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 Round-Up: Supergirl Season Four

Supergirl Season Four

Supergirl, however, keeps getting better.

The wonderful thing about this series is that it's about diversity and tolerance, and moreover, fighting for tolerance. In today's world, particularly today's America, this is the most important message. This is as broad as it could be, but the core targets for its focus are feminism and immigration, two things bound to make a lot of white guys very angry and send them to the internet spouting rage-fueled bile. The feminist aspect was a given, of course, given that this is a series focusing on a female superhero, but the immigration angle has been as important since the start, with the showrunners remembering that Supergirl and Superman are the story of All-American Heroes who came to the States as refugees.

For a while now, the universe of Supergirl (Earth-38, as it happens) has been a rather more utopian one than our own, where the President is a woman who very clearly beat Trump (or his Elseworlds analogue) and leads an America that welcomes extraterrestrial immigrants. While there have been anti-alien elements throughout, the series has been broadly consistent in portraying a world that accepts aliens. Two things have forced this to change. Firstly, real life politics can't be pushed aside forever; it's impossible to really comment on the state of the US today by going, “Wouldn't it be nice if the world were more like this?” Eventually, Supergirl's America had to begin to reflect the real world equivalent. Secondly, the alien acceptance angle sits awkwardly with the fact that the bulk of the villains on this series are alien criminals or invaders. It's hard to imagine Joe Public squaring this with a view of alien acceptance, so it's something that had to be addressed.

To this end, season four introduced a new character, Ben Lockwood, played with superb conviction and charisma by Sam Witwer. The TV version of Agent Liberty, Lockwood's story is powerful and chilling because it is so plausible. Indeed, it's the sort of thing we see in reality all the time, and his fall from grace is so upsetting because there are points where the viewer comes very close to agreeing with him. Lockwood never had a problem with aliens, but his father was a backwoods, anti-alien kind of guy. Only slowly, after catastrophe after catastrophe, does Lockwood turn from a tolerant, accepting man to a mouthpiece for the Far Right and subsumed by his hatred for alien beings. The major turning points are the Daxamite invasion of Earth and the attempted terraforming by Reign, the cataclysmic events that rounded off the previous two seasons respectively, which lost his his home and then his father.

This would have been convincing enough if that had been all that pushed him over the edge, but it's the little things that make it so much more effective. It's easy to see the parallel between the alien invasion driving people to hate alien civilians, just as Islamist terror attacks have led to a huge increase in hate crimes on ordinary Muslim citizens. It's the smaller things that slowly chip away at Lockwood, though, such as his father's steel business being pushed out by alien alternatives, and alien workers proving better at jobs than humans. It's not subtle, but this sort of thing isn't asking for subtlety. It's all the more effective for an American audience, I'm sure, in a country where “alien” - a terribly dehumanising word – is still the preferred term for a foreign national.

The anti-alien sentiment is given a huge boost when the existing President (Lynda Carter) is revealed as an alien herself, the sort of Republican wet dream that ran through the Obama administration when the opposition were desperately trying to come up with some evidence to support their claims that the POTUS wasn't legally American. It leads to a right-wing populist President, who happily uses Lockwood as his mouthpiece. Given that the core characters work as reporters and magazine editors in their day jobs, the line between the press' commitment to unbiased reporting and the moral commitment to fight for the right cause becomes a major sentiment.

However, there are more aspects to the series and its agenda of outspoken diversity. Most notable are the two new hero characters on the regular cast, Jesse Rath as Brainiac-5 (pushed up to main cast at the end of last season) and Nicole Maines as Nia Nal, aka Dreamer. I don't think there can be any question that Rath is playing Brainy as if he's autistic; although this isn't something that can necessarily be said to apply to the character, being an alien android and all, his delivery of lines, tendency to not focus on the other cast's eyeline and the writing of the character as struggling to navigate emotional relationships and everyday conversation can only be read this way. Is it right to characterise a robot like this? One of the worst things that autistic people hear is that they're perceived as “robotic” because of their way of communicating and expressing themselves. Nonetheless, Rath's performance is beautifully understated, utterly charming and very funny without the humour ever being at his expense, so personally I'm in favour of the approach.

Nicole Maines, on the other hand, truly breaks ground as the first transgender actor to portray a transgender character in this genre. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a trans superhero onscreen, and it's very rare to see it in comics. Gratifyingly, while her gender identity is very important to Nia and a significant aspect of her character, it's not all there is to her. She gets to be a new hero on the show, the precognitive Dreamer, and is also an alien settler. At first I wondered if this was really necessary, making her trans and an alien, but there's no reason that a character needs one defining characteristic as the “other.” People are complex and varied and can differ from the assumed “normal” in many ways. Maines gives a strong yet vulnerable performance as a character who is still finding her place in life, and she shares amazing chemistry with Rath. Take away the extraterrestrial topcoat, and you've got a story about two immigrants, one trans, one autistic, who slowly learn how to tell each other about their feelings. It's beautiful and it's bloody brilliant that we have genre TV willing to try these things.

