Easter Eggs You Missed In Titans Season 2

The gun used to murder Bruce Wayne's parents makes something of an appearance in the Titans season 2 premiere. Trigon subjects the Titans to the same kinds of visions he used on Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) in the season 1 finale. In the case of Jason Todd (Curran Walters), he inserts the new Robin into the end of Dick's vision, just after Dick has killed Batman. Dick tells Jason that the younger hero is an animal who "needs to be put down." Their fight ends with the infamous pistol inexplicably showing up on the floor near Jason. When Jason grabs the gun, Dick suggests Bruce would never keep the gun loaded. Jason answers, "No. But I do," and shoots the illusory Dick in the head. 

This makes the gun's appearance more than just a nod to the comics. Does Jason actually keep Joe Chill's gun loaded while he's living with Bruce, or is that just part of the illusion? Considering we know that in the comics Jason Todd eventually goes down some dark roads — including becoming the lethal vigilante the Red Hood — it's possible that what he says isn't just part of Trigon's nightmare. If not, it would not only be a betrayal of Bruce Wayne's trust, but would point to a dark turn for the character in the show equal to what happens in the comics.

Just before Rachel defeats Trigon, the possessed Titans wait nearby, with the dark splotching around their eyes singaling their new loyalties. One shot in particular mirrors the cover of a comic that marked one of the more memorable battles between the Titans and Trigon.

The cover to 1985's New Teen Titans #4 — like the shot from the Titans season 2 premiere — shows the heroes standing in a row with their altered eyes letting us know they're under Trigon's control. The players aren't all the same — the cover to the comic shows Beast Boy, Kid Flash, and Cyborg. Also, their eyes are colored red rather than the skin around their eyes taking on that inky black look. Regardless, the meaning behind the respective eye effects are clear, as is the inspiration the show takes from the comic. 

In New Teen Titans #4, the heroes are forced to individually wrestle with Trigon's power just as they are in the season 2 premiere, but in a much more literal sense. Rather than being exposed to nightmare visions that usually lead the heroes to making horrible — and often lethal — choices, the heroes of New Teen Titans #4 fight gray-skinned, red-eye shadow versions of themselves in the real world.

One of the more interesting moments in the brief scenes involving Deathstroke is when he enters a passcode to open his private arsenal. The conversation between Slade and Wintergreen (Demore Barnes) suggests it's been a while since Slade has been home, and the scene in the country store would suggest it's the re-emergence of the Titans that has brought him back. When Slade and Wintergreen approach the arsenal, for a moment it seems Slade may have forgotten the passcode. Wintergreen offers to enter it himself but Slade insists, "It's my house." The code he enters — "5639" — works, and once you see the code you may wonder if it was his memory that was bothering him, or the code himself. 

The passcode isn't just a random grouping of numbers. If you look at the letters corresponding to the numbers on the keypad, it seems clear they're based on a name: "Joey." Joey is a meaningful name in the Deathstroke mythos, as it's the first name of Jericho (Chella Man), Slade Wilson's youngest son. 

Jericho has a turbulent history in the comics. In the source material the young hero actually sides with the Titans against his father, and at one point Slade is forced to kill Jericho when his son is possessed by Trigon. Later in the season we find out it's Jericho's presumed death five years earlier that set him on a collision course with the new iteration of the Titans. 

Gar, a.k.a. Beast Boy, doesn't see a lot of action in the second episode of season 2 besides his sparring practice with Jason Todd. Nevertheless, Titans' wardrobe department found the perfect shirt for the shape-changing teen. 

For most of the episode, starting with his visit to Rachel, Gar is wearing the perfect Beast Boy shirt. Look closely and pause in the right spot, and you'll see that Gar's bright green shirt has the word "MEOW" across the front, echoing his ability to change into the forms of animals — most often, so far, a tiger. 

