A few weeks ago, I shared my wish list for the future of the MCU. Because I secretly want to run the world (or at least the entertainment industry), today I’m bringing you my wish list for the Arrowverse (aka: the majority of DC’s actually good live action). Side note: as for the DCEU …I just want them to make good movies. They’ve done it, in my opinion, exactly once – with Wonder Woman. Maybe we could try for a second one?
In the meantime, let’s focus on the positive. DC TV has done some really good work with the Arrowverse, and here’s what I’m hoping to see in the future:
1) Mini Crossovers.
I love the Arrowverse’s big, mega crossover events, but it doesn’t need to be an apocalyptic threat every time heroes help each other. Let’s have little crossovers, not just with the main cast. I don’t really want Supergirl to show up on Flash and help Barry solve a problem. I love their interactions, but we’ve seen that in the crossover’s we’ve already had. Instead I want to see Dreamer show up in the Flash to help Team Flash solve a problem. I want to see Thunder from Black Lightning team up with the Legends for a single story. I want to see White Canary kick ass with Batwoman. I want to see how the characters that aren’t central to the big crossovers interact.
More of this type of crossover. Also – give Melissa Benois and Grant Gustin more reasons to sing? Its not worth a whole point, I just love their voices.
Okay, so those two are both main characters, but I don’t care; I want them to spend time together because they have a lot of similarities – both martial artists, both somewhat jaded and cynical, both had to struggle with being non-straight women in a traditionally masucline role, and both have some backstory trauma they’re still working on – but they’ve developed in very different ways, which could create some fun friction. Also, they’re two characters who are master martial artists that happen to be played by actresses to do their own stunts, so just imagine the fight scenes.).
This would, incidentally, be much easier in the Arrowverse than the MCU, because you would only have to spend one episode on it. We don’t need a seven part crossover for Killer Frost and Lightning teaming up; we just need one episode to show how those two interact and sass. So much sass in that crossover.
The only main character mini crossover I desperately want is Batwoman and Supergirl. We got a bit of a hint of Kate and Kara having a Bruce/Clark dynamic in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, and I really want to see that developed. Batman and Superman are always at their best when they’re playing off each other, and given the characters they’ve established for Batwoman and Supergirl, I really want to see Kara’s idealism clash against Kate’s cynicism, and how they rub off on each other.
2) Do Something with Black Canary
So with the Arrow spin off Green Arrow and the Canaries being all but confirmed, this is a bit of a cheat, but…for all I enjoyed Arrow, that show was not kind to all three of their failed attempts to get a proper Black Canary character going. I really want them to do this character justice, because Black Canary is one of my favorite DC characters, and it was painful to see what they did to her over the course of the show’s run. One version killed off, another version an evil doppelganger, and a third version that only shared the name and powerset with the OG.
It’s a bit late to just retcon any of them into a proper version of the character, but Black Siren and Black Canary II are still solid characters, so there’s definitely room to work with them. Just…just stop screwing it up, okay? Make sure the characters have agency beyond their interest in men or being told by men why they’re screwing up. That’s…that’s literally all you have to do. It shouldn’t be hard. Get Supergirl’s writers on it, because they know how to give female characters agency. Or Batwoman’s. Or…actually, literally every other show in this particular shared universe does this better.
3) Magic outside of Legends
One of the great things about comic books and superhero shared universes is that you can mash together fantasy, science fiction, and all kinds of crazy genre weirdness into a single medium and no one bats an eye.
Technically, the Arrowverse does have magic. John Constantine is a character that was retconned into the Arrowverse, and lately he’s been travelling with the Legends. There have been other magic users, but outside of Damien Darhk they’ve almost all been relegated to the Legends of Tomorrow. And that feels like a missed opportunity. Legends doesn’t need more weirdness. Legends drinks crazyjuice from a silly straw. Let’s throw some of DC’s magic users at other characters. I want to see how Flash handles an actual wizard. I want Black Lightning to have to take a break from busting up gangsters and drug lords to fight a demon.
See, up until now, Magic in the Arrowverse has been constrained mainly to some one off villains, Season 4 of Arrow which we must never speak of, and Legends of Tomorrow. A major threat that involves magic would be great for Batwoman, Flash, Black Lightning, and Supergirl, each for their own reasons. Flash solves a lot of his problem through science – a method that doesn’t work against magic. Batwoman is cynical and logical, so having to puzzle through something as absurd as legitimate magic would be a real challenge for her, and a lot of fun for the viewer. Black Lightning’s faith is very important to him, so him getting to fight something that’s from literal Hell would create a new and fascinating opportunity to explore this aspect of his character. As for Supergirl, it’s pretty obvious. Magic is one of the few things Kryptonians are legitimately weak to, so it would be fun to watch her fight someone when she can’t just soak their attacks.
So instead of merging these into one big post like I did with marvel, I’m making this a two parter. Come back Wednesday for parts 4, 5, and 6! Can’t wait for more words what I wrote? Check out my books!
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