Ingame References

Overview

Much like Easter Eggs, the "City of" franchise is filled with slang and references to outside material. Some times these take the name of a zone, or an issue update. Other times a contact will be a wink towards one of the Developers favorite shows or games. While these may seem similar to Easter Eggs, they're usually not hidden, just requiring knowledge of the outside material.

Zones and Places

• Perez Park, and it's various neighborhoods and badges, are named after various famous comic book creators.
  • Perez is named after George Pérez, a comic book illustrator and writer
  • Gaiman Woods is named after Neil Gaiman, best known in comics for his unique update of The Sandman.
  • Everett Lake is named after Bill Everett, a comic book artist and writer most famous for creating the superhero,The Sub-Mariner.
  • The exploration badge, Around the Bendis Badge, is likely named after Brian Michael Bendis, a comic book writer best known for the cop/superhero series,Powers and work on various Marvel titles.
  • The exploration badge, Doc Whedon Badge, is likely a reference to Joss Whedon, a writer best known for the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer televison series. Whedon has also been a comic book writer, working most recently on Astonishing X-Men for Marvel comics. The "Doc" portion is reference to Doc, a another character in Whedon's Buffy series.

• Skyway City
  • The Gruff neighborhood is most likely named after Three Billy Goats Gruff. This is a fairy tale where a Troll tries to prevent three goats from crossing a bridge. This area is a hangout for Trolls.
  • The Land of the Lost neighborhood shares a name with a television series, (Land of the Lost). The Lost enemy group can be found in this area.

• Talos Island names come from Greek mythology, and particularly from Homer's Odyssey:
  • Talos is refered to the giant automaton of the same name.
  • Argo Highway seems to be related to Jason's ship Argo.
  • Circe Island can be related to the goddess Circe, who used to live in an island as well.
  • Eleusis seems to refer to the city of the same name.
  • Helen Point may be related to Helen of Troy.
  • Ithaca Island is named after the island of the same name, homeland of Odysseus.
  • New Corinth, New Sparta, New Thebes, and New Troy are named after the cities of the same names: Corinth, Sparta, Thebes and Troy.
  • Scylla Island seems to be named after the monster of the same name.

• Dark Astoria neighborhoods (at least some of them) seem to be named after directors of horror films:
  • Raimi Arcade is named after Sam Raimi
  • Romero Heights is named after George A. Romero

• Terra Volta neighborhoods seem to refer to 1930's pulp comic characters:
  • Carter Engineering refers to John Carter.
  • Challenger Technology may refer to Professor Challenger from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.
  • Gordon Trench refers to Flash Gordon.
  • Walker Energy refers to Christopher "Kit" Walker, secret identity of The Phantom.
  • Rogers Industries refers to Buck Rogers.
  • Savage Waste Disposal refers to Doc Savage.

• Croatoa seems to be based on the legend of the lost colony of Roanoke.
  • Salamanca is by no means a fictional place. This spanish city has one of the oldest universities in Europe.

• Brickstown Some of the names seem to be related to the legend of Gilgamesh.
  • Dark Waters seem to be referred to one of the parts of Gilgamesh' travel. Water is very important in the Gilgamesh myth, and the tunnels under Brickstown are full with water here as well.
  • Mashu Bridge is related to the Mashu tunnel.
  • Ziggurat is an old babylonian construct.

• Founders' Falls neighborhoods seem to be related to Rhode Island:
  • Blackstone Hills could refer to the Blackstone River Valley
  • The Gaspee seems to be related to the HMS Gaspée.
  • Hutchinson Park could be named after Ann Hutchinson
  • Williams Square seems to be named after Roger Williams.

• Peregrine Island
• Some of the neighborhoods seem to be related to the DC hero Aquaman:
  • Curry Cove seems to be named after Arthur Curry, the civilian identity of the hero.
  • Mera Heights seems to be named after Aquaman's ex-wife, Mera.
  • Nelson Borough can be related to the DC hero Dr. Fate.

• Rikti Crash Site neighborhoods are named after battles where the American Army has been present:
  • Bloody Lane comes from Antietam during the American Civil War.
  • The Bulge (battle of), also called the Ardennes Offensive was the last offensive from the Nazi army during WWII.
  • The DMZ comes from the DeMilitarized Zone, from the Vietnam War.
  • Little Round Top was the place of one of the actions during the battle of Gettysburg, in the American Civil War.
  • Point Du Hoc action was part of the Normandy Landing during WWII.
  • Pork Chop Hill is related to the battle of the same name which took place during the Korean War.
  • Sunken Road seems to be referred to the Antietam Battle as well.

• Nerva Archipelago
  • The very zone is named after the Roman Emperor Nerva. According to an NPC in City of Villains, "Nerva was a Roman Emperor who selected his heir rather than choosing a blood relative".
  • Agincourt, the Longbow massive base, seems to be named after the battle of the same name. Notice the role of the English longbow during the battle.

