Supergirl: Easter Eggs & Things You Might Have Missed In Supergirl Lives

You’ve already seen us break out a couple of the biggest moments from Kevin Smith’s first episode of Supergirl, but let’s face it: a “very special episode” like this one is bound to have its share of Easter eggs, inside jokes, and other little touches that might get missed on the first pass.

So, here we are, taking a walk through the episode and trying to point them all out.

So…what did we see? What did we miss? Read on, and comment below!

KEVIN SMITH DIRECTS; ROULETTE RETURNS — Kara (Melissa Benoist) is moved by the story of a missing woman named Izzy (guest star Harley Quinn Smith) and decides to investigate despite Snapper Carr’s (guest star Ian Gomez) order to leave it alone. Kara takes Mon-El (Chris Wood) with her to the last place Izzy was seen and the duo find themselves thrust through a portal to another planet, Slaver’s Moon, where the downtrodden are sold as slaves. The leader of the trafficking ring is none other than Roulette (Dichen Lachman).

To make matters worse, Slaver’s Moon has a red sun, which means Kara and Mon-El are stripped of their powers and stuck on the planet with no way home. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Alex (Chyler Leigh) blames herself for Kara’s disappearance, fearing she’s become too focused on her new relationship with Maggie (guest star Floriana Lima) and too complacent in watching out for her sister.

Kevin Smith directed the midseason premiere episode with story by Andrew Kreisberg and teleplay by Eric Carrasco & Jess Kardos. “Supergirl Lives” airs Monday, January 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW

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THE TITLE

The title of the episode, “Supergirl Lives,” is a wink and a nod to the movie Superman Lives. Don’t remember it? That’s because it fell apart before it ever got into production.

The movie was meant to pit Superman against both Doomsday and Brainiac and would have had a truncated version of the death and return of Superman story from the comics in it. Warner Bros. hired fanboy auteur Smith to write the screenplay, and the movie would reportedly have starred Nicolas Cage as Superman, Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen, and Cameron Diaz as Lois Lane.

Tim Burton, who was to direct the movie, had his own people rework the script before the whole thing stopped existing, so it’s likely that even if the movie had been made it wouldn’t have been exactly Smith’s script — but that script has since leaked online, so if you’re really interested you can dig around for it and see if there are any Easter eggs from that we missed.

CHIEF

Yep, Kara is still calling Snapper Carr “Chief.” He, however, doesn’t stop her from doing it like Perry White does Lois and Clark.

GOOFUS & GALLANT

Goofus and Gallant, children’s characters appearing in Highlights magazine, have been referenced before in Kevin Smith’s canon — I think in the Clerks cartoon? — and so seeing them not only referenced but having it be a callback at the end of the episode feels like a knowing wink to his long-time fans.

If it is, though, it’s such an outrageously obscure one it will probably be lost on most. Sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence, but since it’s there to comment on, we’ve done so.

STARGATE

Yeah, Winn thought that trans-matter portal looked like a Stargate, too.

MAALDORIA

The “Slaver’s Moon” isn’t actually a moon, but a planet called Maaldoria, populated by Maaldorians.

There are no such race as Maaldorians in the DC canon, although there is a godlike being known as Maaldor the Darklord, who died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

It’s also worth noting that a number of episodes this season have seemed to hint at elements from the classic post-Crisis Superman story “Exile,” and there was a slaver’s moon (not called that, but that’s a function it served) orbiting Warworld at one point, where Superman met a mysterious benefactor who later turned out to be pretty significant.

REDSHIRT

Yes, yes, we too noticed that Winn kept referring to himself as “A redshirt,” a reference to Star Trek‘s cannon fodder characters.

A LITTLE TASTE OF HOME

Not sure if this one’s intentional, but when Alex refers to the yellow sun grenade as “a little taste of home,” it feels like the opposite of “A Little Piece of Home,” the Superman: The Animated Series episode that first introduced Kryptonite.

CHANNEL 37

…in a row?

The monitors in Cat Grant/James Olsen’s office have typically not been used for Easter eggs — which is surprising when you consider that it seems like kind of a gimme.

That’s why it stuck out like a sore thumb when we noticed that the big, central monitor right about Olsen’s head in the shot above was tuned to Channel 37 — a number that resonates with Kevin Smith fans as it’s been a recurring gag in his movies ever since 1994’s Clerks. 

On the day this reporter was on set, Smith was directing wearing one of his many hockey jerseys bearing the number 37 — although that day, it was a Reverse-Flash jersey with all the words backwards and the number 73 instead.

AND THE BIG ONES.

A Legion of Super-Heroes reference? Check!

Grife! You could have missed that one if you weren’t listening closely. But what else did we learn about Mon-El this week?!

The Thanagarian Snare Beast? Check!

Aside from the fact that Thanagar — the home planet of the Hawkmen — was referenced last season on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, one of Supergirl‘s sister series, the Thanagarian Snare Beast was a creature created by Warner Bros. producer Jon Peters, who wanted to see Superman duke it out with what was essentially a giant spider in the Superman Lives movie which never happened. Smith wrote the script for the film and then memorably lampooned Peters during a number of Q&A sessions.

What about some recurring villains? CHECK!

Not only did Roulette show back up, but we got to see a Dominator (and a Dominator ship) for the first time since last month’s “Invasion!” crossover.