Some cool Easter eggs I caught watching My Adventures with Superman that I want to show to people so they can be in on it with comic book readers
What a good episode! Love the episode and cool to see that we are still diving into Jimmy and Kara's relationship. Also love that Lois' journalistic mindset proved her right to Clark! But lets dive into the Easter eggs that I spotted in the episode!
If you want to check out the Easter eggs of Seasons 1 and 2 and the comic issues they are here:
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman season 1 post is here
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comics post is here
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman season 2 post is here
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman season 3 episode 1 post is here
SPOILERS if you have not seen the episode yet it will after the line after this point
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Starting things off the title is Mobile Suit Toyman, a nod to iconic real robot anime, Mobile Suit Gundam and while we are here Winslow Schott, who I talked more about here has his own mech at the end of the episode that looks like a Gundam. You can tell because they have similar feet designs.
As for the full on transformation of his booth at the convention its definitely draws on the Super Robot mecha anime style of transformation (like think Brave series of Super Robot mecha anime) as you can see below (apologies for the crunchy gif I had to keep it that way to fit in the thread)
Compare and contrast the transformation between Schott's mech with Exkaiser here from Brave Exkaiser. You can tell how similar it is because of shots like the hands popping out and the focus on the end at the end. Love that MAwS crew are mecha anime fans! Also fun fact Brave Exkaiser is where the buff anime santa gif is from and from the same mecha anime franchise, the is this a pigeon meme is from the Brave series after Brave Exkaiser, Brave of Sun, Fighbird. The more you know!
The Kamen Rider fan in me wants to believe that one of the toys that Schott is selling is a Kamen Rider reference as you can see in the above picture. Its got the eyes that Kamen Rider helmets usually have and it is vaguely grasshopper shaped.
We get a better look at the Superman and Supergirl gold statues and some of the electronic billboards too and the statues remind me of the gold statues of Superman and Superboy in Metropolis' Centennial Park that were erected after Superman and Superboy's death in Death of Superman and Infinite Crisis respectively. Superboy's was added in the comic series 52 #1 (2006) (W: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, P: Keith Giffen (Breakdowns), Joe Bennet, I: Ruy José, C: Alex Sinclair, L: Nick Napolitano) where the heroes are gathered there and are wondering where Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are before giving a speech after what happened in Infinite Crisis.
The gang head into the Metropolis Convention Center where Superfest is taking place and in the comics funny enough considering Toyman is one of the antagonists for the episode, the convention center first showed up in Action Comics #714 (1995) (W: David Michelinie, P: Kevin Dwyer, I: Denis Rodier, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley) where a businessman is using the Joker's likeness for his toy that he is promoting at the toy convention and you know how Joker gets when someone uses his image without his permission.
Kara almost name drops Power Girl who is essentially Kara Zor-L of Earth 2 where she grows up to be Power Girl and eventually takes up Earth 0 as her new home after Crisis on Infinite Earth. If for some reason she does show up in MAwS I'll go more in depth about Power Girl.
Jimmy shows off the Flamebird Watches that have a signal to get Superman's attention. In the comics Jimmy's Superman Signal watch made its first appearance in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #1 (1954) (W: Otto Binder, P: Curt Swan, I: Ray Brunley, L: Pat Gordon) where Jimmy was trying to find evidence on this group of jewel thieves and in order to keep him safe he wears a wrist watch that sends an SOS signal to Superman when he hears it.
At Jimmy's booth we see the News Kid Legion and Steve Lombard hanging out and I talk about both of them here and here respectively. Also the trade dressing on Jimmy's booth banner has a similar font to Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #1 (1954) cover (P: Curt Swan, I: Stan Kaye, L: Ira Schnapp). Its pretty close! Good attention to detail and shout out to the comic too MAwS crew and speaking of the comics
Jimmy is getting into the comic book making business for the money which he shouldnt cuz comics dont make a lot of money comic book writers and artists do it for the medium because they have a passion for it. Dont go full on capitalist Jimmy! He hands Clark three issues that homage three issues of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, specifically those issues are Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #102 (1967) (Cover art-P: Curt Swan, I: George Klein, L: Ira Schnapp), Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #115 (1968) (Cover art-P&I: Neal Adams), and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #158 (1973) (Cover art-P&I: Nick Cardy)
Lois gets roped in on the comic thing that Jimmy is doing and kinda sorta name drops one of the first if not the first Lois Lane comic series, Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane which started back in 1958. Later in the ep Cat Grant and Bizarro show up at the convention. I talked more about Cat here and Bizarro here. We also get more cameos of Leslie and Rory for a split second. I talked about both of them here and here. Supergirl also takes Ace and June from the Challengers of the Unknown cosplayers to Jimmy because she got so excited to see them after Cat is trying to get some dirt on her and Jimmy's relationship. I talk about Ace and June here
As Lois leaves the booth to see if Winslow Schott is up to no good she passes by three cosplayers dressed up as Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven from the Teen Titans. Like specifically this is their Teen Titans cartoon look. This has some interesting implications because if Vic aka Cyborg is in this world thanks to last season and Wayne Enterprises is in the MAwS world which also means Bruce Wayne might or might not be Batman at this point in time with or without a Robin, but lets assume he has a Robin and it is Dick Grayson, that would mean these three Titans that the cosplayers are dressing up as are fictional. I guess that also means if the Teen Titans do show up in the MAwS universe they'll be radically different I guess. But who knows I don't work on this show.
