Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s gun-toting version of the DC Comics hero Vigilante came to the small screen in “Vigilante,” tonight’s episode of Arrow on The CW…and he brought with him basically no Easter eggs, DC Comics references, or other knowing winks and nods to the audience that the CW’s DC Universe shows are known for.
Videos by ComicBook.com
That could be, in part, becuase they’re all likely being hoarded for the next episode, when “Invasion!” brings Supergirl and The Flash to Arrow to help the team manage an alien invasion, or it could just be a function of a packed story that didn’t have a lot of legroom for “extras.”
Either way, there were a few things we spotted along the way, and since typically our readers will e-mail us and wonder what happened when an Easter egg story doesn’t happen…here’s our look at Arrow season 5, episode 7.
So…what did we see? What did we miss? Read on, and comment below.
Arrow airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
VIGILANTE
Okay, yes, “Vigilante.” Usually when the title is a reference, or when a major character is a nod to the comics, we’ll give it its own tile. But we’ve done that at least once before — and we think twice, so at this point we think it’s pretty well-covered ground that Adrian Chase was in the comics a costumed antihero known as Vigilante before he eventually took his own life out of the remorse he felt for abandoning the rule of law he had sworn to uphold his entire adult life.
THE TORAH
“Is that from the Torah?” Oliver asks Rory before the Moby-Dick metaphor starts. That’s a not-so-subtle nod to Ragman’s Jewish heritage, which has been mentioned before.
It’s worth a note that Rory and Felicity’s Jewish heritage makes the current incarnation of Team Arrow probably the most diverse groups of superheroes ever assembled on TV, with Oliver being the only non-ethnic male on the team. It’s happened without much in the way of the fanfare and attention these things usually get, so it seems worth at least a mention.
CHANNEL 52
As ever, we’ll point out the Channel 52 news.
Here, it’s Channel 52’s news story when Oliver is checking on Dunn.
After the success of their year-long, weekly series 52, the number took on a special significance for DC. In 2011, their publishing relaunch was titled The New 52, and featured 52 new #1 issues. It was around this time that Arrow launched, and not long after it hit the airwaves, the Channel 52 references started.
In the comics, “News 52” was a feature that appeared at the back of new comic books for a while, in which Bethany Snow (who appears as a frequent anchor on Arrow‘s Channel 52) kept fans up to date with what was new in the DC Universe that day.
McGUIRE’s?
It’s not clear whether McGuire’s (which could also be Maguire’s or McGwire’s) bar is actually meant to be a reference, but if it is, it’s likely to Bridget McGuire, who was an art director on Arrow‘s first two seasons.
“Maguire’s” could refer to longtime DC artist Kevin Maguire, but since he has never been strongly associated with Green Arrow, it seems unlikely.
WAIT…IS THAT A ‘ROCKY IV’ REFERENCE?
Becuase it’s Dolph Lundgren playing a big Russian, we’re going to be looking for references to Rocky IV pretty much every week until we’re sure we’ve seen one.
That said, wrapping his hands in gauze like you do before you put your boxing gloves on (yes, we know his hands were injured. Still!), and then having him unleash a hail of haymakers on Oliver carries a little bit of an Ivan Drago context to it, doesn’t it?
JOHN JR.
This is the first time we’ve seen John Diggle, Jr. actually appear onscreen! He’s a cute kid.
He also, if you remember, used to be Sara Diggle (named for the then-dead-now-better Sara Lance) before Barry Allen traveled back in time and changed history in the “Flashpoint” event.
If his life plays out like at least one previous John Diggle, Jr.’s did in an alternate future, he will eventually go by the name of Connor Hawke and take up the mantle of Green Arrow after Oliver Queen retires.
HUB CITY
“The Marshals are halfway to Hub City by now,” Lyla Michaels tells Diggle.
Hub City, a fictional city in the DC Universe, is best known as the home to The Question, a self-taught urban shaman.
While The Question didn’t appear when Oliver visited the city last year, mystic Esrin Fortuna seemed like she had a similar role (and since there was a female Question for a while, some fans on Twitter briefly wondered whether that could be what we were seeing unfold).
