LamboMan
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So here's a place to post all the real world and historical references you caught in BvS or found out about from somewhere. There are so many fun and interesting references in this movie.
1. Excalibur references - We've heard that the entire third act is a homage to the story of Arthur from Excalibur the movie. As this poster from Reddit rightly puts it:
2. "The red capes are coming, the red capes are coming!" - A reference to Paul Revere's "The Redcoats are coming, the Redcoats are coming!"
It was a warning delivered by Paul Revere on the night of April 18, 1775 as British were marching from Boston, westward towards Lexington.
3. "One if by land, two if by air" - Another reference to Paul Revere explained succinctly here: http://www.paul-revere-heritage.com/one-if-by-land-two-if-by-sea.html
4. "...so the day does not come Madam when your children are waving daisies at a reviewing stand." - A reference to communist East Germany that existed during the Cold War and from 1949 to 1990.
5. If you seek his monument, look around you - A reference to the epitaph of Christopher Wren, one of Britain's most famous architects who helped restore large numbers of churches and buildings in London after the Great Fire of 1666.
His epitaph reads, "Here in its foundations lies the architect of this church and city, Christopher Wren, who lived beyond ninety years, not for his own profit but for the public good. Reader, if you seek his monument – look around you. Died 25 Feb. 1723, age 91."
6. Lex's various references to gods - Zeus, Prometheus, Horus, Apollo, Jehovah, Kal-E....wait, never mind.
7. All the various real life TV show hosts and famous personalities who played themselves - Neil deGrasse Tyson (I love that guy), Anderson Cooper, Nancy Grace, Charlie Rose, Soledad O’Brien, Dana Bash, Andrew Sullivan, Erika R. Erickson, Brooke Baldwin and Vikram Gandhi. Interesting article on this > http://www.thewrap.com/batman-v-superman-8-real-media-stars-who-reported-from-gotham-and-metropolis/
Real life Senator Patrick Leahy also appears as Senator Purrington. He's previously appeared in Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, as well as voicing a character in Batman: The Animated Series.
8. King Kong - When Doomsday reaches the top of LexCorp Tower, he bellows at the helicopters and gets attacked by them just like King Kong does at the top of the Empire State Building.
9. Martha - Among other things, the use of the word Martha is also a homage to the movie Citizen Kane, where the word "Rosebud" is used as a trigger word for the titular Kane.
10. The Wizard of Oz - Referenced twice in the film, once when Lex says, "Emerald City" and next when Perry says, "Clicks his heels three times, goes back to Kansas, I suppose".
11. Alice in Wonderland & Bugs Bunny - All in a few words by Lex, first he references Alice in Wonderland with, "Late, late says the white rabbit" and then references Bugs Bunny with, "right, wabbit?" which is how Elmer Fudd from the cartoon calls Bugs Bunny.
12. "Every time we say goodbye, you die a little" - This is said by Anatoly to Martha in the warehouse and is a reference to a song written by Cole Porter and sung by Tony Bennet called "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye". It can be heard when Lois is coming down the escalator before she is abducted by Anatoly.
13. Jesus references - Superman's trial parallels Jesus' trials by the Romans and then later on we see a Superman effigy being burnt which could possibly be a reference to Jesus' crucifixion.
14. Frankenstein's monster - The sequences of Doomsday's creation and animation parallel the creation of Frankenstein's monster. Both are created from parts of different people (Zod and Lex) and both are animated by lightning, in the case of Doomsday, Metropolis' electrical grid. We see the large arcs of electricity sparking over the scout ship, another visual reference to the original creation of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein's lab.
15. Star Wars reference - Lex's prisoner number is '16 TK-421' which is a direct reference to the Stormtrooper designated 'TK-421' in Episode 4: A new Hope, who is one of the troopers that Han and Luke subdue when they get onto the Death Star.
16. Superman: The Movie reference - Seen among Keefe's newspaper cutouts on the wall are two headlines reading, "Superman shifts tectonic plate, prevents devastating earthquake" and "Superman prevents missile strike" which are direct references to the events of that movie.
That's what I got for now. Share more references if you know of them!
1. Excalibur references - We've heard that the entire third act is a homage to the story of Arthur from Excalibur the movie. As this poster from Reddit rightly puts it:
there’s a very blatant reference to Excalibur (1981), a modern retelling of the 15th century legend Le Morte d'Arthur. It is shown on the marquee at the theater ("Coming Wednesday") on the night Bruce’s parents are killed. In the end Batman slams the spear into the ground (stone). He pulls the spear out of the ground before he attacks Superman (sword from stone). After he realizes he's become the bad guy, he abandons the spear the same way Arthur did after he abused its power to defeat Lancelot. Lois is the lady of the lake, tossing the spear into the water and then having to get it back before the final fight. The fight between Batman vs Superman is similar to the fight between Lancelot and Arthur (two good guys fighting against each other due to hubris and passion, eventually reconciling to fight the main bad guy) Doomsday is Mordred. In the end Superman stabs Doomsday and gets stabbed in return, and Superman impales himself further to stab Doomsday through the back and kill him, same way the fight between Mordred and Arthur goes. Doomsday's unnatural creation also mirrors how Morgana created Mordred to some degree.
