A bonafide TV Batman may have become the holy grail for DC fans, between the Arrow-verse tiptoeing around direct reference to the Dark Knight, or Gotham languishing in its inability to wait for Bruce Wayne’s future. Supergirl even made our first direct reference to Gotham City, and may now have hinted at Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman working with a troubled, technologically skilled vigilante.

You’re warned of full spoilers for Monday’s Cyborg Superman-happy “The Darkest Place” from here on out, but where Supergirl’s Season 2 premiere directly referenced Batman’s hometown of Gotham City (oddly implying it safer than National City), Monday saw Kara making a slightly more oblique reference to a familiar-sounding crime-fighter. In discussing The Guardian making his presence known throughout National City, Kara mentioned her cousin having spent time with an equally human-sounding vigilante:

My cousin worked with a vigilante once … Tons of gadgets, lots of demons.

If pressed, the DC universe could come up with dozens of distinct heroes to fit that bill, but we’re not about to overlook the reference in a year that saw Superman and Batman finally meeting onscreen. As for the prior Gotham City mention, executive producer Ali Adler suggested the reference may be a one-off, considering Season 2 has enough crossover of the other CW series to focus on:

We have this beautiful history with DC, and I like that we get to borrow from this amazing, wonderful canon that we have … I feel like we have our hands full with the crossover we’re shooting right now. I think people will be satisfied with how much crossover they’re getting this season.

Worth reiterating, Season 2's introduction of Floriana Lima’s Maggie Sawyer also serves as something of a Bat-crossover, to say nothing of debunked rumors from earlier this year that we’d meet Sawyer’s comic partner, Kathy Kane (Batwoman).

Once upon a time, explicit mention of Ra’s al Ghul seemed like a pipe dream for Arrow (now set to introduce the similarly Batman-adjacent Talia), not to mention how off-limits Superman once seemed on CBS, so might Supergirl follow-through on its Bat-baiting after all?

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