Among the sterling work done with the new characters there's almost no room to praise the continued development of the relationships between Kara, Alex, J'onn and even boring old James. Although every relationship gets its moment, the core of Kara's story this year is her complex friendship with Lena Luthor (Kate McGrath). While it really stretches credulity at some points to believe that this genius can't work out that Kara is Supergirl (the phrase “galactically stupid” comes to mind), the edge it lends to their friendship is palpable. Into this the writers drop Lex Luthor, who was bound to show up eventually, but they wisely kept him aside until his presence was required to push things over the edge. While I love the tradition was of recasting actors from various Superman productions in new roles, I was absolutely ready to throw out the idea of Jon Cryer, formerly Lenny Luthor in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, as the new Lex. And I like that film, even if nobody else does! However, Cryer absolutely knocks it out the park, playing Lex with a huge chip on his shoulder and a desperate need for validation that propels his fight for power. It's a dead-on characterisation and his antagonistic relationship with Lena works well.

Of course, there's no point bringing in Lex if you're not going to have him mastermind some ridiculously complicated scheme. Adapting the classic Red Son storyline, albeit liberally, the season see a parallel plot with Kara's clone, the Russian-born Red Daughter, set up as her dark mirror. As well as giving Melissa Benoist the chance to show how flexible she can be in performance, it ties in nicely to the anti-alien storyline, a sentiment that Lex naturally would want to stoke. The season ties together with panache, accepting the odd slow-burner episode that could have been trimmed, and the finale packs a real punch. Plus we get Lex in his green-and-purple battle suit, and they even call the finale “The Quest for Peace.” That takes some guts.

Best episode of the season: “Man of Steel” - Lockwood's story.

Most pointless addition: Otis and Mercy Graves – Luthor's annoying henches.

Best monster moment: Menagerie as a knock-off Venom.

Superhero Shows Roundup: Supergirl season three

Suz and I have made a concerted effort to catch up with our comicbook TV viewing lately, particularly since the new season is now underway and we don't want to end up a year behind. That way lay spoilers and ruined punchlines. Being a fair bit behind and steamrollering through makes one-or-two episode reviews too much of a chore, so I've decided to give each series a quick overview.

Supergirl built on a promising and very entertaining first season with a second season that set out a clearer idea of what the show was. Although the legacy of Krypton and Kara's family was still part of the series' story, the second season had a wider focus on DC aliens and various character relationships.

Season three continues on that line, with the strongest elements remaining the core of the series. The series continues to be a boldly female-centred show, with the mix of heroes being somewhat skewed female in numbers but considerably so in terms of focus. It's no accident that this is a proudly emotional series, dealing with character relationships as much as alien infiltration and with emotional fallout as much as superpowered fisticuffs.

I surprised myself when I was thinking about the various main characters in this increasingly busy ensemble, in that the strongest character for me is Alex. Chyler Leigh has grown into her character brilliantly, giving a mature performance as a character physically tough and ballsy, yet also emotionally vulnerable and open. There's a strong line of development for Alex, as she deals with her newly accepted sexuality; her relationship with Maggie is her primary storyline in the first part of the season, but their different goals in life force them apart. I admire the writing for her character, in that she gets to act out certain destructive traits usually reserved for men: using alcohol and casual sex as a way to deal with heartbreak, but she also has the opportunity to move past these. (A quick one-nighter with Sara Lance in the "Earth-X" crossover sure helps, and got the shippers jumping about.)

However, Alex also gets to explore traditionally female traits, in particular her desire to become a mother (the very thing that causes the rift between her and Maggie). It's a strong character treatment that doesn't saddle her with just being "the butch one" or "the lesbian," but allows her a range of character elements and the chance to be a strong, flawed, interesting character. Over the course of the season, she gets to develop her emotional skills in a way that helps other characters as well.

Shen it comes to Supergirl herself, there's actually a fair bit of negative development, which is just as interesting. The problem with Kryptonian superheroes is that they're often just too good to be engaging, but there's a fine balance somewhere between Superman as the Boy Scout of the universe and Superman cracking necks on the big screen. I like how they're make Kara an incredible hero but at the same time seriously flawed as a person. She's frequently hypocritical and often selfish, which makes her all the more human. Kara goes through a lot of difficult emotional stuff this season, with huge developments that should be tremendously positive knocking her for six. Mon-El comes back through a wonderfully contrived time travel narrative designed to introduce the Legion of Superheroes to the CW multiverse. Chris Wood is brilliant as the older, more mature, more responsible version of Mon-El, imbuing him with some real gravitas even when he's wearing that utterly silly inverse Superman costume. On the other end of things, Kara discovers Argo City, the sole remaining part of Krypton (unless Kandor shows up in a jar someday), tempted to give up her life on Earth and settle there with her family. It's tempting to say that the Argo period is over too quickly, given that this is such a huge deal for Kara, but frankly it's not a terribly interesting place and we're just eager for her to get back to Earth. (BTW, has anyone bothered to tell Superman about this?)

Supergirl is a real ensemble show, and everyone gets some decent exploration. Even James, who still doesn't convince as Guardian, is used much better this season. His relationship with Lena Luthor didn't convince me immediately, but it was well-written and performed, but his best moments were in episode 19, "The Fanatical," which sees him contemplate shedding his mask and facing the reality of being a black vigilante in the States. Obviously, this is material featured far more heavily in Black Lightning and Luke Cage, but it's important to appear here. People protesting that not every black character in TV should have to deal with a racist storyline miss the point: that every black person in America (and pretty much, the West), has to deal with racism during their lives. Obviously, they're not generally acting as super-vigilantes, but it's an effective way to illustrate how people's attitudes change when confronted with someone of a different race.

