Krypton: Easter Eggs and References in "Blood Moon"

The Doomsday Plan

In Superman: The Doomsday Wars, Brainiac had basically the same idea as Zod has here. Using his mental powers rather than the Black Mercy toxin, he was able to briefly take control of Doomsday. Of course, Doomsday's genetics make that a short-term fix. In the comics, he was able to eventually reject and expel Brainiac, since his body eventually evolved past the "parasite" in his brain.

It seems likely that in the finale, we will see Doomsday reject the Black Mercy toxin as well. Why?

Well, a couple of things. The first is that in this episode, Zod's aide tells him she is not sure that the Black Mercy toxin in Doomsday's body is sufficient to keep him sedated. The second actually ties to a change the show has made to Doomsday.

In the comics, Doomsday began as a baby who was killed and experimented on over and over again. He was, essentially, a blank slate and all he learned to do was to hate. In Krypton, he began as a heroic Kryptonian who volunteered himself to save the planet and create peace. That likely ties into the idea, repeated in this episode and posited last week, that rejecting the ideal world of the Black Mercy is an indicator of heroism. Sacrificing your own happiness for the greater good. If Doomsday were to get a glimpse of Dax Bron's mind, it could be enough to push him past the Black Mercy.

Zod's ship

While the look of Kryptonian tech in Krypton is a lot different than it is in Man of Steel, it's hard to ignore the vague similarities between Zod's warship in this episode and the Black Zero, the ship he used to invade Earth in the movies.

In Man of Steel, the structure of the Black Zero made sense: it dug into the planet it was invading so that Zod could use it and a matching craft on the opposite end of the world to destabilize its core and terraform the world. It isn't quite clear what value Zod sees in this shape on Krypton, although given that David Goyer was involved in shaping both versions of the world, it seems possible this is a proto-version of the kind of ships that Zod has generations later.

A Family Resemblance

It's hard to miss that when Doomsday lands in front of the Kryptonian army to charge into battle, he lands in what Deadpool famously mocked as the superhero landing pose.

That pose, of course, was used A LOT in promoting Man of Steel, and you can see that image (along with the shot of Doomsday) above. That Doomsday is a byproduct of the Zods and Els in here likely means that producers are intentionally drawing parallels between the two.

300

In the first of a couple of really stylish scenes in terms of direction and cinematography, Nyssa and her soldiers attack the Sagitari on board Zod's invasion craft and it feels like it's ripped straight from Zack Snyder's 300. You can check out the scene in question (from 300) below.

Familiar surroundings

The tables and gear tossed around and destroyed by the cave-in that incapacitates Adam Strange and nearly kills him and Val-El look pretty familiar if you have the Krypton: the Complete First Season Blu-ray. On that disc, David Goyer walked fans through the Fortress of Solitude, an earlier version of which looked less like the ice palace it is now and more like a mad scientist's workshop, complete with a number of relics from Val's time-and-space adventures...including Adam Strange's jetpack!

(The one pictured above is from the DVD, not from tonight's episode. But they looked similar enough that it felt like a callback.)

You Can't Save Everyone

One of the biggest things that tortures Superman (and a lot of superheroes more generally) is the idea that even with all of his powers and abilities, he can't save everyone.

That's what Kem tells Seg as he chooses to sacrifice himself in order to destroy the Wegthor station and save the rebels. Having that subtext made text, we get to see Seg struggle with the truth of it.

First Person Shooter

Several angles during Kem's walk to his death are straight out of a first-person shooter video game. The fact that the camera reverses and shows close-ups of him that appear to be from the POV of his gun barrel isn't normal video game imagery but it does give off the same vibe.

Given the 300 references elsewhere, it seems likely this is an overt homage to something and we're missing it, so if you can think of specifically what, drop it in the comments below or tweet it at @russburlingame.

Wegthor

In the comics, it is Jax-Ur who is usually responsible for the destruction of Wegthor...but regardless of who is at fault or exactly why it happens, the destruction of this moon is a pretty consistent part of Krypton's history in the comics.

This time around, it seems likely that Jax-Ur and Doomsday both were on it when it was destroyed, leaving open the potential for a Doomsday return but almost certainly not for Jax.

But we do get a shot of the survivors leaving it as it explodes, looking every bit like the death of Alderaan in Star Wars...or that of Krypton in any number of other projects.