Arrowverse/DC CW Wasted Potential

[Primal Slayer]

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.

Not so much availability as...the actress had no more interest in playing her in live action and they refused to recast the role.

[thefinalguy]

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.

Completely forgot Supergirl was on a different Earth for a second. I think the fact that all but one came from the CW had me confused.

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, synergy was trash all around. No Batwoman or Black Lightning ongoing after they got TV shows. BL was on Batman & The Outsiders, which I enjoyed mostly, but his daughters being non-existant when it was a perfect time to reintroduce them was a huge missed opportunity. Even if they went the niece route they should've got something, most we got for Anissa was "The Other History" (which I also enjoyed). Jennifer could've been apart of the recent Teen Titans line-up.

Again, Batwoman's exclusion was odd, White Canary made a singular appearance in a Black Canary mini but honestly, if it were up to me Sara would be vastly different in the comics, and like you said nothing for Vibe. And, if the show had him open up portals to different Earths they could've done a multiverse hopping epic for him in the comics. Add in Sideways too and it could've been a lot of fun.

Legends could've been a great concept to expand in the comics too.

Also, every JL Detriot member (sans Zatanna) was in the CWverse and I'm not sure what I expected but I can't remember if they ever nodded to that.

[LifeIsILL]

The shows just lacked creativity, and the tone were all over the place. Arrow tried to be dark but just seemed so forced.

Supergirl, Arrow, Flash had so many bad episodes.

I feel that Legends of Tomorrow was the only one that just embraced the silliness.

[Primal Slayer]

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.

The fact that 4 were from Earth 1, 2 from Earth 36 (or whatever Supergirl is from) and 1 from Earth whatever....out the entire multiverse...3 different earths?

I still dont understand why they didnt have the actors just play dopplegangers. And Laurel was the first to have her Earth destroyed and they TOTALLY ignore her. Even in the comic. The one person that could relate to Kara losing her home and...she's ignored.

[Frontier]

I feel that Legends of Tomorrow was the only one that just embraced the silliness.

Around the time they started ignoring the comics completely.

The fact that 4 were from Earth 1, 2 from Earth 36 (or whatever Supergirl is from) and 1 from Earth whatever....out the entire multiverse...3 different earths?

I still dont understand why they didnt have the actors just play dopplegangers. And Laurel was the first to have her Earth destroyed and they TOTALLY ignore her. Even in the comic. The one person that could relate to Kara losing her home and...she's ignored.

I mean, I think it's to be expected to a certain extent that the main characters (most of whom were on Earth-1) would end up being Paragons. Not that being a Paragon really amounted to much.

Is it no surprise they gave Laurel or anything to do with Black Canary the short shrift?

[exile001]

The Arrowverse could have done a lot of things better, but especially the writing/plotting.

Every shows was poorly written angsty teen soap opera fluff with bloated episode counts leading to (up to) 50% of episodes being filler. Essentially just copying the Smallville formula (a show that in itself was pretty poorly written). They all had the same small pool character types (or quirks) and the dialogue between characters is no different.

Most shows repeat the same main threat over and over (e.g. Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar, Godspeed) usually with the same outcome. Then shows never evolved but simply regurgitated the same thing while Flanderising their already pretty thin characters.

Ultimately, it has been very popular for what it is but at every opportunity chose the safe option of more of the same instead of innovating.

I hope the future of DC on TV is significantly better. Doom Patrol rules.

[Doctor Know]

I think all Arrowverse shows could've have benefitted greatly by reducing their episode content by a third or even half per season. All the shows struggled to keep their plots relevant with epic lengths of 22-24 episodes per season.

[Lightning Rider]

There is a lot to complain about, but sticking to missed opportunities, the shows basically tried their best to avoid giving me what I wanted most and successfully translating key characters.

Starting with Arrow: instead of a rambunctious leftist heckler who wears his heart on his sleeve, we got Batman-lite. Oliver certainly has his dark stories, but there's always a very emotional person underneath. Black Canary was a mess, as mentioned. Cannot believe what they did to Mr. Terrific. Iron Atom was also weird. Tommy and Thea were intentional but weird add-ons for me. I did like Roy though. The less said about Felicity, the better.

Flash wasted the Rogues, never giving us a full lineup, and totally butchered Zoom. Reverse Flash was eventually overshadowed by a dozen versions of Wells. It didn't help that they doubled and tripled down on the dead mama drama. Wallace-inspired Wally was a dead-end. XS and Impulse were disappointments. I was never a fan of Godspeed but even that was poorly done. I miss Ralph, who was a breath of fresh air and gave the show a true Silver Age adventure feel.

