Lego batman easter eggs
Обновлено: 06.05.2024
Everything you need to keep an eye out for in this brick-tacular film.
It was surprise to everyone when “The Lego Movie” (2014) was not only financially successful but also universally praised. With a movie that spoke to kids and adults alike, Warner Bros. knew they had something special. Anyone who saw the film early on and told their friends about it also tended to mention the hysterical new spin on Batman.
Actor Will Arnett had taken Batman’s brooding egotism to a whole new level, and people loved it. So Warner, not a studio to sit on its laurels, quickly announced "The Lego Batman Movie" would hit theaters before a proper sequel to “The Lego Movie.” Now, here we are two years later and they have delivered a movie that makes you wonder why good superhero comedies are not more of a thing. As always, we are more than happy to dig out the best easter eggs, so you don't have to.
15 FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE
While we are about to get to the rest of the references to Batman shows, movies and comics, first we have some great moments that pay tribute to Richard Donner's "Superman" series. When Batman is trying to come up with a plan to steal the Phantom Zone Projector, he realizes he is too big to break into the Atomic Cauldron that holds it. This is when he decides Dick may be useful after all and invites him on his first mission. When they arrive at the colossal Fortress of Solitude doorway, the theme from Richard Donner's “Superman” (1978) plays momentarily.
They also encounter a hologram of Superman's father, Jor-El, that is undeniably modelled on Marlon Brando’s portrayal of the character from “Superman.” And possibly best of all, veteran actor Terrence Stamp voices the ruthless General Zod. This genre heavyweight played the Kryptonian official in the 1980 sequel to "Superman." In that movie, he manages to escape the Phantom Zone with his faithful lieutenants Ursa and Non.
14 DC/MARVEL WAR
Marvel and DC have long been the "Big Two" in the comic industry and they don’t hide their rivalry. While they have done a number of friendly crossovers over the decades, they have also liberally borrowed creators and ideas from each other. The competition between the two trickles down to fans, many of whom are willing to argue their favorite company’s merits on message boards and comment threads. So, for all the staunch DC fans, you should love that Batman’s password to get into the Batcave is: Iron Man sucks. How could Arnett’s self-centred Lego Batman not hate on the most popular playboy philanthropist billionaire superhero other than himself?
In terms of Lego history, Marvel had a theme and sets first with Spider-Man in 2002, but DC beat them to the Lego game market with their “Lego Batman: The Videogame” in 2008. It’s worth noting that Marvel is one of the only current Lego themes that did not make an appearance in “The Lego Movie.”
13 THE SCOOBY-DOO CONNECTION
Kate Micucci, who plays Clayface in "The Lego Batman Movie," is a popular voice actor with all of today's fan-favorite ‘toons on her resume, including “Adventure Time,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Steven Universe.” Now, it's hard to say if this was part of the reason she was cast or if it was just an awesome coincidence, but she is also the voice behind Velma Dinkley in numerous “Scooby-Doo” animated movies, the latest cartoon “Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!” and every “Lego Scooby-Doo” feature to date. If it is not immediately obvious why that is cool, let us explain: Batman and the Scooby-Doo gang go way back.
In 1972, Batman and Robin first met the Mystery Inc. crew in two episodes of the animated series, “The New Scooby-Doo Movies." That was only the beginning though, as the franchises met again in an episode of the highly underrated “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” titled “Bat-Mite Presents: Batman’s Strangest Cases.” Then, in 2014, Scoob got a new comic title, “Scooby-Doo Team-Up,” and Batman (or his Bat Family members) have appeared in half a dozen issues thus far.
12 FERRIS AIR
In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, there is a billboard ad for Ferris Air. Comic readers will recognize this as a reference to Carol Ferris and her family company, Ferris Aircraft, for which Hal Jordan was a test pilot. Also, Carol and Hal had an on-again/off-again romantic relationship in the comics, which led to Carol becoming the popular Star Sapphire villain-cum-hero.