In fact, for a while, it seemed like a tiger is the only animal Gar could change into. After the possessed Titans beat Gar nearly to death in the season 2 premiere, we watch him sneak across the floor as a green snake. This wouldn't be a surprise in the comics, since Gar can change into just about any animal (even ones that don't otherwise exist on Earth). But every time we saw him change back in the first season of Titans, it was exclusively into the form of a tiger, which might have left fans wondering if maybe that's all the DC Universe series version is capable of. Thankfully, it appears Gar has more range than that.

The second episode of Titans' second season introduces two supervillains, both of whom have a long history with the Titans of the comics: Doctor Light and Shimmer. 

The legacy of Doctor Light has long been tainted by one of the most disturbing moments in DC Comics history. Ever since the 2004 mini-series Identity Crisis, in which he is revealed to have sexually assaulted Sue Dibny (wife of Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man), it's been tough for fans not to cringe upon hearing his name. Long before that, he was a crook most closely associated with the Teen Titans, and the fact that he's introduced in the same episode as Shimmer is likely not a coincidence. 

Doctor Light and Shimmer are both members of the Fearsome Five, and incarnations of the team also tend to include Shimmer's brother, Baran Flinders, a.k.a. Mammoth. Other members include the psychic Psimon and the tech-savvy Gizmo (no, not the little dude from Gremlins). Since Deathstroke eventually murders Doctor Light, it seems likely any emergence of the Fearsome Five won't include him. Of course, with super-heroes and their more villainous counterparts, you never can tell. 

Frustrated with Doctor Light's escape and his confrontations with the other Titans, Dick takes his anger out in the sparring room. Rose finds him there and taunts him into sparring with her — Rose with her sword and Dick with a staff. Dick wins the short duel, but not before Rose slices his staff in two. Rather than toss aside the staff or admit defeat, Dick adapts and uses the two halves of the staff as batons. 

In the comics, Dick eventually retires his Robin costume to become Nightwing, and in Titans second season finale we finally see the evolution happen on screen. Accepting his need to evolve beyond being either Robin or Dick Grayson, Dick finally shows up to take down Deathstroke in his new Nightwing uniform.

When Doctor Light tortures Jacob Finlay, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Easter egg pays tribute not to a comic book or another DC-inspired TV show or movie, but to one of the Titans' crew. When Doctor Light slams a copy of a magazine in front of Finlay — an obvious clone of Time that is instead titled Span — Finlay's face is on the cover. The tease for the cover story asks "THE WORLD'S NEXT ISAAC NEWTON?" And below: "JACOB FINDLAY [sic] by James Usas."

Well, James Usas isn't a D-list supervillain or a well-kept comic book secret. Instead James Anthony Usas is the set designer for every episode of Titans' second season. In the last few years, Usas has made a name for himself as a set designer on series like The Expanse and Star Trek: Discovery. 

On the Span cover, Finlay's name comes with an extra "D" that isn't in the comics or the credits. It leaves us wondering if this tribute to Usas is at least partly meant to poke fun at the set designer. It's pure speculation, but maybe on the Titans set Usas is known for having the spelling skills of a certain former Vice President?

After Aqualad is murdered by Deathstroke, we find Donna Troy standing solemnly in front of a painting at Jillian's (Ann Magnuson) museum. In particular, she's regarding a classical painting that appears to include a group of people mourning over a recent death. She's still looking at this painting when she tells Jillian that she won't be going to Themyscira, and Jillian subsequently warns her that vengeance is a dangerous road. 

The painting isn't just decoration, nor is it significant just because it depicts death. Painted by Gavin Hamilton some time between 1760 and 1763, the painting is Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus. Achilles is a Greek demi-god pivotal to the story of the Trojan War as it's depicted in Homer's The Iliad. After the Trojan hero Hector kills Achilles' friend Partroclus, Achilles gets his vengeance by defeating Hector in battle and slaying him. The fact that Donna Troy is regarding this painting with such purpose right after Garth's death is no mistake. 

If you've seen 2004's Troy you may recall its depiction of the battle between Achilles (Brad Pitt) and Hector (Eric Bana). Not only does Achilles kill Hector, but he refuses to return his body to the city and instead lashes it to the back of his chariot so he can drag it across the ground. So... you know. That should give you an idea of where Donna Troy's mind is at in terms of Deathstroke.  

