The Fury of Firestorm

The title of this week’s episode is also the title of Firestorm’s second ongoing—and most recent—comic book. “The Fury of Firestorm” could also reference the relationship between Jax and Stein as their current interaction—what little we saw—is closer to Stein and Ronnie in the comics than the Ronnie and Stein’s TV counterparts.

Rogue Air

Comic book titles weren’t the only name drops this week. Cisco calls one of team Flash’s former adventures as “Rogue Air.” This is a callback to an episode last season featuring Firestorm by the same name.

Jefferson Jackson

The Flash creative team has called Jefferson “Jax” Jackson as a creation for the TV show, but that’s not really true. Ronnie Raymond had a friend in high school who went by either Jefferson or Jackson. DC never confirmed the character’s name and Jefferson Jackson’s full name never appeared in the comics, but the presence of this character in the Firestorm mythos can’t be a coincidence.

Puffy Sleeves

This could be an optical illusion but Jax’s jacket sleeves look puffy. One of the most memorable aspects of the original Firestorm’s costume were the puffy white sleeves. Jax’s sleeves in these scenes could be a wink to this design.

Tokamak

Henry Hewitt may be a scientist turned lunatic in The Flash, but he was the CEO of Hewitt Corporation in DC Comics. As the maniacal leader of this fortune 500 company, Hewitt kidnapped the daughter of a senator, who got in Hewitt’s way of cornering the energy market, he then duplicated the accident that created Firestorm on the senator’s daughter, transforming her into Firehawk, whom Hewitt brainwashed to eliminate Firestorm. When his plan didn’t work, Hewitt conducted the same experiment on himself and he became Tokamak. The comic book Tokamak differs from his television counterpart due to his fashion sense. As Tokamak’s body emits high volumes of energy, he encases himself in a metal suit. I’m not sure if we’ll Tokamak again but if we do, let’s see some new duds.

Eikmeier Industries

Unlike his comic book counterpart, Hewitt works at Eikmeier Industries, which is named after The Flash and Boston Legal writer Brooke Eikmeier.

King Shark

King Shark is a humanoid shark-man. Pre-Flashpoint he resembled a Great White, but now he looks more like a hammerhead. Shark began his criminal career as a Superboy villain and he was implied to have descended from the Wild Men of Kamandi, of Jack Kirby fame. He hails from the South Pacific and has been a member of the Secret Six and Suicide Squad. King Shark was even a rumored character for the Suicide Squad movie before the lineup was announced.

Land Shark

Who is it? Land Shark, Ma’am.

Land Shark is a reference to a classic Saturday Night Live sketch.

Titanic Soundtrack

I saw what you did there, Jax.
When Martin Stein complains about Jax’s taste in music, Jax tells Doc Stein, “I’ve got the Titanic soundtrack in the back, there.” Nice. Victor Garber, the actor who portrays Doc Stein, was also the engineer in Titanic.

Mercury Labs

Amanda Pays makes another appearance as Tina McGee, a character introduced in the comics during Wally West’s tenure as the Flash and a character Pays reprised from her stint on the 90s Flash TV series.

Applied Sciences

The Mercury Labs department Wells robbed was none other than Applied Sciences. This is a tip of the hat to the department Lucius Fox ran during Batman Begins.

Convergence

The Flash could’ve called the reforming of Firestorm anything but convergence is an odd choice. It’s not so odd because Convergence is the most recent, multiverse, DC crossover.

MacGregor’s Syndrome

Francine tells Iris she’s sick with the terminal disease MacGregor’s Syndrome. This isn’t the first time MacGregor’s Syndrome’s been used in the DC universe. It got its start as the disease that would take Nora Fries’s life in Batman: the Animated Series. Yeah, it’s the same Nora Fries who’s married to Mr. Freeze. Dr. Fries cryogenically freezes his wife, preserving her in order to find a cure for MacGregor’s Syndrome. Arrow also used MacGregor’s Syndrome as the disease Clock King was suffering from when he committed his crimes.

Francine’s Son

Iris’s mom Francine dropped one heck of a truth bomb—or rather Iris uncovered a huge secret. Francine has a son. Could that son be Wally West, the third Flash? We’ll have to see.

Pittsburgh

This is the second Pittsburgh name drop on The Flash. Pittsburgh isn’t just Firestorm’s home in the comics, it’s Rip Hunter’s too, and Rip will lead Firestorm in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Stein mentions a “colleague,” and the most likely candidate would be Emily Rice, who worked with Stein in Pittsburgh.

Did you miss our Flash “Fury of Firestorm” review? Here’s a link and thank you for reading.