This could just be a fun easter egg, however it may also suggest the development of a Lego Green Lantern spin-off. While GL might not have Batman’s name recognition, Hal has been voiced by Academy Award-nominee Jonah Hill in both “The Lego Movie” and “The Lego Batman Movie.” Plus, Hal’s hilarious relationship with Superman (voiced by Hill’s friend Channing Tatum) has been a highlight of both films. Sure, they are not a classic comics pairing like Green Lantern and Green Arrow or the Atom and Hawkman, but we think “The Lego Green Lantern & Superman Movie” would be awesome. Though they may want to shorten the title.
11 ALFRED'S EGGS
When Alfred appears behind Bruce while he is staring at a picture of his parents and he reflexively kicks him across the room, it recalls the physical comedy of Cato’s attacks on Inspector Clouseau in the “Pink Panther” films. If this seems like we’re reaching, then couple it with the fact that later in the film, he dons a modified version of the Bat suit with buttons up the side of the jacket and no cowl, but instead a domino mask and chauffeur's cap, all very much resembling Kato’s get-up from the 1966 “Green Hornet” TV series. If you are unfamiliar with either property, the “Pink Panther” Cato (originally spelled Kato) was a send-up of Kato from “Green Hornet.”
On another note, the way Alfred gets right in on the action in the latter half of the film is reminiscent of his more active roles in Geoff Johns’ “Batman: Earth One Vol. 1” (2012) graphic novel, as well as the most recent Batman animated series “Beware the Batman.” They even reference his Royal Air Force background from the comics when he tells Batman he has the experience to man the rear gun of the Scuttler.
10 CLASSIC CINEMA
The “Pink Panther” and “Green Hornet” franchises aren’t the only cool movies to get tributes here. A more obscure reference comes in the scene when Batman and Robin are stealing the Phantom Zone Projector from Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. When Bats gets the Boy Wonder to build a makeshift skateboard, Batman says something along the lines of, “you've got to gleam the cube.” “Gleaming the Cube” is a late '80s action film starring Christian Slater as a young skater investigating his brother’s death. The filmmakers actually hired a handful of pros like Stacy Peralta and Rodney Mullen to make the skate scenes authentic.
Two of the Dark Knight’s costumes from his vast collection of suits are also nods to motion pictures. There is the Raging Bat suit, complete with boxing gloves and trunks, which is an obvious tip of the hat to DeNiro’s pugilist classic “Raging Bull.” Then, there's the Clawed Rains suit that Dick tries on, which honors accomplished actor Claude Rains whose credits include cinema essentials like “Casablanca” and “Lawrence of Arabia.”
9 SUICIDE SQUAD
On the other hand, there is the much more narrow possibility that it's a reference to the “Forever Evil” (2013) storyline, wherein Batman led a provisional Justice League made up of villains Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Catwoman, Sinestro, Captain Cold and Black Adam to stop the Crime Syndicate and the Secret Society of Super-Villains. While this team disbanded, Lex managed to weasel his way into the proper Justice League for a while.
8 NIGHTWING
Dick Grayson was Robin for a long time before DC finally decided he would develop into his own hero. In fact, it was 44 years before he stepped out of Bruce’s shadow and became…Nightwing. He had already fought crime solo and led his own team for years before assuming a new identity and costume, so his disco digs were really just an update of his look. The real big deal was the name change, as it somehow made it official that the position of Batman’s sidekick was open.
7 BLUDHAVEN
The city of Bludhaven is best known as the urban center Nightwing leaves Gotham to protect in the comics. In pre-New 52 continuity, it is this concert jungle that is just across the water from Gotham, not Metropolis, like in “Batman v. Superman.” It has also been mentioned on "Arrow" multiple times and is even where Deadshot was working out of when he was hired by China White to kill Malcolm Merlyn in the Season 1 episode, “Dead To Rights.”
