Arrowverse/DC CW Wasted Potential

[QuinnFillory]

Over 20 years ago, Smallville came on the air on the WB Network. After it ended in 2011 on the CW, Arrow came on the air a year later. That led to the start of what is now called the Arrowverse, where a lot of DC based shows have aired on the CW for basically a decade. Now, the 10 year anniversary is coming up. However, the Arrowverse itself seems to be coming to an end, what with the recent cancellations of Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman. So, with all of that in mind, is there any character/storyline that you wish the Arrowverse had done or had done better?

My Pick: Wally West as the Flash.

[mrumsey]

Hal Jordan - it's been teased a few times and there was a blink and you'll miss it cameo, but to have both Ollie and Barry have shows and not follow through seems like a huge missed opportunity.

Arrow-s04e01-Hal.jpg

[Frontier]

Black Canary.

The Rogues never really forming as a group because Legends absconded with Captain Cold and Heat Wave. Golden Glider just kind of vanished.

They could've done a lot more with Wally.

Jimmy Olsen barely being Jimmy Olsen.

Megalyn EK's Vixen.

[thefinalguy]

I would've liked a different Vixen casting and a different budget (so not CW) but I did hate how she was just washed away. It came down to availability but still sucks.

This was me just making stuff up in my head but I did think they were gonna prop Wally up to take the mantle from Barry at one point. The effort wasn't put into it, Keiynan decided to leave just when Legends finally started utilizing him right. Would it have happened? Maybe not but given a few seasons of build-up Barry dying post-crisis and wally taking the mantle would've followed the comics and could've been a fantastic character arc if done right.

I loved LoT but the amount of OCs was a bit ridiculous. Taking lesser-known characters and pushing them forward could've made the show a great place to up the profiles of D-list and below. Astra was a good way to do that. Then you had Zari changing last names (outside of the shift in timeline what was the reason?) and Behrad not going by Amon, just odd changes to distance itself when it could've still been a breath of fresh air that honored DC and its characters. The original thing only worked for Sara because she was there before. It may not have changed much but in the long term I think it would've been nice.

Everything Black Canary. I really got into Dinah in the years since the CWverse began and she's easily a favorite character in comics, they just didn't know how to treat her.

And, then Arrow itself. I only watched random episodes here and there but I actually find his lore to be interesting, they should've cashed in on that. I find it very interesting that the pivot to social issues across all shows became a thing and Arrow distanced itself from Ollie being a liberal (to my knowledge I don't recall them tackling issues like that). But even the characters and their stories could've been handled so much better. They are a likable family and we should've been able to see that.

Diggle being a GL feels a like disservice because 1. I don't think they've directly followed up. 2. They tried to make him into John Stewart and they should've just made him John Stewart if that was the case.

Black Lightning did itself a disservice keeping Tobias around after S2. The plot felt like it was going in circles all four seasons and stopped itself from being what it could've been. Also, I kinda wish it was set in the 70s or leaned into the aesthetics more. I think the CWverse limited itself by keeping everything in the modern-day. Obviously, Legends was time travel but that's not the same.

And, since Diggle became a stand-in for John we lost an interesting Arrowverse connection with Lynn being John's sister. I know different Earths etc. but I would've liked to see that.

Mon-El was Supergirl's biggest mistake. Really screwed over the quality, I stopped early S4 and I might go back and finish it but the first season had promise. Although, Midvale remains my favorite episode in the show and that was S3.

More comic tie-ins. As the universe is closing its doors we get a series now? I know there were a few but they could've been utilized more. The animated specials also just stopped at one point and those helped with world-building.

Lastly, Crisis sucked. It was underwhelming and I know money and availability got in the way but in a world in which that wasn't an issue we could've had a much better event. Plus, the Paragons shouldn't have been from the same universe. And, why introduce Ryan Choi if he gets to do nothing? I get the Justice League since post-Crisis Covid happened and everything went out the window.

[PennyDreadful]

Black Canary.

The Rogues never really forming as a group because Legends absconded with Captain Cold and Heat Wave. Golden Glider just kind of vanished.

They could've done a lot more with Wally.

Jimmy Olsen barely being Jimmy Olsen.

Megalyn EK's Vixen.

I agree regarding the Rogues and Wally. I wish we could have seen more of Pied Piper and Golden Glider.

Also, Black Lightning ended too soon. I loved that show.

[Air Wave]

I miss Connor Hawke.

[superduperman]

Crisis was definitely a waste. They put everybody on the same Earth and then didn't do anything with them. S&L may as well be it's own Earth. Especially considering how Supergirl ended. All they seemed to do was ruin Smallville (more) and cancel half their own JL. The only good thing to come out of it was the Earth 96 Superman and we'll never get to see him again anyway.

[9th.]

