The End of the Arrowverse

You may have seen the trailer for James Gunn’s Superman movie appear on social media in the last month or so. Coincidentally (or maybe on purpose) December also had the series finale for Superman & Lois, the last of the so-called Arrowverse shows. It’s a bit sad that the significance of this finale kind of went over my head until I saw Grant Gustin and other Arrowverse stars posted on Instagram. Only a few years ago, my TV watchlist included all five Arrowverse series of the time and I was invested in each show. But after some poor storylines, some cancellations, and the pandemic, I lost my enthusiasm for the shows. That being said, it is the end of an era (cue Friends reference) so I wanted to highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly for these shows that I spent so many hours watching. 

Arrow

It all began here with Oliver Queen and but I was definitely not drawn into Arrow at first. I think it wasn’t until I watched some of The Flash with TJ that I decided to give the franchise a try (but naturally I had to start with Arrow). While it didn’t pull me in initially, I think Arrow might be my favorite of the Arrowverse stories overall. It incorporated wonderful flashbacks (giving me flashbacks of my days watching new episodes of LOST), it took chances introducing characters that led wonderful years of The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, and best of all it ended beautifully. Sure, Oliver’s sacrifice during "Crisis on Infinite Earths" was tragic, but the aftermath gave closure needed for the show to end (even if its final spinoff idea was never fully resolved). None of the other shows would have existed or have been successful without Arrow, so I can’t overstate the importance of Oliver’s journey. 

The Flash

First introduced during a two-part story on Arrow, Barry Allen sped onto the screen and became my favorite of the Arrowverse heroes. I know plenty of people got annoyed with Iris, but I loved their dynamic as the years went on (yes, even her “we are the Flash” comment). I really hoped for a satisfying ending to this series when the last season was announced. I’d grown tired of redeeming villain after villain in the series. Sure, that’s the ideal, but it felt like lazy writing to turn each big bad to a good guy. Even in the series finale event, the villain was redeemed. It became less of how fast Barry could run and more about how much he could talk people down.  

Constantine

It didn’t even last a full season before getting cancelled, but Constantine came around around the same time The Flash began. I watched this series once and I was bummed about how short lived it was—Constantine had some great characters. But at least some of the stories left hanging here got (kind of) resolved during Legends. I just wish Constantine’s friends would have come back too. 

Supergirl

Enter the multiverse! While initially separate from Arrow and The Flash, Supergirl quickly became an integral part of the Arrowverse. I wasn’t the father of girls when I grew to love this show, but it gave me an appreciation for Kara Danvers—especially in a time period when people will constantly criticize other female heroes (see Captain Marvel). I loved that Kara took the spotlight and Superman was a secondary character for once. But as much as I loved Supergirl, I grew frustrated with this series for the same reason as The Flash. Why do we have to redeem every character? At least with Supergirl, I felt like we had a somewhat satisfying-ish finale. Thank goodness they didn’t try to redeem Lex Luthor in the last season. That’s all I’m saying. 

Legends of Tomorrow

I love a good band of misfits. Add in a time travel aspect and it almost had a Doctor Who feel with superheroes. There were points that I enjoyed Legends more than the main shows, partly because the seasons were shorter and partly because they weren’t afraid to take risks. We got some wonderful original characters in this series and it was nice to not take the series too seriously. I hated that the series got abruptly cancelled on a cliffhanger. I wish they’d done a TV movie to wrap it up or at least resolve things verbally in The Flash, but no dice. It was never fully resolved and I’m still bitter. 

Black Lightning

At first I didn’t want to invest the time into Black Lightning, but it immediately went on my watchlist after it was announced that Jefferson would be on "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Only three seasons long, I think this series ended up a wonderfully self-contained story. Other than Jefferson appearing during "Crisis" and "Armaggedom", a singular underwhelming reference to STAR Labs kept this story unique in the universe. It was a story about a retired superhero, an educator, and his family. 