The city gets two mentions in "The Lego Batman Movie." The first is when they are talking about Barbara Gordon’s accomplishments and they state that she cleaned up Gotham’s sister city, Bludhaven. Then, when Batman traps Barbara, Robin and Alfred in the Scuttler towards the end of the film, he tells it to take them to a taco truck on the boarder between Gotham and Bludhaven. He instructs ‘Puter to get them chimichangas and Jarritos.
6 BATMAN '66
The live-action "Batman" TV show from 1966 has had a huge resurgence in the last couple of years. There was the "Batman '66" (2013-16) comic series and last year Warner released an animated movie titled “Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders,” which brought back Adam West and Burt Ward to reprise their roles as Batman and Robin respectively.
Well, “The Lego Batman Movie” does not pass up a single opportunity to tribute this beloved iteration. First off, there is the Shark Repellent, which is one of the crazier items Bats has ever pulled out of his utility belt. This aerosol deterrent was in the 1966 "Batman" movie and CBR actually has its own connection with this specific oddity. Senior writer Brian Cronin wrote a book titled “Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent” in 2012, which documents many such quirky moments in comics history. Then, at one one point, we get the classic spinning segue. Alfred also dons the Bat suit from the show. with the lines on the cowl and everything! Lastly, Batman tells Robin that they are going to hit the bad guys so hard words will appear in mid-air, and we get the show’s trademark onomatopoeic visuals.
5 JOKER’S FILM FAILS
At the very start of the film, the Joker hijacks a plane, which he plans to use in his scheme to take over Gotham. The first mini egg is that it’s a MacGuffin Air flight. Then, when the Joker asks the pilot why he’s not scared, the airman responds that he knows Batman will stop the Clown Prince. He goes on to list examples and brings up “that time with the two boats” and “the time with the parade and the Prince music.”
The first example references the ferry scene in “The Dark Knight” (2008), where Heath Ledger’s Joker pits the prisoner boat against the passenger boat. The second is a calling back to the bit in Tim Burton’s “Batman” (1989) where Jack Nicolson’s Joker is on the lead float of a parade, dancing to Prince’s “Trust” and merrily throwing out cash to Gothamites in the street. It’s just before he starts unleashing his Joker gas on the city.
4 ALL BAT EVERYTHING
There is no denying that it sounds like Wiz Khalifa tailor-made the song “Black & Yellow” for this movie when you see the trailer. Arnett's take on Bats likes everything in black… or very, very dark grey, as he says in “The Lego Movie.” So, of course, his army of vehicles in the Batcave is strictly devoid of color (other than the occasional red pinstripe). They include the Tim Burton designed Batmobile, various other models of the Batmobile, the Bat-Sub, the Bat-Zeppelin, the Bat-Space Shuttle, the Bat-Kayak, what appears to be the Bat-Pirate Ship, and more.
These ridiculous transports continue a Batman film tradition that started in the 1966 “Batman” movie, which introduced the live-action Bat-Boat and Bat-Copter. In the flick, Batman had named nearly everything he used, including a Bat-Ladder and Bat-Spray. It seems "The Lego Batman Movie" filmmakers also wanted to add to this legacy as Bruce names the rope he uses to autopilot the Scuttler the "Bat-Rope."
3 SUPER FRIENDS
It was kind of a given that DC would fill this movie with their biggest characters, so the Justice League showing up didn’t really surprise anyone. The fact that they brought superstars Cobie Smulders, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum back to voice Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Superman respectively was a nice touch… but still not surprising.
What will have old school fans excited is that when the door to the Fortress of Solitude opens and we see the Justice League having a party, it is the “Super Friends” (1973-85) TV show version of the JLA, and it includes the long-forgotten heroes Samurai, El Dorado, Apache Chief and Black Vulcan. We wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking, since the party takes place at the Fortress, that it is Superman’s dog Krypto behind the wheels of steel, but it is actually Wonder Dog. You can tell it is Marvin White's mutt because of the green cape he wears.