Without going into too much depth on every regular character, Lena walks a fine line between friend and confidante of Kara and potential villain, and no way do I believe she doesn't know Kara's Supergirl. Winn has his best season yet, bringing the best moments of sidekick comic relief through sheer enthusiasm, while showing real believable human vulnerability as the one vaguely normal person surrounded by aliens and soldiers. I'm stoked to see how he gets on as a member of the Legion, because Jeremy Jordan has been quietly brilliant this year. I'm still annoyed, though, that he and Cisco never got to meet and geek out together.

David Harewood has shown what a fine actor he can be when given some decent material. Given that Kara, Mon-El and J'onn have all lost their peoples, it's J'onn who really displays the aching loss of it. Reuniting him with his father, Myrrn, is a brilliant move, and is so much stronger emotionally than seeing Supergirl reunite with her mother on Argo. Thanks to a dignified and moving performance by Carl Lumbly, what could have been a mawkish storyline is incredibly affecting, as Myrrn suffers the Martian equivalent of Alzheimer's. Even with all the over-the-top sci-fi trappings, it's profoundly moving.

Unfortunately, the overarching storyline, of Reign and her sisters threatening to devastate the Earth, just isn't strong enough to sustain the season. Odette Annable is perfectly good in the role, and is very sympathetic and likable as Reign's alter ego, Sam, but Reign is such a dull, one note character it's hard to stay interested in her. The other two, Pestilence and what's-her-name, are even less interesting, and frankly it's a relief they don't last long. I understand it's important to have a villain capable of besting Supergirl and also to show the difference between the human side and the Worldkiller, but it ends up as a season of a villain with no personality.

Which is the only real negative in what's been a very strong season, for a series that has always had its strengths in the emotional storylines. Some more quick praise: for young Emma Tremblay as Sam's daughter Ruby, who is frankly quite brilliant; for the truly stunning Amy Jackson as Imra, and how fun is it to have Saturn Girl in the series; and lovely Jesse Rath as Brainiac-5, the 31st century android who, wonderfully, is going to stick around as Winn's replacement. (I still don't quite understand the Brainiac family tree, especially with the various continuities in play, especially as we've already met Brainiac-12, but nevermind. In the comics Brainy and Supergirl have a thing, which could be fun to see onscreen, if supremely unlikely.)

One of the more consistent, arguably tiresome, threads of Supergirl is Kara's absolute refusal to kill, even when her enemies are threatening to annihilate the entire population of the Earth. It's one of those arguments that could go on forever, of course, although I'd say that the devastation caused when she finally kills Reign is more an argument that they should have killed her sooner, rather than when she was at full destructive power. In any case, due to a nifty bit of time travel that would make Christopher Reeve proud, Kara creates a much more pleasant outcome, but as we know, that sort of thing has consequences.

REVIEW: Justice League

SPOILERS

Comics to Screen: Supergirl 2-10

WE CAN BE HEROES

This episode involves two main themes, both, in essence, revolving around the theme of heroism and what it means. Primarily, we have the nature of what makes someone a hero. Is someone a hero if they simply engage in stereotypically heroic actions without any true compassion to back it up, as is the case with Mon-El, who uses his Daxamite powers to save people mainly so that he can impress Kara? Or is it someone's intentions that makes them a hero, as with James and Winn, who are finally revealed to Kara as the Guardian and his sidekick. They have no powers and fuck up as often as they do good, but they're doing so from a genuine desire to help people.

All this is run through Kara's own attitudes; as the central character of the series, she's the one who makes the judgments at the end of the day. It's refreshing though that James calls her out on this. Just because she's the city's resident premier superhero doesn't give her the deciding vote on the roles others play. (And she doesn't have the clout that, say, her cousin would.) Equally, though, James is clearly as motivated by his jealousy of Kara (and perhaps Mon-El), as he is by nobler reasons. 

I'm glad that there are no clear-cut answers. The charaters are both right and wrong in many ways. Mon-El doesn't think it matters why he's saving lives, as long as he's doing it, while it makes the difference to Kara. She's right to point out that James (and especially Winn) are putting themselves in danger because they have no superpowers, but then, neither does Alex, and she runs into battle with aliens on a weekly basis. Kara seems obsessed with making Mon-El into a hero to match up with his powers, but says to James that powers aren't all it takes, because if they were, Livewire would be a hero. 

Tying into this is the secondary theme, that of prejudice and prejudgment, and how this undercuts Kara's, and J'onn's, heroism. Kara refuses to believe that Livewire could possibly be innocent, until she sees visual evidence that she has been abused and used against her will. She also harbours lingering prejudices against the Daxamites, something that is holding her back even as her feelings for Mon-El grow. It's a relief that he finally admits his feelings for her, but she can't (yet) do the same. 

J'onn is far more prejudiced, which throws his character into a very poor light. While he has been the victim of supression on Mars (as a Green Martian), and prejudice on Earth (as both an extraterrestrial and a black American), he is, albeit understandably, prejudiced against the White Martians who destroyed his people. M'gann has been locked up under the DEO for what must be weeks, with no consideration of due process or her rights. This sort of shit goes on all the time in The Flash, and it's no more palatable there, but it's perticularly galling here as she's been so clearly noble and heroic herself. J'onn finally overcomes his prejudices and makes a huge step forward as a character, but it's a nasty side to both J'onn and Kara that keeps coming forward.

That's not to say I disapprove of the storyline. It's far more interesting to have flawed heroes, and sci-fi allows for a certain allegorical approach (I am reminded of Worf's attitudes to the Romulans on Star Trek: The Next Generation). Both Kara and J'onn have issues to deal with because of their backgrounds, but now that they're on Earth they're called out on it and made to deal with their preconceptions. While this isn't the most exciting episode of the series, it has important things to say.

SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN

Jimmy Olsen, of course, goes way back. He arguably made his first appearance as early as 1938, in an issue of Action Comics, only a few months after Superman himself. The newspaper boy who appears isn't named, but he does look like Jimmy, right down to the bow-tie. Jimmy's inarguable debut, though, happened on the radio, in the series The Adventures of Superman in 1940, played by Jackie Kelk. As a chatty sidekick to Superman and Clark Kent alike, he was quickly absorbed into the comics, appearing on-and-off for a few issues before disappearing again. It was only when Jack Larson played the character on the TV version of The Adventures of Superman in 1953 that he became a mainstay of the comics.

He became popular enough that in 1954 he received his own title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. During this series' frankly astonishing twenty-year run, Jimmy was put through a variety of unlikely transformations, from Flash-like super-speed, to increased intelligence and elasticity. At one point he was transformed into an alien from Jupiter, and on another occasion, he switched bodies with a gorilla. There was quite a lot of stuff with gorillas, but they seem to be the province of The Flash these days.

The series also introduced Lucy Lane, who became Jimmy's ongoing love interest, although he also had dalliances with Supergirl. Jack Kirby took over the title on 1970, specifically because he wanted free reign to play with an existing title and Superman's Pal was one of DC's lowest selling titles at this point. He revamped the series with more impressive villains and gave Jimmy his own team, the Newsboy Legion, characters he had initially created for Star-Spangled Comics in the forties. Also returning from that title was the Guardian, the Captain America-like alter ego of Jim Harper.

Jimmy has appeared many times onscreen over the years. Best known is Marc McClure's portrayal, visually close to the look of the comicbook original however dated that appeared. McClure first appeared in 1978's Superman: The Movie alongside Christopher Reeve. going on to appear in its three sequels and in the 1984 Supergirl film starring Helen Slater. He was later played in the alternative continuation Superman Returns in 2006, played by Sam Huntington.

The popular 90s series Lois and Clark featured Jimmy is a prominent role. Michael Landes played the character as a cocky up-and-comer for the first season, but was replaced by the better-remembered Justin Whalin, who was more like the goofy rookie of the comics. Other actors who have played Jimmy include Aaron Ashmore in Smallville (whose brother Shawn was almost cast in the role for Superman Returns), and the late Tommy Bond in the 1948 Superman cinematic serial and its 1950 sequel, Atom Man vs. Superman.

Mehcad Brooks is, clearly, something of a departure. Aside from his race, the character as portrayed by Brooks is quite different from the naive sidekick of the comics and popular films. Confident, athletic and strong, Brooks's James Olsen has not only become editor of CatCo, but has transformed himself into the Guardian in place of Jim Harper (who has appeared in Supergirl). In many ways, Winn is more like Jimmy as we remember him. There are some elements of the character that follow on from the comics, though, such as his relationship with Lucy Lane and his brief attachment to Supergirl. And he is, of course, Superman's pal. It's just a shame he's so terribly dull (and he doesn't wear a bowtie).

Comics to Screen: Supergirl 2-9

SUPERGIRL LIVES

You could be forgiven for expecting something rather special from this, Kevin Smith's first episode of Supergirl. After all, his directorial debut on The Flash, season two's "The Runaway Dinosaur," was a thing of beauty. What's more, as the title hints, "Supergirl Lives" is loosely based on Smith's script for the troubled and long-dead feature film Superman Lives, although, from what I've read of that production, the only thing that has really survived is Kara being left powerless due to the lack of a yellow sun. 

What we actually get is a fairly low-key start to the semi-season, even as it spans light years. Much of the episode takes place on Slaver's Moon, a hellish planetoid bathed under the light of a red dwarf star, leaving both Kara and Mon-El little better than ordinary humans. (As inhabitants of the same system, it makes sense that they react the same way to stellar conditions. For all we know, Slaver's Moon might even be in the Kryptonian system, although it's probably unlikely.) Much of the purpose of the episode seems to be tying up the loose ends from the previous episode "Survivors," with the villainous Roulette still on the loose. The alliance of Roulette and the Dominators, while tying various elements of the Supergirl/Arrowverse together, feels like an odd mix and doesn't really work.