Batwoman

With a back door introduction to Batwoman, we got a new show during the "Elseworlds" crossover. I know there were lots of complicated issues with the cast that I won’t pretend to understand, but even with introducing a new Batwoman I think this show did well. Unfortunately, like Legends, this show was unceremoniously cancelled. At least some of the loose ends were taken care of during the other shows… except that Ryan’s Batwoman never met the other heroes during the course of her series… so that was weird. 

Superman & Lois

I was really looking forward to the idea of this show, as "Crisis" approached. But I was confused and disappointed that all of a sudden Clark and Lois had teenage sons that I was supposed to be invested in. I was willing to write that off with other post-"Crisis" changes… until they ended up making this series completely separate from the other shows. What was the point of making all the Arrowverse shows into one universe if they were gonna separate this Superman again? I’m pretty sure that was a post-pandemic decision. At least their new universe gave another great twist on Lex Luthor. Also, I think all of the shows should’ve had a ten-episode finale season like Superman & Lois did. 

Expanded Universe

One of the things I loved about the Arrowverse is that it didn’t stop with the CW shows. Throughout the eight series, we had legendary DC series and movies incorporated into the multiverse. CBS’s Flash was the most prominent, appearing a few times and clips during "Crisis" flashback. "Crisis on Infinite Earths" gave us insight into Bird of Prey, Lucifer, and Smallville. Other brief appearances and mentions included the 1989 Batman film, the 1966 Batman series, Ryan Reynolds’s Green Lantern, Superman Returns, the Flash from DCEU, and the series originally on the DC Universe streaming platform (Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, Titans, and Stargirl). I would have loved for any and all of these to appear and reappear (I think Stargirl was supposed to crossover at one point), expanding the multiverse, but cancellations and COVID messed that up. Maybe we can get more multiverse expanding moments with James Gunn’s new DC movies. If the Arrowverse taught me anything it’s that anything is possible in a world of superheroes if you have the right writers. 

Before They Were Heroes: Arrowverse

As of the Legends finale last week, the Arrowverse has officially closed down for the year (also a new "Arrowverse" series, Stargirl, started last month, but that's a story for another time). The pandemic meant that some seasons got cut short, but there are worse things--Also we got the news of the surprise departure of Ruby Rose as Batwoman. In honor of the finales, I wanted to spotlight some of the leading actors and actresses and movies they were in before they were superheroes. My wife and I love picking up obscure appearances of our favorite actors appearing in “older” shows (like “Abed Nadir” appearing in Gilmore Girls). So I’m going to start with the main stars from the Arrowverse shows.

Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen/Green Arrow) - Heartland

Before he was the playboy Oliver Queen, Stephen Amell appeared repeatedly on one of my wife’s favorite cheesy Canadian cowboy shows. Since Stephen Amell is Canadian I wasn’t too surprised that he showed up there, but it was kind of funny to see him show up when my wife was watching this show over maternity leave.

Matt Ryan (Constantine) - Criminal Minds

While Constantine was a short-lived series, he keeps popping up in the Arrowverse, first on Arrow and now consistently on Legends of Tomorrow. I never got to his appearance in Criminal Minds when I watched it with my roommates years ago, but I do remember the show and its intrigue. Kind of makes me want to go back and watch the show again (add that one to my watchlist). Side note: he also appeared in an episode of Torchwood, an adult Doctor Who spin-off.

Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/The Flash) and Melissa Benoist (Kara Danvers/Supergirl) - Glee

I’ve only watched a handful of episodes of Glee (it’s been perpetually on my Netlfix queue). They do have good music though. I’ve never seen the episodes with Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist’s characters, but having seen their Arrowverse musical crossover, I’m not surprised that they were on Glee for a while.

Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer/The Atom) - Gilmore Girls

He was only a throwaway character back in the first season of Gilmore Girls, but he later became multiple superheroes in the Arrowverse. I remember his scene vividly, even though I had to jog my memory on his role, because I thought it was so cringey how these college boys talked up these high school sophomore girls.