Maybe we missed it in earlier episodes, but some sort of trophy in Titans Tower makes a couple of appearances in "Deathstroke." First we see it while Gar and Rose argue, and we see it again during the more physical confrontation between Rose and Rachel. In a lighted alcove, the Titans display what appears to be an ancient Greek helmet, or one of similar style. 

Who does the helmet belong to? The obvious answer would be that it has something to do with Donna Troy. In the comics and the DCEU, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Amazons are connected to the gods of Ancient Greece. The Greek god of war Ares (David Thewlis) reveals himself as the main villain of 2017's Wonder Woman, and the war god regularly appears as a villain in DC's comics, usually sporting a helmet not unlike the one we see in Titans Tower. 

The helmet could belong to Ares, though from what we've seen from the Titans so far, facing down a god would be a little above their pay grade at this point. However, if it is Ares' helmet, then it would be fitting it shows up here — first, because it's the episode named after Deathstroke (arguably, the perfect warrior), and second, because both times it shows up during scenes of conflict and both involve Rose, the daughter of Deathstroke.

Fans have been waiting for the return of Superboy (Joshua Orpin) and Krypto ever since the first season's finale gave us a post-credits scene showing the pair busting out of a Cadmus laboratory. They finally got their wish with the second season's sixth episode, "Conner." After revisiting that post-credits scene and giving us a corny commercial for Cadmus, Superboy and Krypto escape from the lab in the cold open of "Conner" and find themselves faced with the skyline of the famous city of Metropolis. Thankfully, the show's creative team don't forget an important detail — Metropolis' most well-known landmark, the Daily Planet building. 

In addition to being the workplace of Clark Kent, the Daily Planet is where such memorable Superman characters as Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White spend their days. Its most recognizable physical feature is the unmistakable ringed globe on top of the building — which has probably been knocked off so many times they really should arguably just trash the thing. The Titans crew does a wonderful job with the detail. You wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking for it, but once you do, there's no mistaking what it is.  

Seeing a picture of grain fields on the side of a truck in Metropolis triggers memories of Kansas, and Conner gets on a bus for the Midwest hometown of both of his "fathers." The bus driver is apparently cool with him bringing Krypto along (we can only assume either the driver figured Krypto is a support animal or the dog flashed his glowing eyes in response to any objections). 

The pair find themselves standing in front of the porch of the now elderly and blind Lionel Luthor (Peter MacNeill). As Luthor welcomes them, a radio on a small endtable next to him plays what sounds like a bluegrass tune. The song is a re-working by country/bluegrass singer Ricky Lee Skaggs of the gospel classic "In Heaven We'll Never Grow Old," which has a bit of a hidden meaning for Conner. 

While his similarities to the Superboy of the comics aren't completely clear yet (and there have been quite a few Superboys besides), at least one version of Superboy was destined to literally never grow old. Because of his origins as a clone, the Superboy who premiered in 1993's Adventures of Superman #500 would never age. It leads to a heartbreaking scene in 1999's Young Justice #7, in which Superboy brags that he's just like Peter Pan and will be a boy forever, while his teammates see through his facade to the underlying pain. 

When Eve Watson (Genevieve Angelson) brings Conner and Krypto to the abandoned Cadmus lab in San Francisco, Conner spots some paperwork and reads off the title "Project: Rakshasa," to which Eve replies, "Don't ask." There's no Project: Rakshasa in DC Comics, but because of the origins of the word, it's pretty clear it's referring to Cadmus' long quest to create Conner, and perhaps something worse. 

The Rakshasa come from Hindu stories, though they would later show up in other religions such as Buddhism. Rakshasa are often described as powerful creatures capable of, among other things, flight, shapeshifting, and illusions. They are often depicted with vicious fangs and are said to eat human beings. 

