‘Arrow’ Drops Another Batman Easter Egg

Arrow‘s latest episode gave fans yet another thrilling tease of Batman‘s presence in the Arrowverse as Oliver Queen ran into a longtime foe of The Dark Knight.

Warning: spoilers follow!

“The Demon” saw Oliver Queen Stephen Amell taken down the dreaded Level 2 of the Super Max prison, where he tries to locate an infamous figure referred to only as “The Demon.” When he finally does catch up with the infamous criminal, surprise! It’s none other than Oliver’s former teacher, Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig).

When Oliver inquires what led to Talia being incarcerated in Super Max, Ra’s al Ghul’s first daughter reveals that she “ran afoul of an old foe in Gotham.”

That mention is yet another indicator that Batman is indeed present and active within the Arrowverse. It’s nothing new for the franchise to tease The Dark Knight’s presence, as we’ve had several key teases in previous scenes, including:

• A joking mention of Bruce Wayne possibly being a masked vigilante in Arrow season 6.
• A future newspaper mentioning Wayne Tech. and Queen Inc. merging in The Flash pilot (and later not merging when the timeline is altered).
• Earth-38 Barry’s phone listing “Bruce, Hal, and Diana” in its contacts, revealing that Flash and the Justice League exist in Supergirl’s universe.
• Oliver acknowledging that Oracle (aka Barbara Gordon / Batgirl) exists when trying to give Felicity a codename in Season Four.
• Supergirl acknowledging that her cousin Superman once had a rocky partnership with a vigilante who had “lots of gadgets and lots of demons.”

While we still won’t see Batman show up anytime soon in the Arrowverse, fans will soon get to see Gotham City make its Arrowverse debut in the upcoming “Elseworlds” crossover event. We already know that iconic Gotham locales like Wayne Enterprises and Arkham Asylum will be part of the visit, and we will get to see a Bat-vigilante of sorts as Ruby Rose joins the Arrowverse as Batwoman. Rose will then be starring in her own Batwoman TV series, which is where we will get an even wider look at what the Arrowverse version of Gotham City is all about.

The producers of the Arrowverse have maintained for years that the decision to keep Batman out of the franchise comes from DC or Warner Bros. executives above their pay level. And yet, there was a time when we didn’t think Superman would be featured in the Arrowverse lineup, and that Supergirl would be the substitution. By Season Two of Supergirl that all changed, so maybe these continued mentions of Batman are actually leading to a similar outcome?

The three-night “Elseworlds” event will begin with Supergirl on Sunday, December 9th, before carrying over to December 10th’s Arrow and December 11’s The Flash.