Legends

Malcolm Merlyn (in response to Laurel telling Malcolm to bring back Sara from the dead): “What you’re asking for hasn’t been done in ages past—even then, only in legends.”

Merlyn’s line might be a nod to the CW’s upcoming series Legends of Tomorrow or it could be a tip of the hat to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Spock’s father Sarek uttered the same line when he wanted to imbue his living chakra to Spock’s body. Either way, this line was a nice touch.

Original Team Arrow (OTA)

noun
Arrow fan term to denote Oliver Queen and his first teammates Felicity and Diggle.

I couldn’t help but do that. Marc Guggenheim, Arrow’s showrunner, is active with social media and he’s heard the term a lot. Felicity would’ve been my first choice for a character using this term, as she’s the closest character to a fan.

The Dodger

Felicity was full of terms and name dropping this week. She mentioned “The Dodger” during this week’s episodes and that’s a nod to Arrow’s fifteenth episode titled “Dodger.” In the “Dodger,” the meets Roy Harper and faces off against a criminal called The Dodger.

You may think this is an odd reference but The Dodger planted a bomb in someone’s neck in that Arrow episode and planting bombs a people’s necks was kind of Papa Snart’s jam in The Flash this week.

Dr. Markov and Markovia

Arrow has used Markov and Markovia on more than one occasion, and it’s always trouble for Team Arrow.

In Arrow, Dr. Brion Markov worked for Unidac Industries, where he developed the Markov Device. The Markov Device has the power to cause earthquakes and it’s the same device Malcolm Merlyn used for his Undertaking (at the end of Arrow’s season one). With the device in hand, Merlyn killed Dr. Markov and his colleagues so they couldn’t get in his way. Arrow’s Markov differs from the comics as the comics’ Markov is Geo-Force, a superhero with geo-kinesis and who happens to be the prince of Markovia.

Double Down

Double Down is a Flash villain in the comics and since he didn’t die in “Restoration,” he could make an appearance in The Flash or even a second appearance in Arrow. Iron Heights doesn’t have the best security, just ask Captain Cold.

Arrow changed the source of Double Down’s powers. He may be a metahuman in this episode, but Double Down gained his powers from a cursed deck of cards in the comics.

Poker Puns

Captain Cold is known for his ice puns in The Flash, and Double Down made his debut the same week The Flash featured Captain Cold and there were plenty of poker puns this week. To be fair, Double Down didn’t utter too many of them, but you’ve gotta love “Deal” and “You ready to call this yet?”

Joker Card

I couldn’t find a picture but watched the scene where we first meet Double Down several times and the card Double Down first uses is a joker card. Coincidence?

Slam

The name of the Island’s super-drug could be a nod to DC’s Slam Bradley. A product of the same team who gave us Superman (Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster), Slam was a private detective who was active during the 1930s and 40s. DC has used Slam sparingly but he has surfaced Post-Crisis in Gotham City because the mayor wanted him to track down Catwoman.

Okay, the slam drug might not have anything to do with the character Slam Bradley but then again, Arrow and Flash have had a lot more obscure references.

T-Sphere

You caught our first glimpse of Mr. Terrific’s T-Sphere this week. These little gadgets work like magic and can do a ton of things. Holt mentioned that his device can record voices and explode but those are only a couple of things T-Spheres can do. Here’s a list of the T-Sphere’s abilities, according to DC Wikia.

• Self-propelled flight
• Form a laser grid between spheres
• Create holograms
• Record
• Sensors
• Link to computers/data
• Be used as a weapon by flying into things
• Bombs

Genesis

“Restoration” revealed H.I.V.E.’s main objective with a simple, common word: Genesis. There’s no way to know which comic book reference H.I.V.E.’s Genesis is supposed to make because DC Comics has used that term in countless books over the past few decades. The most common book to use the word Genesis is the New Gods, but I don’t think we’ll see either Orion or Darkseid any time soon. Or could we?

Thanks again for reading. If you missed our review of Arrow’s “Restoration,” here’s a link.