NPCs

• Technician Naylor (aka Portal Technician Grant Naylor), Grant Naylor is the "name" of the author of the BBC's Red Dwarf series. In actuallity, its the last names of the two writers combined as if it was one person. - Wikipeidia's entry on Red Dwarf

• Gordon Stacy is a police captain you can find in Brickstown as a contact. His named seems to be composed of two famous police characters in comics: the first would be Comissioner Gordon, from Batman, and the second would be Captain Stacy, father of Gwen Stacy, first girlfriend of Spiderman.

• Hard Luck, the Golden Giza enforcer, seems to have a well-hidden reference here: during one of his missions you will be asked to save his brother, whose surname is "Luciano". Hard luck himself is know for his bad luck, making him an Unlucky man. And he's involved with the Family deals. This makes him a gangster who could be called "Unlucky" Luciano. "Unlucky" Luciano --> "Lucky" Luciano

• General Hammond in Firebase Zulu seems to be named after the character of the same name of Stargate

• Protean, the villain who killed Manticore's parents, takes his name from the god Proteus

• Serafina is said to be a Djinn.

• Nectanebo, often mentioned in the Magic origin enhacements, was a real life pharaoh of Egypt: Nectanebo I.

• Aleister Crowley, also mentioned in many of the Magic enhacements, was a real life person as well: Alistair Crowley.

• The monk Rasputin is mentioned by the Paragon Times as the mentor of the infamous Baron Zoria, founder of the Circle of Thorns.

• Pirates: The Rogue Isles are mentioned as a nest of thieves and pirates at one time. Many of the pirates mentioned in missions and badges were, in fact, real:
  • Mary Read and Anne Bonney were both lieutenants of "Calico" Jack Rackham.
  • William Kidd
  • Jean David Nau, "L'Ollonais"
  • Blackbeard is an special case, as he seems to have a more direct participation in the events of the Rogue Isles. Notice that: A) his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge is mentioned in the official info as the ship which attacked Port Hades. and B) The flag that you can find during the heist on the Blackbeard's Tavern is (was) his real life flag.

Enemy Groups

• Clockwork: some of the soldiers of this group are named after XIX century computer engineers:
  • Babbage is named after Charles Babbage.
  • Tesla soldiers are named after Nikola Tesla.
  • Besides, some of the bosses you can find during the Synapse Task Force are named after famous cannons:
    • Bertha, from the WWI german cannon of the same name.
    • Long Tom, after the M59 Long Tom gun.

• Circle of Thorns:
  • Behemoth can be referred to a Biblical demon.
  • Succubus are female demons from the medieval legends.
  • Baphomet is a demon of uncertain origins, and apparently connected to the Knights Templar.
  • Caleb
  • Lilitu comes from the Mesopotamian legends. Notice the legend about her having to kill her children.

• Spetsnaz, found in City of Villains, are a real life Russian military unit.

• Trolls:
  • Caliban - The name of Julius Caesar's sword, also a character in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Wikipedia's page on Caliban

• Luddites: This group actually existed during the XIX century:
  • Luddites: Luddites

• Warriors seem to be based on the band of the same name of the film The Warriors.

• The Family syndicate of crime uses many titles also used in real life:
  • Button Man: see also made man
  • Capo: Capo.
  • Underboss: Underboss.
  • Consigliere: Consigliere.

• Banished Pantheon: several kinds of enemies of this villain group have its own real life history:
  • Animated corpses can be compared to zombies.
  • Shaman
  • Totem
  • Adamastor Adamastor

• The Cabal:
  • Maven
  • Sidhe is referred to a kind of ghost of the irish mythology.
  • Sprite

• Tuatha de Dannan come from the Irish myths

• Fir Bolg come from the mythical Ireland as well.

• Red Caps are a malevolent kind of goblin in the British myths.
  • Jack in Irons comes from the British myths as well.

• Arachnos: Is no surprise that many of Arachnos' troops take its names from different kinds of spiders:
  • Wolf Spiders: Wolf Spider.
  • Crab Spiders: Crab Spider.
  • Blood and Night Widows: Black Widow Spider.
  • Tarantulas: Tarantula Spider.
  • Mu Mystics are, of course, related to the mythical nation of Mu, which seems to be based on the real life legend of Mu.
  • Lord Recluse himself is related to the deadly Brown Recluse Spider.
  • Ghost Widow may be referred to the Black Widow Spider as well.
  • Scirocco and Ice Mistral take their names from different kinds of wind instead: Sirocco and Mistral.
  • Captain Mako and Barracuda take their names from deadly sea predators: Mako and Barracuda.

• Nemesis: Many of the Nemesis' troops have (or had) a real life counterpart. All of them are (or were at one time) military units from the XVIII and XIX centuries:
  • Armiger: Armiger.
  • Carabinier: Carabinier.
  • Curasseur: Curassier.
  • Chasseur: Chasseur.
  • Dragoon: Dragoon
  • Fusilier: Fusilier.
  • Grenadier: Grenadier.
  • Hussar: Hussar.
  • Lancer: Lancer.
  • Tirailleur: Tirailleur.
  • Jaeger: Jaeger.
  • The very name Nemesis has a meaning as well: Nemesis

• Praetorians seem to take their name from the Roman guard corps of the same name which was tasked with the protection of the Emperor. It's a fitting name for this group: notice the table of relations between the Emperor and his guards here.