This weekend, the World’s Finest — Superman and Batman — squared off in your local megaplex, but tonight, Supergirl and The Flash teamed up, shared ice cream and kicked ass in “Worlds Finest,” the latest episode of Supergirl.
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And, as you might expect in an episode like this, there were a lot of Easter eggs and DC Comics references — some of which have been covered in one or both of the Easter egg columns for Supergirl and The Flash before, but it seemed worth recapping them all for anybody just coming to one character or the other for the first time.
I’ll leave the whole “explaining who The Flash and Supergirl” are part out, simply because they do a pretty good job of that in the episode itself.
Worth noting: Over at the DC on ComicBook.com Facebook page, we had a blast talking about this episode, Batman V Superman, and more. Check out the video here.
So…what did we see? What did we miss?
Read on, and comment below.
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WORLDS FINEST
The title of the episode is a DC Comics reference.
Yep, it’s that kind of week.
Worlds’ Finest was the name of a DC Comics series launched in 2011 which featured Earth-2’s Kara Zor-El (who goes by Power Girl instead of Supergirl) and Helena Wayne, the Huntress.
It was a riff on the long-running Superman/Batman team-up series World’s Finest but, like this episode, Worlds’ Finest changed the apostrophe to indicate that there were multiple earths at play in the story.
DR. AMELIA HAMILTON
Sarah Robson is introduced this episode as DEO’s Dr. Hamilton.
According to the credits, she’s Dr. Amelia Hamilton, who we have to assume is the Supergirl version of Dr. Emil Hamilton, a supporting character in the Superman titles in the ’80s and ’90s who appeared briefly in Man of Steel, and also in a dozen or so episodes of Smallville.
Ironically, Hamilton has worked with Cadmus (mentioned in the previous episode of Supergirl) and S.T.A.R. Labs (The Flash’s home base) in the comics and on screen in the past.
SILVER BANSHEE
Siobhan Smythe is a bad seed in the comics, too.
One of the first villains of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman, Silver Banshee has the ability to control and manipulate sound and sonic energy. After Flashpoint, the character was retooled somewhat and made into a Supergirl villain, although her father the Black Banshee was far more menacing.
Ricci has long been just a degree of separation from Andrew Kreisberg’s DC Universe: she’s been in a relationship with Robbie “Firestorm” Amell for nearly a decade, and has been actively supporting his and his cousin’s shows on The CW.
METAHUMANS
While Livewire was a human who was affected by something that gave her powers, Siobhan seems to have hers either through magic or genetics.
In either case, on a show that has focused heavily on aliens, this is the first time I can remember anybody saying the word “metahuman.”
Metahumans are frequent on Arrow, The Flash, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and even got referenced in Batman V Superman. Think Marvel’s mutants, or really any superhero with terrestrial origins.
LIVEWIRE
Livewire previously appeared in the Supergirl episode “Livewire.”
Just as in the comics, Leslie Willis was a shock jock who got electrical powers and turned to crime after losing her job at the radio station.
In her original iteration, she was a Superman villain who later came to cross paths with Supergirl. In the post-Flashpoint DC Universe, Livewire has been a problem for both Superman and Batgirl.
Interestingly, this character was originally created for Superman: The Animated Series before being imported into the DC Comics Universe.
CW NAME-DROPS
The Earth-1 of this particular multiverse is, of course, home to Arrow, The Flash, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
Barry is from there, and so as he’s trying to feel out Supergirl early in the episode, he asks her if she’s heard of Green Arrow, Black Canary, Firestorm, and The Atom — all superheroes who have starred in those series.
He also, presumably just to be safe, asks her if she knows Zoom, his nemesis this season on The Flash, although we do know that at least Barry’s version of Zoom is from Earth-2.
BARRY’S INTRO
We get “I’m Barry Allen, and I’m the fastest man alive,” and “I thought I was the impossible!”
Both of those are riffs on the introductory voice over Grant Gustin gives at the top of every episode of The Flash.
A CW SHOW
In a related note, Cat Grant at one point compares Kara, Barry, and the rest to “the attractive, yet non-threatening, racially-diverse cast of a CW show.”
Well-played, Cat Grant. Well-played.
…And now, I wonder whether The Flash is a TV show on this earth, like Jay Garrick was a comic book on Barry Allen’s Earth in the comics!
NICKNAMES
When Barry calls Kara the “girl of steel” and Kara calls Barry the “scarlet speedster,” longtime DC Comics fans likely cracked a smile; those are the pair’s nicknames in the comics.
THE MUSIC
Composer Blake Neely works on both series, so it’s not much of a surprise that when Barry Allen comes to National City, he brings his own score with him.
THE MULTIVERSE
The theory of the multiverse, outlined here, is something that’s integral to DC Comics’s history.
The Earths are separated not by space or time but by “vibrational frequency,” and anyone who can alter their body’s rate of vibration can theoretically travel to another world.
The first time this happened was in “The Flash of Two Worlds,” when Barry Allen met his Golden Age precursor, Jay Garrick…but it happened dozens of times after that, often leading to big superhero team-ups.
It’s worth noting at at least two fo the worlds they reference — one where all the good guys are evil, and one where World War II was won by the Nazis — are worlds in the DC canon. Earth-3, home to the Crime Syndicate, is a world where their versions of our superheroes are villains, and only Lex Luthor stands against them. Earth-X, protected by Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, is where the Nazis won the war.
BREACHES
Breaches in the fabric of the universe are how The Flash traveled back and forth to Earth-2 for most of the season.
Recently, he believed that he had closed all of the breaches, but of course, spacetime can be pesky.
There was also a character called Breach, who was a major player in Infinite Crisis, the story in which the multiverse was restored after having been deleted 20 years earlier.
“WORKING ON MY SPEED”
If he’s the fastest man alive, Supergirl fans might wonder why Barry has to be working on his speed.
Well, it’s partially becuase of Zoom, the aforementioned baddie for the hero’s second season, who uses a drug called Velocity-9 to seem actually faster than The Flash.
That tachyon harness looks very much like one that the Reverse-Flash used during Season One to harness the Speed Force and replicate The Flash’s powers.
“We both have…”
When he’s talking about the alternate Earths, Barry reassures himself with small things: Supergirl’s world has Mariah Carey, and the Three Musketeers. That’s in part becuase we’ve seen that culture can be very different from one Earth to another during Barry’s travels to Earth-2.
Beyonce Knowles was recently revealed to be a Senator on Earth-2, for instance.
MORE FLASH FRIENDS
At a separate time, Barry mentions this world’s lack of Cisco Ramon, Harrison Wells, Caitlin Snow, or S.T.A.R. Labs.
That last one’s pretty significant, since S.T.A.R. has existed in most recent interpretations of Kryptonian mythology to TV and film, including Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
MUGGLES
…Yes, that’s a Harry Potter reference made by Siobhan’s aunt, in talking about the people who frequent her magic (?) shop.
Which is even more interesting when you note that this week, Arrow will address the question of whether Oliver ever caught up on the Harry Potter craze after all that time on the island.
BLACKOUT AND PIED PIPER
Even The Flash notices that both shows have used villains with suspiciously similar power sets, naming the ones that he’s fought before.
Ironically, Pied Piper will appear again on the next episode of The Flash.
PARTNERS? PARTNERS.
That’s the same way Barry Allen and Oliver Queen decided to make their partnership “official” with a handshake in the first Arrow/The Flash crossover.
…let’s hope there’s more of these, too!
SPEEDY
Of the many nicknames The Flash is given that are NOT The Flash, one of them is “Speedy.”
He doesn’t bother to point out that he actually knows a superhero named Speedy, who is not particularly fast.
THE RACE
As we pointed out in our livestream, the race they have at the end of the episode is a wink and a nod to the promotional art which is, in itself, a riff on Superman #199, one of the most frequently-homaged comics covers of all time.
THE BLUR
Cat tries to name The Flash with one of the names Clark had on Smallville before becoming Superman.
NORMA RAE
Here’s a really weird one.
When Cat realizes that two disgruntled former employees have teamed up to try and take her out, she recommends they get tips from Norma Rae.
Played by Sally “Aunt May” Field in the role that got her the “You really like me!” Oscar, Norma Rae was a union organizer.
So there’s that joke. Cute, right?
Funnier is that Sally Field’s last TV gig was on Brothers and Sisters, alongside Cat Grant actress Calista Flockhart.
And lest you believe that to be a coincidence, Brothers and Sisters was executive produced by Supergirl‘s Greg Berlanti.
