The much awaited excitement for the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) has finally settled in as the convention wrapped up on 12 July. However the convention’s main events which included most of the big-budgeted announcements have created quite a stir in the industry as fans, critics and analysts are all awaiting the upcoming projects from the studios.
Ushering in a whole new superhero genre for the DC comics on-screen, Warner Bros. has indeed swept the entire crowd at the SDCC. Although at the DCCU level, panel announcements and trailers of Batman v Superman – Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad held the fans’ attraction; the comic-superhero fever didn’t fail to trickle down to the TV space where as a fact DC Comics takes the lead from rival-comics Marvel.
Celebrating its hit TV shows Arrow and The Flash on CW,fans were treated with the star-power of these shows along with the first-look at the new-costumes of both Arrow’s Stephen Amell and The Flash’s Grant Gustin in the upcoming seasons.
Here’s a look at the new threads, for Green Arrow and The Flash.
“The Flash has swept away America!!” exclaimed Season 1’s antagonist, Tom Cavanagh playing the yellow speedster, The Reverse Flash in an interview with IGN at SDCC and indeed the TV series has been a massive hit with its viewership ratings topping CW’s charts. The new costume sports a brighter scarlet suit with a noticeable change in the white-Flash emblem. Also Grant Gustin continues to look the best Flash on-screen (All the best Erza Miller!).
On the other hand, the vigilante of the darker Star City, Green Arrow not only changes its title from Arrow to Green Arrow but also gets its superhero archer, Oliver Queen,a better looking leather to get into. The new archer suit, retains the dark green tone and the signature hood, but replaces the sleeves with shoulder pads and forearm gauntlets. The new suit is designed by show’s costume designer, Maya Mani, who has clothed other superheroes too on the show including RayPalmer/A.T.O.M. (Brandon Routh), Black Canary (Katie Cassidy), Speedy (Willa Holland and Arsenal (Colton Haynes).
While the superhero costumes have got a redesign, both these shows have also announced new character additions from the DC Comic Universe in their upcoming seasons. Green Arrow which is in the fourth season of CW’s Arrow would debut the political terrorist Anarky from the Batman lore. Anarky created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle first appeared in Batman comics in 1989. The show would also be including Mr. Terrific, a powerful, Olympic-built muscle man who was known in the DC universe as a reserve member of the Justice Society of America.
Green Arrow, the fourth season of Arrow is scheduled to debut on Wednesday, 7 October on The CW.
After sweeping away the fans in the hit-first season, The Flash too returns for the second with some new additions. Actor Teddy Sears has been roped in to play the original speedster, Jay Garrick. This addition doesn’t come as a surprise, especially when Season 1 finale threw in a major Easter egg of Garrick’s inclusion in the Flash universe. The other notable character is Patty Spivot, played by Shantel VanSanten. Patty’s character would be adding more complications to Barry Allen’s love life while our Scarlet Speedster fights off super-villains like Zoom, who is factually faster than the Flash. Putting an end to the rumors of Wally West’s inclusion, The Flash panel at SDCC confirmed the young speedster’s debut in Season 2.
Apart from these, Greg Berlanti, EP for the show said, season two will pick up a few months later. “We deal with the fallout of the cataclysm that happened at the end of the year. As we used the particle accelerator to introduce the meta human, we’ll be introducing characters from Earth 2 on the show.”
The Flash returns for season two on Tuesday, 6 October, at 8/7c on The CW.
The hit shows, Arrow and The Flash have also given birth to a spin-off TV series, Legends of Tomorrow, a DC small-screen team-up of superheroes including DC heroes, ATOM, Professor Martin Stein / Firestorm, White Canary, Hawk Girl, Rip Hunter, Jay Jackson and also The Flash villains, Heat Wave and Captain Cold; the show premiers in 2016 on CW.
While Green Arrow, The Flash and the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow all play in the same DC small-screen universe, ABC’s new show, Supergirl staring Melissa Benoist as the Kryptonian niece to Superman had an independent panel to themselves. Although the pilot has been leaked online, the show has a planned debut on 26 October 2015.
So while the big guns on the silver-screen are loaded for the DC Cinematic Universe, the small-screen roster too is all packed and ready to fire the superhero guns at us. Do share with us your favorite DC show in the comments section below.