'AHS' Season 8 Easter Eggs: What the X-Men Dark Phoenix Reference May Mean

The hit horror anthology series, American Horror Story, is only three episodes into Season 8, and a lot has already happened. In Episode 3 of Apocalypse we confirmed that Mead is an android of some sort, and a few of the Coven witches finally returned to raise some Hell. But there’s one Easter egg from American Horror Story Episode 8 Season 3 that has *fans scratching their heads — and maybe wondering if Ryan Murphy is secretly psychic.

In Season 8, Episode 3 of American Horror Story, Michael Langdon, the Antichrist in this particular apocalyptic hellscape, continued to question the survivors in the outpost to determine whether they were “worthy” of being taken to another containment facility. This time he interrogated Mallory, a “gray” who is mostly there to cater to the whims of Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt. But instead of cowering under his power, Mallory fought back.

As Langdon questions Mallory, she tells him that she feels like there’s someone inside her, trying to claw its way out. When she tries to leave the room, Michael grabs her arm to stop her and Mallory yells, “Let me go!” as everything goes dark. This clearly shocks Langdon, who gets knocked backwards by the force of Mallory’s apparent power. In a moment of anger, Michael reveals a demonic face, and Mallory sort of hisses at him as flames shoot out of the fireplace. Both parties seem completely weirded out by each other. “Who are you?” Michael asks Mallory, shaken. “I don’t know. Who are you?” she replies.

Mallory is clearly shaken by the encounter and later admits to Coco and Gallant that something strange happened between her and Michael. She tries to explain what happened, and says, “Maybe I’m like the Dark Phoenix.”

This is the second X-Men reference that’s been featured on American Horror Story: Apocalypse so far — at least that fans have noticed.

The first came when Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” played over several shots featuring Evan Peters’ character. As X-Men fans may recall, Peters’ character in Days of Future Past, Quicksilver, had a very famous scene in which his character raced around a room in slow motion to the same song.

Is the second reference just another coincidence, or is FX somehow doing this on purpose? Fans were quick to point out on Twitter that the episode aired around the same time the Dark Phoenix trailer dropped, making the coincidence even more intriguing.

There’s a chance that the first X-Men Easter egg on AHS was just an inside joke, and that this latest one is an odd scheduling coincidence. Or maybe Ryan Murphy is psychic and planned this all months ago. (Kidding…mostly.)

In any case, American Horror Story fans will probably keep an eye out for any more X-Men references for the rest of the season. Who knows? Maybe this will become a regular occurrence.

American Horror Story airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.