Arrow: Easter Eggs and DC Comics References In "Restoration"

LEGENDS

"What you're asking for hasn't been done in ages past -- even then only in legends," said Malcolm Merlyn of bringing back Sara Lance from the dead this episode.

Which seems to fit since Sara/White Canary will next appear on DC's Legends of Tomorrow. This may be the first time we've had a big, dramatic use of the word "legends" on one of the series since that show was announced, so it sticks out.

ORIGINAL TEAM ARROW

"OTA" -- Original Team Arrow -- is a fan term for Felicity, Diggle and Oliver, and given Marc Guggenheim's very active social media involvement with the fandom it isn't the first or likely the last time something like that made its way into the series proper.

And since, generally speaking, Felicity is ostensibly the point of view character for much of the audience, it makes sense she'd be the one to actually say it.

THE DODGER

Felicity's reference to "The Dodger" is a nod back to Season One.

In the show's fifteenth episode, titled "Dodger," the team met Roy Harper and faced off against a criminal called The Dodger.

Another weird The Flash-related coincidence: This week's episode of The Flash featured a criminal who planted bombs in the necks of people he needed to manipulate -- something Dodger did in that Arrow episode.

MARKOVIA

This isn't the first time we've heard that name...and it always seems to be trouble for Team Arrow.

In Arrow, Dr. Brion Markov was a scientist working for Unidac Industries. He developed the Markov Device, which has the power to cause an earthquake. Malcolm Merlyn used Brion's device as part of the core plan related to The Undertaking. However, after he was done with him, he killed him and his colleagues so he could not reveal anything to anyone. In the comics, though, Markov is Geo-Force, a superhero with geo-kinesis abilities that was also prince of Markovia.

(Thanks, Arrow Wiki; that's more concise than I could have put it!)

We've already seen the country referenced before in both "State Vs. Queen" and "Suicide Squad."

DOUBLE DOWN

In the comics, Double Down is a villain that tends to battle The Flash, so since he didn't die here, don't be surprised if he shows back up on The Flash, where Iron Heights isn't exactly the most secure holding location anyway.

For the show, he'll be a metahuman that can "can turn his playing card tattoos into deadly weapons." But in the comics, Double Down was a gambler that gained his powers from a cursed deck of cards that came from a man he murdered after losing to him in a high stakes poker game. Double Down is a sore loser!

SLAM

Is the name of the Island's super-drug a nod to Slam Bradley?

Probably not, but it seems like the kind of thing that needed to be asked.

POKER PUNS

"Deal."

"You ready to call this yet?"

While puns and wordplay aren't uncommon to superhero comics in general, it seems worth mentioning that this episode aired on the same week that The Flash featured Captain Cold, who makes more ice puns than Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mister Freeze.

Double Down, though, didn't actually make the puns for the most part; it was everyone around him.

T-SPHERES

Mr. Terrific has designed a T-Sphere!

In the comics, T-Spheres are kind of magical; they've been used to do any number of things, including being used as offensive weapons, security and communications.

GENESIS

It's a common enough word...but one that has special cache in the DC Universe.

"Genesis" is the third phase of whatever H.I.V.E. is doing, per Damien Darhk's conversation with Fayad. What does that mean? Well, it's impossible to know just yet, but there have been publishing events, characters and worlds that either are called Genesis or at least incorporate the word for years at DC Comics.

Of course, most of them have to do with the New Gods, and it seems unlikely those characters will appear here...

...right?