However, in some tellings, there are good Rakshasa as well as evil ones, and it's here that we see the reflection of Conner. The notion that Superboy is a "blank slate," as Eve calls him, capable of going either way (morally speaking), is a recurring theme throughout "Conner," making him like the Rakshasa not only because of his godlike power, but in his ability to choose whether to be a soldier of light or one of darkness. 

"Jericho," the eighth episode of Titans' second season, opens with Jericho envisioning himself walking through the run-down part of a large city, witnessing events ranging from troubling to bizarre. Occasionally it's too much for the teen and he stops to scream, and we hear a kind of distorted, hellish feedback come out instead. 

While we watch the scene, in the background plays David Bowie's "Five Years," which is meaningful on a couple of different levels. First, the song describes its narrator witnessing strange, desperate events taking place in the wake of hearing that the Earth only has five years left before its destruction. Second, the name of the song is a phrase that should be familiar to anyone who saw the previous episode. Multiple times in "Bruce Wayne," the phantom Wayne complains to Dick Grayson that Dick keeps claiming he doesn't remember how long ago the events with Deathstroke and Jericho took place, when he clearly remembers it was five years ago. "Jericho" itself is a flashback episode, showing us those events Dick and his imaginary mentor referenced in the previous episode. 

In "Jericho," we find out that Slade Wilson has told his son bits and pieces about his past. Around a beach campfire, Jericho entrusts the Titans with the story of the clandestine group H.I.V.E. experimenting on his father and giving him the special abilities that allowed him to become the assassin Deathstroke. Later in the episode we learn Jericho's own psychic powers are a result of the mad science inflicted upon his father. After Jericho uses his abilities to stop a road-rager from starting a fight with Slade, the mercenary remembers one of many H.I.V.E. treatments that didn't prove permanent for him, but apparently carried over to his son. 

H.I.V.E. has been a mainstay in DC Comics since the early '80s. When they first appear in the pages of New Teen Titans, their acronym stood for "Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination," though in more recent years — likely because the group begins to value secrecy above evil-sounding names — it's changed to "Holistic Integration for Viral Equality." The group has a long history of animosity with the Teen Titans, including close ties with the group known as the Fearsome Five, which includes villains we've already seen on Titans like Shimmer and Doctor Light. 

The big difference here is that in the comics, H.I.V.E. is not responsible for Slade's transformation into Deathstroke.  H.I.V.E. has dealings with Deathstroke in the comics, including hiring him to kill the Titans and later hiring Slade's son Grant to kill the teens, but in the source material, Slade's abilities are the result of experiments undertaken by the U.S. Army.

Part of Gar's daily routine is to read to the unconscious Connor, a.k.a. Superboy. On the first day, Gar reads from Charles Dickens' classic A Tale of Two Cities, which could — considering Gar's love of '80s cinema and Star Trek — be a reference to 1982's Star Trek: A Wrath of Khan, in which Spock gives Captain Kirk the book as a birthday gift early in the film. It would be a fitting reference, considering that Gar and Connor are two people with points of view at least as different as those of Kirk and Spock.

On day two, Gar chooses something even more interesting. He reads, "I beheld the accomplishment of my toils with an anxiety that almost mounted to agony. I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet." If you haven't already guessed, the line is from Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Considering Connor was, like the monster in Frankenstein, created in unnatural ways, it's a good literary choice — especially considering that Gar is hoping to "infuse a spark of being" into Connor. 

When Dick finds Slade in Madeline's house in "Atonement," the mercenary is uncharacteristically relaxed and watching a movie. His attention soon shifts to Dick, but the movie he's watching is worth paying attention to. The black-and-white film Slade is watching is the 1955 noir mystery Murder Is My Beat. The woman on the screen is Eden Lane as Barbara Payton, a nightclub singer accused of her boyfriend's murder. Through the course of the film it's revealed that not only might Payton be innocent, but that her alleged victim may actually be alive. Regardless, Payton turns herself in to the authorities. 

Murder Is My Beat's plot reminds us of the current status quo in Titans for a couple of reasons. First, because we now know that Jericho — like, possibly, Payton's boyfriend in the 1955 film — is still alive. 