Supergirl was alright, it just fell into the same storytelling tropes. But I might have different expectations if I were a hardcore fan of the character. She was a little to innocent and sweet for me, whereas I'm used to a more frustrated and spunky Kryptonian. Did they ever do a Kandor story? I stopped watching around season 2 I think. I definitely liked J'onn. Jimmy acts nothing like I'd expect Jimmy to.

Legends is just its own thing, you could hardly call it a DC show.

[Lightning Rider]

I think all Arrowverse shows could've have benefitted greatly by reducing their episode content by a third or even half per season. All the shows struggled to keep their plots relevant with epic lengths of 22-24 episodes per season.

Yeah definitely. If I had an epic amount of time to waste, I'd try condensing some of the seasons into movies, or just shorter seasons, and trimming all the filler.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, DC doing nothing with Vibe makes no sense.

Yeah. Wasn't his former comic self a bit of a stereotype? It would've been nice to see him updated to something closer to Carlos Veldes' portrayal.

The fact that 4 were from Earth 1, 2 from Earth 36 (or whatever Supergirl is from) and 1 from Earth whatever....out the entire multiverse...3 different earths?

Earth-38, so called because Superman debuted in 1938.

[Big Bad Voodoo Lou]

My biggest disappointment: from the beginning of Arrow Season 1, they were teasing the introduction of Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle. KORD was an existing company that was referenced multiple times in the first two seasons, as a competitor to Oliver's Queen Consolidated. For Season 3, they introduced Brandon Routh as a handsome, funny, charming, morally upstanding inventor and industrialist named... Ray Palmer, even though he was always written just like Ted. Apparently using Ted was always the choice of the writers, but they were told by higher-ups (from DC or the CW?) that they didn't have the "rights" to use Ted, or that there were "other plans" for Ted. I forget the specifics, but I know they tried and weren't allowed to. Hence, we got Ray instead.

Ray built his shrinking armor and became the Atom, then started dating hot, nerdy Felicity Smoak (the Arrowverse's Oracle stand-in), just like how Ted Kord befriended briefly dated Oracle during Chuck Dixon's era of writing Birds of Prey comics. But Felicity abandoned Ray for handsome, rugged, dangerous Oliver, just like Barbara Gordon ultimately chose cooler Dick Grayson over Ted Kord.

Routh's version of Ray ended up as kind of a self-deprecating, earnest, nerdy "Boy Scout" type who meant well, but made mistakes along the way, often triggered by a lack of self-confidence and an inferiority complex (just like Ted). Joining the Legends of Tomorrow cast, he became even more comic relief, but his tech skills often saved the day (just like Blue Beetle). He even became best friends with another hero who was more of a traditional jock/bro/cool dude character -- Nate Heywood, played by Nick Zano, who became kind of a loose adaptation of Citizen Steel from the comics. Ray and Nate's "bromance" was legendary, but it was even more wasted potential that they weren't introduced as Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) and Michael Jon Carter (Booster Gold) in the first place. The Legends of Tomorrow version of Nate was even a historian, and Booster Gold could have easily been written as a historian -- a guy from the future who studied past events.

Legends was always a lighter, comedic show, especially compared to the relative seriousness of Arrow. It always felt at least partially inspired by Giffen and DeMatteis' classic Justice League International comics that starred Beetle and Booster. Both teams were goofballs and screw-ups who ultimately got the job done.

Legends finally introduced the extremely charismatic Donald Faison as Booster Gold in its FINAL episode and was then promptly canceled. But a lot of fans hoped that could signal Faison's best friend and former co-star on Scrubs, Zach Braff, being cast as Ted Kord, had the show continued.

[Big Bad Voodoo Lou]

Another disappointment: I LOVED the casting of Wentworth Miller as Leonard Snart/Captain Cold on Flash. To me, he's one of the all-time great comic book casting choices, up there with Christopher Reeve, Robert Downey Jr., Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Hugh Jackman, Chris Evans, J.K. Simmons, and Matt Ryan. I loved Snart's friendship with Mick Rory/Heat Wave (played by his Prison Break co-star Dominic Purcell) and his begrudging respect for Barry Allen. But I was always disappointed that the show didn't do more with the classic, core group of Rogues. I've always felt that the Rogues deserved their own series or movie (or both), and Miller and Purcell were perfect in their roles.

