qward." Duh. We've seen a reference to Kord Enterprises before in season one, but it's good to see him back. Along with the rumored appearances of The Question coming up at some point down the line, could we see a lot of Charlton's old characters popping up this season?

The Road to Flashpoint It seems as though Barry Allen's mom may actually have been killed by...well, the same thing that killed her in the comics. Which is awesome. But it also flies in the face of the very grounded tone of Arrow. It might be that this is part of why The Flash will get his own pilot, rather than the backdoor pilot originally planned for Arrow season 2, episode 20. In any event, is it a little crazy that we seem to have the implication of time travel on Arrow? Nanda Parbat What's been implied before has now been made explicit: once the words "Nanda Parbat" left John Barrowman's mouth, it not only sealed Malcolm Merlyn's fate, but established officially something that has been clear as day for a couple of weeks now. Simmons Sugar Refinery Someone let us know if there's an obvious Simmons we're missing--either a creator who has worked on Green Arrow or a character that we can't remember or find in the DC Wiki. The one that sprung to mind for us was a scientist (fittingly enough, given the title of this episode)...but we're probably reaching. Tracy Simmons appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Greatest Story Never Told," one of co-writer and incoming The Flash showrunner Andrew Kreisberg's favorites. She was a scientist who helped Booster Gold save the day while nobody was looking. Daly Similarly, Brother Blood's flunky, who identifies himself as "Daly," may be (but almost certainly is not) Charles Daly, a mob enforcer who went by the name of "Rhino" in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series.

The Birth of Deathstroke It was clear throughout the episode that not only are we dealing in some world-changing things in the present day, history is being made on the Island, as well. That's never more clear than with the introduction of the Miracle drug to Slade's bloodstream, setting up what's almost certain to be Deathstroke's origin story. Director Singh We got a name-drop for "Director Singh." That would be David Singh of the Central City Police Department Crime Lab. He's the opposite of Barry in many ways; while Barry isn't the fastest man alive (so to speak), the quality of his work speaks for itself. Singh would rather be fast than thorough, and it alienates some of his better workers. At least that's how it is in the comics. He's another character introduced by Geoff Johns as part of the run-up to Flashpoint. Here's a question: Will this version of Singh have any ties to Randu Singh, who works for Brother Blood? Seems like a missed opportunity if not...! Concrete Brother Cyrus--that's Cyrus Gold, a.k.a. Solomon Grundy, to you and me--has a muscle density that makes his body like concrete? Not surprising, since that's basically what Grundy looks like. Name-dropping Not that we haven't already been told he exists in this reality, but Ra's al Ghul got name-dropped in a way that suggests he'll be here...soon.