2 PHANTOM ZONE PRISONERS
Many of the best cameos in this film are in the Phantom Zone. While we get some fun C-list superheroes in the Fortress of Solitude and all kinds of lesser-known Bat baddies in Jokerland, it’s in the Phantom Zone where we get our favorite villains from other properties. We get Harry Potter’s arch nemesis Voldemort, Sauron from “Lord of the Rings,” a bunch of Gremlins, the Wicked Witch and her Flying Monkeys from “The Wizard of Oz,” a fleet of Daleks from “Doctor Who” and even King Kong!
Now, this is where is gets interesting: there is also a Godzilla lookalike, but he is never referred to as such. The only noticeable difference is that the Phantom Zone's giant lizard has four arms. This kaiju even has Godzilla’s blue nuclear breath. Not only that, but there are three secret agents that are clearly Agent Smith and co. from the Matrix. However, once again they aren’t named in the film. Licensing issues much?
1 BATMAN LOVE
There is a scene early on in the film where Alfred is trying to have a heart-to-heart with Bruce about his loneliness and solitude, and we get a montage of iconic scenes and movie posters from all of the live-action Batman movies since 1966, including: “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Batman v. Superman,” Batman Forever,” “Batman and Robin,” “Batman Returns,” Batman” ’89 and “Batman” ’66.
What were some of your favorite moments from "The Lego Batman Movie?" Let us know in the comments!
Phil Lord and Chris Miller reveal The LEGO Batman Movie will be full of Easter eggs and Batman trivia from both the comics and movies.
After the success of The LEGO Movie back in 2014, Warner Bros. decided to take the construction toys above and beyond with plans for spin-off titles such as The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, The Billion Brick Race, and a sequel to the movie that started it all.
The LEGO version of Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) shown in the first movie – a Batman with many comedic moments without losing the mystery vibe – left a good impression on the audience, prompting the studio to give him his solo-movie. The first trailer dropped earlier this year and gave fans an idea of the type of humor they can expect from the LEGO version of the Dark Knight. The premise has been described as a personal journey to “find himself,” tackling the question, “Can Batman be happy?” But the movie won’t be all about finding himself – it will also be an Easter egg hunt for Batman fans.
In an interview with Collider, producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller - who wrote and directed The LEGO Movie - revealed there is no favoritism when it comes to choosing which eras and styles of Batman will be shown in the movie. Since director Chris McKay is a hardcore Batman enthusiast, fans can expect a movie full of Easter eggs and Batman trivia that covers from the beginnings of the character to the present day. According to Miller:
“So, it is chock full of stuff for Batman aficionados. It is just a 90-minute Easter egg.”
Lord added that it “heavily honors the comics” and it covers “all the way through to Batman V Superman.”
On the road to finding himself in The LEGO Batman Movie, the titular hero will come across sidekicks Dick Grayson/Robin (Michael Cera) and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (Rosario Dawson), as well as legendary - and fan-favorite - villain the Joker (Zach Galifianakis).
Batman’s interaction with fellow LEGO characters in The LEGO Movie was a big part of the humor of the character – one many didn’t expect from the Caped Crusader – and with the addition of Robin and Batgirl, it will be quite interesting and fun to see how Batman will react to working with them now that he is going through a transition concerning the whole "teamwork" issue.
The LEGO Batman Movie opens in U.S. theaters on February 10th, 2017, followed by Ninjago on September 22nd, 2017, The LEGO Movie Sequel on May 18th, 2018, and Billion Brick Race on May 24th, 2019.
Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided's BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.
When she's not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.
There's so many easter eggs in The Lego Batman Movie that even the world's greatest detective would struggle to find them all.
Spoilers for The Lego Batman Movie
One thing fans have come to expect from the continuing boom of superhero movies is a lot of Easter eggs - be that references to characters' comic pasts or clues towards the future of the franchise. The same is true of Lego, which in 2014 made a gag-heavy existential masterpiece out of brand expansion The Lego Movie. So what happens when you put these two things together? Why, you get an Easter egg smorgasbord so overwhelming it's enough to send you to Arkham Asylum just trying to catalog them all.
So, yes, The Lego Batman Movie is full of in-jokes and references, from winks to the wider Lego-verse to knowing jabs at pretty much every part of the Caped Crusader's history. It'd be impossible to list everything, but we're going to give it our best shot.
Lego Versions of Classic Bat Stories
The Lego Batman Movie manages to bring every single previous Batman outing into its "continuity" in just a couple of short sequences.
First there’s Alfred commenting on the regularity of Bruce’s inner conflict, using it as an opportunity to reference all previous screen iterations. Batman v Superman, The Dark Knight Rises, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Batman Forever, Batman Returns and Batman (1989) all get Lego vignettes, while Batman and Robin and Batman (1966) use real movie footage to highlight their ridiculous moments (the bat-nipples and Batman dancing respectively).
Batman 1966
Out of all the previous big screen interpretations of Batman, the one the Lego version most repeatedly and pointedly mocks is the Adam West vintage (probably because its comedic leanings are well known).
The most overt reference is the Bat Shark Spray; used by the dynamic duo at the start of the 1966 film, in Lego Batman it's a recurring gag of uselessness until Robin needs it to defeat the shark (Jaws?) from the Phantom Zone. The "Bam! Pow!" style of fighting gets a shoutout, with Batman saying to Robin that hitting goons super hard makes word bubbles appears. This element of the show has been speared incessantly, but it feels somewhat fresh in vibrant Lego format. Additionally, Alfred’s first Bat-suit is a Lego-ified version of West’s (although he later switches it up for a costume more in the style of Dick Tracy). Finally, there's Egghead - the Vincent Price villain is one of the baddies who team up with the Joker at the start.
The classic theme also gets several callbacks in Batman’s various moments of beat-boxing, cementing it as the character’s most defining music.
Tim Burton References
Some more subtle references are made to the other previous Bat-films beyond Alfred's year check.
The first comes very early on when the pilot hijacked by Joker points out how his schemes have been foiled by Batman before, name-checking the time with the two boats (The Dark Knight) and the parade with Prince music (Batman 1989). It's the Tim Burton films (and Michael Keaton’s performance in particular) that seem to most influence the general characterisation of this Batman. This gets an explicit nod when Bats says “let's get nuts” to the Joker in the opening, a nod to the bonkers scene from the 1989 film. Beyond that, the story is pretty much the arc of the Burton/Schumacher films, with the family Batman forms the same as at the end of (whisper it) Batman And Robin.
You can also see some more obscure background elements - the film’s sleek Batmobile is in the Batcave in amongst all the newer, snazzier designs, and Shreck’s Department Store from Returns is in the background of the city.
The DCEU
Because it’s an ongoing series with a lot invested in it, the DCEU doesn’t fall afoul of many jokes in the film – Lego Batman's version of its hero and the wider DC cast are all well apart from their current dark and gritty live-action takes.
However, there are still some nods to Batman v Superman; when Joker tries to get Batman to confirm him as his greatest nemesis, the Caped Crusader instead gravitates towards Superman, despite objections that he's not really a bad guy. And, of course, later a Lego version of their fight scene appears in Alfred’s flashback.
Suicide Squad also gets alluded to later when it’s suggested Batman could use the villains locked up in Arkham to take down Joker and his Phantom Zone crew; Bats questions why you’d ever use criminals to fight criminals.
The Marvel Dig
While The Lego Batman Movie is happy mocking superhero convention and the finer points of the Dark Knight's past, it mostly shirks away from locking on the other, dominant force in superhero cinema: Marvel.
However, the film still gets in a jab against DC’s rivals by making the password to the Bat-cave "Iron Man sucks", a light dig at the MCU’s figurehead and Marvel’s most obvious Batman parallel. It even gets a nice callback later when the full Bat-family gleefully shout it at the end.
