By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
The Easter eggs have been coming in such large baskets on genre TV shows, that even non-comics viewers can probably guess them. Let’s try a quiz and find out:
1. On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the new director’s name is Jeffrey Mace. That’s in inside-comics joke, referring to:
A) A 1940s character called The Patriot
B) Mace Ventura, Pet Detective
C) Mace Windu’s great-great-great-grandson
D. Mace Ghost
Answer: A. After the success of Captain America in 1941, roughly a jillion super-characters were introduced who dressed in the American flag. The Patriot was one such, a two-fisted reporter who was moderately successful, running in Marvel Mystery Comics until 1946. He could have been a footnote, until Marvel decided to retroactively explain how Captain America Comics continued into the mid-1950s after they established (in 1964) that Cap was frozen in an iceberg in 1945. The answer? Captain America fill-ins, chosen by the U.S. government – one of whom was Jeffrey Mace.
That’s in the comics. We still don’t know what his TV story is.
Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Lynda Carter (right), who once played Wonder Woman, plays President Olivia Marsdin on Supergirl with Melissa Benoist as the titular Maid of Steel.
2. Lynda Carter, who formerly portrayed Wonder Woman on TV (1975-79), appeared on Supergirl in the episode “Welcome to Earth” as U.S. President Olivia Marsdin. The episode did NOT include:
A) An oblique reference to Wonder Woman’s invisible plane
B) Supergirl spinning fast in homage
C) A reveal that President Marsdin is more than she seems
D) The entire cast dressed in red, white and blue swimsuits
Answer: D. Supergirl did do a spin similar to the one Diana Prince used to turn into Wonder Woman in the 1970s. Carter, as President Marsdin leaving Air Force One, made a reference to her “other plane” with a wink. And the audience discovered that Marsdin is actually an alien. (An outer-space alien, not an illegal one from Paradise Island.)
3. Latina Policewoman Maggie Sawyer debuted on Supergirl, played by Floriana Lima. The comics version of Maggie Sawyer is also:
A) Latina
B) Short
C) Gay
C) Flirty
Answer: C. Ever since her first appearance in 1987, Maggie Sawyer has been gay. Heck, she even dated Batwoman for a while. But, unlike her TV counterpart, she isn’t Latina, she isn’t short and God knows the hard-nosed, no-nonsense Maggie Sawyer has never been “flirty.”
4. A new alien named M’gann M’orzz appears on Supergirl, a character who first appeared in comics in 2006. She is:
A) Miss Martian
B) Miss Universe
C) Miss O’Potamia
D) Twisted Sister
Answer: A. Hey, I don’t name them.
5. Ian Gomez plays “Snapper” Carr on Supergirl, a character who has the name of a long-running comics character, but shares almost nothing else. The Snapper in comics earned his nickname because he:
A) Smells like a fish
B) Snaps his fingers a lot
C) Plays with Tupperware
D) Is a giant turtle-man
Answer: B. Snapper was created in 1960 as the Justice League’s mascot, and since he was supposed to be hip and appeal to kids, fortysomething writer Gardner Fox gave him beatnik dialogue and the habit of constantly snapping his fingers.
Because that’s what the kids dig, Daddio.
Photo: Katie Yu/The CW © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
Grey Damon (left) plays Sam Scudder and Ashley Rickards portrays Rosalind Dillion, the TV versions of Flash foes Mirror Master and The Top.
6. Rosalind Dillon was introduced on The Flash TV show as supervillain The Top (Ashley Rickards), whose super-power is to induce vertigo. In the comics, The Top is:
A) A guy who wore a green-and-yellow striped bodysuit.
B) A guy who could spin fast
C) A guy who committed top-themed crimes
D) All of the above
Answer: D. Roscoe “Top” Dillon wasn’t one of the Flash’s more imaginative rogues. Then again, Flash also fought Captain Boomerang, so he wasn’t real choosy.
7. Arrow introduced district attorney Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra). In the comics, he becomes:
A) White Canary
B) Black Canary
C) Paisley Canary
D) The Vigilante
Answer: D. OK, I made that one kinda easy.
