At the beginning of the episode, Lisa reveals that she collects Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich comics, and Homer makes reference to Wonder Woman. Radioactive Man's origin is nearly identical to the Marvel Comics character The Incredible Hulk, as they each had gained superpowers from absorbing massive amounts of gamma radiation during an experiment. The warning from the convention MC not to ask questions about the death of Radioactive Man's actor Dirk Richter is a reference to the mysterious death of Superman's actor George Reeves, although the addition of bordello could also be a reference to the unsolved 1978 murder of Bob Crane.