As I may have mentioned before (once or twice) I'm a pretty big fan of the CW superhero shows Arrow, the Flash, Supergirl, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and now Black Lightning. I think they are lots of fun to watch and it's amazing to see characters I never thought would be done in live action brought to life like Mr. Terrific, Black Canary, the Atom, Firestorm, Kid Flash, and so many others. Ever since Barry Allen guest starred on Arrow four years ago (damn that feels forever ago!) I had a feeling we were going to be in for a real treat. Little did I know that we would get yearly crossovers with all of these incredible heroes. It's like having a Justice League movie every year! I'm a pretty happy nerd to say the least.
The first crossover between Arrow and the Flash was simple enough a basic "they fight, then team up" story that is common ground for superheroes. The next year we got to see the Legends of Tomorrow start to come together. Then the next year the heroes had to team up against the Dominators and their Invasion! This past year saw the biggest, and best in my opinion, crossover yet with Crisis on Earth X. It's one thing for the heroes to have to fight each other, but to fight evil versions of themselves from an alternate Earth? That's going to be tough to top next year! But I have faith that the producers will think of something. In the meantime, I'd like to share my thoughts on what would be cool to see next year:
DARKSEID
This one is probably not very likely but given the current state of the DC Films (IE: they're kind of a mess) I'd say the timing is right to give Darkseid some much needed TV exposure. He was the primary antagonist during Smallville season ten but given the restraints that they had on their budget he wasn't much to behold. A strong presence sure, but not as intimidating as the Lord of Apokolips should be.
In the 7 years (lord in Heaven I'm old) since Smallville ended there have been major advancements in TV CGI and I think that the writers and producers could figure out a clever way to bring Darkseid and his minions to Earth 1 or Earth 38 or any in between to fight our CW Justice League! I mean one way to up the ante from fighting aliens and doppelgangers would be to fight the most evil being in the universe. Am I right? And if he is fully CGI then maybe recast Michael Ironside (from Superman: the Animated Series) as the voice. Plus it's a cool way to bring in Mister Miracle and Big Barda into a live action setting! There's a lot of possibility here!
POWER GIRL
One character that has been strangely absent from both Supergirl and the other Arrowverse shows is Power Girl. During Crisis on Earth X, Wells says that there are 53 Earths and 53 Kryptons. So that would mean that Earth 1 has a Kara, right? Somewhere on Barry and Oliver's world is a Kara Zor El. Or should I say Kara Zor L? During Infinite Crisis, Power Girl discovered her true origin. She was one of the only survivors of a long forgotten Earth 2 where she was Kal L's cousin and was raised as the daughter of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. She tries her best to unite the two worlds but . . . long story short it doesn't go well.
Ouchies
Probably when Supergirl was on CBS the producers had loose plans to bring her to the CW verse by having Power Girl a recurring character. Or maybe she would have appeared on Supergirl. I mean who knows? Either way, I think it's past time for Karen Starr to make an appearance during one of these events. I mean if they can't reach Kara on Earth 38 they're gonna need a "big gun" of their own, right?
ANOTHER MUSICAL
I had a previous blog post where I mentioned all these different talented singers that have played superheroes. That's never been more evident than in the casts of The Flash and Supergirl. They decided to use their wonderfully talented casts to the best of their abilities and have them sing, dance, and save the day all in one unforgettable episode. It was a really exciting experience for me because I'm a huge comic book fan (obviously) and a musical fan. So to see these actors I love so much sing and dance during a Flash episode was amazing. The only downside to me was how short it was.
I really think that between Darren Criss's Music Meister and Mr. Mxyzptlk, they could cause some mayhem for our heroes on one or both of their Earths. Plus this would be an opportunity to bring back Joss Whedon to write some more original music like he did for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. There were rumors of him doing that for the Duet episode but those obviously weren't true. Since he's "failed" at making a Batgirl movie, maybe now he can focus his attention on a different corner of the DC Multiverse and write some awesome new episodes of the DC CW shows. I mean otherwise what is he good for? Seems like light hearted TV shows are a bit more his speed anyway . . .
He tried . . .
Whether it's Joss Whedon or someone else writing some original songs for the casts to sing, I think we are due for another awesome musical experience.
GOTHAM
If there's one thing that fans of Arrow have been asking for since day one, it's a Batman guest appearance. We've gotten Ra's Al Ghul, Talia, Firefly (kinda), and even a name drop or two but never an actual full blown appearance by the Dark Knight himself. Well . . . here's a chance. Now, I'll admit, I have no idea how this would happen. Like at all. Gotham films in New York and the CW shows, save for Black Lightning, film in Vancouver, Canada. Right off the bat (no pun intended) it's already a technically difficult endeavor. However, that didn't stop them from having Barry Allen guest star on Supergirl when they used to film in Los Angeles! Granted they had the same producers but hey - they still pulled it off!
