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.
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.
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment