DC on TV: Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Ok, they can cancel the DCCU now, the Flash tv universe wins, forever, (kinda flash spoilers)

because got King Shark, yeah he's an actual shark

Also, it's sad how much more impressive they managed to do him on a tv budget compared to the travesty of suicide squads killer croc

Oh and he's voiced by David Hayter.

Although, apparently he was expensive so he won't be showing up again too soon

[Scott]

Ok, they can cancel the DCCU now, the Flash tv universe wins, forever, (kinda flash spoilers)

 

Hidden Content

Now if only they could do that X4

Also love the CGI job in that episode compared to the Bane Atom Smasher's transformed state

[Celestia]

I hope that 30 seconds of screentime didn't damage their budget for this season too badly.

On another note, it was confirmed (source) that

Wally is Iris' brother (the one whose existence was established in the latest episode) rather than her nephew. I like this change honestly, it makes his eventual introduction potentially more interesting; not only is Iris the only one in the main cast who knows about him right now, but it'll make his appearance a bigger deal than "oh, here's your cousin or whatever, I guess".

Oh, and I hope Cisco tells the others about the stuff going on with him soon. Given this show's usual fast (ha) pace, I feel like it'll happen within the next couple episodes at least, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

In case anyone wanted it from the man himself, original Solid Snake is indeed King Shark

 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I just watched the second episode of Supergirl (my sisters recorded the premiere but I haven't watched it yet). At first I wasn't sure if I'd like it because, well, I'm a fan of Superman himself and don't really care particularly much about Supergirl; I prefer Clark to be the last Kryptonian, really. But I'm glad I gave it a try. It was 'ight. It wasn't great or anything (lots of cliches and lameness and even occasionally some boredom), but it was certainly good in places, and overall I was entertained. And they made enough Superman references to keep me relatively happy. I'd like to keep watching it.  Cat Grant is my favorite character x)

[Tara]

And now I've finally gotten around to watching the second episode of Supergirl.  General consensus is the same as the premier.  It's all right.

Really, the thing that I think grates me most about this series is the pacing.  It's one of those weird types of shows that's hard to explain.  It goes real fast, yet somehow still manages to feel like it drags.  Like, I don't know how to more properly word it.  I guess it's that they rush through a lot of events at a time, but there are so many things they go through in an hour-long time slot that it still feels like an eternity.

Next to that would have to be the fight choreography, which leaves a lot to be desired to say the least.  More specifically, I hate how the fights and the special effects mesh together, and it's not very good.  When Supergirl punches, the punch doesn't look as powerful as the effects lead us to believe.  I mean, I guess that's supposed to represent how effortlessly she does it, but it's distracting.  During the climatic fight with her aunt, for example, there were countless instances where they reused the same setup.  One character throws a light punch, and then a character flies off the screen like Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light.

I also really hate plots about two guys constantly in competition for the leading lady's affections, so that's a bit of a minus, but not as problematic as it usually is.

But anyway, there are some things to enjoy about the episode.  I thought Kara's struggle was once again a really interesting thing to watch.  I actually quite grew to appreciate Ms. Grant, because this episode does a fantastic job making her a more three-dimensional character, which is sort of what made her weak in the previous episode.  In this episode, we see that she's not an inherently bad person, as much as she is just a product of an environment that breeds and necessitates dominance and hostility.  We also have lines like "[As women] We need to try twice as hard to be seen as half as good as men," which I think speaks volumes of the type of life she's lived up to this point and is a much more poignant dialogue about gender dynamics than the previous episode's "Look at how we try to bring up gender dynamics constantly but then never actually go anywhere with them."

And I know it's only two episodes in so obviously this should be expected, but I'm glad that we're still sort of in the build-up phase for Kara as she slowly starts to establish herself.  It assures me that this show will have a gradual development as opposed to a constant status quo in the frame of two episodes.

The episode was enjoyable.  There's still a lot of little annoyances with it, and it's not a super professional show or anything, but it has me curious enough for the next episode, I suppose.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Ohh yeah, the fights and the special effects...I forgot to mention how awful they were. They were really bad x)

To be honest, while I enjoyed the episode well enough while I was watching it, whenever I think about it I kind of cringe. The entire thing was very cheesy in a bad way - cheesy enough to annoy, not cheesy enough to entertain, if that makes sense. Not enjoyably cheesy. And the entire thing came across as cliched and unoriginal in so many ways. (Of course, you should keep in mind that I don't particularly care for The Flash or Marvel movies (OK I only watched one) either, so my standards are probably different from other people's.) I mean, it was still kind of good in some ways, it's just...not that great overall I guess. I'll probably still watch the next episode...probably...maybe...if I feel like it...

