Naturally, new-age blizzard couldn't come up with anything unique on their own and had to go and watch capeshit movies and say, "hey.. let's tell the 3 devs that work on d2r they should add dis into da game! That'll make all the comic nerds SOOO happy!"
Maybe one of the devs was just a fan and added a simple homage like so many games/movies and shows do. There are lots of mini Easter egg moments through out games.