Anyways these three Titans make their first appearance together in the DC universe in DC Comics Presents #26 (1980) (W: Marv Wolfman, P: George Perez, I: Dick Giordano, C: Adrienne Roy, L: Ben Oda) where Raven gathered Changling (Beast Boy's name at that time), Starfire, Robin, Cyborg, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash because STAR labs is under attack by this blob creature which turns out to be a vision of future that Robin experiences.
Also with the Teen Titans cosplayers what I am guessing is a nod to Superman the Animated Series Jimmy Olsen.
Somewhere in Metropolis, Whip arrives and causes havoc in order to be the biggest muscle amongst the gangs in Metropolis after taking on Superman. While the name of the Whip is more times used by heroes, she shares more with the Superman villain Conduit also for some reason her color scheme reminds me of Omega Red, the X-Men villain (X-Men #1 (1991) (P-Jim Lee, I-Scott Williams)), doesnt help that both Whip and Omega Red also use tendrils to fight and talks with a Russian accent, but back to Conduit.
Conduit makes his first appearance in the Superman: The Man of Steel #0 (1994) where we learn that Conduit is Kenny Braverman who was exposed to Kryptonite radiation as a baby when Clark's space ship landed and Kenny's parents had to have Kenny at the side of the road because their car slid on ice on the road when trying to make it to the hospital. This radiation exposure caused Kenny to be sick. He and Clark were classmates and he loathed Clark because his father would always compared the both of them and later Kenny would join the CIA and get experimented on because of the Kryptonite exposure. This didnt go well when they tried to kill him and after he left he still plotted to get revenge on Clark but that changed when Superman was able to stop his revenge plot and his anger now turned toward Superman.
Kenny uses the tendrils on his suit that can focus the Kryptonite radiation in his body to attack Superman as seen in the comic page above from Action Comics #0 (1994) (W: David Michelinie, P: Butch Guice, I: Denis Rodier, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley)
At the interview with Supergirl, a lone hand raises and is called on and as Cat Grant describes her, a mousy girl stands and says that Supergirl is a warrior and loves that about her. And that girl is Jessica Cruz who will be the main protagonist in the My Adventures with Green Lantern spinoff show!
Jessica Cruz makes her first appearance in Green Lantern #20 (2013) where she appears in a vision about the future where she and Simon Baz (another Green Lantern) are training. She makes her full appearance in Justice League 30 (2014) where she is anxiety ridden and the Ring of Volthoom, the evil Earth 3 version of the Green Lantern Power Ring chose her because it uses the power of fear so why not choose an anxiety filled person as its next host. She eventually wields and masters the ring thanks to Hal Jordan's help. Later she and the Justice League battle Darkseid and his daughter Grail in Justice League #50 (2016) (W: Geoff Johns, P&I: Jason Fabok, C: Brad Anderson, L: Rob Leigh) where Grail summons the Black Racer, the New Gods' equivalent to the grim reaper who targets the Flash, but Jessica in an act of bravery jumps in front of Flash and seemingly dies after the Black Racer attacks her. But luckily the Black Racer only destroyed what was left of the Ring of Volthoom and because of her brave act, Jessica Cruz was given a Green Lantern Ring becoming a new Earth born Green Lantern as seen in the splash page above. Since then she's often seen paired with fellow Green Lantern Simon Baz and at the beginning of DC Rebirth they shared the title Green Lanterns, (a good read too).
Very excited to see Jessica starring in her own cartoon in this universe and Im definitely gonna be doing a similar Easter Eggs post for My Adventures with Green Lantern when it drops.
After Winslow Schott summons his mech and after Clark arrives back to the convention center and smooths out the mess that Lois caused we see a blue and red blur speed by and see that it is Cyborg Superman aka Hank Henshaw with Lex Luthor hyping him up as the only superhero Metropolis needs. I talked more about Lex Luthor and his company, LexCorp, here and here. I mentioned Hank here but now that we have Cyborg Superman we can dive a bit deeper about him.
In the comics after Hank's accident in space, Hank was able to transfer his mind into the LexCorp mainframe and use it to control technology around him in Adventures of Superman 468 (1990). He puts his mind into a space craft that housed the Birthing Matrix that was in Clark's space ship that landed on Earth and explored the rest of space. As he traveled he meets Mongul one of Superman's rogues (you might know him as the one that planted the Black Mercy on Superman in Superman Annual #11 (1985) or if you seen the Justice League Unlimited episode For the Man Who Has Everything, same title as the story in the annual btw). They craft Henshaw the robot body using Clark's DNA from the Birthing Matrix and Kryptonian technology into what you see in the picture on your right (Superman #78 (1993) P: Dan Jurgens, I: Brett Breeding, C: Glenn Whitmore).
Hank would use this new body to not only replace Superman, but also ruin his reputation, and destroy all of Coast City (Green Lantern's city).
That is all the Easter eggs I managed to spot in this episode and if you want to check out the other Easter Eggs post they are below and be on the look out for my Easter eggs post for issue 5 of the comic and episode 3 of season 3 this week too!
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman season 1 post is here
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comics post is here
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman season 2 post is here
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman season 3 episode 1 post is here
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