Where the episode succeeds is in the development of two of its recurring male characters. Jeremy Jordan has really come into his own as Winn, now that the character has been allowed to get away from the confines of CatCo and become more than a second-tier love interest for Kara. Winn's latest role as sidekick to the Guardian is more believable than James becoming the superhero himself, but as a distinctly un-buff, un-powered individual, it's entirely fitting that Winn would be overwhelmed by the threat and violence of the situations in which he finds himself. Jordan portrays Winn's journey from post-traumatic stress through reluctant heroism to true bravery rather wonderfully.

Chris Wood gets more likeable as Mon-El with each episode, and this instalment sees him finally accept his fate as a superhero without losing any of his layabout charm. As well as finally kicking his story into high gear (with more developments in his relationship with Kara to come as a result), the aliens searching for him at the episode's close raise interesting questions about his background. Do we know the truth about his life back on Daxam? There should be some fun revelations to come later in the season.

The real star of the episode, though, is the stupid comedy alien called Joe, who appears to have wandered in from a children's series filming on the same planetoid.

WHO REVIEW: 2016 Xmas Special - The Return of Doctor Mysterio

It's been a desolate year for Doctor Who fans. A whole 365 days to wait between episodes, the longest gap we've had since the series was revived back in 2005. All we've had to fill the void in the meantime was the disappointing spin-off Class and the animated release of the fan favourite The Power of the Daleks. (At least, that's the case onscreen. Doctor Who has been exceptionally well-presented in other media this year, with six incarnations heading their own Titan comicbook series and a whopping eleven in Big Finish audios.) Still, we do have the now-traditional Christmas special, now such a mainstay that its absence from the BBC schedules is unthinkable.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio (named for the series' Mexican title, a name Peter Capaldi reportedly adores) is a straightforward adventure, light of complexity and high on fun. It doesn't feel particularly “special,” although its status as the only episode of the year gives it a little more clout. It isn't even especially Christmassy, with the festive trappings limited to the opening scenes. Still, after the exceedingly festive Last Christmas in 2014, a couple of years of less snow-covered adventures is no bad thing. It's an episode with nothing more sophisticated to say than “look, it's Doctor Who does superheroes!” and that's fine. I don't understand the view of some fans who attack this idea. Yes, it's derivative, but Doctor Who has often been at its best when it was copying other things. Do fans complain about The Brain of Morbius being “just Doctor Who does Frankenstein” or The Enemy of the World being “just Doctor Who does Bond?”

Specifically, this is Stephen Moffat's love letter to the Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve Superman films, although there are nods to other properties. Moffat has spoken at length about how Clark Kent is his favourite superhero, specifically the man behind the Superman, and it's easy to see why. Lois and Clark is a timeless story that asks us to accept a ludicrous premise – that a woman can't recognise a man in two different guises – in order to play a farcical love story. It's exactly the sort of thing that's up Moffat's alley, and Doctor Mysterio plays out pretty much as you'd expect it to. It's perhaps an oversight, though, to more or less ignore the modern superhero movie genre, something that is ripe for its own parody. Nonetheless, it makes sense for a Christmas Day treat; Superman – The Movie is exactly the sort of feelgood family film people sit down to watch together on the day.

As always, success hangs on the writing and the cast, which come together to produce a very enjoyable hour. As is traditional, the American characters are not played by American actors; Justin Chatwin is Canadian and Charity Wakefield is from very near my bit of England. They both inhabit their roles perfectly. Chatwin plays Grant as a kind, witty if unconfident gent, very Clark Kent indeed, although his mannerisms (and costume) as the Ghost are more Batmanesque, all steely earnestness and deadpan delivery. His power set is, however, 100% Superman, and this remains the main basis for the character. Wakefield embodies her pseudo-Lois Lane just as well, someone so focussed on certain aspects of her life that it's jut about believable she can miss something “too stupid to be allowed to continue.” Of course, a nanny is just about the worst possible job for a part-time superhero to take on, but that's all part of the conceit, and Moffat's script enjoys poking fun at these small absurdities.

The casting of Grant's younger selves is absolutely spot on, with Logan Hoffman and Daniel Lorente working perfectly as the boy and teen versions respectively. They share some excellent chemistry with Capaldi, who is finally being allowed to use his natural flair for kids in his performance as the Doctor. The high school scene is a particularly lovely little scene, but it's kid Grant who'll stick in my memory most. With that much comicbook art on his walls and a very snazzy set of dinosaur jammies, he's the coolest kid ever to appear on Doctor Who.

It's a very nice touch correlating the absence of Doctor Who with the Doctor's twenty-four year time-out with River. The real surprise here is how well Nardole works. As I've said before, I like Matt Lucas, but he was wasted in The Husbands of River Song with a stupid, one-note comedy character that wasn't very funny. This is isn't quite the revamp that Donna Noble got, but the refined new Nardole actually works very well as a companion. The comedy moments work better, and Lucas adds a real pathos to the serious moments. Nardole acts rather like a low-key agent in this episode, who keeps the Doctor focussed and points out his errors. I'm not convinced he can work well throughout a whole season, but we'll see how it runs.

There's a nice about-face regarding the villains of the episode. Adetomiwa Edun (another Brit) plays Mr Brock, blatantly set up to be the grand, Lex Luthor-esque villain, before the alien/German (delete as applicable) Dr Sim (Aleksander Jovanovic) pulls his brain out. It was a surprise to see the head-splitting aliens from last year's special return, but it was written right there, in the name Harmony Shoal. This is, of course, about three thousand years before the previous episode, making it even more of an expected and skewed two-parter. Also, I had hoped the brain aliens would be the Morpho brains from The Keys of Marinus, but that's ridiculously obscure. That'd be like bringing the Movellans back, or something.

Comics to Screen: Supergirl 2-1 & 2-2

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERGIRL 

THE LAST CHILDREN OF KRYPTON

Supergirl kicks off its second season with a much-needed acceptance. The first run pussyfooted around the absence of Superman in a distracting fashion that just drew attention to the fact the Man of Steel was always hiding offscreen. Finally, he swoops in to help Kara face some celebrated Super-foes. So we get a new Superman, a new Lena Luthor and a new Metallo... and it really works. The dialogue is as corny and laboured as ever, but it's delivered with such well-meaning earnestness it's still impossible to not love this nonsense.

There's a lot going on in these episodes, with the decks being given a good shuffle for the new season. Cat Grant is signing off, and while it's all very beautifully played, the series really isn't going to be the same without Callista Flockheart's impeccable queen. Instead, we now have Kara working as a mild-mannered reporter, a development I'm not keen on. Must she be exactly like Clark Kent? Predictably, her boss is tough and impossible to please, but seemingly without any of the charisma or redeeming qualities her previous boss had... so he's just an arsehole. Meanwhile, the writers take a huge backtrack on Kara's relationship with James, presumably because they've realised he's actually quite dull.

In a series that has so far struggled to produce effective male characters (not that this isn't a refreshing reversal), Tyler Hoechlin is fine casting as Superman. While he doesn't have the cinematic charisma of Henry Cavill, he brings some of the purer character of Christopher Reeve or Brandon Routh. His joyful team-up with Kara is infectiously fun, even if they do start to become a bit nauseating, and the show's creators wisely allow Supergirl to retain top billing. Equally wisely, the Kara/Clark relationship is used to examine the Kara/Alex sister relationship. It works far better than a mere star cameo.

Superman's presence also brings out the best in characters such as Winslow and J'onn J'onnz. The Manhunter is initially at odds with Superman for his use of kryptonite, and while he eventually comes round to his way of thinking, I'm completely with J'onnz on this one. The Earth was just invaded by an army of Kryptonians - of course they need to keep some kryptonite on standby! On the villain side of things, I'm sure we can expect the lovely Katie McGrath to return to show a more sinister side to Lana Luthor, but it's only in the second episode that we get some genuine threat. Metallo is the immediate problem, but now Cadmus have revealed themselves to the world there's a new sense of danger to the core cast. However, I was quite convinced that the mysterious alien survivor who so violently awakes at the episode's end was to be Cadmus's planted Superboy clone, something I've since learned is completely wrong. Still, we'll meet him properly in the next episode.

Meeting Metallo

Metallo is a perfect example of the DC school of villain names. He's made of metal, do you see? Fiendishly clever. There were a few Metallos before the classic cyborg version debuted in the late fifties. Both John Corben and his brother Roger existed as Metallo at different points, each of them saved after a terrible incident left them at death's door. Their bodies replaced by mechanical exoskeletons and powered by a heart of kryptonite, both versions of Metallo became recurring nemeses for Superman. As well as the usual super-strength and near-invulnerability you'd expect from a cyborg, Metallo's kryptonite core emits radiation harmful to Kryptonians. In some versions, such as Supergirl's, he can fire beams of kryptonite energy from his heart. Later versions have been upgraded by such villains as Brainiac and Neron to have new abilities, such as a T-1000-esque metamorphic power, or the ability to absorb other mechanical items into his being. Some versions became absolutely gigantic.

The New 52 imprint rebooted Metallo as the John Corben in the supersuit "Metal-0," and linked his origins to the experiments of John Henry Irons, aka the superhero Steel. The John Corben Metallo has been a foe in several TV series featuring Superman, including Superboy, Lois and Clark and Smallville. Supergirl is unusual in forcibly creating a second Metallo so that both Superman and Supergirl can be battled in their own base cities.

REVIEW: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Firstly, let's just get it out there: Batman v Superman isn't very good. I don't think there's going to be any argument there. Personally, I didn't think it was as terrible as many people are saying. I found a lot to enjoy. But having criticism dominated by whether a production is very bad or merely quite bad is not a desirable position for any production to be in. Naturally, the movie will make a ton of money, because it's a major event: the first time ever that the two most recognisable superheroes in pop culture have come together, in live action, on the big screen. Which is more to the point. Batman and Superman deserve better than this for their first proper cinematic outing together.

There's a lot here I'm on board with. Surprisingly, I really rate Ben Affleck as Batman. I was as dubious as anyone when that casting was first announced, but it works for this take on the Caped Crusader. Batman can, and has, been many things over the years, and it's interesting to see something a little different to previous cinematic versions. Joining Bruce Wayne years into his career as Batman, embittered and resigned to this endless fight, offers plenty of potential for interesting storytelling. There's no way of getting around it, this version of Batman is trigger-happy and genuinely psychotic, but the glimpses we have of his past - post-Joker, post-Robin - give us tantalising hints as to how he became such. I love the conceit of having Superman be the new guy, crashing into Batman's world and upsetting the balance of his worldview. There's a satisfying strangeness in hearing Bruce Wayne call Clark Kent "son."

I'm also one of the few who liked Man of Steel. I get what Zack Snyder wants to do, by exploring Superman as the modern America, representing the potential of great good, against the danger of unfettered power and collateral damage. I see what he's exploring. Batman and Lex Luthor both have a point here. Superman is potentially the most dangerous being in the world and the desire to keep him in check, to have safeguards against him, makes sense. We know he's a hero, but he has to earn that place in the fictional world. There are better ways of exploring this, though. Nobody communicates in this film. There's barely a line of dialogue between Bruce and Clark that hasn't already been heard in the trailers. There's never any particularly clear reason why Clark is so determined to stop Batman, and there's the overwhelming sense that if the characters just spoke they would actually cut to the chase and sort this out by the halfway point. Despite having a ton of things to cover, both in itself and to set up DC's new cinematic franchise, Batman v Superman is overlong. The first half hour is, simply put, dull, and this has a massively negative effect on the film as a whole. It never quite recovers from the trawl through the first act, so even once it gets going, there's a lot of good will lost.

While Affleck impresses, Henry Cavill doesn't get to do much as Superman except scowl. OK, neither does Affleck, but dramatic scowling is Batman's thing. I enjoyed Cavill's performance in Man of Steel, but he has little to work with here. I've only good things to say about Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Jeremy Irons - whose Alfred reinvents the character as Q to Bruce's Bond - but the standout is Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonderwoman. Casting a talented actress who has been both a model and a soldier in her career is perhaps the perfect decision for Wonder Woman, and Gadot is very easily the best thing about this movie. Admittedly, for a large part of the film she mostly gets to smolder in provocative dresses - for the same reason that Amy Adams has one of her major scenes naked in the bath - but she has a powerful presence whenever she's on screen.

On the other hand, we have Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I tried to keep an open mind about this one, but it really is the worst case of miscasting I've seen in a long time. It's not purely the actor who's wrong, the entire conception of the character is a mistake. There's not a thing here that recollects Lex Luthor in the comics or any previous iteration. The eccentric, babbling youngster is more like the Riddler, and having the Riddler almost bring down Superman is as poor as it sounds. This Lex is driven by daddy issues, and I can only assume that in this universe the real Luthor is dead and this is his brat offspring. At least he seems to be having fun, which is more than you can say for anyone else in this movie. There's some good material to be had from his interactions with Holly Hunter's Senator Finch, but god, that poor woman has to deliver some of the worst dialogue in recent memory. It's as if the script is trying to sabotage her performance.

Which is a shame, because - CG overload accepted - once the battle finally hits, the film goes into melodramatic overdrive. The fight between Batman and Superman is just as dramatically over-the-top as we'd hope, and, once it twists into the battle against Doomsday and brings Wonder Woman into the mix, it's spectacular. Lex's back-up plan, resurrecting Zod as a malformed killing machine, would have been a great surprise if it hadn't already been revealed in the trailers, but it still works. I'm all up for three heroes fighting a monster, and for me, this is what it's all about. Operatic and ludicrous, like a superhero fight should be.

So, while I found much to enjoy, it's too little to save the film. When looking at the films of both Batman and Superman in the colour era, Batman v Superman is probably the second weakest of each run (I've leave it to you to guess which of each hero's movies I think is worse). The biggest problem is how joyless it all is. I'm not averse to dark and issue-driven takes on popular heroes, and these kinds of productions can work. Jessica Jones is dark. Daredevil is dark. But they both have room to have fun and entertain. While I might question the wisdom of producing a Batman/Superman film that's unsuitable for kids, I can see why it's been done. However, it can, and should, be fun.

REVIEW: Supergirl - pilot episode

So, it's been long enough now since the pilot episode of this series was shown at ComicCon and subsequently leaked onto the internet for me to download it, watch it and give my opinion. I won't post details of how to illegally download it, but it's not exactly difficult to find. Following the previous leak of the extended promo for the series, there's not much left to spoil. That was the shorter cut of this episode, designed to sell the show to the top brass, and frankly it's hard to believe that these leaks are anything other than deliberate PR moves. Anyway, we know when WB haven't planned a leak, because they get pissy about it.


Before watching this, I finally got round to watching The Flash, the CW's second superhero show after Arrow. While Arrow left me a little cold, The Flash was a joy from start to finish, and it's gratifying that two series with such different approaches to their genre can co-exist and crossover. Supergirl, while not a CW series, is, like Arrow and The Flash, the creation of Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, so hopes are high. Judging by the first episode, Supergirl is going to follow the formula and feel of The Flash more than anything, embracing the silliness and straightforward heroics of its source material and the sheer fun of the comicbook world. Some turned their noses up at the promo version, due to its focus on the day-to-day working girl life of Kara Danvers, our heroine. Yes, it's all very Devil Wears Prada and that sort of thing, but really, what's the problem with that? The objections to the approach were basically as follows:


“This is a girls' series!” So what? There are plenty of “boys' series” around featuring superheroes, and frankly, while plenty of women enjoy those, there's certainly room for a show that is directed more at female viewers. And anyway, just because a programme is designed for girls, doesn't mean boys can't enjoy it.


