The movie version of the DC Universe is having a pretty big Comic-Con, but The CW’s little corner of the vigilantism world won’t let itself be completely pushed out of the spotlight. Over the last couple of days, the network has released new information on all three of its superhero shows—Arrow, The Flash, and the upcoming Legends Of Tomorrow—that gives us some interesting glimpses of their future.
First up is Legends Of Tomorrow, the Arrow/Flash spinoff show that features a team of good guys and bad guys working together to stop a big villain. As reported by Deadline, executive producer Greg Berlanti said it was his chance to “do an Ocean’s Eleven-type show,” which is most likely a reference to the idea of a bunch of people with various skills workings toward one goal, and not a reference to Captain Cold, The Atom, and Hawkgirl trying to rob a casino. Speaking of Hawkgirl, Deadline also says that her manly counterpart, Hawkman, will also be making an appearance in the show at some point. The backstory of the Hawkpeople is complicated and often contradictory, so let’s just say that she’s a girl with wings and he’s a guy with wings.
Moving on to The Flash, The CW put out a press release saying there will be a couple of new faces on the show when it comes back for its second season: Shantel VanSanten (The Messengers, One Tree Hill) will be playing Patty Spivot, a police officer who is “obsessed with metahumans” like The Flash, and Teddy Sears (Masters Of Sex) will be playing Jay Garrick, a guy who comic book fans will recognize as the original Flash. Garrick’s appearance was foreshadowed in the season one finale when a mysterious hat flew through The Reverse Flash’s time portal, and it’s going to be very interesting/confusing to see how they explain who he is. Oh, and speaking of confusion and The Reverse Flash (yes, we’re using the same transition), next season’s big bad will be Professor Zoom, a longtime comic book villain who is sort of the same guy.
As for Arrow, star Stephen Amell made some comments back in May that implied he wouldn’t be wearing the Arrow suit when the show came back for its fourth season. He was just being coy, though, and we now know that his comment was actually a reference to the Arrow getting a new costume this year. The CW put out a press release that reveals the new suit (which you can see below), and it looks like Oliver will be ditching the green leather of the original for one that’s more tactical and battle-ready. Speaking of new costumes (hat trick!), ComicBook.com is reporting that David Ramsey’s John Diggle—Arrow’s lovable sidekick/an occasional background character with no lines—will be getting a superhero suit of his own during the next season. That suit is basically just a leather jacket, some gloves, and what’s being called “a crime-fighting helmet,” but there aren’t any official shots of the final design yet.
The Flash will return on October 6, Arrow will return on October 7, and Legends Of Tomorrow will premiere during midseason.