One of the best things about The CW’s Arrowverse is the fact that the shows that make up that world have a seemingly endless pool of DC Comics characters they can draw from for special appearances, new characters, and clever name drops meant to delight fans. Sometimes, those clever name drops and references reimagine characters in fresh ways that are a bit unexpected and that appears to have been the case in tonight’s episode of The Flash when “License to Elongate” made a reference to a well-known, if perhaps not frequently used, character from Batman’s corner of the DC Universe: Victoria Vale.
Mild spoilers for tonight’s episode of The Flash, “License to Elongate,” below.
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Tonight’s James Bond send up saw Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Ralph Dibny (Hartley Sawyer) head out of town to Midway City follow a lead on the Sue Dearbon missing persons case. While at this fancy, seemingly high-society event, Ralph gets Barry up to speed on everything he knows about Sue, including that she was last seen wearing a one-of-a-kind designer dress by Victoria Vale.
If the name Victoria Vale stood out to you, it’s for good reason. In comics Victoria “Vicki” Vale isn’t a fashion designer. She’s a journalist and one with a very long history with Bruce Wayne/Batman. Vicki was first introduced in Batman #49 back on 1948 in a story entitled “Scoop of the Century!” The character, largely set up to be a Lois Lane-type figure for Batman stories, was frequently featured has having suspicions that Bruce Wayne and Batman were one and the same. The character was also frequently portrayed as a love interest for Bruce.
What’s interesting about tonight’s episode is that the reference to the character has her as a fashion designer. While Vicki has undergone various iterations in comics, one of the things that has always been fairly consistent is that Vicki has been a journalist. She’s worked across various publications and, at one point, even appeared as one of the hosts of a television program called The Scene (think The View, only in the DC Universe). Still, even with the creative twist, it’s a pretty cool DC Easter Egg in an episode otherwise delightfully stuffed with James Bond jokes.
Did you catch the Victoria Vale reference in tonight’s episode? Let us know in the comments below.
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
