From the pages to the screen.
Legion isn't exactly your typical superhero show, but it still uses the time honored tradition of Easter eggs and superhero references to add to its (admittedly super weird) world.
Because Legion plays fast and loose with the stories it's based on, the references here might not always be the most clear, the most expected, or the most easy to understand--but hey, isn't that part of the fun?
We'll be keeping a running tab of this season's callbacks, nods, and winks to Marvel comics and beyond, so check back here each week to see what you may have missed.
1. Like Dominos
Legion Season 2, Episode 1
The numbering system of the different Divisions is, strangely, specifically laid out to look like Domino dots. This, in conjunction with the mysterious “Lazarus Affair” reference, equal a nice wink and nod to the more Deadpool centric side of the Marvel universe.
It's probably not going to mean an official Deadpool team-up onscreen in Legion any time soon, but it is a fun way to build in mythology to an already pretty bonkers world.
2. The Shi’ar
Legion Season 2, Episode 1
During Cary’s examination of David’s strange orb abductor, he offhandedly comments that the design isn’t Shi’ar, though that was his first thought. This was one of Legion's very rare direct connections to the bigger MCU--the Shi'ar are an alien race that tend to play counterpart to the Kree, which have already been featured in Guardians of the Galaxy and are set to play a major part in Captain Marvel.
The Shi'ar themselves are rumored to play a role in the upcoming Dark Phoenix X-Men film and may even come into play in Infinity War. The fact that Cary and Kerry both know not only who the Shi'ar are, but also what their design and technology hallmarks seems to be, point to Legion actually existing in a larger X-Men universe, beyond just the occasional oblique reference to Professor Xavier.
3. The Mi-Go Order
Legion Season 2, Episode 2
The Mi-Go aren’t from the comics specifically but their name does imply at least a passing reference to Lovecraftian mythology. In the Cthulhu mythos, the Mi-Go are an alien race of elder god worshippers who periodically abduct human brains and send them into outer space. You know, the usual.
In episode 3 we got some extra context about the Mi-Go, but not enough to really tell just who or what it is they worship--or why they got involved with the Shadow King in the first place. It's safe to say that some bigger reveals might be looming over the horizon.
4. Vermillion
Legion Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2
The android clones(?) that Admiral Fukuyama uses to communicate are identical, genderless supercomputers that move, speak, and act as some sort of hivemind. They're not specifically built from the comics, but they do, however, co-opt some elements of one of the X-Men's more off beat psychics: the Stepford Cuckoos.
A set of five (later three) identical sisters who live as a hivemind, the Cuckoos are some of Emma Frost's creepier disciples, despite looking on the outside completely and totally normal. They recently got their own full live action incarnation in The Gifted, but that doesn't mean Legion can't still play in that sandbox.
5. The Psychic Fight
Legion Season 2, Episode 3
In Episode 3, we see the real world incarnation of the Shadow King and Professor Xavier’s ultimate showdown and it’s a direct call back to how it happened in the comics. Which is to say: It doesn’t look like much of a showdown at all. Farouk sits calmly at a restaurant as he and the professor wage psychic war on the astral plane, while no one around them is the wiser.
The scene unfolded first in Uncanny X-Men #117 and it represents this season's first direct quotation from the source material.
6. There’s a Cow
Legion Season 2, Episode 3
This one may not be an intentional reference. Episode 3 featured some pretty prominent weirdness, with a teleporting cow that may or may not have been some sort of manifestation from the Mi-go monk's attack (if you could call that an attack). Strangely enough, there is actually a "weird cow" in X-Men history.
Specifically, a sentient humanoid cow named Bova who helped raise Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver (it's an extremely long story). It's pretty unlikely that Legion was trying to invoke the image of Bova by putting a legit cow in the middle of Division Three, but, hey, if any X-Men show is going to cross those lines or reach for that type of weirdness, it's this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.