A prison guard tries to give Dick a single unit cell — hinting to him that he wants the occasional favor in return — but Dick refuses, saying he isn't interested in helping anyone anymore. That doesn't make the guard happy at all, so he brings Dick to Gen Pop and makes sure to refer to him as "detective" before leaving him with his three new cellmates. At first it seems like the three are more than happy with the idea of killing Dick, but eventually Grayson learns his cellmates are deserters from a Corto Maltese cartel — in part because they refused to kill on the cartel's orders. Instead of allowing themselves to be sent back to Corto Maltese where they'll be killed (or ordered to kill Dick), the three plan an escape. 

We often find the youngest of the three cellmates carving an image on the wall above his bunk. He eventually tells Dick this is "Alazul," a guardian spirit of his home village that protects his people. In spite of Dick's warnings, the young prisoner is convinced Alazul will help him escape. 

It's far from an exact replica, but the image of Alazul is reminiscent of the comic book costume worn by Nightwing, the persona Dick eventually takes on after growing out of Batman's shadow. Also, Alazul isn't far from "ala azul," which, in Spanish, means "blue wing."

"Fallen" ends with a strangely timed nod to 1995's Batman Forever. The episode concludes with 1979's "Smash It Up" by the English punk band The Damned, and if you've seen Batman Forever then you've heard the song before, albeit by a different artist. For the Forever soundtrack, American punk group The Offspring covered "Smash It Up," and the song is played as Alfred informs Bruce Wayne that Dick Grayson (Chris O'Donnell) has stolen the Batmobile for a joyride. 

We call it "strangely timed" because "Fallen" definitely doesn't end with a "Smash It Up" kind of vibe. Gar, Conner, Krypto, and Dick are all prisoners by the end of the episode, and freedom doesn't look to be within reach for any of them anytime soon. It's far from the wild Dick Grayson we find in Batman Forever, racing the Batmobile through Gotham City without any real care about what his new guardian thinks about it. It feels like the song would make more sense at the end of "E.L._.O.," when Dick finds himself finally getting out from under Bruce Wayne's shadow. 

When Jason brings Rose to the theater where he was squatting before Bruce Wayne took him in, the two get upset with each other, as usual. Jason reveals his feelings for Rose, though she seems doubtful things could possibly work out for them. Jason talks her down with some dialogue that doesn't sound natural for Robin v. 2.0 — "There's a place for us. Somewhere, a place for us. Hold my hand and we're halfway there. Hold my hand and I'll take you there." Rose takes his hand and matches his dialogue, revealing she's as much of a theater geek as Jason. 

The lyrics the couple recites are from the song "Somewhere," made famous with the classic musical West Side Story, which itself is based on William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo & Juliet. In the musical, "Somewhere" is a duet by the young lovers Tony and Maria. Tony is a member of the street gang the Jets, while Maria is sister to Bernardo, head of the Jets' rivals, the Sharks. 

Thankfully, unlike in either Romeo & Juliet or West Side Story, both of these lovers survive. Sadly, their relationship doesn't. Jason leaves Rose and the Titans when he learns Rose was originally meant to be Deathstroke's mole on the team. 

The last we see of Dick in "E.L._.O.", we get a vision that points toward Batman's old ward finally finding the Nightwing waiting inside him.

Throughout the episode, Dick struggles once again with the phantom Bruce Wayne. Once that struggle is over and Dick learns that Jericho may still be alive within Deathstroke, Bruce Wayne and his other illusions disappear. We're left with Dick in his cell, regarding his shadow. Teased by his old cellmate's mentions of a spirit bird guardian and by the phantom Bruce Wayne's references to a "bird of prey," Dick sees himself sprouting massive wings — almost angelic. 

While he's been imprisoned for two episodes by his own choice, the vision finally convinces Dick it's time to leave and get back to work. Later in the episode, Kory and Rachel show up at the prison to spring Dick loose, only to find he's already gone. He also apparently expected the Titans to show up for him, as he's left a message for them carved on his cell wall: "JERICHO IS ALIVE."