Could this be laying the groundwork for a Marvel/DC crossover? It’s a little optimistic, sure, but Who Framed Roger Rabbit put Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny in the same frame, so anything’s possible.
Christopher Reeve's Superman
Most of the superhero movie references are – shocker – aimed at Batman, but the film has a clear affection for Christopher Reeve’s Superman as well.
The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay says there's a giant Easter egg for fans of The Dark Knight that serves as the setting.
The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay says there's a giant Easter egg for fans of The Dark Knight that serves as the setting in the animated blockbuster. Without question, The LEGO Movie kicked off an exciting new era of moviemaking in 2014 by giving the computer-generated animation of the film a definitive stop-motion look. Featuring funny original characters like Emmet Brickowski (voice of Chris Pratt) and Bad Cop/Good Cop (voice of Liam Neeson), the film also ingeniously infused several LEGO versions of characters from the Star Wars saga and DC Universe, including an uproarious turn by Batman.
Expertly voiced by Will Arnett, Batman was so enormously popular, that Warner Bros. proceeded to give the character his own big screen adventure with The LEGO Batman Movie, with Robot Chicken stop-motion animator/editor and The LEGO Movie editor/co-animator director McKay at the helm.
As a fan of the DC icon going into the gig, McKay wanted to make sure to properly pay homage to the Batman films that preceded his – and on Twitter, the director explained one tribute appears in the form of an Easter egg that's hard to miss. See McKay's tweet below.
— Chris McKay (@buddboetticher) May 20, 2017
While Easter eggs hidden by filmmakers are always a blast to look for, it's even more entertaining when one like the Nolan/Chicago-inspired Gotham City in The LEGO Batman Movie is hidden in plain sight. And as if fans needed a reason already to watch The LEGO Batman Movie again (it's new on digital, and coming out on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra-HD June 13), McKay's revelation about The Dark Knight Easter egg will provide for a fascinating study. Since production designers, whether they're working on live-action or animation, often put a great amount of work into the detail of their set pieces, it will be interesting to compare the looks of Gotham City in both The LEGO Batman Movie and The Dark Knight to see how closely the settings resemble one-another.
The great thing is, McKay's homages to Batman on film didn't begin and end with his tribute to the second film in Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. In addition to the noticeable homages to Tim Burton's Batman films in The LEGO Batman Movie, McKay revealed in another tweet Saturday that the big statues in the film are a tribute to director Joel Schumacher's Batman films. Learning more about McKay's inspirations will make The LEGO Batman Movie that much more of a joy to watch on video, but before you press play, there are more homages to celebrate the digital release of the film – including, some awesome LEGO-ized posters that recreate movie posters from Batman films by Burton, Schumacher and Zack Snyder.
We offer a complete guide to every Batman TV show, cartoon, movie, comic, and even BBC series referenced in The Lego Batman Movie.
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
This article contains major The Lego Batman Movie spoilers.
Holy plastic building blocks, Batman! Almost everything really was awesome about The Lego Batman Movie. After years of dark nights and grim glares at other superheroes, the newest adventure of the Caped Crusader, as voiced by Will Arnett’s perfectly overdone gravel, was a breath of fresh air. Not afraid to let Batman’s sidekicks have fun—even if our cantankerous main guy still prefers to wear only black and sing about “darkness”—The Lego Batman Movie is poised to entertain Bat-fans of all Bat-ages.
Still one of its best gags is its shameless (and relentless) use of references, cutaways, and in-jokes to overstuff its narrative with more meta-humor than the most unwieldy episode of Community. As a consequence, it’s easy to get lost about just what is being winked at, and when you’re supposed to nod along. So below we have begun compiling in this living document all the references we caught on just one viewing of The Lego Batman Movie. If we missed anything, let us know by lighting the signal… or just leaving a comment or telling me on Twitter. Afterward, it’ll go in the below sections too.