I got something a bit different, fully utilizing the CW Seed web series like the MCU is doing right now with D+. It could've been an outlet to do much more than crank out 3-4 mini series like they did.


Also here's probably everyone's going to mention and that's Black Canary, I didn't really like anything they did with her, to be fair I stopped watching Arrow during S6 so something could've happened.

Not fully utilizing the Suicide Squad after teasing Harley but I understand they cut it for the movie.


Also CURTIS HOLT AKA MR. TERRIFIC, dope hairstyle and suit aside this character was pretty much a let down in every other aspect.

[Johnny]

Hal Jordan - it's been teased a few times and there was a blink and you'll miss it cameo, but to have both Ollie and Barry have shows and not follow through seems like a huge missed opportunity.

Arrow-s04e01-Hal.jpg

Apparently they wanted to do that as early as the second season. They wanted a pre-GL Hal to crash on the island and meet Oliver during the flashbacks, but WB wouldn't allow it "because they had plans for him". Whether that's funny or sad in 2022 is up to you decide.

[Frontier]

I would've liked a different Vixen casting and a different budget (so not CW) but I did hate how she was just washed away. It came down to availability but still sucks.

I remember Amaya only using, like, two different animal powers in her entire time on the show. And one was just a gorilla she spammed all the time.

This was me just making stuff up in my head but I did think they were gonna prop Wally up to take the mantle from Barry at one point. The effort wasn't put into it, Keiynan decided to leave just when Legends finally started utilizing him right. Would it have happened? Maybe not but given a few seasons of build-up Barry dying post-crisis and wally taking the mantle would've followed the comics and could've been a fantastic character arc if done right.

They might have done it but I think the writers were pretty committed to Barry and how they handled the Flash's sacrifice in Crisis was probably one of the more clever things they did.

And, since Diggle became a stand-in for John we lost an interesting Arrowverse connection with Lynn being John's sister. I know different Earths etc. but I would've liked to see that.

Lynn in the final season of BL mentioned the military running in her family and her brother John (Diggle's step-dad was General Stewart) but they never capitalized on it.

Lastly, Crisis sucked. It was underwhelming and I know money and availability got in the way but in a world in which that wasn't an issue we could've had a much better event. Plus, the Paragons shouldn't have been from the same universe. And, why introduce Ryan Choi if he gets to do nothing? I get the Justice League since post-Crisis Covid happened and everything went out the window.

Well, there were two Paragons from Supergirls Earth and one of the last Paragons was Reeves Superman, so not all of them were from Earth-1.

I got something a bit different, fully utilizing the CW Seed web series like the MCU is doing right now with D+. It could've been an outlet to do much more than crank out 3-4 mini series like they did.


Also here's probably everyone's going to mention and that's Black Canary, I didn't really like anything they did with her, to be fair I stopped watching Arrow during S6 so something could've happened.

Not fully utilizing the Suicide Squad after teasing Harley but I understand they cut it for the movie.


Also CURTIS HOLT AKA MR. TERRIFIC, dope hairstyle and suit aside this character was pretty much a let down in every other aspect.

Yeah, no offense to Echo Kellum, but Curtis was a bad Mr. Terrific in terms of characterization and use.

Apparently they wanted to do that as early as the second season. They wanted a pre-GL Hal to crash on the island and meet Oliver during the flashbacks, but WB wouldn't allow it "because they had plans for him". Whether that's funny or sad in 2022 is up to you decide.

Oh jeez...not sure how to feel about this.

[MoneySpider]

Yeah, I wish the CW had handled the Vixen live action storylines and powerset better.

[Robotman]

I’m gonna flip the question around and mention some characters that had success in live action but were ignored in the comics.

I’m still really pissed DC didn’t do anything with Vibe when the character was playing a big role every week on the show being viewed by millions of new fans. Such wasted potential.

[superduperman]

Vixen could have gotten her own show. I think they could have made it work and have her be kind of the Superman stand in for the Arrow-verse. The animated movie almost seemed like it was setting her up for her own spinoff.

[Frontier]

I’m gonna flip the question around and mention some characters that had success in live action but were ignored in the comics.

I’m still really pissed DC didn’t do anything with Vibe when the character was playing a big role every week on the show being viewed by millions of new fans. Such wasted potential.

Yeah, DC doing nothing with Vibe makes no sense.

[Primal Slayer]

Black Canary....BLACK CANARY!!! Dinah Laurel Lance!!! x10000000

The Dinah/Oliver romance. They set them up for failure from the very first minute.

Connor Hawke

The Flashes entire rogues gallery (the fact that they all pretty much got reformed and spun off after 1-2 seasons is...)

Ra's Al Ghul

COIE (the worst cross over)

The JSA (

Lex Luthor

Flashpoint

Could go on...