Shout Out / Batman: The Brave and the Bold

• Arguably the very first Shout-Out is the Plastino Cat Snacks in reference to Al Plastino, who drew the syndicated Batman comic strip during The Silver Age of Comic Books. And the cat looks just like Streaky the Supercat.
• "Invasion of the Secret Santas!" had shout outs to A Charlie Brown Christmas, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, It's a Wonderful Life and the old 1960s Batman TV series. There's also subtle reference to MST3K when Fun Haus mentions a Robot Santa being scary.
  • The episode also has a shout-out to previous DCAU cartoons: the bomb-doll that Fun Haus throws at Batman and Red Tornado is Baby Doll from Batman: The Animated Series.
• Sportsmaster wears a purple and black padded suit which bears a passing resemblance to the Globogym's uniforms from DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.
• After coming back up from being electrocuted by Black Lightning, Wildcat tells Batman that it'll take a lot more than "a little Static Shock" to get rid of him.
• Katana is visually very similar to Gogo Yubari, the teenage Japanese assassin from Kill Bill.
• Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy seems to be based on Burt Ward's portrayal of Robin from the 60's show, from his general gee-whiz attitude to lines like "Holy involuntary acrobatics!".
  • Specifically, this is a nod to the fact that Speedy was one of the numerous rip-offs of Robin that were created after the character gained popularity during The Golden Age of Comic Books.
• Batman testing The Outsiders in a virtual training room may be a nod to the Danger Room from X-Men.
• The Doctor Fate-themed episode "The Fate of Equinox" features an art style reminiscent of Steve Ditko. This is almost certainly a nod to Doctor Strange, Doctor Fate's Alternate Company Equivalent from Marvel Comics.
• The Faceless Hunter's origin and role as Starro's Herald are both nods to the Silver Surfer.
• A British fortune teller tells Thomas Baker that his nephew Colin is calling to him.
• From the same ep: "This quill has signed a thousand death warrants!" And then he draws a Pokémon Stadium with it...
• Chemo utters Godzilla's signature roar whenever he spews chemicals from his mouth.
• There are mutated turtles in the sewer in "Enter the Outsiders!".
• The Western-themed cold open of "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" is set at Sergio Station.
  • The entire episode is essentially an extended reference to Five Deadly Venoms
• One of Wong Fei's students wonders if he'll get the temple if he beats the master. After knocking him around, Wong Fei's response is "No temple for you!"
• In "Deep Cover for Batman!", Blue Bowman finally delivers the setup line we've been waiting for. "Who is this guy?" SMACK! "I'm Batman." And the musical score goes appropriately crazy.
  • In the same episode, Earth-161 is a zombie Earth, a sideways reference to the Marvel Universe (Earth-616) and Marvel Zombies.
• "Game Over for Owlman!": "Stop."
• The Death Traps on display in the Batcave's "Joker Wing" were taken from the original Adam West TV series.
• In "Night of the Huntress!" the Batmobile transforms into what looks very much like one of the Bat-Knight robots from Kingdom Come.
• Speaking of giant robots, the one female member of Babyface's gang just happens to end up in a yellow exoskeleton.
• The show continues the trend of the comic by having streets or place names in Gotham and Bludhaven named after influential Batman writers and artists. In "The Color of Revenge!", Batman mentions the intersection of Haney and Aparo, a reference to the writer and artist of the original The Brave and the Bold comic that heavily influenced this show.
• "Legends of the Dark Mite!" is one giant Shout-Out episode, including but certainly not limited to:
  • The title is a massive mythology gag referencing primarily the BTAS Legends of the Dark Knight which itself references the varying portrayal of Batman over the years.
  • Among other Batman fanboys at a convention held by Bat-Mite is one is a Batman costume identical to the one worn by Hank Venture. Which itself was based on a real-life Batman Halloween costume sold in the late 60s and the 70s.
  • The episode also contains blatant visual references to The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, one of the most popular Daffy Duck cartoons ever made, as well as a recursive one.^note The toon presented a Shout-Out to Batman by presenting an anthropomorphic baseball bat, which Daffy Duck called "Bat Man", in reference of the Dark Knight himself.
  • Bruce Timm and Paul Dini (creators of the DC Animated Universe) are also present at the convention, in costume as the Joker and Harley Quinn (well, Harley WAS Dini's creation!) respectively. For added humor, Dini actually wrote this episode.
  • Bat-Mite ends his episode like an old Looney Tunes cartoon, waving and saying "That's all, folks!" while the Looney Tunes theme song plays. Weirdest Shout-Out in a Batman show ever.
  • That's NOT all — Bat-Mite also gives a shout-out to Bewitched, wiggling his nose to disappear at the fade-out. Earlier, to transform into Batman, he crosses his arms and nods his head a la I Dream of Jeannie. Paul Dini also wrote the admitted Bewitched homage episode "This Little Piggy" for Justice League Unlimited.
  • Bat-Mite's description of Batman as a tortured avenger "crying for mommy and daddy" is an Ironic Echo of one of The Joker's darkest lines in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker used to emphasize the differences between the Brave and the Bold version and the Animated Series version of the character.
• Dick Sprang-inspired designs for Two-Face, Catwoman, Penguin, Joker, 60s Mr. Freeze (or Mr. Zero, as he was called then)... The list goes on and on.
• Dr. Canus' attire from "The Last Bat On Earth!" looks awfully similar to a certain Scruff McGruff, complete with green trenchcoat.
• Bane's first appearance on the show had him lifting Batman up just like he was about to break his back over his knee like he is famous for doing in the comics. Luckily Wildcat was there to save Batman.
  • Batman's comment that there's "More to Bane than meets the eye" is a reference to The Batman, where Bane is introduced with a similar line. He's also dispatched in a similar way (electrifying his Venom tube).
• The theme song itself could arguably be inspired by "Tank!" the Cowboy Bebop opening.
• In "The Super Bat-Man of Planet X!", Rothul's combat robots look uncannily like the Fruit Fucker 2000.
  • The aerial view of them marching single-file down a street is a lot like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (which is itself a Shout-Out to the Fleischer Studios Superman Theatrical Cartoons episode "The Mechanical Monsters").
  • And the way Batman 2 takes them down by trailing a cable behind his speedster — c'mon, you know this one...
• Beloved DC humor characters Sugar and Spike appear in the comic as allies of a de-aged baby Batman. The same issue also features a time machine that is best known to fans of Superdickery as Lois' time travel popemobile.
• In "Mayhem of the Music Meister!", Calendar Man is seen strapped to a dolly with a muzzle over his mouth like Hannibal Lecter, probably in reference to the Lecter-inspired portrayal of him in The Long Halloween.
• The Music Meister's frequent costume changes involve homages to (among others) KISS, the Phantom of the Opera, Elvis Presley, Liberace and Elton John. They also reference various types of music, from generic band geek to techno to opera.
  • He even bears a resemblance to a younger Elton John.
• Black Manta refers to the infamous "shark repellant" from Batman: The Movie in the "Drives Us Bats!" number. The Batusi gets mentioned too.
• The walls of the deathtrap in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" are plastered with names of various DC teams:
  Trenchcoat Brigade
  Inferior Five
  The Great Ten
  Metal Men
  Female Furies
  Injustice Gang
  Tornado Twins
  Challengers of the Unknown
  Monster Society of Evil
  Fearsome Five
  Revenge Syndicate
  Rocket Rollers
  Atomic Knights
  Awesome Threesome
• The above walls and some of Music Meister's dancing may be references to the music video for Madness' "One Step Beyond".
• Not sure if it's a Shout-Out or a Take That!, but the "Autotuning Bat-Amplifier" in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" rather resembles The Batman's Bat-Wave device.
• Is it just me, or does the song "If Only" has a similar melody and mood to "I'm Not That Girl"?
• During "Revenge of the Reach!", Jaime breaks through Guy's wall construct using a drill (that expands) and a familiar pose.
• From the same episode: "There is no Jaime, only The Reach."
• "Sidekicks Assemble!":
  Robin: Sit, Ubu, sit!
• Adam Strange's leitmotif in "Mystery in Space!" features heavy electric guitar noodling, deliberately evocative of Queen's soundtrack for Flash Gordon.
• In "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!", Red Tornado's son is called Tornado Champion and Tornado Tyrant, both nicknames Red Tornado had over the years. Likewise, Champion's design before his Face–Heel Turn resembles Red Tornado's original look in the comics.
• The "Batman doesn't eat nachos!" line in "A Bat Divided!" definitely seems to be a reference to one of the nitpicks fans made about an early episode of The Batman, which showed Bruce eating nachos in the Batcave. Not to mention, the cheese sauce Slacker!Batman pours on his nachos has a picture of Little Cheese on it.
• The sound effect Starro makes is the same sound as Martian ships from the 1953 film adaptation of The War Of The Worlds. The Faceless Hunter's narration in "The Power of Shazam!" of how Starro identified Earth as its target is a shout out to the open narration of the film as well.
• In "The Siege Of Starro" Part I:
  • There's a moment the screen freezes for a second. This is to showcase an homage to the cover of the issue of The Brave and the Bold (the original comic) where the Justice League debuted, fighting— Starro!
  • It also features B'wana Beast riding a dead ringer for Kaboobie, the flying camel.
  • The diaper truck Booster Gold gets flung into shows the DC kiddie comic characters Sugar and Spike.
• In The Mask of Matches Malone, we get this gem:
  Matches: I'll whack him, and bada-boom, bada-bing, I'll have complete control of Gotham!
• Poison Ivy's Man-Eating Plant, Georgia, is obviously a shout out to Audrey Junior/Audrey II from The Little Shop of Horrors.
• The Haunted Tank cold open is basically a two-minute episode of The Dukes of Hazzard. Right down to the slo-mo jump and car horn that plays "Dixie."
• During "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!", Barry Allen and Professor Zoom duel while running at super speeds around the world - at one point they pass through a suspiciously familiar stylized desert, and their "superspeed" sound effects briefly become the same as the one used for The Roadrunner.
• The same episode has what is arguably a Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe reference as Zoom and Allen fight each other in free fall, each attempting to turn the other into the fall in the same way Free Fall Combat worked in that game.
• While the Harley Quinn in "Emperor Joker" looks more like a Roaring Twenties flapper (she is probably based on silent comedienne Mabel Normand), when Joker puts Bat-Mite into a Jester outfit, it's the Jester outfit the classic Harley wore in her original Batman: The Animated Series appearance.
  • During the museum scene, in the background is what appears to be a bust of a generic male from The Far Side.
  • When the newly-powered Joker transforms into a skin-tight spandexed emperor with a Whoopee Cushion crown, he raises his arms and shouts, "I'm the king of the world!" just like Jack does in Titanic (1997).
  • And just before that, he uses his superpowered Electric Joybuzzer to shock Batman unconscious mid-sentence, in the same way that Emperor Palpatine uses his Force Lightning to shock Luke Skywalker into submission in the Star Wars episode Return of the Jedi.
• That episode is all about paying homage to the classics. Joker's show-stopping song takes its refrain, "Smile, darn ya, smile!", from the title of one of the very first Merrie Melodies cartoons.
  • Also, Harley and the rest of the Joker's henchmen start doing the Time Warp during the final chorus!
  • For that matter, the Joker's henchmen in this episode are muscled-up expies of classic silent film comics Buster Keaton, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin. How many of the audience were exepcted to recognize them?
• "The Criss Cross Conspiracy!" references Batman Forever, of all things!
  Batman (Katrina Moldoff): Riddle me this, riddle me that. Who's afraid of the big black bat?
  • The ending, where Felix Faust learns that his crush Katrina was really Batman, responds with "Well, nobody's perfect." If you don't get it, see "Hurricane of Excuses" in Some Like It Hot.
  • The name "Katrina Moldoff" is itself a tribute to Silver Age artist and Batwoman co-creator Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff.
• Proto in "Plague of the Prototypes!" does two homages to the GoLion version of Voltron: with his sword, and his pose in space in the end.
• In "Cry Freedom Fighters", Batman is given the power of patriotism by Uncle Sam, and his costume gets a more patriotic makeover, including wings on the sides of his cowl. He then proceeds to throw a shield at a fleeing enemy, which bounces off the walls several times before finally hitting the baddy.
  • Uncle Sam's force field barriers resemble the original design of Captain America's shield.
• Towards the end of "The Color of Revenge!", the mostly red-clad Robin takes down Crazy Quilt's blue-clad, bald and BFG-wielding Mook with a stick. Say it with me - BONK!
• In "Game Over For Owlman!", the apparent references to The Killing Joke in "Deep Cover for Batman!" are subtly confirmed when the Joker uses the words "killing" and "joke" in quick succession.
• In "Emperor Joker" there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to The Tick - during the "Where's the Fun in That" sequence, a gigantic Joker can be seen walking through the city, while the buildings around him burst to life. One of them sports a face and "teeth", like the buildings, that Tick hallucinated in one of the episodes. Those buildings can be clearly seen in the intro to the show.
  • In fact, I'm sure Aquaman is just The Tick in a different costume.
• The iconic Hindu poster from Watchmen (most prominently seen in the "Fearful Symmetry" chapter) is very briefly shown in the Doom Patrol episode.
• In "Gorillas in Our Midst!" Gorilla Grodd ties Batman and Detective Chimp into the infamous crotch-laser death trap.
  • The episode's title is a pun on the movie Gorillas in the Mist.
• In the cold open of "Night of the Batmen!", a character (Vigilante) who was voiced by Nathan Fillion in JLU sings a song about Batman's "Hammers of justice", just after saying ''A man's gotta do what's a man's gotta do''.
• In "Darkseid Descending", Skeets is "well versed in over six million forms of refrigeration."
  • The Martian Manhunter shape-changes into a green, tentacled alien with a single slit-irised eye — rather like Kang and Kodos.
• In Aquaman's Sitcom - styled opening, Black Manta complains that Fluke has wrecked his "octopus garden".
  • Aquaman's son is dressed in the short-lived 80s reboot Aquaman costume, while Mera's gigantic hair might be a reference to Peggy Bundy considering the sitcom tropes.
  • The themesong and title of The Currys of Atlantis is a reference to ''The Pruitts of Southampton''.
• In the opening for "Triumvirate of Terror", Batman's Rousing Speech to the Justice League mentions "little Julie Schwartz and Frankie Miller from Gotham".
• The end of the episode jumps 50 years into the future; Batman is gray-haired, wearing what looks like an exoskeleton, and riding in a motorized wheelchair. The reference is completed when the chair transforms into the armored Batsuit from Kingdom Come.
  • And Prez Rickard is President!
• In the episode "Battle of the Superheroes"
  • "Battle of the Super-Heroes◊" was the title of a classic World's Finest comic.
  • Luthor pilots a customized version of the infamous Supermobile when he's kidnapping Lois at the start.
  • Luthor's lair is based on that of the titular villain in The Mad Scientist.
  • There are direct references to several comics featured on the Superdickery website, including this one◊ and this one◊.
  • Part of the fight between Superman and Batman is based scene-for-scene on the final episode of Justice League Unlimited and its Superman/Darkseid fight (the bit where Supes punches Bats through a building, superspeed-intercepts him on the other side, and then smashes him down into the ground).
    • The other part? The final fight in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Batman's armored suit is an obvious visual reference, but the still shots of Batman hitting Superman seal the deal, as they are directly lifted from the comic.
    • The other other part? The brawl between Batman and Superman actually mimicked Superman's climactic battle with Darkseid in Justice League Unlimited.
  • The main episode opens with a shout-out to "Jimmy Olsen's Death-Trick◊". Except Superman has to attend to an emergency before he can say he's Clark Kent, and just before he leaves, he reveals that Jimmy's act didn't fool him one bit, as he found him to be perfectly healthy with his X-ray vision.