Given the expansiveness of nerd history present in The Lego Batman Movie, we decided to build blocks of our own to organize the content. Rather than going in chronological order, we’ll try to denote references by where they fall in Dark Knight lore. And since it was clearly most passionate about backslapping fellow Batman movies too, we’ll start by breaking up its reverence for heritage.
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The DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY
What place is better to really begin than digging into the knowing Dark Knight Trilogy smirks? Sure, Batman v Superman might be the most recent one, and Ben Affleck is technically WB’s current face for costumed adventuring, but it is with Christopher Nolan’s triumvirate of ponderous self-seriousness where Lego Batman’s heart truly lies.
This is made obvious before even the opening titles commence. By refusing to start with anything but darkness, Arnett’s Batman hisses, “Every serious movie begins with blackness.” At least all three of Nolan’s Batman movies do. In fact, The Dark Knight specifically washes WB’s logo in the same blue filter too. And does that sounds like Hans Zimmer’s Joker theme of rising string tension?
Another nod to The Dark Knight is dropped early when an unimpressed jet pilot shrugs off Joker’s high-jacking. “Batman always stops you.” When Joker goes the full Spicer and denies the blatantly obvious, the guard adds, “What about that time with the two boats?” That’s another point for The Dark Knight.
While the Lego Bane has his comic counterpart’s famed luchador mask, as well as the over-juiced steroid wrestler aesthetic, his voice is unmistakably a loving parody of Tom Hardy’s own unique vocalizations in The Dark Knight Rises. And it’s hilarious. Every damn time. He also appears to be wearing a way too small fur coat, which also likely references the bold fashion choices made by Hardy’s villainous demagogue.
While mentioning The Dark Knight Rises, whether intentionally or not, The Lego Batman Movie seems to share some thematic DNA with that final Batman film with Christian Bale. Both feature a Batman confounded about what to do with his life when Gotham City is cleaned up, each shows him on a kind of death wish as a result, and both end with salvation by way of a Bat-family working together… mind you, since it’s Nolan the family is a bunch of old men, plus a fellow orphaned young man and Anne Hathaway’s slinky Catwoman. Still, both versions of Bats also seem ready to start a family at the end, giving up his loneliness.
These are Chicago’s famed, movable downtown bridges. They figure prominently in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and they briefly show up as part of Gotham City’s architecture in this movie.
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One of the cleverest choices by Lego Batman writers is the revelation that loner Batman is just a big softy at heart who watches romantic comedies and dramas when no one is looking. By itself that’s kind of hilarious. However, the pièce de résistance is that the only clip they actually show is from Jerry Maguire, the movie where Tom Cruise earnestly tells Renée Zellweger that “you complete me.”
It’s the same line that Heath Ledger’s Joker makes a mockery of in The Dark Knight when he tells Batman that his law and order, goodie-goodie act also completes him. This is like a three-dimensional pretzel of sarcastic meta-movie knowledge.
BATMAN V SUPERMAN AND THE DCEU
Beyond the above image getting a nod during a montage, one of the most amusing early tips of the hat to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice comes during the end of Batman and Joker’s opening battle. The Joker demands for Batman to admit that the Clown Prince of Crime is his greatest foe. But Batman demurs, “I like to fight around.” As proof he names Bane and Superman as his most recent casual beat-ups. For the record, Batman’s most recent films saw him fighting Bane (The Dark Knight Rises) and Superman (Batman v Superman).
Lego Joker is exasperated. But you can’t be nemeses with another superhero?! Batman’s like, “Yeah, bro.”
Also during the opening sequence, Lego Killer Croc swims down beneath the waterways of Gotham to turn on the Joker’s intricate and overly complicated bomb. Afterwards he exclaims, “Yeah, I got to do something!” Thus it must’ve been seawater down there, because the shade this line threw at Suicide Squad was salty.
Near the end of The Lego Batman Movie, the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery begs for Batman to let them join the fight against Joker’s new evil army. “Using villains to fight villains? That’s a dumb idea.” You’re probably right, Batman. You’re probably right.
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