'Stargirl' Episode 5: Artemis Crock's Easter egg leaves you wondering which path she will finally choose
Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) has had her hands full, ever since she became Stargirl. She has already battled Brainwave (Christopher James Baker), landed him in hospital, fought with Icicle (Neil Jackson), and well, lost to him, rounded up Yolanda Montez aka Wildcat (Yvette Monreal) for the Justice Society Of America. In the latest episode, Courtney found Hourman's (Lou Ferrigno Jr) angsty son Rick Tyler (Cameron Gellman) and tried to convince him to join the JSA.
Oh, let's not forget, that over-eager Beth Chapel (Anjelika Washington) has forced her way into the squad too. The young JSA is slowly forming, but they'll need to hurry, as villains and their offsprings, who promise to be potential villains are pouring in from all corner. We are getting gradual hints of what's to come, and there's no doubt that the showunners are doing their best to incorporate some of the much-loved characters from the comics, even if the storylines are given a particular twist. In the fifth episode of 'Stargirl', we got an Artemis Crock's Easter egg.
In the second episode of 'Stargirl', we saw Artemis Crock, in a blink-and-you-will-miss it cameo. In the fifth episode, we got to see her again, for a few seconds longer. Artemis Crock is the daughter of Paula Brook and Larry 'Crusher' Crock aka Sportsmaster, who are members of the Injustice Society Of America. Artemis made her debut in 1987's 'Infinity Inc #34' and dutifully carried forward her parent's legacy of sheer villainy. After using her first name as her supervillain name, she decided to adopt her mother's moniker 'Tigress' instead. She was part of the team that killed Sylvester Pemberton, who was the original Starman in Stargirl's continuity.
However, the character was practically retconned after 2011. She became a close friend to the Teen Titans, and preferred to die rather than kill them and finally pushed them to take down organization Harvest in The Culling crossover. In The 'Young Justice' animated series, she broke away from her parent's chosen path, ran away from home and became a hero. So, it remains to be seen which route will Artemis Crock take -- the road to villainy or become an actual superhero.
"The idea of even characters like Artemis Crock, everything we put in here isn't just an Easter egg but it's a pathway to a story," showrunner Geoffrey Johns told CBR. "The depth and breadth of the Golden Age of DC Comics, the Justice Society, the Seven Soldiers of Victory -- Stargirl and STRIPE have ties to so many different characters that stretch all the way back to the very first comics that DC ever published and up to the present that has been on tap. There are a bunch of minor, obscure characters and stories and some that, to hardcore fans, aren't as obscure, but when you're talking about Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt, for some people, that's obscure. But we have plans for if we get to tell more and more series of this. We have plans and ideas to explore every corner of the DC Universe from this point of view, just like we have in the comic books. So characters like Artemis Crock or if you see a prop or something in the background, or they talk about somebody, it's not just -- I mean, there's this episode 9, where I'm really excited for people to see, that we do a pretty deep cut into the DC Universe and it's pretty fun for our super hardcore fans. It's a lot of fun."
'Stargirl' airs on Tuesdays at 8 pm on The CW.