DC Weekly: Sorry CW But We’ll Always Call It The Arrowverse

Arrowverse

Hello again from your fellow DC fan! I apologize this week’s DC Weekly came out a little late. I don’t have the luxury of a Speed Force to give me more time in a week. Also, it is my birthday week so there is also that! Anywho, let’s get just go ahead and get into the topic of the week brought to you in part by The CW, who this week finally decided to claim all the DC series as their own.

They released a trailer this week titled, The CWverse Superheroes. It featured a quick glance of all the heroes and series that spawned after the success of one show, Arrow. You can check it out below!

Through The Speedforce To 2012

Let us for a moment travel through the speed force and look have a quick look at how we got here to what they want to call the CWVerse, which most of us have already christened as the Arrowverse. It all started back in the fall of 2012 on The CW. His name was Oliver Queen, played by Stephen Amell, and after 5 years on an island, he was back to take revenge on those who had failed his City. The show for a good while tried very hard to stay grounded. Until it couldn’t any more thanks to…

Barry Allen, played by Grant Gustin, the fastest man alive. Well… at least that is what the introduction always claims but the bad guys always seem to be a little bit faster. In winter of 2013 during the second season of Arrow, Barry Allen was first introduced into the Arrowverse. His positive reception on Arrow led to Warner Bros. deciding to make a full pilot for a potential series. The 2014 pilot episode for The Flash ended up being the second-most-watched pilot ever for The CW.

Magically appearing on this list out of nowhere comes the next series, NBC’s Constantine. Yes, it does count as Matt Ryan’s Constantine later ends up appearing in Arrow, followed by a regular on Legends of Tomorrow. This series only lasted one season as NBC was not happy with the ratings. But how could they when they put the show on Friday night? It gained fan appreciation as soon as the series hit Netflix. Hence the character returning later in the Arrowverse.

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The next addition was not a bird or a plane, it was Supergirl! Which first premiered in October of 2015, not on The CW, but on CBS. While CBS tired to keep Supergirl to themselves, it was only a matter of time before the two worlds collided. In episode 18 of the first season, the Flash made his way to National City thanks to his ability to travel through the Multiverse. The second season and beyond has moved over to The CW.

During the second CW crossover event Heroes Join Forces, we are introduced to Hawkman, played by Falk Hentschel, and Hawkgirl, played by Ciara Renee. During this crossover team, Flash and Arrow come together to defeat the dangerous Vandal Savage, played by Casper Crump. This served as the teaser or introduction to the next DC series, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Which somehow is still going strong despite their wacky antics through time and space. They have picked up several other characters from the rest of the Arrowverse along the way to make up their roster.

Then came one of my favorite series to date, Black Lightning. Originally meant for FOX, The CW picked it up and the series premiered in early 2018. It was developed by Salim Akil and starred Cress Williams as the title character, Jefferson Pierce. This series is amazing as it takes on a lot of modern-day themes that wouldn’t really do well in Central City. A lot of what the characters were going through was easily relatable to minority groups around the country. But alas keeping it away from the rest of the Arrowverse did not last long as Black Lightning was called upon during the latest crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths.

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But let’s not get ahead of ourselves because setting up Crisis on Infinite Earths was the 2018-2019 crossover event, Elseworlds. This saw our group of heroes from Arrow, Flash, and Supergirl travel to Gotham City. Here they meet the caped crusader, Batman! No wait, he’s missing for… reasons, so it’s actually, Batwoman! Who then debuted on her own series on The CW in 2019. The title character was originally played by Ruby Rose. But after one season, it just didn’t work out so she has since been replaced by Javicia Leslie who will not play Kate Kate but a new character Ryan Wilder. This is something we are all anxious to see!

Finally, we have our last show that was added to The CW lineup and that was the supposed to be DC Universe exclusive Stargirl. This series created by Geoff Johns premiered on both The CW and DC Universe. During the crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was established that Stargirl existed on a parallel Earth to the Arrowverse. Now season two of Stargirl will be exclusively on The CW as the DC Universe seems to be shipping out all their shows.

To The Future In The CW Speedforce!

Speaking of DC Universe series, the next series to make it’s way to The CW is going to be 2019’s Swamp Thing. The story of this series is a tragedy. Soon after it’s release it canceled, despite the fact that it had very positive critical and fan reviews. As you watch the first season, you can clearly tell that the last few episodes were changed to wrap it up, instead of setting up a second season.

The next new series to debut at The CW in early 2021 is going to be Superman and Lois. We first met Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman in Supergirl. Then he made appearances in the crossover events Elseworlds and Crisis on Infinite Earths along with Elizabeth Tulloch’s Lois Lane. Personally I am not a fan of the casting of either character. Especially after being reminded of how good Brandon Routh looked as the Man of Steel. Hoechlin was ok as a supporting character in Supergirl, I don’t have too much faith in him in his own series. Please prove me wrong.

Reasons Why They Should Have Kept It The Arrowverse

This might be a bit of a stretch but I firmly believe that none of this that we have talked about would have been possible without the early success of Arrow. It allowed Warner Bros. to gradually take bigger risks with characters and storylines. I believe it also persuaded other networks to develop their own superhero series, which then ended up on The CW. This is one reason why I think that they should have just kept the name Arrowverse.

Arrowverse

The other reason is that calling it the CWverse alienates the other series on The CW that aren’t DC properties. So is Riverdale and Supernatural now part of the same universe? When are we getting that crossover? Keeping the name Arrowverse would help viewers not confuse the shows on the network. Arrowverse equals DC series, CWverse everything else.

Probably the most important reason is because of the effect of Amell’s character on the rest of the… well… Arrowverse. He serves as this universe’s Batman. This is because Warner Bros. will never allow the Dark Knight to make a full appearance on television (I’m looking at you Gotham, that wasn’t much of an appearance). He mentored Barry Allen and had a relationship with Caity Lotz’s Black Canary turned White Canary. Both who lead their own series. He also made the ultimate sacrifice to save and reset the Arrowverse during the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Thus deserving the name, Arrowverse.

Let me know what you think of my opinion on the matter down below! I would love to hear your opinion. Also, let me know what is your favorite DC series. To learn more about these series, make sure to tune into DC FanDome: Explore the Multiverse on September 12th, starting at 10 am PT at the DC FanDome Website. To wrap it up as always here are my top three DC comic books for this week.

My Top 3 DC Comic Books Released 9/1/2020

3. DCeased Dead Planet #3
Written by Tom Taylor. Artwork by Trevor Hairsne, inks by Gigi Baldassini, and colors by Rain Beredo.

2. Batman #98
Written by James Tynion IV. Artwork by Jorge Jimenez, and colors by Tomeu Morey.

1. Hellblazer: Rise and Fall #1
Written by Tom Taylor. Artwork by Darick Robertson and colors by Diego Rodriguez

Also in case you missed last week’s DC Weekly, you can check it out here!

Don’t forget to subscribe to The Comic Source Podcast to check out our weekly picks, interviews, and spotlights!

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