SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains minor spoilers for Dark Nights: Metal #5, by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion and FCO Plasencia, on sale now.
Each issue of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's current pulse-pounding DC Comics event has been jam-packed with Easter eggs and references ranging from soft rock to heavy metal. Naturally, the latest chapter, Dark Nights: Metal #5, continues to follow suit by dropping what looks to be a subtle nod to the late star of the classic 1960s Batman TV series Adam West.
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After traveling through the portal they discovered in Atlantis in Issue #4, the unlikely duo of Aquaman and Deathstroke emerge in parts unknown, prompting Slade to ask, "Holy... where in the hell did your chum-hole take us, Aquaman?"
While we can't be 100 percent sure this is a direct reference to West's Batman, Deathstroke's words certainly have all the makings of a classic exchange between the Bright Knight and Burt Ward's Robin. Obviously, there's the "Holy," as in "Holy [insert relevant word here], Batman!" and who could forget how West would lovingly refer to his young sidekick as his "old chum?"
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Again, this could be nothing more than a happy coincidence, but given Snyder's unapologetic love of all things Batman, it's hardly outside the realm of possibilities that this was an intentional nod to the recently deceased TV legend.