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Justice League Beyond Ultra Combo Turbopost

So apparently I did good yesterday, so let’s do it again, but bigger this time.

I’ve reread through the few issues of Justice League Beyond we have so far, and have compiled every continuity nod and wink at the fans I could find. Some of them are obvious, but others people might not have caught…

Right off the bat, we have several. Cuvier was a villain who invented splicing and became a horrifying chimera monster in his battle with Batman. Like many of Terry’s villains, he had a very strongly-implied death. Slappers were steroid-esque patches based off of Bane’s venom serum, manufactured by a renegade orderly at Bane’s nursing home. Fearoxin, as far as I know, was completely made up in this context, but based on the sound of it, it’s probably some sort of hallucinogenic based on Scarecrow’s work.

I don’t think it’s unintentional that the blast that took Green Lantern Kai-Ro out of the sky was yellow.

Terry is, of course, referring to Bruce’s hound from the series, Ace, whose name is a nod both to the classic camp Ace the Bat-Hound, and to the tragic Ace from the Joker’s Royal Flush Gang in Justice League.

The Jack Kirby-created Barda lays the smack-down on the leader of the Jokerz (fun fact: voiced by Bruce Timm) with a resounding KKRACKLE, as in “Kirby Krackle.”

This one might actually be an error. Willie Watt gained telepathic control of a GoLeM in his first appearance, but last we saw him, he had toughened up in prison and gained telekinetic powers instead. Maybe he got his old powers back or something, I dunno.

Bruce appears to still be making use of the Bat-Wraiths, robotic protectors of Gotham. They were first showcased in the classic tale, Kingdom Come, and Adam Beechen made use of them in his Batman Beyond miniseries last year as well. Their design also appears to be based on the powered armor Bruce used in “The Vendetta” that he had to stop using due to his heart condition.

GCPD Commissioner Barbara Gordon gave a phone call to Nana Harley (Quinn), who was similarly derisive in her cameo appearance at the end of the movie, Return of the Joker.

Clark is obviously paying homage to the concluding arc of Superman: The Animated Series, in which he was under Darkseid’s command.

And this is obviously referring to Terry’s first encounter with the Justice League Beyond, when he had to fight off a swarm of Starros. Fun fact: Bruce Timm felt guilty about playing the “mind-controlled Superman” card again so soon after he had just played it with Darkseid.

Dinosaur Island has come up a lot in DC continuity, but my favorite use of it will always be in Justice League: The New Frontier.

Ah, here we go, where my two nerdy fandoms of Batman Beyond and H.P. Lovecraft collide. Take note of those coordinates, they’re the same as The Bloop. We’ll get more into that later.

Fairly obvious one, but Arthur refers to Aquaman, of course. Less obvious: when Terry looked up Aquagirl’s file in Batman Beyond, her father’s location was listed as “UNKNOWN.” Just a plot thread I have never seen brought up again elsewhere.

We never actually saw it work out. When JLU ended, John Stewart was still dating Vixen, leaving some unresolved tension with Shayera.

I’m just gonna go ahead and assume this is because Guy Gardner was never a lantern in the DC animated universe continuity, although he did make a cameo appearance as a random thug in Superman: The Animated Series.

Ah, this is the one that started this whole thing. In the Justice League Unlimited episode “Epilogue,” Terry goes to Amanda Waller looking for answers regarding his past, and they have a cup of tea as they discuss it. I personally have a lot of mixed feelings about the episode, but I am glad that Timm and Dini saw fit to give Batman Beyond the conclusion it never got in its own series.

Ah Spellbinder, one of Terry’s few villains who would not only get repeat episodes, but actually survive them.

I don’t even read Challengers of the Unknown and I still caught this not-so-subtle homage.

And here it is again, this time even referred to by its name. For context, it’s supposedly the heartbeat of a monstrous sleeping god who will destroy the world. You’re lucky Lovecraft’s work is in the public domain, or else I think he’d have a strong case for plagiarism here.

Aquaman chopped off his own hand to save himself and his newborn son (who we have yet to hear from ever again, instead we have Aquagirl, I assume his second-born) from certain death, and replaced it with that bad-ass harpoon hook hand you see there. His beard was equally ~~glorious~~ OUTRAGEOUS back then too.

Now at this point, they start showing off alternate worlds being destroyed by this totally-not-Cthulhu creature (by the way, they already did that once before with Icthultu). I am ashamed to say I do not recognize all of them, but I do recognize Kamandi here.

~~This one has me completely stumped, unfortunately. Anyone out there know?~~
EDIT: neohartless has informed me that this is Kobra, yet another brainchild of Jack Kirby. Kinda funny coincidence with the names there.

But how could I not recognize Kirby-era O.M.A.C.?

~~Aaaaand another stumper. I’m sure someone here knows who these people are, though, and I’ll gladly edit in the answer if anyone wants to clue me in on either one of these images.~~
EDIT: nogoodhabits has clued me in that these are the Forever People, another classic Kirby creation.

So that’s it. Every little hint at continuity and canon that I could find in the few issues of Justice League Beyond we have so far. I’m sure I probably missed one or two, given the loving care and detail that goes into these, but I like to think myself pretty knowledgeable on Batman Beyond canon. Hope I made your day yet again, Dustin!