As a Fan Fic story that crosses over both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Power Girl, and is set in the Marvel Universe, naturally there are a lot of mentions of elements from those three media. Other things the story references include:
References In The Titles:
- Chapter 1 is entitled "Orbital Decay", a name taken from the Alan Steele novel of the same name. The chapter begins with Alex Harris falling to Earth from orbit and surviving. The climax of the novel "Orbital Decay" features an astronaut who falls to Earth from orbit and survives.
- The title of Chapter 2, "Now For Something Completely Different" is a Shout-Out to Monty Python.
- The titles of Chapter 5, "Life is What Happens to You..." and Chapter 6, "... When You're Busy Making Other Plans'' are taken from the John Lennon song "Beautiful Boy".
- Chapter 8's title, "But Today... Today is a Very Different Day" is taken from a line of dialogue spoken by Londo Mollari in the Babylon 5 episode "Into the Fire".
- The title of Chapter, 12, “Dark Side of the Moon: Side 2, Song 2” is a reference to a single line of dialog from an episode of General Hospital that broadcast back in 1985. Of course, it is also a reference to the Pink Floyd song "Us vs. Them," which just so happens to be the second song on side two of "Dark Side of the Moon."
- The title of Chapter 16, "The Deep Breath Before the Plunge" was taken from one of Gandalf's lines of dialogue in the film version of The Return of the King.
- The title of Chapter 22, "Definitely Miami" was taken from the twelfth episode of Miami Vice's second season. That's the episode in which Ted Nugent plays a serial killer.
- Chapter 23's title, "Look! Up in the Sky!" is, of course, one of the Stock Phrases of the Superman franchise.
- The title of Chapter 26, "If This Goes On", is taken from the title of the Robert A. Heinlein novel of the same name. Heinlein's novel is about a subtle dictatorship that takes over the United States by playing on the fears of the general public, mirroring the plot of Origin Story.
- Chapter 27, "Welcome to the Hellmouth", takes its title from the pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Chapter 29, entitled "No. You Move!", takes its title from a now legendary Captain America speech in which he explains to Spider-Man that while compromise is all fine and good, there are some times where ethics and morality demand you plant yourself in the way of those would do bad things and dare them to try and push through you.
- Chapter 31's title, "That Time is Now!" is a reference to a truly epic remastering of the original Superfriends theme
.
Other Shout-Outs:
- The casting used in the Marvel Comics version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer includes actors who were called to audition but didn't make the cut, and to actors that only appeared in Buffy's unaired pilot.
- When Agent Understone asks Doc Samson for a diagnosis of Alex's mental state, Samson says, “She's a loon”, a reference to The Terminator.
- When she finally decides to become a superhero, she takes her look directly from Superman, but tosses in a dash of Power Girl for good measure. And the name she uses, Superwoman, is a direct Shout-Out to honor the man she's hoping to emulate in the Marvel Universe.
- Alex and Louise run into actor Nicholas Brendon and his twin brother, Kelly Donovan. Notably, in the Marvel Universe, Brendon was never cast as Xander Harris and spends much more well-known for Kitchen Confidential, which was a much bigger hit in the Marvel Universe than it was in the real world.
- The computer tech who helps Phil Coulson distribute the truth about Alex's treatment at the hands of SHIELD to the general public was named Willow Rosenberg. Coulson, who knows the truth about Alex's origins, found it “poetically appropriate”.
- The first time Alex models her new costume for her girlfriend, Louise points to the costume's insignia and asks, "What's the S stand for?" in a near-duplicate of the scene from Man of Steel.
- The team of crime scene investigators that discover Karen Starr was raped and murdered by her father are all named after the characters in the "Weird Al" Yankovic film UHF.
- At the end of Chapter 9, Louise Fulford tells Alex not to worry about what to do at a Catholic mass, because she will "steer [her] around the curves." In the Buffy episode, "The Zeppo", Faith Lehane uses that exact phrasing on Xander to quell Xander's anxiety over being a version when he and Faith are about to have sex with each other.
- Chapter 19 is basically one huge Shout-Out to Disneyland Park.
- Chapter 22 features an almost loving Shout-Out to Scarlett's Cabaret, Miami's singular, top-of-the-line strip joint/nightclub.
- Chapter 23 features a shout to the popular Orlando drive-time shock-jocks, the Monsters in the Morning.
- Chapter 25 uses the argument from X-Men that "We license people to drive but not to live."
- Chapter 27's page quote is taken directly from Buffy the Vampire Slayer season one Opening Narration.
- In Chapter 28, Captain America mentions earning his Congressional Medal of Honor for a mission in which he "dropped onto Schloss Adler." "Schloss Adler" was the castle in which the Nazis had their strategic headquarters in the 1969 movie, Where Eagles Dare.
- Chapter 28 features a cameo by Deadpool, rather brazenly states that he's only making the cameo to generate a lttle extra push for the readership. He then says "TV Tropes even has a name for it: Wolverine Publicity!"
- The very last words spoken in Chapter 30 is Alex saying, "Colonel. Would you care to step outside?" while hanging motionless in thin air just outside a room where Carol Danvers is holding a meeting. It is direct reference to the scene in Superman II where Superman confronts General Zod with, "General. Would you care to step outside?"
- Previously, on the same chapter, Alex stops a Hydra assassin from killing himself with a gun; she comments that he'd have used a Cyanide Pill or similar instead, a reference to Captain America: The First Avenger.
- There are several in Chapter 31:
- John Waker demanding that Barney Barton call up "EVERYONE!" in the same overly hammy way that Gary Oldman did in The Professional did.
- Alex taking on the Sentry and Carol Danvers using a tactic she remembers from Justice League: The Flash's trick of running around the world to destroy Brainthor.
- Alex catching Ragnarok's hammer with one hand and utterly destroying it in the same way Hela did in Thor: Ragnarok.