“It's sexist.” Nonsense. I can understand this opinion, of course; the idea that a female superhero should be worrying about her bitchy boss and swooning at boys could come across as very sexist. However, it's really not very different to how Clark Kent or Barry Allen spend their personal and office hours. As for Kara spending a great deal of time picking out her outfit: the look's important, and have you seen how much the Flash or Iron Man worry about their look in the field? More than Supergirl, I can tell you. Also, while we're on the subject, the costume is spot-on, and extra marks for explicitly dismissing an extra-revealing sexed-up version during the episode.


“There's not enough superhero stuff.” A fair point, concerning the promo, but the episode as cut for broadcast gets the balance exactly right. After a prologue designed to set up the show's mythology, with a young Kara sent to Earth from the dying Krypton (told with great economy and clarity), some time is spent dealing with the now adult Kara's personal and working life. There's some to-ing and fro-ing between her and her sister, Alex, concerning whether she should use her powers or hide them for her own safety. At about the halfway mark, it's decided: of course she should use her flippin' powers! Get the best friend on board, design an outfit, and go out saving people.


This approach is just right, balancing the necessary origins and development with the need to get this show underway and having fun. It's fast-paced, and while this does necessitate some clunky exposition – a genre-wide failing – it means we're straight on the way to having fun. The promo is basically just the pilot's first half, and while Kara's ordinary girl life is clearly going to continue to be the backbone of the series, her heroic efforts are at the forefront of storytelling. It also looks fantastic, with effects on a par with The Flash, currently the series to beat when it comes to televisuals. Kara's first “mission,” the rescue of a crashing plane, looks as good as anything seen in superhero cinema, and the montage of mini-missions sets up her character and role in the series with ease and style.


The leading lady, Melissa Benoist, is charmingly awkward as Kara, imposingly heroic as Supergirl, and utterly captivating as both. She's also, pleasantly, not absolutely tiny; very slim, by any measure, but tall enough and broad-shouldered enough to convince as a powerful woman who can land a punch on an alien. Standing out among her co-stars is Mehcad Brooks, as James Olson. After years of somewhat nebbishy Jimmy Olsons, this older, sexier, more assured version of the character is a breath of fresh air. He's the one who is confident in the world of superheroics and what it entails, and is someone for Kara to look up to. It took me a little longer to warm to Chyler Leigh and Jeremy Jordan, but by the end of the episode they'd been cemented as fine members of the core cast. Leigh is Alex Danvers, and while it seemed they were setting up an unnecessarily antagonistic relationship between the sisters, resolving this and having her as Kara's contact in the series version of the MiB makes sense, if being a rather convenient bit of plotting. Jordan is Winn Schott, who gets the obligatory friendzone role, and also has the potential to become a villain somewhere along the line for those who know the mythology (more shades of The Flash series there).


David Harewood is perfectly fine and imposing as Hank Henshaw, leader of the alien hunting organisation, but his character is lazily written. He's a simple cypher, a continually abrupt and aggressive boss, who “doesn't trust aliens” and has no other character traits. Hopefully he'll be developed somewhat before his own inevitable turn to villainy. Calista Flockhart isn't particularly good as Kara's boss, the uber-bitchy Cat Grant, but again, she doesn't have much to work with. She just has to stalk her office putting people down. Again, with some actual character development, she might be something. Of the other cast, this episode's minor villain, Vardox, was broadly but entertainingly portrayed by The Mentalist's Owain Yeoman. Even though he does appear to be half-Klingon as portrayed here. Casting Dean Cain and Helen Slater as Kara's adoptive parents is a nice touch, too, continuing a long tradition of recasting stars from Superman and Supergirl productions in small roles alongside their successors.


One problem with the set-up is the big, Superman-shaped shadow cast over it. Throughout the episode we are reminded that Kara is Clark's cousin, and that the Big S is watching over her, this world's number one – maybe only - hero. Unable to properly show the character, he's a vague presence that is unable to fully be resolved in the story. If the series continues to take this approach, viewers are going to wonder where he is and why he isn't actually stepping in to help his cousin deal with increasingly powerful threats. That's another issue: supposedly, a prison ship from the Phantom Zone crashed on Earth ten years ago, and its various escapees have been lying low ever since. While this will keep the series in baddies for the foreseeable, it's very hard to swallow that all these aliens have been keeping quiet and successfully hidden on Earth all this time, especially if most of them are as absurdly aggressive as Vartox.


There's also the question of how this series will tie into other productions. Understandably, its creators are interested in crossing it over with their other shows, and while they're on different networks, ownership issues aren't relevant (CBS co-owns the CW). Something could be worked out, but Supergirl doesn't seem to be part of the Arrowverse, where there are now many, many superheroes, nor do the Arrow and the Flash appear to live in a world protected by Superman. It's also certainly not tied into the current movie version of Superman, with the DC movies seemingly kept very much separate to anything on TV. While I'd love to see a crossover as much as the next geek, it shouldn't be at the cost of maintaining some level of story plausibility.



While there's some definite room for improvement on Supergirl, it's hard to think of a pilot episode that couldn't be said of. With some development of certain characters, and so long as they don't rely on alien-of-the-week for too long, this show could really be something. Great fun, with some real potential. Series proper starts in October.