The LEGO Batman Movie is in theaters now (our review here), reuniting Will Arnett (Batman) with fellow Arrested Development alum Michael Cera (Robin), so you know they had to insert an Arrested Development reference. Hey, if Captain America: Civil War can have one, why not The LEGO Batman Movie?
In The LEGO Batman Movie, Batman tells Robin not to call him “Dad,” so Robin tries out several other names, settling on “Padre.” Finally, at the end of the movie, Batman calls Robin “Hijo,” which is Spanish for “son” and a callback to one of the best jokes in the first season of Arrested Development.
In the first season, Michael (Jason Bateman) falls in love with G.O.B.’s (Will Arnett) girlfriend, Marta. The Wrap explains:
G.O.B. tells Michael he thinks Marta is cheating on him with someone named “Hermano.” The running gag for some time, then, is that G.O.B. and Michael are trying to piece together who Hermano is. But “hermano,” of course, means “brother” in Spanish. Marta is referring to Michael all along. There’s a great scene in which G.O.B. thanks Michael for his help by repeatedly calling him “brother” in various languages, like “mon frere” in French. He even remarks that he has no idea why he knows that, since he took four years of Spanish in high school.
Perhaps The Wrap is reading too much into it, but we want this to be true. If there’s no intentional callback to Arrested Development in The LEGO Batman movie, it’s going to be a “Hello Darkness, my old friend” kind of day.
(Via The Wrap)
