Mythology Gag in Justice League Action.
- "Shazam Slam":
- The Battle Cry of "Justice League, Action!" is similar to the "Titans, Go!" from Teen Titans (2003).
- At the end, Wonder Woman suggesting a brand new base at the end, Swamp Thing's confused calling of it as the "Hall of Justice" and her correction as "a Watchtower" is virtually word for word the same conversation Superman and Flash had at the end of the Justice League premiere episode "Secret Origins", but replacing "Superfriends" and "Justice League" with "Hall of Justice" and "Watchtower".
- The Wizard banishes Black Adam by shouting "Vleram!", which was the Wizard Shazam's transformation phrase when he was just Jebadiah of Cannan (aka the Champion).
- Switching costumes was how the Justice League originally beat the djinn brothers in their first appearance. Batman being against the idea is possibly a nod to how in the original story he swapped with Wonder Woman and not the Butt-Monkey Plastic Man. note
- Space Cabbie refers to Mister Mind as Skeets before realizing who he actually is.
- "Time Share":
- Past Batman is accompanied by the Batman: The Animated Series theme music and we even get his whole "I am vengeance, I am the night, I AM BATMAN!" thing, scales a wall like the Adam West incarnation, and, as in the film serials, drives a nondescript black Cadillac rather than a specially-made Batmobile.
- Also Past Batman's cowl's bat ears looks somewhat similar to his actual first incarnation.
- Among Chronos' news clippings of a younger Batman battling the Falcone syndicate, there's an artist's impression based on eyewitness accounts that resembles the sketch from the 1989 film.
- "Play Date":
- The video game made by Toyman, with its many mechanics (stage transition, over-the-top intros and supers) is a Shout-Out to Injustice: Gods Among Us.
- The intro to Toyman's video game is a shot-for-shot recreation of the intro for Street Fighter Alpha 2.
- One of Superman's attacks in Toyman's game
is his "S" plastic wrap move from Superman II. Cyborg even lampshades how he doesn't have that power in this show. - The alternate costumes available for Diana in the episode include her Golden Age costume, the jumpsuit from Wonder Woman (1974) — including even changing Wonder Woman's hair from black to Cathy Lee Crosby's blond! —, the "scuba diving" costume from the 1970s series with Lynda Carter and her Justice League: War costume.
- The Batcave level in Toyman's game includes the classic T-rex and giant penny, plus several different Batmobiles (such as Adam West's), and the DC Animated Universe costumes for Batman, Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl in the background. Even the EMP rifle from The Dark Knight Rises is visible in a few blink-and-you'll-miss-it shots.
- "Trick or Threat":
- Batman is turned into a kid by a super villain? Wow... wonder why that sounds familiar...
- At the beginning — and the end — of the episode, the Constantine theme music can be heard briefly.
- Klarion the Witch Boy closely resembles his Young Justice (2010) incarnation.
- In Speed Demon, a monitor screen shows Satan Girl, a recurring Supergirl foe who first appeared in The Condemned Legionnaires.
- General Zod looks just like his Man of Steel counterpart except for the beard.
- Brainiac's boast in "Plastic Man Saves The World" brings to mind Superman Unbound, where Brainiac claimed he "had the knowledge and strength of ten thousand worlds." Here, however...
- A shot of Superman punching some sort of energy beam (seen at 0:15 of this promo) is taken directly from the Fleischer Superman cartoon.
- "Freezer Burn":
- When Batman arrives in his Batmobile to attack Mr. Freeze's ship, Freeze says "Ah, the Dark Knight returns."
- Firestorm has a crush on Killer Frost, who appears to return his feelings. This is similar to The Flash (2014), where their civilian identities, Ronnie Raymond and Caitlin Snow, were in a romantic relationship.
- "Repulse!":
- Lex Luthor's warsuit design is based on the suit worn by a good Luthor in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
- Wonder Woman briefly mentions her invisible jet during her date with Superman.
- This exchange:
Wonder Woman: What's the meaning of this, Static-Man?
Lex (as Repulse): I think you're mixing me up with someone else. - "Battle for the Bottled City":
- Brainiac has a floating drone with razor-tipped tentacles, resembling the ones inhabiting the frozen Kryptonian ship in Man of Steel.
