Milhouse initially goes into the comic store to buy a 1973 Topps card of the former Boston Red Sox player, Carl Yastrzemski, "when he had the big sideburns". When the boys first unwrap the comic book, Martin describes it as "he stuff dreams are made of", which is how Bogart's character describes the Maltese Falcon at the end of the movie, "The Maltese Falcon". The Radioactive Man commercial for Laramie cigarettes is a takeoff on "The Flintstones" characters' starring in Winston commercials in the 1960s. When Bart begs Mrs. Glick not to apply iodine to his wounded arm, she grabs his arm and the scene shifts to their silhouettes as Bart screams, mirroring a scene in the 1939 film "Gone with the Wind". The accusation and suspicion that grows between the boys is similar to the plot of the film "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre".