Television Heaven update

I've a few new articles and reviews up on Television Heaven, for retro, recent and brand new series All the below are now available to read, with more to come:

The Full Monty

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) 2000 

Good Omens 2

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S2

DC's Legends of Tomorrow S2 

New reviews on Television Heaven

 After something of a hiatus, I am back on a more regular footing with my reviews. (Big things occurring in real life I'm afraid, you know how it is). As such, there are a whole bunch of new reviews up on Television Heaven:

The X-Files comes to a close with its tenth and eleventh seasons - the revival years.

Buffy season four and Angel season two keep us moving in the Buffyverse.

Another long-running season-by-season review begins with DC's Legends of Tomorrow.

And a mere six months after Christmas, here's the David Tennant version of Around the World in 80 Days.

While you're there, check out these great reviews of Picard season two and Philip K. Dick anthology series Electric Dreams by John Winterson Richards.

Lots more to come in the near future!

REVIEW: Crisis on Infinite Earths

It took the Marvel Cinematic Universe eleven years to bring us their over-the-top, self-indulgent and thoroughly enjoyable time-travelling crossover. So for the CW's Arrowverse to get there in just eight years is pretty swift. Although I've never been the biggest fan of Arrow itself, it's a testament to the huge franchise of DC superhero shows that it has spawned that, in its final season, it would be part of a five-part crossover with all of its sister shows involved. Although that's not the half of it; this is as much an event for Supergirl , and particularly, The Flash, which has been counting down to this Crisis since its first season, with glimpses of the inevitable future marking Barry's time.

Plus it's a much-needed boost for Batwoman (a show I'm behind on, but still, from the evidence of early episodes, one that needs an injection of fun) and a celebration of the ridiculousness of Legends of Tomorrow. Even that doesn't cover it, though. By taking the idea of Infinite Earths to its logical extreme, Berlanti and the CW team realised they could put everything in there, if they could get the right people involved. And they got away with it; Crisis on Infinite Earths is an absurd celebration of the entirety of DC's live-action screen history, and a fair bit of the animated universe too. It's amazing that they got so many actors from DC productions past to get involved, even if some of them were just fleeting cameos.

It's nicely balanced on that front, too, with the regular cast still carrying the bulk of the story. The only alternative version of a character to get a big cut of the action is the Earth-96 Superman, and he, of course, is played by Legends regular Brandon Routh. It's particularly lovely how the reuse of actors isn't glossed over, but commented on by the characters. Superman productions in particular have a tradition of reusing actors in new roles, so there are a lot of characters who look like other versions of people they know. It's ridiculous, but as always, the Arrowverse embraces that ridiculousness.

There's also a nice balance to how they manage the repercussions of the Crisis. The original comics events used it as a way of tidying up continuity, starting a tradition of periodic DC universe makeovers that only ever made things more complicated. This was more straightforward – it got the main Arrowverse series, Arrow, The Flash, Batwoman and Legends, into the same reality as those acquired later, Supergirl and Black Lightning. But really, this just seems like an excuse to have fun. Yet it still left us with a multiverse, so there's no disjoint between the joy of seeing your favourite version of a character make a cameo and realising they've been killed along with everyone in their universe. It's all still out there, so we can still enjoy the infinite versions of this nonsense.

Part One: Supergirl

It starts beautifully, with a knowingly daft and over-the-top voiceover from the Monitor that leads into a multiversal montage of multiple Earths. It's a damned shame Adam West is gone, because I'm certain he would have jumped at the chance to appear alongside Burt Ward on Earth-66. Then we're into the action, with the universe of Earth-38 – the “Superverse” - under threat from the antimatter wave. One thing that this crossover managed very well was keeping each episode feeling part of its parent series, with this episode focusing on Supergirl and her friends and their reaction to the devastation. And it's pretty full on – Kara loses her entire world, and Argo, bar the lucky few survivors. Rightly, Superman and Lois are part of the team, not just because they're setting up their own series, but because they're pretty bloody important. But Supergirl herself is bloody impressive here, saving millions by working with the DEO and sundry aliens to evacuate people from their Earth. It's a shame we couldn't actually see much of this, but I guess a planetary evacuation is a rather expensive thing to put on screen. Still, it really makes it clear that this is a big event, with repurcussions. Supergirl's Earth is gone, and billions are dead. We know they'll find a way to put things right, somehow, but nothing's going to be the same after that.

It works very well as part one of the overall story, as well. It sets up the new Arrow spin-off by focusing a section on Oliver's relationship with his daughter and bringing in Laurel, and rightfully having Oliver lead the battle against the wraiths that precede the coming of the Anti-Monitor. It's the best battle of the serial, because it's relatively small scale, and features characters who fight without superpowers. It ends with Oliver's death, which is very poignant, even though we can already sense that he's going to be back before the end.

Other bits I loved:

• Sara and Ray just chilling at a pub quiz, with no idea that the Crisis is coming.
• The respective Batman themes on Earth-89 (the Keaton movies) and Earth-66 (the West series and movie).
• Titans is included as Earth-9 – there's too much comicbook TV to watch right now, and I've just started this, but I loved seeing it included. It's another Berlanti one, although not one that's getting folded into the main universe.
• Harrison Wells in a brilliantly comicky Pariah costume.
• Wil Wheaton's cameo.

Part Two: Batwoman

While this one does put a lot of emphasis on Kate Kane, her friendship with Kara, and her complex relationship with Bruce Wayne and his memory, there's a huge focus on the Suerman mythology. However, for that reason this is my favourite of the episodes, as I just love the interaction between multiple Supermen. The visit to Smallville's Earth was a special treat; we'd all heard it was coming, but there was a spectacular frisson seeing Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch meet Tom Welling. It's a pity we didn't get any interaction between them and Erica Durance's Lois, though. It's perfect that this version of the character gave up his powers to live an ordinary farmboy life. Plus, Lex became president on that Earth, just as was foretold. It's slightly odd having Iris along for the ride, but Candace Patton is pretty great here, and after all, they're all journalists, right?

Jon Cryer might be the best Lex Luthor ever (still a huge surprise), and seeing him travel to multiple Earths to do what their Luthors couldn't and take down Superman repeatedly is wonderfully villainous. Of course, he uses magic, always Superman's other weakness. Could the Book of Destiny be a hint of some Sandman elements being incorporated somewhere down the line? Even more wonderful than Smallville is Earth-96, both the universe of Superman, Superman II and Superman Returns, but also the live action version of Kingdom Come. It's great that Routh finally gets to play Superman again, even playing him alongside himself as Ray. Wonderfully daft.

Both the biggest treat and the most aggravating decision, though, is Bruce Wayne. Kevin Conroy is my favourite Batman, but this is clearly not the Bruce Wayne of the 90s animated series and/or Batman Beyond. No, Earth-99 is more like The Dark Knight Returns and the grim Frank Miller canon, with a bit of Kingdom Come and even a touch of the DCEU movies. It's wonderful to have Conroy appear in the flesh at last, but did they have to make him such a miserable version of the character?

Back to the plot, and Oliver is back already, but not quite himself. Love that they got Constantine involved for this, as is all right and proper. There's a distinct lack of Legends in the crossover so far, even as we get a version of Mick Rory providing a Waverider to act as a base of operations. Still, there are a lot of characters and you can't fit everyone in. The Paragons idea is very daffy, but very comicbook and it's a nice way to get a core team together.

Other bits I loved:

• There are a lot of nods to the Superman movies, but the best was giving Bruce a Lex Luthor line just to show how villainous he's become.
• Plus he refers to Superman as “a strange visitor from another planet, with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men,” which is straight from the really old Superman material – on TV and radio.
• I love how Routh's Superman references fighting himself before, ala Superman III, but that film isn't in continuity with Superman Returns.
• Gideon with the voice of Leonard Snart. This crossover has a dissapointing lack of Snarts so I'm glad he's in there somewhere.
• Mick Rory is good with babies!

Part Three: The Flash

This one really feels like an episode of The Flash, which is quite right. The Flash was always headed here, destined as Barry was to sacrifice himself to save the multiverse from the Crisis. At least, in the comics, things work out rather differently here. Was anyone really surprised when the Barry who sacrificed himself turned out to be the one from Earth-90? A cop out, perhaps, but not an unwelcome one, and it gave John Wesley Shipp the final send-off that he deserved. He's been wonderful all through this series as Henry Allen, Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, giving them all distinct characters, and it's a rather beautiful goodbye for him.