Introduced in 1983, Adrian Chase stole The Punisher’s origin (his family was killed by mobsters) and became the vigilante called “The Vigilante.” (Originality wasn’t Adrian’s strong suit.) We can only hope that if TV’s Adrian Chase pulls on a black, blue and white ski mask that he comes up with something a little more zingy.
8. On Legends of Tomorrow, Nate Heywood meets a sword-maker in 1641 Japan named Yamashiro. While the show didn’t say, it’s likely his 21st century descendant will be:
A) Tatsu “Katana” Yamashiro, a katana-wielding woman who helps Oliver Queen on Arrow
B) Tatsu “Katana” Yamashiro, a katana-wielding woman played by Karen Fukuhara in the recent Suicide Squad movie
C) Tatsu “Katana” Yamashiro, a katana-wielding woman in the comics who has been, at different times, a member of The Outsiders, Justice League of America and the Birds of Prey.
D) All of the above
Answer: D, of course. In virtually all of her iterations, Katana wields a mystical sword called Soultaker that sucks in the souls of those it kills (borrowed jussssst a bit from Michael Moorcock’s sword & sorcery character Elric of Melnibone). I think we can safely assume that the katana we saw on Legends is the Soultaker (when it was a very young sword).
Copyright DC Entertainment Inc.
Nate “Citizen Steel” Heywood is just as shiny in the comics as he is on TV.
9. On Legends, Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) becomes the superhero Steel, but jokes about other potential names, one of which was his actual name in the comics. Which of these is it?
A) Captain Steel
B) Mister Steel
C) Citizen Steel
D) Steel Sterling
Answer: C. Nate “Citizen Steel” Heywood was introduced in 2007, the grandson of World War II’s Commander Steel – just like on TV! But he’s apparently going to use the name Steel, which in the comics is used by scientist-superhero John Henry Irons, who actually had his own movie in 1997, where he was played by Shaquille O’Neal! (You can be forgiven if you have wiped that film from your memory.)
There is also a Steel Sterling in comics, but he works for a different publisher.
10. On Flash, Harrison Wells of Earth-2 says that his world had a Mirror Master named Evan McCulloch, and that’s why he named the mirror-wielding Sam Scudder of Flash’s world “Mirror Master.” Who was McCulloch in the comics?
A) The Golden Age Mirror Master
B) The second Mirror Master
C) The Mirror Master of Earth-2
D) The part owner of Crazy Eddie’s House of Mirrors
Answer: B. Sam Scudder, the first Mirror Master, is presumed dead. McCulloch was a Scottish assassin who was given Scudder’s equipment in 1989 by a shadowy U.S. consortium so he could continue as Mirror Master II. The only thing more deadly than his mirror gimmicks is his impenetrable Scots accent.
Grade yourself on this scale to find out how you did:
8-10: Superfan
5-7: Sidekick
3-4: Mundane
0-2: Snapper Carr
(Don’t worry, Snappers. It’s OK to be lousy at this quiz!)
Reach Captain Comics by email (capncomics@aol.com), the Internet (captaincomics.ning.com), Facebook (Captain Comics Round Table) or Twitter (@CaptainComics).
Replies
Did it strike anyone else that the "Maggie Sawyer" on Supergirl was Renee Montoya in all but name?
I thought the same thing. Maybe they're saving the Montoya name for Gotham.
ClarkKent_DC said:
The Gotham show used the Renee Montoya character in Season 1, but she apparently appeared in only the first half of the season. I remember her being portrayed as a no-nonsense detective but don't remember much else about her character, including what happened to her.
IIRC, the Montoya character debuted in Batman The Animated Series. She was never portrayed as gay until she appeared in the DC title Gotham Central, where she suddenly (and stereotypically) started wearing motorcycle boots and having girlfriends. Up until then she was wearing high heels and skirts.
On Gotham, Montoya's partner was Crispus Allen, the third Spectre!
IIRC, Crispus Allen was introduced as her partner in the Gotham Central comics series.
Captain Comics said: