10 Hidden Easter Eggs In Batman The Animated Series
4. Axis Chemicals And Star Labs
In the episode Nothing To Fear, the audience is introduced to Jonathan Crane, aka The Scarecrow, for the first time. He is the villain that experiments on his victims with his nightmarish fear toxin - a gas that forces people to see their worst fears made real. While on the trail of the madman, Batman conducts a background search in the Batmobile.
On the screen, several previous connections to Crane come up, including two that are very recognisable to comics fans. AXIS Engineering is the first name on the list. This is a direct reference to Tim Burton's Batman 1989, wherein Jack Napier had his fateful encounter with Batman. After being accidentally shot in the face, Napier falls into a vat of chemicals in Axis Chemicals, emerging as the Joker.
Further down the list, Star Labs appears. Star Labs is a famous lab from Superman's stories, based in Metropolis. This is its only mention in Batman's animated series, but it has appeared in several episodes of Superman, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, which share the same continuity in the DCAU.