There are some very nice character moments for Team Flash, which is important, since while Grant Gustin's Barry doesn't die, he instead loses everyone. Indeed, everyone does. The episode ends with the destruction of the multiverse. I mean, we all know it'll be sorted out, but wow, that's a cliffhanger-and-a-half. Even so, the strongest moments of this episode were the character interactions, between Barry and his friends, between Kara and Kate, between Barry-90 and everyone who'd listen. It's a bit harsh on Hoechlin that Routh gets to be the “main” Superman, but it's not like he lasts long as a Paragon. The switch of Lex Luthor to take over his role is fantastic – ad the clear reason that the Monitor brought it back. You can't save everything just with heroes, you need a bit of villain in there as well.

There are some fluffs, though. Bringing in Ryan Choi (destined to become the new Atom when Routh leaves Legends later in 2020) is nice, and making the ordinary guy the Paragon of Humanity is a great touch. (I say ordinary, he's still a super-genius.) But his inclusion is underwhelming and feels undeserved (that said, he's much better in the following episodes). The introduction of Cress Williams over from Black Lightning is handled poorly. I'm miles behind on that show, so haven't seen its tie-in episode, but the guy has just lost his family and entire world, and he just has to shrug it off and get on with things. And after all that, he's fairly pointless, just a lightning zap here and there that could have been provided any number of ways. Also, after practically vanishing from events in Part Two, J'onn J'onnz is suddenly back as a Paragon. Not that he shouldn't be there, but the writing was sloppy there.

Other bits I loved:

• Wow, Birds of Prey. I'd practically forgotten that one.
• Ralph Dibney gets a few nice moments, particularly “Holy All-Star Squadron!”
• Look, I really don't like Lucifer, it gets the comics and character so completely wrong, but it was still a nice moment having Constantine meet him.
• Looks like Earth-73 is Black Lightning Earth, but it's not spelled out. Going with that one though. Still pleased they incorporated the series even if they did fluff it.
• Jim Corrigan shows up! Now that's a development. It's a pity they didn't get Emmett Scanlan back from Constantine, but Stephen Lobo's suitably grim.

Part Four: Arrow

God, they make us wait, don't they? More than a month without an episode, then two on the same night. I love how that month has passed in the show too, with the Paragons being stuck in the Vanishing Point all this time. There's an interesting universal set-up here: the multiverse has been destroyed, yet it would seem only in the present. So time travel is still possible, and timeless realms such as the Vanishing Point, Purgatory and the Speed Force continue to exist. Thus, we go back to the very beginnings of the multiverse to set things right, and get a time-travelling greatest hits parade to boot.

Yes, it's very Avengers: Endgame, but hell, these guys have earned it too. This is Arrow's show this time round, and Oliver Queen gets to shoulder the burden. Making Oliver the Spectre is an amazing move, one that's over-the-top but that seems right given the huge stakes here. Given that his character and series have evolved from vigilante-versus-assassins and criminals, to superhero-versus-metahumans and magicians, it follows that he ends up with powers of his own. And not just powers, he's an ultra-powered ghost! Somehow, even with something this silly, even though we've just done the same thing, Oliver's death is poignant. It's a hell of a move, killing off the star of Arrow halfway through his final season. It's a pity that Stephen Amell spends so much time with his voice so heavily modulated.

The final battle is a little underwhelming, if only because fisticuffs seem like a daft way to save the totality of existence. The build-up is more enjoyable, with Choi and Lex making a bizarrely effective team. Cryer's obviously having a fantastic time and is one of the best things about this crossover. Good to see that Supergirl doesn't deal well with working with him. She can be too saccharine at times, it's good to see her pissed off.

And then: the multiverse is restored, with tweaks.

Other bits I love:

• LaMonica Garrett is awesome when he's playing Mar Novu before he becomes the Monitor.
• “You have failed this universe.” So cheesy. I love it.
• Amell does get a really great final scene.
• That cameo. Ezra Miller drops by as another Barry Allen, bringing the DCEU into the great DC screen multiverse. It really feels complete, now that the current cinema version is included. I like that they pointed out that his inclusion, at this stage in the story, made no sense, but it was the only way to get him in there, since he could only be squeezed in after most the filming was completed. Then again, the Speed Force is outside of time.
• DCEU Flash gets the idea for the name from CW Flash.
• The Spectre fighting the Monitor while reality reforms around them is straight from the comics, although this time we have a different Spectre.

Things I didn't love:

• I know Emily Bett Rickards has left Arrow, but where the hell was Felicity? This is the biggest crossover ever and Oliver just died. She should be here.

Part Five: Legends of Tomorrow

And rightly so, the Legends episode is the silliest of all. I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't get more Legends in there, but we got some great stuff from Sara, Ray and Mick, even if the rest of the team was either absent or reduced to cameos. Again, though, with so many characters to include, it's understandable (presumably why the Legends were left out of the last crossover).

So, now we have Earth Prime, the combined elements of Earth-One, Earth-38 and Earth-73-or-whatever. Possibly the old Earth-Two as well, given that it seems to have been replaced. It's a weird place, with Oliver having used his infinite powers at the moment of his death to reboot the universe and do some tinkering while he did so. Questions abound. Why is Lex suddenly in position of trust and power? That can't have been Oliver's choice. An effect of the Book of Destiny, perhaps? We'll see the fallout of the Crisis on all six series, but things can't ever be the same after this. On one hand, it threatens to invalidate everything we've already experienced on the shows so far. On the other, characters can interact with each other more easily, and it looks like they're pulling out all the stops when it comes to comicbook daffiness.

The final battle against the Anti-Monitor manages to somehow be more absurd than the confrontation with Beebo, but it works, mainly because the various heroes feel like a real team, all bringing their own elements to it. There are still strange omissions and inclusions – J'onn is mainly included as a Paragon so he can infodump people psychically in the new universe – but on the whole it works.

If nothing else, it's worth it for that final big scene. After all this time, we finally have a live-action TV Justice League. The Flash, Superman, Supergirl, Batwoman, the Martian Manhunter, Black Lightning, White Canary, and whoever's going to take over as the Green Arrow. It's been a wild, eventful, ridiculous ride.

Other bits I love:

• The multiverse continues. There's a new Earth-Two, it seems, which will include the upcoming Stargirl series. So even though they've gone to all this trouble to bring the shows together, they're keeping some in their own continuities.
• Heavy set up for a Green Lantern show.
• Best cameo of the crossover: Marv Wolfman himself. If you don't know, that's the modern DC equivalent of all those Stan Lee cameos.
• Diggle gets to have both his son and his daughter in the same reality. One got switched with the other due to Barry's Flashpoint foolishness.
• Good to see Mick's literary career is going strong.

Superhero Show Round-Up: Legends of Tomorrow 4-B and Elseworlds

Legends of Tomorrow Season Four, Part Two

Legends, week in, week out, keeps on being the most fun of the Arrowverse series. Splitting the series in two so sharply, with episode eight airing mid-December and episode nine a the beginning of April, robbed the season of some momentum. Nonetheless, things kicked off well with “Lucha De Apuestas,” an episode that revolves around Mexican masked wrestling, one of those strange cultural artefacts that Brits only really get to see on telefantasy shows. The episode brings a lot more focus onto Ramona Young as new Legends recruit Mona Wu, whose nervousness and trouble fitting in is put into sharp relief by her new ability to turn into a hulking were-beast.

Much of Legends' appeal has been in its ability to take characters who don't fit together and turn them into workable double-acts and team-ups. Some of these have been established characters, such as Mick Rory, who gets to show new and ever-more sensitive aspects as he shows there's a lot more to him than the arsonist villain he started as on The Flash. His grudging respect for Ray Palmer, or “Haircut” as he prefers to call him, his more rough-edged buddying up with Charlie, and his surprising reveal as Mona's favourite author (after Jane Austen) all serve to make this once paper-thin character into a three-dimensional one, and a fan favourite at that. Other characters were created just for this series, such as Jes Macallan's wonderful Ava Sharpe, who went from being a jobsworth obstacle as the head of the Time Bureau to being one of the most complex and relatable characters in the series as she tries to understand her place in the world. Unlikely friendships, such as Ava, Mona and the formerly villainous Nora Darhk forming their wine-fuelled book club, bring out new sides to their characters. Legends has a big ensemble cast, and this can be tricky to pull off, yet the writers manage it with style by juggling the various relationships across the episodes.

Alongside all this is Nate's budding relationship with Zari, helped along by some very sweet chemistry between Nick Zano and Tala Ashe, juggled with his difficult, but slowly thawing, relationship with his father (just cannot get over Thomas F. Wilson being on this show). Hank's seemingly villainous turn is revealed to be nothing of the sort, although there are some dodgy undercurrents to his actions, and it turns out that he's literally made a deal with the devil (or, at least, a devil). The reveal that he wasn't planning to use the various subdued magical creatures as weapons, but as exhibits in a huge theme park/circus/magical zoo as a present for Nate, is one of the harder things to swallow in the series. Given how batty this series can be, this is saying something. It does, however, all come together rather beautifully at the end.

In amongst all the love, though, is poor old Gary, played to nebbish precision by Adam Tsekhman. Constantly overlooked, put upon and mocked by both his bosses at the Bureau and his heroes in the Legends, it was only a matter of time before Gary snapped. Thankfully, he does come good in the end, but his turn to the dark side has been, in retrospect, signposted since the beginning of the season. It also gave us the unforgettable visual of his demonically possessed severed nipple crawling back to him, which is a sight I had not expected to see on any series, let alone this one.

The decision to mix in supernatural monsters with the time travel revitalised this show during season three, and the monster-of-the-week format carried it forward nicely through the first half of season four. Wisely, though, the second half of the season phased this out in favour of more serialisation, with the character-pieces playing out against the background of the demon Neron's invasion of the living realm. Having Brandon Routh's character Ray subsumed by Neron is a bold move; Ray has been the noble heart and conscience of the group since its inception, and his gradual temptation by Nora showed that his love for others can lead him to make the wrong decisions. Having him allow Neron to take possession of him in order to save his friends is absolutely in character but almost ends up destroying the world, and gives Routh a rare chance to play a villain, something he excels at. (I cracked out Scott Pilgrim after watching the finale; he really is good at playing a charming bastard.)

The Neron storyline also brings Constantine's story to the fore, and while I still live in hope that we'll have a resolution to Matt Ryan's own series someday, this follows up on much of his backstory and brings things forward. We finally get to see Astra, the girl he lost to Hell in his greatest failure. Now played by Olivia Swann in her jaded adult form, Astra seems like an clear candidate for a recurring character in season five, albeit on an unknown agenda. Plus, we get to see Constantine at his best, playing the forces of Hell against each other in a take on some classic material from the Hellblazer comics.

The finale brings together these many disparate elements in a more-or-less coherent manner. It's all a bit syrupy, with a “love conquers all” message that they just about carry off. There are similarities between the messages of tolerance here and in Supergirl, but the use of magical creatures is a much poorer allegory than alien immigrants and it's lost amongst all the silliness. Still, it does see a whole bunch of monsters teaming up with the Legends against Neron (and Jane Carr reprising her brillaitn turn as the evil Fairy Godmother), which can only be good fun. It's good to see that the time travel element hasn't been pushed to the wayside, and the fact that Zari is from the future means that the world-changing events in the present have unforeseen effects to her timeline. Thankfully, Tala Ashe is confirmed for season five, because if she wasn't, I'd be most unhappy.

Best episode of the half-season: “Terms of Service.” Constantine faces the Triumvirate in Hell.

Best episode title: “Seance and Sensibility.” Jane Austen and a love god.

Most unexpected cameo: Caspar Crump returns as Vandal Savage, now dead and totally over himself.

Elseworlds

It seemed sensible to look at the annual crossover event separately, since more and more they act as a multi-episode serial instead of individual episodes from each parent series. This year didn't feature Legends of Tomorrow in the line-up, instead crossing Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl.

On the whole, Elseworlds was a qualified success, and this lies in the fact that it's purpose was less to provide a coherent adventure than to introduce new elements to be followed up later. Firstly, it had to introduce Ruby Rose as the new Batwoman and bring Gotham City into the Arrowverse. Secondly, it had to plant the seeds for the next season's upcoming crossover extravaganza, Crisis on Infinite Earths.

As a multiverse-building exercise, it works. It's a lovely touch to have the nineties The Flash explicitly included in the new multiverse (as Earth-90, the 52 Earths idea having now been completely abandoned). The Monitor is about as outlandish and comic-booky a concept the franchise has brought to the screen so far, even ahead of Gorilla Grodd, and we finally get the Arrowverse version of Lois Lane. Played by Elizabeth Tulloch, Lois was a major missing element of the Superman family of characters in the CW multiverse.

Ruby Rose is pretty perfect as Kate Kane. The character is, after all, one of the LGBT icons of the DC universe, even if the comics have fluffed it in the past, and having such a real life LGBT icon in the role seems appropriate. More importantly, Rose has the tough-as-nails bravado and incredible sexiness that the role needs. We'll see how she does heading her own series in Batwoman this coming season. For now, though, the Gotham sequences are the elements of Elseworlds that work best.

The central story, though, with John Deegan manipulating reality from within Arkham, doesn't work as well as it should. Having him become evil Superman has some clout, but since Superman is a peripheral character in this franchise, it doesn't deform the story the same way it would in, say, the DCEU or Smallville. Swapping Barry and Oliver over in their superhero roles works OK, but Barry is such an angsty dick lately and Oliver seems a lot more centred, so that they don't contrast nearly as much as they would have if this had been done a few years ago. I like the hints that Batman exists on Earth-One but no one really believes in him, whereas he's a known quantity on Earth-38 and good buddies with Superman. On the other hand, meeting Earth-One versions of Alex and James Olson should be significant, but since they're part of an already altered reality they matter less to the overall story than they should.

Given the huge, anything goes crossover to come, I wouldn't be surprised if Jeremy Davies again either as John Deegan or an alternative version. He did, after all, play Ritchie Simpson on Constantine (retroactively part of the Arrowverse) as an essentially very similar character, and in Justice League Dark voiced him alongside Matt Ryan's Constantine, where Dr. Destiny took control of him. So really he's played three versions of the same character already, plus the version here seems modelled after the version of Dr. Destiny seen in The Sandman. Anyway, if he doesn't turn up again in some form alongside the Monitor I'll be surprised.

Superhero Shows Roundup: Legends of Tomorrow season three and four (part one)

Legends of Tomorrow has gradually gone from being the corny extra series alongside Flash and Arrow to being one of my favourite TV series of recent years. The rolling team members, unashamedly silly adventures, and continually shifting settings keep the series constantly fresh and entertaining. Add to that genuinely likeable characters (both the heroes and villains), witty dialogue and an absolute bevy of geektastic in-jokes and you have a series that is simply tremendous fun. Really, there are more Back to the Future jokes in this series than can reasonably be expected to fit.

To be honest, although I'm still hugely enjoying Doctor Who, Legends is the series that is making the most of its temporal potential. The Waverider leaps up and down the timeline, screwing with history, fixing it, screwing it up again, tackling anachronisms, arch-villains and temporal paradoxes. Season two ended with the ludicrously named Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill, Doctor Who link number one) leaving the Legends to protect history against the Legion of Doom, only to see them rapidly create a paradox so immense that it shattered history. Rip then stopped being a pseudo-Doctor figure and set up his own Men in Black (well, blue) to replace the destroyed Time Masters. The Time Bureau provided a new background to the series; not allies or villains, as such, but a starch-shirted group to act as rivals to the Legends.

Season three starts with the Legends trying to return to what passes for normal life, while the Bureau tracks down anachronisms - historical figures (and occasional prehistoric monsters) that slip through space-time to places they shouldn't belong. Helen of Troy. Elvis Presley. P.T. Barnum (played by Billy Zane!). The first episode sees the Legends under Captain Lance (Caity Lotz) steal the Waverider back from the Bureau, reunited with Steel, the Atom, the twin hero Firestorm and everyone's favourite Mick "Heatwave" Rory to go and capture Julius Caesar, who has arrived in Aruba, 2017. Legends simply has tremendous fun with the time travel concept. Most of the characters get a focus episode, an we get to see the childhoods and parents of characters like Ray and Rory. In spite of the silliness and comedic nature of the series, the stakes are high in these adventures and there are serious emotional stakes for the characters too. It's solid adventure drama.

Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), the first version of the superhero Vixen, is absent in the first episode, having returned to Africa in 1942 to fulfil her destiny. Her return to the Legends causes all kinds of temporal problems, not least of which is the appearance of her villainous granddaughter Kuasa, the Water Witch (Tracy Ifeachor, Doctor Who link number two - dreadful actress but never mind). Another element that I love about Legends is its connections to the wider DC universe. Not only does it take part in the annual Arrowverse crossover event - the expansive Crisis on Earth-X four-parter - it cherry-picks the best characters from across the DC televisual universe. Even Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) works far better when he temporarily joins the team, far better than he does in the shadow of the Flash.

After starting as a fairly straight crime-and-vigilante series, Arrow spun-off into The Flash and introduced metahumans into the mix. Then it began to introduce magic, which opened up all sorts of avenues for stories, not least of which was the incorporation of John Constantine (Matt Ryan) into the Arrowverse. After a guest spot in season five of Arrow, Constantine's own series was retconned into being part of the same universe. After drawing on Arrow and The Flash for its villains in season two, Legends brought back Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) again to be a major villain in season three. Darhk is a villain who simply refuses to stay dead, with time travel giving the show an excuse to bring him back again and again, and to be fair, McDonough's performance is such archvillainous fun it's hard to blame the showrunners.

In a fun twist, the temporal paradoxes plaguing history had the side effect of weakening the walls between dimensions, allowing the demon Mallus to encroach on our world. Mallus - perfectly voiced by John Noble, who makes a late-season cameo as himself in one of the most knowing and funny moments in the series - joins forces with Darhk and his daughter Nora (Courtney Ford) to break free into reality. This brings Constantine into the mix as a recurring character, joining the Legends team as a regular for season four. That's not the extent of the DC pick-and-mix, though. We go an a trip to the future of the 21st century, when both metahumans and religion are illegal - for religion, read Islam. Anti-Trump sentiment runs high on this show, and that's no bad thing (hell, Barack Obama even makes an appearance). Here the Legends recruit Zari Tomaz (Tala Ashe, and be still my beating heart), who is the Arrowverse equivalent of the superhero Isis. This suggests that it's only a matter of time before Black Adam and Captain Marvel/Shazam are introduced as well. Zari is on the best characters to be introduced in season three, a brassy, confident but vulnerable woman with real depth and an absolute favourite of mine.

The on-off, join-leave-rejoin nature of the regular cast really helps keep this series fresh. The loss of Martin Stein (the great Victor Garber) was heartbreaking, leading to another rejig of the series as his Heatwave partner Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh) eventually leaves in turn. On the other hand, the Time Bureau includes the wonderfully nebbish Gary (Adam Tsekhman) and the bad-ass-as-hell Agent Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan), who goes from being cold-hearted but hard-as-nails to becoming one of the most likeable and entertaining characters as her own mysterious origins are revealed. (Don't want to spoil everything here, but it's sci-fi gold.) Ava and Sara, after a serious rivalry at the beginning, end up in one of the sweetest relationships in the series (much more believable than Amay and Nate).

That's another thing I love about this series. It's unrelentlessly, unashamedly bi. With bi-erasure still so common on TV, to have three characters who are openly bisexual (Sara, Gary and Constantine) enjoying both casual and committed relationships is tremendously heartening. Alongside the endless geeky references, there are plenty of naughty jokes, and let's be fair, this is a damned sexy series as well. And, as if incredibly beautiful people, time travel, monsters and geeky jokes weren't enough, the episode title are among the most pun-tastic in history. Searching for Helen of Troy? It's a "Helen Hunt." Searching for a magical orb that controls life and death? You're "Necromancing the Stone." Nora facing two different version of her father? It's "No Country for Old Dads." This show could have been made for me.

Eventually, Mallus is defeated upon his manifestation in the physical world - using a giant cuddly toy named Beebo (a reference to so many things, including Rick and Morty, and the one time Legends has failed to make the obvious Ghostbusters reference - after all, "It just popped in there.") Unfortunately for the universe, Mallus's interdimensional prison also held any number of magical beings, imprisoned for the threat they pose to humankind (real or imagined). Season four launched with the show completely embracing the magical side of the Arrowverse, with missions no longer revolving around sorting anachronisms but capturing magical beasts. With the Time Bureau now fully allied to the Legends, no doubt aided by Ava's relationship with Sara, time travel is now monster hunting as well, and the Bureau are charged with holding magical creatures like a high-tech Newt Scamander. Nate "Steel" Heywood even joins the Bureau, and in one of those fabulous coincidences so common in genre TV, his father - played by none other than Tom "Biff" Wilson - is in charge of their budgeting with Homeland Security. With Back to the Future references now dialled up to eleven, and a different magical creature each week, the series is only getting more fun. Of course, Nate left the Legends partly because Amaya left him to return to 1942 again, but Maisie Richardson-Sellers is back on the series as the shapeshifter Charlie. Inititally played in her primary form by Anjli Mohindra (Doctor Who link number three), Charlie is a Cockney punk faerie and allows MRS to stop pretending to have an illogical American accent.

Oh, and Constantine's on the run from Neron, a demon so powerful and legendary in DC canon that he makes Mallus look like the Tooth Fairy. With season four returning for its second half in April, I'm determined to add regular Legends reviews to the blog. It's just endlessly entertaining.

Comics to Screen: Legends of Tomorrow 2-2 - The Justice Society of America

Catching up with Legends, and the second episode is a slightly more serious, but generally just as fun and silly as episode one. It's wonderful that a franchise that began with the Dark Knight-eqsue grim realism of Arrow season one has advanced to the point it can include a team-up with a 1940s superhero team to fight a Nazi hulk. Making the JSA a super-secret society helps with some of continuity issues of having a superhero team active decades before Arrow started, even if it is a bit hard to swallow. But none of this matters, when we have such great scenes as the Legends getting their asses thoroughly handed to them by the JSA, with Dr. Mid-Nite, easily the coolest member of the team, doing the full sonar-vision battle that he perfected years before Daredevil. I particularly love their low-tech outfits. Stargirl, in particular, looks like nothing so much as a sexy cosplayer (I must point out that this is in no way a bad thing). If she reappears, though, please may we also have her giant robot sidekick, STRIPE?

The undoubted highlight of the episode has to be Victor Garber flexing his vocal cords as Stein performs "Edelweiss" in a Nazi nightclub. The showrunners had better find some way of brigning him into the upcoming musical crossover with The Flash and Supergirl. Time-travellers fighting Nazis is a sure-fire recipe for a fun episode. There are plenty of effective moments throughout, and all the remaining Legends get a strong moment, with the exception of Rory who barely gets to do anything at all. Ray Palmer again shows he's at his best under extreme pressure (i.e. in captivity under threat of torture), the Stein/Jax relationship is played better than it has been in the past, and Sara Lance proves perfect for the position of new team leader having finally developed into a rounded and entertaining character.

The episode also acts as the required origin story for Nate Heywood as the new Steel. Nick Zano gives a sympathetic turn as the haemophiliac historian, out of his depth in a team of assassins and superhumans and overwhelmed at the prospect of meeting his legendary grandfather. The sequence of events unrolls with predictability, but that's not always a bad thing. These story beats work and it's fun to follow along, knowing where it's heading. Also impressive is Maisie Richardson-Sellers as the new (old) Vixen, set up to become a series regular. She has some good chemistry with Brandon Routh's Ray Palmer and it'll be interesting to see how the relationship between the teams develops, especially as Vixen presumably suspects the Legends are responsible for Hourman's death.

As readers of my blatherings will know, I love all this time travel stuff, and it's not coincidence that this episode openly references Back to the Future (in the same week as The Flash was, no less). Nate's past slowly disappearing after his grandfather looks certain to die is straight out of that movie. Completely nonsensical, of course, but narratively sound. Quite why ongoing villain Thawne is trying to so drastically alter his own past is a mystery, though - if the Nazis have access to supersoldiers, his civilisation will surely never come about. Just possibly we'll get some logical answer to this as the series carries on, although I'm not optimistic on that front.

The History of the JSA

The Justice Society of America was the first ever superteam, giving rise to the later Justice League and similar teams such as the Avengers. The Society made its first appearance in All Star Comics #3 at the end of 1940, featuring a bunch of superheroes from across the publications of National Comics and All-American Publications in what was a groundbreaking team-up. The original team-up consisted of Dr. Fate, Hourman, the Atom, the Flash, Green Lantern, the Sandman, the Spectre and Hawkman, many of whose modern equivalents continue as some of DC's longest-running heroes. I can only imagine how exciting this was for the kids reading comics back then.

Early on, characters with their own titles weren't permitted to appear in All Star Comics, so Superman and Batman were considered honorary members, with Green Lantern and the Flash leaving active team duty as they hit the big time. The exception to this rule was Wonder Woman, who appeared in issue 11 as the JSA's secretary, before eventually taking an active role in adventures. The inclusion of characters from the different companies varied a little over the years before National and All-American amalgamated to form Detective Comics Inc. Dr. Mid-Nite and Starman joined the team in issue 8, Johnny Thunder in issue 6. The JSA's archenemies, the Injustice Society of the World, debuted in issue 37, and the Black Canary joined the team four issues later.

The JSA disappeared as superhero titles were phased out over the years, but returned during the resurgance of the Silver Age. The Jay Garrick and Barry Allen versions of the Flash teamed up in 1961's The Flash #123 - "The Flash of Two Worlds" - which introduced the idea that the JSA existed on Earth-Two. This led to team-ups between the Society and the League across the two Earths against major threats throughout the sixties. The JSA members were expanded to include Quality Comics characters after DC's acquisition of the rights, and were presented as older, more experienced superheroes in contrast to the JLA. Later crossover events changed the nature of the DC universe, with the JSA becoming earlier heroes of the main continuity in some versions, and an Earth-Two team in others. Some versions included older versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, while others introduced equivalent characters. 

The JSA vanished for some time before being reincoroprated into continuity during the various shake-ups, but they generally remained as older, WWII heroes in most iterations. The New 52 impression had the Earth-2 title, in which alternative versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman had been killed, leaving the JSA behind to defend their Earth. Perhaps the most well-known modern interpretations of the JSA have been on TV, with appearances in the latter seasons of Smallville, or as the veteran crew in the animated Batman: The Brave and the Bold. There have been many members of the Society over the years; the Arrowverse team features Hourman, Commander Steel, Obsidian, Dr. Mid-Nite, Stargirl and Vixen. Of these, only Hourman and Dr. Mid-Nite actually date back to the 1940s.

Comics to Screen: Legends of Tomorrow 2-1 - Out of Time

To be honest, I'd gotten bored with Legends of Tomorrow. I've watched the odd episode on a sporadic basis but never actually finished the first season. However, I decided to jump back in with the beginning of season two, which has left me somewhat confused as to what has happened to various characters, but has also convinced me to give the series another chance.

It's not an original observation, but Legends is trying very hard to be Doctor Who with superheroes. This might become redundant at Christmas, when Doctor Who actually does superheroes, but right now, it's an approach that's working. Legends has taken the same track as Who by both creating an overseeing group of superiors - the Time Agents in this case - and then wiping them out so that the characters can actually have some fun. Now that Arthur Darvill's rogue agent Rip Hunter is policing the timestream, he's trying harder than ever to be a pseudo-Doctor, right down to a holographic farewell message in this episode lifted directly from The Parting of the Ways.

The new season works better than the last, though, having decided to just go for broke and have some fun. It's a bunch of superheroes with a timeship - this is not a show that should ever be boring. Sure, the dialogue is still atrocious, but it doesn't matter so much when the characters are charging from one situation to the next with such verve. Reducing the size of the team is a big help, too. There were just too many regular characters in the first series, and while I miss Captain Cold, at least we've got rid of mopey Hawkgirl Kendra. Of the characters we still have on the team, Mick Rory has proven to be the absolute highlight, while even Sara Lance was fun this time round, and I normally find her intensely annoying. Plus, she kisses a lot of women, which is bound to be reason enough to watch for plenty of people.

"Out of Time" mostly deals with Damian Darhk vs. Albert Einstein, which is a laugh, but we also get the Royal Court of France, the Salem witch trials and a bloody great tyrannosaur. Oliver Queen's in it too, not as the Arrow but in his tiresome Mayor of Star City role. Thankfully, the exposition sequences don't last long enough to detract from the overall fun of titting about in time, and the final reveals of the episode are masterfully done. I'm looking forward to episode two.

Introducing Nate Heywood

So, in this episode we do get one new member of the team: Nate Heywood, a likeable if not terribly interesting historian, who is understandably excited at the prospect of cavorting around history. He's played here by Nick Zano, and while he doesn't do much here beyond kickstarting the plot by looking for the Waverider, we can probably expect bigger things from him in the future. In the comics, Nate becomes Citizen Steel. He's grandson of Henry Heywood, the original Commander Steel who fights as part of the Justice Society of America. Given the JSA's purported major role in this season, I think we can expect Nate to inherit some kind of tech from his granddad that will super him up in time for the climactic showdown at the end of the run.

REVIEW: FLASH 2-10 & 2-11, Legends of Tomorrow 1-1 &1-2

POTENTIAL ENERGY

Well, you've got to give them props for bringing the naffest villains from the comics to life in an (almost) believable way. The Turtle makes for a pretty funny baddie-of-the-week, and his slo-time gimmick works reasonably well as a minor trial for him to overcome. There's a lot of time spent on the West family and their new addition Wally, but to be honest, I'm not enamoured with the guy so far and this part of the ongoing story isn't gripping me. No, the main part of this episode is Barry trying to find the guts to tell Patty he's the Flash. Apparently he hasn't learned anything from how it all blew up with Iris. What a goon.

THE REVERSE-FLASH RETURNS

The best thing in The Flash is Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells. Or Tom Cavanagh as Eobard Thawne as Harrison Wells. So an episode focusing at least partly on him is always a treat. Here, we have the other Eobard Thawne - the original Thawne - from an earlier point in his own timeline, before he faced Barry and all that fun last year. The problem is that Matt Letscher is nowhere near as good at playing the villain as Cavanagh, and the lack of familiarity with this version of Thawne really hurts the episode. However, the main cast are still great, and it's good to see Barry get over some of his hang-ups about Thawne and let him go to maintain history (and Cisco's life).

The second best thing in The Flash is Shantel vanSanten as Patty Spivot, and it's way beyond time that she got brought into Team Flash. And what do they do? They write her out, by dint of Barry being stubborn and too afraid to take risks. I realise this was her place in the story from the beginning, but damn it, Patty is wonderful. I hope that she comes back at some point, because her presence has been a big part of why this season has worked so well.

Also: Jay's Earth-One alter ego is named Hunter Zolomon, which would seem to be a huge hint that he's actually Zoom. More likely, though, it's a great big herring.

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (two-part pilot)

So, that's what Doctor Who looks like when made by American superhero execs. Arthur Darvill basically plays the tenth Doctor, and to be honest, he's not bad, although he's also clearly not taking it remotely seriously (which is the only way to play it). There's a big chunk of Terminator in here too, what with the devastated future America and all.

Overall... this is OK. It's all good fun, and there are some lovely moments. The barroom brawl with Captain Cold, Heatwave and Canary, to a Captain and Tennille soundtrack, is tremendous fun. There are some nice spots for fans of both the original comics and the Arrowverse shows: Damian Darhk being present at the arms deal, Chronos turning up, a brief mention of Per Degaton. But it's also mired by some poor acting and some truly terrible dialogue. It's just a little too naff and cheesy to quite work (and considering how cheesy The Flash is, that's really something).  There's way too much being introduced all at once. Even of you have seen The Flash and Arrow, characters like Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and Firestorm, are tough, confusing characters to sell.

And what have they done to Martin Stein? He's a great character, and I'm all for adding a little edge to him, but having him rohypnol Jax is just utterly out of character and really pretty nasty. The second episode, which put him up against his earlier self and gave him a needed dose of humility, helped, but it's still a bad move on the writers' part.

Casting Call: More DC Television Stars

The autumn TV season has started Stateside and the return of DC's series is imminent. Except Gotham, which is so imminent it's already started. Time enough for one last roundup of characters and actors joining the Arrowverse and the new Supergirl series.

Violett Beane

Jesse Chambers/Jesse Quick (The Flash)

Wow, we're really getting a full complement of speedsters in the new season of the The Flash. Not content with Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West and Teddy Sears as Jay Garrick, now they've added young female speedster Jesse Quick. While her backstory in the series will probably adjust this, in the comics she's the daughter of two Golden Age heroes, Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle. She inherits both their power sets, giving her both super strength and super speed. Although reluctant to become a costumed hero, she eventually joined the New Titans team. Violett Beane (great name) is a new face, and the only other credits I can find for her are the films Flay and Slash, neither of which has yet been released.

Franz Drameh

Jay Jackson/Firestorm (The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow)

Firestorm is such a weird, complicated character. In The Flash season one the original Firestorm was involved, a fusion of two characters, Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) and Prof. Martin Stein (Victor Garber). In the comics, there have been various combinations of characters melted together to make Firestorm, including Jason Rusch, who had a brief appearance in The Flash (played by Luc Roderique). Yet, season two and Legends of Tomorrow will be fusing Stein with a wholly new character, Jay Jackson, described as a former high school athlete, who has become a mechanic since dropping out due to injury. Franz Drameh is an Anglo-Gambian actor, still quite new to the screen but known for the excellent Attack the Block and a role in Edge of Tomorrow (Live. Die. Repeat).

Demore Barnes

Henry Hewitt/Tokamak (The Flash)

Initially an enemy of Firestorm (introduced in The Fury of Firestorm in the 1980s), Henry Hewitt gained powers after exposing himself to the same conditions that created the nuclear-powered hero. This gives him the power to generate rings of energy that can destroy matter's atomic structure. The TV version appears to be another victim of the disaster at STAR Labs that created the Flash, Firestorm and the various metahumans of the series. Canadian actor Demore Barnes is best known as Hector "Hammerhead" Williams in The Unit, and has had numerous American TV appearances including as Raphael in Supernatural. 

Michael Ironside

Lewis Snart (The Flash)

Another villain for The Flash, Lewis Snart is the estranged father if Leonard and Lisa Snart, aka Captain Cold and the Golden Glider. Brief glimpses of their past in season one made it clear that Snart Sr. was an abusive father. He's back with a plan that endangers both his children. Michael Ironside is a huge sf fan and a bit of a legend among genre fans, known for roles in Top Gun, Robocop, Starship Troopers and The Machinist. He has DC experience as well, having voiced both Darkseid and, briefly, Batman, in animated adventures, and also having played Lois Lane's father, General Sam Lane on Smallville.

Tony Todd

voice of Zoom (The Flash)

Zoom is confusing, but I think I have it (I've become more versed in Flash-mythology lately). Eobard Thawne, the villain of the first season of The Flash, is known as the Reverse Flash and is also sometimes called Professor Zoom in the comics. Hunter Zolomon, on the other hand, is an entirely separate character, inspired by Thawne to become the newest Reverse Flash and taking on the moniker Zoom. He's obsessed with the Flash - the Wally West version in the the comics, generally - and wants to make him suffer personal tragedy so that he can become a more compassionate hero. He's more powerful than the original Reverse Flash, having the ability to manipulate the fabric of time around himself.

Tony Todd, owner of the scariest voice in Hollywood and infamous as the Candyman, as well as having numerous other major horror roles and various appearances on genre TV (he has three credits for the Star Trek franchise alone, including DS9: "The Visitor," which was just beautiful). He's only providing the voice for Zoom, so presumably the identity of the villain is to be kept under wraps for a while. In any case, he's the Big Bad for The Flash season two.

Jimmy Akingbola

Reiter (Arrow)

Well, this is an odd one. Reiter is better known as Baron Blitzkreig, and Earth-2 villain first introduced in the 70s but retroactively stated to be active during WWII. He's one of the various Nazi villains who joined the Fourth Reich, as well as affiliating with the Secret Society of Super Villains and Shadowspire. The important thing to note here is that he's a Nazi; in fact, he gained his powers of super strength, heat vision and flight after undergoing operations to save his life after he was wounded by a prisoner in a concentration camp. Yet, the TV version is going to be played by British actor Jimmy Akingbola, who is of Nigerian descent. This is an unexpected juxtaposition, and presumably the TV version will have a rather different character to the comics version, and won't be going by the name Baron Blitzkreig. In fact, the only similarities between Arrow Reiter and comics Reiter is that they're both villains and both have links to the Shadowspire organisation.

Jimmy Akingbola is mostly known for his theatre work but has expanded onto film and television in recent years, including appearances in sitcoms The Crouches and Big School and the film Anansi. Unlike his villainous counterpart, he's known to the acting community as "Mr. Nice." Which would actually be a cool name for a villain, come to think of it.

Stephanie Corneliussen

Valentina Vostok (Legends of Tomorrow)

Another character who'll need to be reimagined to make sense in a modern series, Vostok dates back to Showcase comic in 1977 and was a Soviet spy, who absorbed the powers of Negative Man to become Negative Woman. These powers included the ability to transform into an ethereal energy form, but she lost these powers. She became a generally heroic character and served in the Doom Patrol. How her origin is to be tweaked for the Arrowverse isn't certain, but she's described as an exceptional physicist, and if she's a villain she may be working for Vandal Savage in some capacity. Danish model Stephanie Corneliussen appeared on the acting seen a couple of years ago and has had major roles in Mr. Robot and The Exes.

Rutina Wesley

Liza Warner (Arrow)

Liza Warner is the alter ego of the comics character better known as Lady Cop. She first appeared in her own title in 1975, and her thing, see, is that she was a cop, but she was a lady. In spite of the utter sexism and naffness of this idea, she's actually a pretty impressive character, being a dedicated and skilled detective. Over the years she's been involved in thwarting some serious crimes and her comics have dealt with adult issues, such as sexual health and trauma counselling. She also has links to the Atom (the newer, Ryan Choi version, but she might meet Brandon Routh's Ray Palmer version). The Arrow version of Warner will head an anti-vigilante taskforce and so come up against Oliver Queen and his team. I think we can safely say she won't be calling herself Lady Cop. Rutina Wesley is best known for playing Tara in True Blood and Reba in Hannibal, and I must say I am loving the CW's support of diverse casting across its series. 

Iddo Goldberg

T.O. Morrow/Red Tornado (Supergirl)

Looks like Iddo Goldberg is playing two characters on Supergirl, scientist and creator, unless in this version of events T.O. Morrow actually becomes the Red Tornado. The android hero has had multiple origins in DC comics, but the most recent version is an android hosting an air elemental. (He doesn't appear to exist currently in the New 52 continuity, but I may be out of date here.) Red Tornado has been part of the Justice League and was an advisor and mentor to Young Justice team; indeed, I know him best from his appearance in the Young Justice animated series, voiced by Jeff Bennett. In spite of usually being heroic, his earliest iterations included the Tornado Tyrant, a more villainous turn, and his Supergirl TV persona has been described as a villain,. Still, I wouldn't be surprised to see him ally with Supergirl in the future.

Red Tornado has the usual attributes of superhuman strength and intelligence you'd expect from an android, but also has the ability to control the air and generate wind. Most versions can also assume human form. The perennially villainous Thomas Oscar Morrow has no powers but is a highly gifted engineer and has created numerous mechanical warriors over the years. Iddo Goldberg is an Anglo-Israeli actor most recognisable for roles in British series such as Peaky Blinders and The Secret Diary of a Call Girl and the movie Defiance.

Casting Call: DC television villains

Following my round up of the various heroes set to appear on DC series this coming season, here's the current info on the many villains being introduced. This may be updated soon - I've been hoping to see casting news regarding Mr. Freeze, Flamingo, Non and Red Tornado.

Caspar Crump
Vandal Savage (Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow)

One of DC Comics' most persistant and deadly villains, Vandal Savage was born Vandar Adg around 50,000 BC, becoming immortal when he later encountered an irradiated meteorite. Over the millennia, he has been known as Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Jack the Ripper, Vlad the Impaler, Blackbeard and various other violent individuals from well known history. He might even be Cain, and thus the first murderer in historical record. The similarly powered Immortal Man and Resurrection Man are his longest serving foes, but over the years he's faced pretty much every major DC hero (and Captain Kirk). His parallel world alter egos have been even more pernicious, and he has been encountered in various points in the timeline by time travelling heroes. With enhanced strength, speed and endurance, he's a formidable foe, but the real threat is from his tactical genius and his lust for power. Oh, and he's Grendel's dad.

Savage has made several animated appearances over the years, and some very similar characters have been featured in live action series (one time Superman Dean Cain played Curtis Knox in Smallville, a character who was intended to be Savage until this was changed due to rights issues). His upcoming appearance is thus his official live action debut. He's set to be the Big Bad of Legends of Tomorrow, the superteam brought together purely to fight him. Described as having "the greatest army ever assembled," his reign of terror throughout history means they'll be using time travel to battle him. Caspar Crump is a Danish actor, little known in the English-speaking world, will appear in all three live action Arrowverse series. I've never seen him act, but god he looks perfect.

JR Bourne
Jeremy Tell/Double Down (Arrow)

A fairly recent addition to the Flash's rogue's gallery, Double Down is a con artist, a compulsive gambler and a murderer, who uses a powered-up deck of cards that is bonded to his very skin. JR Bourne can be recognised from various genre appearances including Stargate SG-1, Josie and the Pussycats and Teen Wolf. This is the character's first live action appearance, and while he's set to debut in the third episode of Arrow's next season, I would not be surprised to see him return to face his traditional foe, the Flash.

Alexander Calvert
Lonnie Machin/Anarky (Arrow)

Created by the prolific Alan Grant, Anarky is one of Batman's most popular foes, so much that he got his own spin-off series in the nineties. Lonnie Machin was a child prodigy who grew up to use his considerable gifts to further his anarchist, anti-statist activism. Little more than a kid when he first appeared, Anarky is a mirror to the Dark Knight, a vigilante fighting not criminals, but the whole structure of modern society. More an antihero than an all out villain, Anarky is the latest of many Batman-linked villains to be adapted for Arrow (a character he has rarely met in the comics). Although he's been used as the main antagonist for the animated series Beware the Batman and the game Arkham Origins (voiced by Wallace Langham and Matthew Mercer respectively), this will be his first live action apperance. Alexander Calvert has had loads of junior roles on TV.

Adam Copeland
Albert Rothstein/Atom Smasher (The Flash)

From a family of superheroes and villains, Albert Rothstein has been both in the course of his comics career. An experimental procedure by his grandfather, the villain Cyclotron, gave him the ability to control his molecular structure. As a hero, he's also gone by the name Nuklon, and has served in the JLA and JSA for a time. He has, however, gone rogue on occasion, and can be a dangerous foe. In the first season of The Flash, Alber Rothstein is seen on a list of the people who were killed in the particle accelerator accident that gave that series' metahumans their powers. Clearly, he survived, and is set to return as a villain, with the intent of killing the Flash. Given that even such scoundrels as Captain Cold and Heatwave have been brought into the Legends of Tomorrow superteam, I think it's safe to say Rothstein will eventually turn to the side of the angels.

Chris Browning
Ben Krull/Reactron (Supergirl)

A persistant enemy of Supergirl (and her alt-world equivalent, Power Girl), Ben Krull is a Viet Nam vet, who went nuts and massacred a village of people. Serving with him was Joshua Clay, later known as the hero Tempest, who used his energy powers to blast Krull down. This had the side effect of granting Krull radiaoctive powers, which he later used in his villainous career. He's been part of the Suicide Squad and the radiation-themed team the Nuclear Legion, but more often works alone. Lately, he has been given a Kryptonite heart, which naturally makes him a particularly dangerous foe for Kryptonian heroes like Supergirl. He's set to appear in the third episode of the Supergirl series, played by Chris Browning, one of those actors who's been in everything over the years, usually in tough guy roles.

Brit Morgan
Leslie/Livewire (Supergirl)

Livewire is a villainess introduced in the 1990s animated Superman series, before being incorporated into comics continuity, not unlike the more famous Harley Quinn in the Batman series. Voiced then by Lori Petty, the live action version of the character is to be played by Brit Morgan, who has comicbook adaptation experience from The Middleman, but is better known for her role as Debbie in True Blood. Working for the same media company as Kara, Leslie is sure to cause problems both in everyday life and in her supervillain guise. Leslie is converted into pure electrical energy, with corresponding electromagnetic powers. She most recently showed up to menace Batgirl.

Justice Leak
Hellgrammite (Supergirl)

Another Superman villain to be repurposed for the Supergirl series, Hellgrammite was, initially, Roderick Rose (also known as Robert Dobson), an entomologist who experimented with insect DNA, transforming himself into a powerful insectoid creature. As well as the expected insect-y superpowers, such as super-strength, the ability to leap great distances and an inpenetrable exoskeleton, he also had the unpleasant tendency to infect others, transforming them into his larvae. (A hellgrammite is, in the real world, the larva of the dobsonfly.) The Supergirl version is going to be reimagined as more straightforward alien villain, played by Justice Leak, whose name is perfect for a supervillain in itself. He's appeared in several indie films, and is best known for the movie The Great Debaters.

James Frain
Theo Galavan (Gotham)

James Frain has experience in a comicbook universe: he was rather brilliant as Leet Brannis in Marvel's Agent Carter. The English actor has also appeared in True Blood, The White Queen, True Detective, Oprhan Black and Grimm, but is perhaps most recognised for his role in The Tudors. He's playing a new character to the mythos. Theo Galavan is a powerful business, whose altruism hides "a centuries old vendetta." He and his sister (see below) are set to cause chaos in Gotham, leading to various villains taking on their characters.

Jessica Lucas
Tabitha Galavan/Tigress (Gotham)

As with so many DC heroes and villains, the Tigress persona has been shared by several characters, going right back to Action Comics #1 in 1938. However, the Gotham character sounds like she's based on the most recent Tigress, Artemis Crock, who has made it to the New 52 continuity and appeared in several animated outings. Some versions of the character have Wolverine-like animal abilities, including superhuman strength, an enhanced sense of smell and enhanced stamina, but the modern version is simply a highly trained combatant and marksman. Her skill with a bow and arrow is phenomenal (an earlier Tigress became the villain known as Huntress, another identity taken by various individuals, one of whom appeared in Arrow).

Tabitha Galavan is said to be the sister of the aforementioned Theo, and acts as his lead enforcer. Jessica Lucas has appeared previously in Cloverfield, Evil Dead, She's the Man and Melrose Place.



Leo Fitzpatrick
Joe Pike (Gotham)

Joe Pike is set to be a fairly major pest to Gordon and Bullock in the coming season, over the course of several episodes. He's described as the leader of a gang of arsonists, and doesn't have any explicit links to any comicbook villains (yet). Several fans have suggested he's going to become Firefly, a pyrotechnic villain from the Batman comics (in which his identity was one Ted Carson). There's also a reasonably obscure Wildstorm villain named Pike, who DC have the rights to, but it's unlikely he has anything to do with this. Leo Fitzpatrick found fame as Johnny Weeks in The Wire.

Casting Call: DC television heroes

While Marvel are doing great things on the big screen (we can forgive them for Fantastic Four, that was Fox's doing), it's DC that are making the most of television. While we're getting bits and pieces of news regarding Marvel's network and Netflix series, there's been a flood of info regarding new characters in the DC-based series on CBS, Fox and the CW. Explicitly, Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Vixen are set in the same world, while a crossover with Supergirl has been ruled out. Gotham, being essentially unrelated and on a different network group entirely, is not going to cross over any time soon, so at some point we're probably going to get different versions of the same characters appearing in each universe. There's enough new info that I had to break it up somehow, so here are the good guys beign introduced in Arrow season four, The Flash season two, Gotham season two, and the first series of Legends of Tomorrow, Vixen and Supergirl. Constantine's been cancelled.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Wally West/Kid Flash (The Flash)

The first character known as Kid Flash, and the third to become the Flash, Wally West is a boy who receives the powers of the speedsters in a replication of the accident that granted them to Barry Allen. He first appeared, as Kid Flash, in 1959, became a major member of the Teen Titans, and became the Flash in 1986, following Barry's death in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Prior to this, Barry acts as his mentor and idol, although with Barry being somewhat younger in the TV series than in most interpretations, this might be a little different. In the comics, Wally is the nephew of Iris West, but considering that there has been no indication of Iris having any brothers or sisters in the series, and again considering the similarities in ages, this will most likely be tweaked (I suspect he'll become a cousin). The original version of Wally was white, just like all the other Flashes; the version recently introduced in the New 52 shake-up is mixed race, white on Iris's side of the family. Considering the ethnicity of Iris actress Candice Patton and Jess Martin, who plays her father Joe, it's no surprise that an actor of colour has been cast as Wally. There's bound to be someone kicking off about this somewhere. Keiynan Lonsdale is a pretty new actor, but has been seen on the big screen in Divergant.