2. "The red capes are coming, the red capes are coming!" - A reference to Paul Revere's "The Redcoats are coming, the Redcoats are coming!"
It was a warning delivered by Paul Revere on the night of April 18, 1775 as British were marching from Boston, westward towards Lexington.
3. "One if by land, two if by air" - Another reference to Paul Revere explained succinctly here: http://www.paul-revere-heritage.com/one-if-by-land-two-if-by-sea.html
The difference is that Lex says 'two if by air' instead of 'sea', most probably referencing Superman who comes from the skies.“One, if by land, and two, if by sea” phrase was coined by the American poet, Henry W. Longfellow in his poem, Paul Revere’s Ride. It was a reference to the secret signal orchestrated by Revere during his historic ride from Boston to Concord on the verge of American Revolutionary War. The signal was meant to alert patriots about the route the British troops chose to advance to Concord.
Few days before the historic ride, Revere was preparing his mission and arranged with three fellow patriots to set up a light signal in case if British troops started their advance to Concord. To give even more information, it was agreed that one lantern meant that the troops chose the longer land route and two lanterns meant the shorter route by water, leaving less time for patriots to react.
4. "...so the day does not come Madam when your children are waving daisies at a reviewing stand." - A reference to communist East Germany that existed during the Cold War and from 1949 to 1990.
5. If you seek his monument, look around you - A reference to the epitaph of Christopher Wren, one of Britain's most famous architects who helped restore large numbers of churches and buildings in London after the Great Fire of 1666.
His epitaph reads, "Here in its foundations lies the architect of this church and city, Christopher Wren, who lived beyond ninety years, not for his own profit but for the public good. Reader, if you seek his monument – look around you. Died 25 Feb. 1723, age 91."
6. Lex's various references to gods - Zeus, Prometheus, Horus, Apollo, Jehovah, Kal-E....wait, never mind.
7. All the various real life TV show hosts and famous personalities who played themselves - Neil deGrasse Tyson (I love that guy), Anderson Cooper, Nancy Grace, Charlie Rose, Soledad O’Brien, Dana Bash, Andrew Sullivan, Erika R. Erickson, Brooke Baldwin and Vikram Gandhi. Interesting article on this > http://www.thewrap.com/batman-v-superman-8-real-media-stars-who-reported-from-gotham-and-metropolis/
Real life Senator Patrick Leahy also appears as Senator Purrington. He's previously appeared in Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, as well as voicing a character in Batman: The Animated Series.
8. King Kong - When Doomsday reaches the top of LexCorp Tower, he bellows at the helicopters and gets attacked by them just like King Kong does at the top of the Empire State Building.
9. Martha - Among other things, the use of the word Martha is also a homage to the movie Citizen Kane, where the word "Rosebud" is used as a trigger word for the titular Kane.
10. The Wizard of Oz - Referenced twice in the film, once when Lex says, "Emerald City" and next when Perry says, "Clicks his heels three times, goes back to Kansas, I suppose".
11. Alice in Wonderland & Bugs Bunny - All in a few words by Lex, first he references Alice in Wonderland with, "Late, late says the white rabbit" and then references Bugs Bunny with, "right, wabbit?" which is how Elmer Fudd from the cartoon calls Bugs Bunny.
12. "Every time we say goodbye, you die a little" - This is said by Anatoly to Martha in the warehouse and is a reference to a song written by Cole Porter and sung by Tony Bennet called "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye". It can be heard when Lois is coming down the escalator before she is abducted by Anatoly.
13. Jesus references - Superman's trial parallels Jesus' trials by the Romans and then later on we see a Superman effigy being burnt which could possibly be a reference to Jesus' crucifixion.
14. Frankenstein's monster - The sequences of Doomsday's creation and animation parallel the creation of Frankenstein's monster. Both are created from parts of different people (Zod and Lex) and both are animated by lightning, in the case of Doomsday, Metropolis' electrical grid. We see the large arcs of electricity sparking over the scout ship, another visual reference to the original creation of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein's lab.
15. Star Wars reference - Lex's prisoner number is '16 TK-421' which is a direct reference to the Stormtrooper designated 'TK-421' in Episode 4: A new Hope, who is one of the troopers that Han and Luke subdue when they get onto the Death Star.
16. Superman: The Movie reference - Seen among Keefe's newspaper cutouts on the wall are two headlines reading, "Superman shifts tectonic plate, prevents devastating earthquake" and "Superman prevents missile strike" which are direct references to the events of that movie.
That's what I got for now. Share more references if you know of them!
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