I was happy to get more of them on Legends of Tomorrow, with Snart as the team's hyper-competent, morally ambiguous guy on a slow quest for redemption. But I hate that we never got the Rogues working together, with regular appearances of Pied Piper, Trickster, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, and Captain Boomerang. I liked the casting for all of those guys too. They could have easily carried their own Arrowverse spinoff show, either as a "Villains for Hire" setup (sort of like a cross between Suicide Squad and that show Leverage, with its heists of the week), or a bunch of "not-so-bad" bad guys who treated crime like a day job, but would go up against far worse threats (and end up reforming along the way).

[Coco Loco]

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.

Covid really screwed them over. It put a halt to big crossovers and guest appearances right after they’d gone out of their way to make them easier to do story-wise. I also thought the unplanned left turn of writing Ruby Rose off of Batwoman hurt a lot. Leslie is actually very good in the role but they’d spent so much time on Kate’s backstory and relationships- writing her out put them back to square one.

[Frontier]

The Arrowverse could have done a lot of things better, but especially the writing/plotting.

Every shows was poorly written angsty teen soap opera fluff with bloated episode counts leading to (up to) 50% of episodes being filler. Essentially just copying the Smallville formula (a show that in itself was pretty poorly written). They all had the same small pool character types (or quirks) and the dialogue between characters is no different.

Most shows repeat the same main threat over and over (e.g. Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar, Godspeed) usually with the same outcome. Then shows never evolved but simply regurgitated the same thing while Flanderising their already pretty thin characters.

Ultimately, it has been very popular for what it is but at every opportunity chose the safe option of more of the same instead of innovating.

I hope the future of DC on TV is significantly better. Doom Patrol rules.

Well, for me I don't think "filler" should be seen as the issue so much as the execution, if only because to a certain extent I think it's fair for Superhero stories to have villain-of-the-week stories intermixed with their personal drama. It's just a matter of execution.

Reverse-Flash, Zoom, and Savitar hit similar beats but tended to have a big impact on the show at the very least.

Starting with Arrow: instead of a rambunctious leftist heckler who wears his heart on his sleeve, we got Batman-lite. Oliver certainly has his dark stories, but there's always a very emotional person underneath. Black Canary was a mess, as mentioned. Cannot believe what they did to Mr. Terrific. Iron Atom was also weird. Tommy and Thea were intentional but weird add-ons for me. I did like Roy though. The less said about Felicity, the better.

I would've preferred a more comic-accurate Ollie too, but the way they handled Ollie in that show ended up serving the overall wider universe of the show in general and there wouldn't even be an Arrowverse without Arrow and making Ollie more of a Batman stand-in than GA even is lately. On some level I feel like he should've grown into someone closer to the comics but I think the way they handled him ultimately worked out from a conceptual standpoint.

Flash wasted the Rogues, never giving us a full lineup, and totally butchered Zoom. Reverse Flash was eventually overshadowed by a dozen versions of Wells. It didn't help that they doubled and tripled down on the dead mama drama. Wallace-inspired Wally was a dead-end. XS and Impulse were disappointments. I was never a fan of Godspeed but even that was poorly done. I miss Ralph, who was a breath of fresh air and gave the show a true Silver Age adventure feel.

Zoom wasn't comic Zoom but I think he ended up being a great villain for season 2.

I don't think any of the multiple Wells ended up overshadowing Thawne, especially whenever he showed up.

I think they did as good a job with Bart as could be expected.

Supergirl was alright, it just fell into the same storytelling tropes. But I might have different expectations if I were a hardcore fan of the character. She was a little to innocent and sweet for me, whereas I'm used to a more frustrated and spunky Kryptonian. Did they ever do a Kandor story? I stopped watching around season 2 I think. I definitely liked J'onn. Jimmy acts nothing like I'd expect Jimmy to.

I actually prefer Kara sweet and innocent but with a hint of tragedy. Angry Kara just never really appealed to me that much.

They never did Kandor but they did an Argo storyline.

The writers never really knew what to do with Jimmy one way or another.

Legends is just its own thing, you could hardly call it a DC show.

Which was one of my big problems with it.

[Primal Slayer]

I mean, I think it's to be expected to a certain extent that the main characters (most of whom were on Earth-1) would end up being Paragons. Not that being a Paragon really amounted to much.

Is it no surprise they gave Laurel or anything to do with Black Canary the short shrift?

I'd say expected to the use actors? yes. The characters? Its COIE, if you arent going to have fun and use it for them to play dopplegangers of themselves then it's already a failure...which it was lol. Sure Paragons amounted to really nothing but they were essentially the ones that helped save the multiverse.

I still cant believe that they used J'onn as the way for everyone to remember the multiverse lol. It never made sense.

Also LOL-worthy that Oliver chose his Laurel to die still when he had the power to save her.