Terry Sears
Jay Garrick (The Flash)

And another Flash! Jay Garrick is the original Flash from the Golden Age of comics, who debuted way back in 1940 in Flash Comics #1. In the last moments of the season one Flash finale, Garrick's trademark hardhat tmbled out of the wormhole that was soon to threaten the world, cliffhanger fashion. The first Flash met the second in the 1961 storyline "Flash of Two Worlds." which established that the Silver Age and Golden Age heroes existed in parallel worlds (Earth-One and Earth-Two, respectively). Barry Allen lived in Central City, while Garrick inhabited its Earth-Two equivalent, Keystone City. Eventually, both versions of Earth were combined, with Central and Keystone becoming sister cities (this seems to be the case on the TV series, since Eddie Thawn transferred from Keystone to Central City).

The showrunners have released promotional artwork based on the cover of the classic comic that featured "Flash of Two Worlds." so it's safe to say that Earth-Two will be introduced in the new season. This story originated the Multiverse in DC comics, a concept which caught on throughout the medium. We could be seeing all sorts of parallel versions of characters cropping up after this. Teddy Sears is best known for roles in the drama series Raising the Bar and Masters of Sex. This is the second time the character of Jay Garrick has appeared in live action; he was played by Billy Mitchell in an episode of Smallville.

Arthur Darvill
Rip Hunter (Legends of Tomorrow)

A member of the temporal agents known as the Time Masters, Rip Hunter is the holder of the most unnecessarily butch name in comics. So far on TV, we've had a brief mention of him by the villainous Eobard Thawne in the Flash finale, and the trailer for Legends of Tomorrow, in which it looks like he is partly responsible for getting the various characters to form their superhero team. An often manipulative character, Hunter acts to protect the timelines. Considering that, due to the aforementioned Multiverse, there are multiple versions of him travelling through time, this cna get complicated. His father is later revealed to be the time travelling hero Booster Gold, although this character is apparently off limits for the TV productions (there are hints he's being reserved for future cinematic treatment). The TV version of Rip Hunter is played by Arthur Darvill, best known worldwide as Rory Williams, companion to Matt Smith's Doctor Who. However, judging by the trailer, he'll be playing him more like David Tennant's incarnation.

Megalyn Echikunwoke

Mari McCabe/Vixen (Vixen)

Mari McCabe is a young African woman who inherits a magical totem from her father, that had been passed down her family over the centuries. Originally given to the legendary hero Tantu by the Spider God Anansi, the totem gives Mari the abilities of various animals. She moves to America and becomes a model, because she's fricking hot. She also, along with Barry Allen, becomes a member of the Justice League.

Starting in a couple of weeks, the CW will begin streaming an animated Vixen series on their website. This is part of the main Arrowverse, with Grant Gustin and Steve Ammell making voice appearances as the Flash and Arrow respectively. Echikunwoke will probably turn up in at least one of the lvie actions series at some point. Vixen has never previously appeared in a live action series, but Gina Torres voiced her in numerous episodes of the animated series Justice League Unlimited.

Falk Hentschel
Carter Hall/Hawkman (Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow)

I'll be honest, I don't know much abotu Hawkman, and what I do know confuses the hell out of me. Some times he's a man named Carter Hall, sometimes he's an alien named Katar Hol. It involves numerous reboots of DC's continuity, plus various deaths and reincarnations. This guy has suffered from retcons severely over the years. In the TV version, at least, he's a gent named Carter Hall, who is a reincarnation on an Egyptian prince, who is searching for the reincarnation of his soulmate (see below). He's expected to first appear in The Flash before crossing over to its sister series. Falk Hentschel is a German dancer and actor, who has, among other things, previously appeared in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD as Marco Scarlotti, aka Blacklash. Michael Shanks previously played a version of Hawkman on Smallville, and various iterations of the character have appeared in animated series over the years.

Ciara Renee
Kendra Saunders (Legends of Tomorrow)

Kendra is the latest reincarnation of an ancient warrior, and Hawkman's aforementioned solumate. Described in press releases as "a young woman who is just beginning to elarn she ahs been repeatedly reincarnated over the centuries. When provoked, her ancient warrior persona manifests itself, with wings that grow out of her back." While the trailer pegs her as "a girl with wings and a past lives complex." She can totes fly. There's clearly going to be a much heavier focus on mystical characters than in previous seasons in the Arrowverse. Ciara Renee has previously been a theatre actor, and made an appearance, very briefly, as Kendra in the finale of The Flash. The character was played by Sahar Biniaz on Smallville and voiced by Maria Canals Barrera in both Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.





Echo Kellum
Curtis Holt/Mister Terrific (Arrow)

Named for the comicbook character Michael Holt, Curtis Holt is the Arrowverse iteration of Mister Terrific. In fact the second man to take that name in the DC universe, Michael Holt modelled himself after the original, Terry Sloane, who appeared in Sensation Comics. A childhood prodigy and an adult genius, Holt is described as the most intelligent memeber of the Justice Society of America. As well as being physically formidable, Holt is invisible to technology and has created devices called T-spheres, which perform a variety of functions. His strict scientific outlook and atheism has often left him at odds with Hawkman and other supernatural characters, so it's interesting how Curtis Holt will interact with the various characters in Arrow. Echo Kellum has previously been seen in various American sitcoms that I have never heard of.

Shantel VanSanten
Patty Spivot (The Flash)

A long-time supporting character in the Flash comics, Patty was Barry's lab partner and sometime love interest. The New 52 continuity actually has them in a relationship, so expect there to be some love triangle stuff going on between Barry, Iris and Patty. Some versions of continuity and Elseworlds-type stories have given her speedster powers too, calling her Ms. Flash or Hot Pursuit. In the series she is set to be Joe West's new partner, replacing the lost Eddie Thawne, so this could set up quite an interesting dynamic. Shantel VanSanten has mostly been in teen dramas and horrors including One Tree Hill, The Final Destination and the lead role in Something Wicked, but now she's thirty she probably has to start playing grown-ups.

Jenna Dewan-Tatum
Lucy Lane (Supergirl)

The younger sister of Lois Lane, introducing Lucy into Supergirl makes the links to Superman even stronger. Like several of the characters on this list, she goes right back to the beginnings of the Silver Age, and has been in and out of comics ever since. She's often been romantically paired with Jimmy Olsen, and is his ex-girlfriend in the new series, so we can expect more love triangle stuff between the two of them and Kara. As with many of the characters in this series (including Hank Henshaw=Cyborg Superman, Winn Schott=Toyman, etc) Lucy has the potential to become a superpowered character in the future. In the comics she was one of several characters over the years to become known as Superwoman, in her case due to a containment suit that granted her Kryptonian attributes. A dancer by training, Jenna Dewan-Tatum has lately been in dramas such as American Horror Story. Her husband is Channing Tatum, who will soon be Gambit for Fox. Luc Lane was previously played by Peyton List in Smallville, and by cutie Maureen Teefy in the classic 1984 Supergirl movie.

Natalie Alyn Lind
Silver St. Cloud (Gotham)

A long-time love interest for Bruce Wayne in the comics, Silver St. Cloud even worked out that he was Batman. Of course, in Gotham we're catching both characters at a much younger age, but I think we'll be seeing a pre-teen romance going on here. Natalie Alyn Lind already has a fair bit of acting experience, having appeared in various series including One Tree Hill, Criminal Minds and The Wizards of Waverley Place. To the bes tof my knowledge this will be the character's first live action appearance.

Matt Ryan
John Constantine/Hellblazer (Arrow)

Bit of a cheat - this isn't new casting at all. However, the Arrow showrunners have confirmed that Matt Ryan will be returning to the role of Constantine following the cancellation of his own series after one season (which is a blow, because that became rather excellent by the end). He is set to appear in a season four episode entitled "Haunted." Presumably, this means the broadcast series of Constantine is part of the Arrowverse, although it could just be a case of cribbing the best actors like new Flash did with nineties Flash. Given the new focus on magical and mystical elements in the various series, we might see further appearances by Constantine down the line.

Updates will be appended as they're announced. Supergirl is also set to include the hero Red Tornado, as yet uncast.