  • The identity of the Robin in the teaser is unknown, since the last time he appeared he switched over to Nightwing. It may have been meant as a flashback, or it's a new Robin.
  • When Superman throws Krypto into space, the scene looks very similar to one in Underdog.
• Aquaman's Rousing Song Of Heroism mentions wallcrawling among the many superpowers possible. The guy he's dressed as is the Tarantula, a Golden Age hero retconned into a Spidey knockoff in Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron.
• In "Powerless", the setup for Captain Atom's Public Service Announcement is taken straight from G.I. Joe.
• In The Eyes of Despero, Batman lays out Guy Gardner in a nod to a classic scene from Justice League International, complete with G'nort providing the "One punch! One punch!" line.
• The voice of Batman's talking street luge in Mitefall is an obvious impression of William Daniels as KITT from Knight Rider.
  • The premise of the episode is Bat-Mite trying to get the show canceled by having it Jump the Shark (explicitly using that phrase, even) as Ambush Bug tries to stop him. Ambush Bug is voiced by Henry Winkler — the original Shark Jumper, Fonzie from Happy Days.
  • A reference to the original Jump The Shark website was included as a Casting Gag - one of the tricks Bat-Mite uses to get the show canceled was to invoke The Other Darrin by giving Aquaman a new voice - "patron saint of shark jumping" Ted McGinley.
• In the episode "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!"
  • It features Scooby and Batman dual-punching the Joker after Bat-Mite uses his powers to allow violence.
  • Funnily enough, when Bat-Mite notes that someone mispainted Batman's collar, he doesn't seem to notice the fact that the Bat-symbol is inverted.
  • The theme song of the Bat-Manga segment has some similarities with the theme song of the English dub of Spectreman.
    • Robin's comment about Lord Death Man surviving via a parachute despite obviously falling to his death is a reference to many English Dubs of anime trying to censor death/violence. Batmite even uses air quotes when mention the parachute.
• In "Joker: The Vile And The Villainous!":
  • Joker and the Weeper teamed up once before, in Justice League of America v1 #136.
  • Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hara from The '60s Batman TV show make a cameo unveiling Batman's crime detecting device. This truly reflects their importance in that series.
• In "Scorn of the Star Sapphire!", the Cold Opening with Wonder Woman:
  • Wonder Woman's design is based on the Golden Age comics.
  • The sound effect of Wonder Woman's tiara used as boomerang is almost the same as the one that appears in Wonder Woman's 70's TV series. They also use the series' theme song.
  • The invisible jet is based on the one that appeared at Superfriends.
  • Batman having a crush on Wonder Woman, unrequited of course, references how Wonder Woman had feelings for him in Justice League, and he ignored them.
• The ending of "Night of the Batmen!" has several Alternate Universe Batmen show up to help - including Animated, Terry McGinnis, The Batman, and Nolan/Bale-verse Bats.
• In "Trials of the Demon", Batman, thanks to damage to his regular costume and magical help from Etrigan, ends up wearing the "Gotham By Gaslight" batsuit.
• In "Gorillas in Our Midst!": "Get your paws off me, you dirty ape!"
• The conference table for the Monster Society of Evil in "The Malicious Mr. Mind!" reveals that the organization has the exact same logo as the United Underworld from Batman: The Movie.
• In "Emperor Joker" Bat-mite in Fourth-Wall Breaking fashion, brings up The BTAS episode, The Laughing Fish. And the comic A Death in the Family even saying that he voted in whether Jason Todd would live or die. (He wouldn't say which he chose) this being the first time Jason Todd was name-dropped in a Batman cartoon.
• Batman's red armor in the episode "Day of the Dark Knight" is similar to his appearance in DC's "Tangent Comics" universe.
• "Fall of the Blue Beetle": When Jaime boots up the Bug, sound effects from Star Trek play, doubling as a nod to Ted Kord's VA being Wil Wheaton.

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