Now it doesn't necessarily have to be a full blown crossover. After all, Gotham looks and feels completely different from Arrow and the Flash. So maybe we don't need a weird crossover where Oliver and Barry are teaming up with Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock. Maybe instead what we need are the Bat-villains invading Star City or Central City. How cool would it be to see Oliver have to fight Mr. Freeze, the Riddler, the Penguin, the Scarecrow and all those other wacky Gotham citizens? I'm sure it will never happen but it's not TOTALLY out of the realm of possibilities.
BLACK LIGHTNING
Let's be honest here, this one is a matter of when not if. Black Lightning films in Atlanta, Georgia so again it's going to be technically difficult but not impossible. It's just a matter of Wells and Cisco discovering which Earth Jefferson Pierce and his family live on and then asking for their help during some sort of Crisis. Or maybe Jefferson accidentally crosses to Earth 1 and helps the other CW heroes during one of their fights. It doesn't need to be a long drawn out explanation. After all, Barry met Kara just by running like REALLY fast.
At this stage, a crossover would be a bad idea. Black Lightning has a very different tone and, let's face it, it's much more topical than the others. While Supergirl and the Flash will use phrases like "fake news" and "make Earth great again" to add that sense of realism (so to speak), Black Lightning is much more political such as having protests like Black Lives Matter and the events from Charlottesville, VA as a part of the actual plots they are telling. It's a bold move and very brave in my opinion. Also, I think the stories are handled well. I think the heroes of the other CW shows could use that extra dose of reality every now and again. I mean as real as we can be when the main character has lightning powers. You know what I mean . . . Again when not if.
SMALLVILLE
Of all the suggestions on this list, this one I think has the most potential to become a reality. Tom Welling has already expressed interest in appearing on The Flash and he strongly hinted that he would reprise the role of Clark Kent. For me, it goes back to Wells saying that there are 53 Earths. One of them is most likely the Smallville Earth. Now that Smallville has been off the air for a while, it would be a good time to bring back Tom Welling as Superman and Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor. Plus, and I don't think I'm alone here, it's way past time that Barry, Oliver, Sara, Ray and everyone else meets Superman! I mean for crying out loud, they've established Bruce Wayne as existing in their universe, it's safe to say that Clark Kent does too!
Oh and there's that too. Before he was making you cry every week on This is Us, Justin Hartley was the first live action Green Arrow on the CW. He did a pretty damn good job too. There was talk originally of his character from Smallville having a spin off but the producers decided instead to craft their own version of the Green Arrow mythos. In hindsight, I think that was a great idea. However, I do miss Smallville's version of the character. I think it would be great to bring him back. Also, it doesn't have to be hard to explain why this version of Clark and Oliver look different from the ones our characters know. I mean . . . they look different because their parents look different. Or something. I don't know dude. I ain't gettin paid to write this shit. You figure it out Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim!
But seriously, I think it would be great to get these characters all together again for another battle against Darkseid or the Anti Monitor or the Injustice League or Lex Luthor or Mongul or something! I don't know man! There's so many options!
THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN
Controversial opinion - Supergirl's version of Superman needs to die. Why do I say that? Three reasons - 1) he doesn't seem to contribute much to that universe since Kara arrived. After all, most of his rogues are being adapted to fight Kara instead of him. 2) The Legion of Superheroes has now been inspired by Kara instead of him. Don't get me wrong, that's all well and good but it doesn't fit comic book lore. I don't mind the change but I can't help but feel like it diminishes Kal El's impact on Earth. 3) Kara has been doing a great job protecting the Earth without him. I mean seriously, she has so many fights where he is nowhere to be found. Again, not a bad thing as it is her show and she should be the reason we all tune in, but I can't help but feel like we're missing out by not having him as a regular character.
So the solution? Kill him. I'm not saying he's useless, I'm just saying he's not needed. Plus his death would be a good reason for the heroes to reunite (weddings and funerals bring family and friends together). They could inspire Kara to take up his legacy as the World's Greatest Hero. Like I said, it's been said that her ideals and heroism is what inspires the Legion of Superheroes, so why not cement that fact by having Superman be killed off permanently?
I'd be very sad if it happened because I love Tyler Hoechlin and his take on Clark/Superman. But he's gotta go so that Kara can take his place. Is this likely to happen? Probably not. Then again the animated series, the films, the comics, and everything in between has adapted this story in some way, shape, or form. My gut tells me it's likely that Supergirl will tackle it eventually. And what better way than during an epic crossover where the other heroes are their to support their friend's loss. Man I have problems don't I? . . . Yikes . . .
Will one of these ideas make it to the small screen this fall? Maybe. Maybe not. I think they are all plausible in some way. These crossovers have gotten successfully bigger and better and I can't wait to see what they cook up next year.
Till Next Time!
JJ - the Comic Junkie!