Cress Williams (Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning) - Hart of Dixie

He’s appeared in a couple shows that my wife likes, but he had such a long-standing role on Hart of Dixie (he also appeared Grey’s Anatomy) that I chose this one. If I recall correctly he was the long-standing mayor in the small town. It was such a different role than what I’m used to in Black Lightning that it was cool to see the contrast.

Ruby Rose (Kate Kane/Batwoman) - Pitch Perfect 3

My wife and I were recently watching the Pitch Perfect trilogy. When we got to the third movie, I realized I recognized one of the singers of Evermoist. It was Batwoman! That’s the one that actually inspired this post. I didn’t realize she was a singer before making that connection (although I couldn’t actually confirm whether it’s her singing or not). -- Unrelated: I'm curious how things will go with them recasting her character for next season.

What other Arrowverse stars come to mind for you? I knew I couldn’t include everyone so I tried to hit the highlights.

DC's TV Multiverse-too much?

So I spent the last weekend in Disneyland celebrating my birthday so I have nothing to say on Fan X or the Super Bowl.

So let me tell you what I've been thinking about...

Yesterday I read the confirmed hero list for TNT's new TV series called Titans, a show based on one of my favorite super hero teams the Teen Titans. Normally something like this would get my little geek heart just palpitating, but between everything else DC has been putting out on TV I'm having trouble caring.

As of now DC has four live-action shows. On WB they have Arrow and it's spin off The Flash, and on Fox we have Gotham and on NBC we have


Constantine. At this point though they're taking place in three separate universes,  the Gotham universe, the Constantine universe and the Arrow/Flash universe. The Titans thing will make a fourth entirely separate universe, so I ask you: Who or why would you try to keep up with all this? I can barely keep up with shows on my Netflix much less four new shows a week, and I can watch those anytime. And if someone manages to keep up with all four shows, what happens when a character appears in more than one series? Nightwing is confirmed for the Titans and it's hard to have Nightwing without Batman who is currently 12 in Gotham. Speedy is one of the founding members of the Teen Titans so can they use him if he's over in Arrow?

The other question I have to ask is where is this going to end? Is DC going to follow their weird obsession with the number 52 and take over TV with DC characters?

If that's the case here are some suggestions for new DC TV shows.

*Quinn'd
A reality prank show where Harley Quinn goes to birthday parties, weddings, funerals and other formal gatherings and messes everything up with her giant hammer and hyenas.

*Extreme Home Makeover: Doomsday Edition
Families showcase their insufficient homes on TV and are then sent to Disneyland while Doomsday comes and destroys their house. The rest of the episode is authorities trying to aprehend Doomsday before he destroys the city.

*Law and Order: Gotham City
Four detectives in Gotham spend their days watching Youtube videos while Batman goes and does their job.

*Power Girl and the City
Power Girl and her three girlfriends, Zatanna, Starfire, and Black Canary try to make their way in love in New York, while buying fabulously inappropriate outfits and stopping crime.

*Riddle Me This!
A game show hosted by the Riddler where contestants must make their way through Saw-like death traps and nearly impossible riddles. Winners receive fabulous prizes and losers families get gift baskets.

*The Biggest Loser Penguin Edition
Another game show where contestants compare their terrible lives to a man who based his criminal identity on the fact that he looks like a penguin.

*Who Wants to Marry a Severely Damaged Millionaire?
Like Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire but the women get to argue as to weather they want to marry a man who can't connect emotionally and dresses as a giant bat. Later seasons will include Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen and Ras Al Guhl.

*Fun Time with Green Lantern
Green Lantern makes a kid friendly TV show using only constructs and his own voice. Kids watching for too long will lose the ability to see color.

*Late Night with The Joker!
Much like Jay Leno only the horrible celebrities that the Joker brings on get made fun of then dropped into acid at the end of the show.

What super heroes do you want to see get a TV show or do you think we already have too many?
-JOE