'Legends of Tomorrow': "Witch Hunt" Pays Homage to 'Justice League Unlimited'

Tonight on DC's Legends of Tomorrow, the crew of the Waverider underwent a strange experience that [...]

Tonight on DC's Legends of Tomorrow, the crew of the Waverider underwent a strange experience that closely mirrors a situation from Justice League Unlimited.

...This is one of the stranger references we've had to point out, though, so strap in.

Spoilers ahead for tonight's episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, titled "Witch Hunt."

In the episode, the team encountered a fairy godmother, who transformed Ray and Mick into pigs during a confrontation with the Legends.

If that feels a little familiar -- yeah, it's the kind of thing that would happen in mythology and fables all the time, but more specifically than that? It's something that happened in the fifth episode of Justice League Unlimited, when Circe transformed Wonder Woman into a pig.

In an episode titled "This Little Piggy," Wonder Woman accompanies Batman on a stakeout in Gotham City, based on a tip that Intergang plans to steal the Rosetta Stone. As they wait, she notices many young couples together and soon starts to flirt with Batman, however all her attempts to flirt are rebuffed as Batman emphasizes the differences between them. When the robbery occurs, they find the thief is actually the sorceress Circe, mortal enemy of Hippolyta, Wonder Woman's mother. Although banished to Tartarus by Hippolyta, she has now been paroled and her first act of freedom is to transform Hippolyta's daughter into a pig.

In the episode, it turns out that only Circe can reverse the spell, forcing the League to chase after her with the help of Zatanna.

As an added bonus, she silenced John Constantine by sealing his lips in a way that is pretty reminsicent of the 1999 hit film The Matrix, but that could be a coincidence, given that simply "sealing" his lips is not exactly an idea unique to The Matrix, even if the execution looks pretty familiar.

In terms of turning a pair of Legends into swine, this episode also needed the witch's own power to reverse it -- but the Fairy Godmother's magic is dependent on the will of her charge, which means that she is compelled to do so when Prudence Hawthorne decides to release her, rather than having to be pursued and compelled.

Bonus Easter egg: Brandon Routh, turned into a pig here, is from Iowa -- and Iowa's largest export? Pork.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow airs on Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT following episode of Arrow on The CW.

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