- When Booster and Green Arrow go back in time, Booster finds that "Green Arrow" takes a long time to say, and Green Arrow sarcastically wonders if he should shorten it to just "Arrow".
- The Joker's theme music from the Tim Burton movie can be heard in "E. Nigma, Consulting Detective".
- In "Harley Goes Ape", Harley sarcastically calls Stargirl "Yankee Poodle", one of the heroes in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!, who also evidently exists in the main DC Universe as a cartoon character who inspired Stargirl's costume.
- In "True Colors", Firestorm sends Batman a message on his cell phone. In a Freeze-Frame Bonus, on his screen, you can tell that he's using the Batwave from The Batman.
- In "Missing The Mark", just the guest celebrity character for the episode begins the joke... Mark Hamill.
- The episode features the Joker and the Trickster abducting him, with the only superhero being Swamp Thing. They're all voiced by him. Yes, there's Acting for Two and there's this entire episode, which is that, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Moment of Awesome and Funny Moment all in one.
- What makes it even more hilarious? Mark Hamill essentially is Acting for Two in-universe as a way to defeat the super-villains!
- In "Race Against Crime," the plot turns out to be exactly that of the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Speed Demons," where the tracking devices placed on Superman and the Flash for their charity race were booby-trapped to siphon the energy the runners generate to power the villain's weaponry. Bonus points for the Flash being played by Charlie Schlatter in both series.
- In "Mxy's Mix-Up", the "Freaky Friday" Flip leads Grodd to quip that the Justice League is having an Identity Crisis (2004).
- "Party Animal" has Green Arrow exclaim "Holy Hannah!", a phrase he frequently used in the Dennis O'Neil era Justice League comics.
- The title of "Superman's Pal Sid Sharp" is similar to that of the comic series Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.
- In Watchtower Tours, the League's AI fails to recognize Booster Gold and, upon hearing him identify himself, mishears him and mistakes him for Boodika of the Green Lantern Corps, referencing Booster's Day in the Limelight episode of Justice League Unlimited where various civilians somehow manage to confuse him for one of the Green Lanterns.
- Krypto the Superdog and Ace the Bat-Hound appear as cameos in "Best Day Ever" (although their names aren't used).
- In the same episode we're shown that even in alternate animated series, the Big Belly Burger chain remains a universal constant.
- In "She Wore Red Velvet", Green Arrow complains that the Watchtower should've been built in space, referencing both the Watchtower typically being in space in most continuities as well as how he was the one complaining about how the Watchtower in space was bad (because it disconnected them from the people) back in Justice League Unlimited:Wonder Woman: So, in this alternate timeline, the Watchtower was destroyed?
Green Arrow: Y'know, if I've said it once I've said it a hundred times: we should've built this thing in space.- Booster Gold jokingly asks if he can call an overweight nerd in a Batman costume Bat-Mite (referring an imp who idolizes Batman and frequently bugged him during the Silver Age) and the same nerd asks Red Velvet if she is cosplaying as Elseworlds Harley Quinn, referencing the Elseworlds titles consisting of self-contained What If? stories regarding the DC Universe.
- In one episode, Booster Gold dresses up as Batman, referencing when his voice actor, Diedrich Bader, voiced Batman back in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
- "Rage of the Red Lanterns" has Lobo in trouble with the Red Lanterns for stealing some of their power rings. Lobo notably took a Red Lantern power ring and held onto it for safekeeping during the events of Brightest Day. The episode title itself is also the same as the arc of Geoff Johns' run on Green Lantern that introduced the Red Lantern Corps.
- "Double Cross" has Plastic Man impersonate Two-Face as part of the plan, which is likely a nod to when he impersonated the Joker during the "Rock of Ages" arc of Grant Morrison's run on JLA (1997). Plastic Man also initially makes the mistake of reversing which side of Two-Face is disfigured, which could be a nod to George Blake, an impostor of the Golden Age Two-Face who tried to frame Harvey after he was reformed and had his disfigurement repaired who was easily identified as a fake because he applied the makeup simulating the scarred portion of Two-Face's face on the wrong side.
- When Mr. Mxyzptlk disguises himself as Supergirl's agent in "Keeping Up with the Kryptonians", he appears as a short, bespectacled man in a suit with thinning black hair, resembling Ferlin Nyxly, the human form of Mxyzptlk's son Vyndktvx from Grant Morrison's run on Action Comics (New 52).
