Spoilers for Batman ’89: Echoes #3 ahead!

The continuation of Tim Burton’s Batman universe just included a very “Strange” cameo for eagle-eyed fans. Burton’s 1989 Batman movie not only changed the superhero movie genre, it left indelible thumbprints on The Dark Knight’s story itself. It transformed Michael Keaton from a comedic actor to a leading man, and Hollywood’s brightest stars were looking to get into the sequels. While Burton only made one more movie before leaving the franchise, Batman ‘89: Echoes imagines the celebrities who would appear if he made more.

Batman ’89: Echoes #3 by Sam Hamm, Joe Quinones, Leonardo Ito, and Carlos M. Mangual introduces the Burtonverse’s version of the Riddler: Edward Nigel Maynard, modeled after Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building). He cuddles up to Bruce Wayne, currently in Arkham posing as Robert Lowery, aka Firefly, because they were both formerly part of a platoon experimented on by the late Dr. Hugo Strange.

As Riddler tries to guide Bruce through his latest riddle, a pair of inmates keep their eyes on them, ultimately celebrating when Bruce gets the answer. To readers familiar with Canadian comedy, the two men are clearly SCTV’s Bob and Doug McKenzie. But why?

The Strange Brew Connection Isn’t That Strange

Panels from Batman ’89: Echoes #3 by Sam Hamm, Joe Quinones, Leonardo Ito, and Carlos M. Mangual

SCTV was a Canadian sketch show from the late 1970s/early 1980s, starring a team of comedians who are now household names: Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy, Rick Moranis, and Martin Short. When the show changed networks in 1980, they had a new requirement: episodes needed to be 2 minutes longer, and needed to feature exclusively Canadian content. To mock this, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas created Bob and Doug McKenzie, the aggressively Canadian hosts of “Great White North.” Drinking beer, talking hockey, and calling each other “hosers,” the two were an instant success not just in Canada, but also in the United States.

But why make them an Easter egg? The answer makes more sense than you might expect. The duo ultimately made a movie starring the brothers called Strange Brew. The plot involves an evil brewmaster attempting world domination via mind control drugs secretly mixed into a batch of beer, unleashed onto the city during Oktoberfest. The punchline at the end of the film is that the brothers save the day, but ask if they can take the spiked beer home for themselves. Considering the psychotropic effects just one pint of beer could have, it makes sense the men could end up institutionalized after a truckload.

Dr. Hugo Strange’s Brew Is Its Own Mystery

A major mystery of the Batman ’89: Echoes series is the death of Dr. Hugo Strange and what was really happening with his experiments. He was giving soldiers a drug called “Samurai” that gave them great strength, but also unwound their psyches, turning them on their fellow soldiers. His protégé, Dr. Jonathan Crane, looks to be secretly doing his own experiments, and might be the culprit behind Strange’s death. Now that he’s interested in “Firefly,” it’s up to Bruce Wayne’s mental fortitude to see if Batman can survive this “Strange” brew.