In case it wasn’t enough that the Waynes seem to be murdered in an alley every time there’s a new Batman movie or TV show, Batman: Cacophony writer Kevin Smith staged an homage to Gotham’s most notorious high society slaying on Instagram.
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That’s right — buckle in, kids, because we get to re-explore the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne — the moment that created Batman. But, y’know. With a sitcom.
You can see the post below.
…all that’s missing is the pearls.
Actually one funny element of this photo is that while it is instantly recognizable to comic book fans as a recreation of the Crime Alley murder, other fans have mentioned pop culture touchstones in the comments below Smith’s photo and…well, it’s hard to argue they’re wrong.
Several commenters compared the image to the notorious tuxedo football scene from The Room, director Tommy Wiseau’s famously awful directorial debut.
One other commented that the image looked like something out of a music video from alt-rock superstars Radiohead.
There’s even a little humor in the fact that Smith felt the need to “sneak this” in anywhere, since The Goldbergs is a show so deliriously willing to engage in meta-pop-culture jokes. In addition to a much-vaunted guest appearance by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) and a surprise crossover with The Wedding Singer, the show routinely showcases bits of comical nostlgia, to the point where some critics have said they fall back on that crutch for comedy too often.
…So, yeah. Probably wouldn’t have been a problem for Smith to sneak this in somewhere, but fans today are happy that he didn’t, becuase now he can tweet it today instead of when the episode is airing.
The Goldbergs airs on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
