Supergirl Season 4: 5 Easter Eggs & References You Missed In ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?'
Lex Luthor's debut made a ton of references to his history with the Man of Steel!
Contains spoilers from Supergirl Season 4, Episode 15.
Though Supergirl's latest offering was a success on all counts, there is no denying that its greatest strength lay in the fact that the episode heavily revolved around the highly-anticipated debut of comic book icon Lex Luthor. That's right, 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' saw the renowned Superman villain mercifully released from prison due to his impending death. Naturally, he turned to the one person he knew could help him, his sister, Lena Luthor.
Lex is an asset that many of us thought Supergirl would never obtain. As we've seen in the past, DC is very protective of some of their headlining characters (especially when there is already a variation of them on the big screen) and, due to this, we rarely see them on the small screen these days. Nevertheless, like the Girl of Steel herself, the show persisted and made it happen.
With the legendary Superman villain finally making his on-screen debut, the episode was packed full of subtle little nods and references to various memorable moments from both Lex and Superman's revered history.
5. Superman: Red Son
The episode's opening scene may just been the biggest gift-giver of them all.
As we were introduced to Lex Luthor through a flashback to four years ago, we couldn't help but notice an eerie orange-tint that had descended upon the world as a terrified Lena Luthor watched it tear itself apart. As Lex proudly took credit for the madness that had enveloped below, Lena begged him to undo what he had started because "the world couldn't live under a Red Sun".
Superman: Red Son was an Elseworlds tale that looked at what would have happened if the Man of Steel had been raised by the Soviet Union instead. However, it also happens to be what the current season of Supergirl is based on as the show is doing its own adaptation with a Red Daughter version of Kara who showed up in the Season 3 finale.
Perhaps the most timely Easter Egg in the episode, Lena wasn't just referring to Lex's masterplan to de-power Superman with a Red Sun, as her words referred to one of the most iconic Superman stories of all time and the foundation of Supergirl's current season.