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Legends of Tomorrow: “I Am Legends” Features a George Romero Tribute Zombie

Tonight on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, ‘I Am Legends’ took the zombie apocalypse concept and […]

Tonight on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, “I Am Legends” took the zombie apocalypse concept and unleashed it on an unwitting London, where the Legends were trying to find a secret Time Bureau safe house that would allow them to rejoin the Waverider, which had been hijacked. So, y’know — more or less a day in the life of the Legends. This time around, the zombie apocalypse hit pretty close to home, though; while most of the team (everyone but Zari) had taken a drink from the cup of Dionysus and was immortal for a day, the zombies were preventing the Legends from getting where they needed to go.

Constantine (Matt Ryan) and Zari (Tala Ashe), on a side quest to find the team a vehicle, ended up trapped in a building, pinned down by zombies. Minor spoilers follow, so use your judgment as to whether you want to continue. John had a clever idea: if Zari was dead, the zombies wouldn’t be interested in her.

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It was in that context — as Constantine cast a spell to briefly stop her heart, and carried her lifeless form through a crowd of zombies that couldn’t hurt him and didn’t care about her — that eagle-eyed fans got a glimpse of a particularly fun zombie cameo: the late George Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and more. Romero, who shaped the way audiences perceive zombies, had a distinctive style of eyeglasses, with thick, square frames — and that’s what you can see below.

Even the outfit itself is something that George A. Romero used to wear — or at least a variation on it. That vest-and-button-down combination (along with the glasses and facial hair) makes Romero pretty difficult to miss if you’re a fan.

Night of the Living Dead continues to live on his pop culture fame as knock-offs continue to be spun from it. Romero also put in work on sequels like Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead.

Outside of the Living Dead franchise, Romero worked on other projects which his fans have rallied around. Romero wrote or directed for The Crazies, Knightriders, and episodes of the TV documentary The Winners. The icon’s final credit as a writer was for Day of the Dead in 2017. He passed away in August of that year.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following episodes of DC’s Stargirl on The CW.