I just bought the second season DVDs of Lois & Clark so maybe I'll watch that instead  

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I'm hoping things pick up in The Flash pretty soon. It's been good so far, don't get me wrong, but I still don't think anything has beaten The Man Who Saved Central City for me yet. I'm pretty excited to see Zoom so I'm hoping that will be when the episodes begin getting especially great, but right now, they're just kind of alright. Episode 3 was probably the weakest of Season 2 so far (Keep in mind that the UK is one episode behind, so I haven't seen Episode 5 yet). I just really hope Zoom's costume isn't a generic gray costume like the hint of him looked like in Episode 1.

[Scott]

I really can't look of Zoom without thinking of Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat

 

Or more like Noob Saibot ;D

 

[Marcello]

Since when does Sub-Zero look like that? oO

Ok, they can cancel the DCCU now, the Flash tv universe wins, forever, (kinda flash spoilers)

 

Hidden Content

Is that really fair? King Shark is a Shark/Human Metahuman and Killer Croc is a dude with a skin disease that makes him look reptilian. Both are captured well for what they are, imo. Killer Croc is hardly a travesty.

[Tara]

So I watched the third episode of Supergirl.

I don't know if it's just that I've grown used to the show's formula now or what, but I really enjoyed it.  Like, wow.  Don't get me wrong, it's still cheesy and the special effects are still lackluster, but the pacing of the episode, the character interactions, the villain.  This was a surprisingly fun spectacle that I actually enjoyed from beginning to end.  But that being said, I do have my issues with the episode.

Namely, I'm sick of them building up Superman as a messiah figure of sorts.  During this episode, Superman himself plays a vital role, but they abstain from showing his face.  I get that Superman is someone that Kara probably looks up to, but there's three problems with this approach.  One, everyone knows what Superman looks like.  I'm not just saying that because Superman is an iconic figure in pop culture, I'm saying that because literally everyone is familiar with him in this show.  Like, there's no point in veiling his face.  Second, they're cousins.  She knows what she looks like.  It's not like she's some random stranger who's been following in Superman's footsteps or anything like that.  She literally has seen his face plenty of times before.  Third, it's sort of annoying how a show about Kara establishing her own identity is still plagued with Clark Kent getting more of a buildup than her.

I also kind of think the plot was kind of poorly framed.  I mean, I think it's great that Kara is trying to establish herself as a unique entity independent of her cousin.  But this episode sort of makes her extremely unemapthizable when she shows clear intent on putting people in danger for the sake of doing so.  Like, I feel like Jimmy Olsen was the more responsible one, and so I empathized with him a lot more than our titular protagonist.

Also, isn't it dangerous for Clark and Kara to be IMing about superhero duties?  I mean, in fairness, they probably have immunity based on the fact that they're using "generic IM client because Skype wouldn't pay us to be featured" but I mean, I'm sure someone would find out that way, especially since they're doing it on a work computer.  Also, I find the concept of Superman IMing like a 2001 AOL commercial to be unreasonably hilarious.

But aside from that, it's still strangely just a really fun episode to watch.  Like I said, the pacing is good, the special effects are still awful but they're not as all over the place as they have been for various episodes.  The episode just seems to have a lot more focus and really benefits as a result.  Even the love triangle parts are actually really well done, and so while I'm not usually fond of them, I'm glad that if they have to be here, they're at least decently written.

I hope the next episode is more like this.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

My biggest peeve with both Supergirl and Flash is turning Iconic heroes/Villians turned heroes into nothing more than one and done cannon father. Fun Fact, Reactron was always begrudgingly a Supervillain, and became a hero, and eventually had a Grandson who was inspired by his Grandfather, and his God-father the golden age Atom. Know what his superhero name was? Atom Smasher, the same one who appears to be dead who the Flash killed

[Celestia]

So today's episode of Supergirl was intended to be next week's, they bumped How Does She Do It? after the attacks in France the other day. It'll be airing next week instead, presumably without edits.

Anywho, I haven't really been giving any thoughts on the show since the pilot yet, but hey, better late than never, right?

Long story short: I'm enjoying it a lot so far! Not quite as much as I enjoyed Flash's first season, but let's be fair, that's a really high bar. And for what it's worth I think this show has a ton of potential, and I sincerely hope that it'll survive long enough to improve. I think I said something similar back when I watched the leaked pilot, so uh, let's move on. I won't be "reviewing" by any means so much as just talking about whatever comes to mind with these episodes.

Stronger Together: I like (and I'm not being sarcastic here) how the classic Superman symbol tends to mean different things in different continuities. Sometimes it really is just an S for Super, sometimes it means hope, and here it means [see episode title]. Also--and this goes for all these episodes, not just this one in particular--Kara and Alex's sisterly bonding is adorable and sweet.

Fight or Flight: Not much to say about this one. I liked it, though. The way they're handing Superman and his appearances bugs me a bit still, but I'm sure that topics been discussed to death by this point. Also Hank Henshaw might be a cyborg already??? Glowing red eyes and all that? Hmmm.

Livewire: I liked Cat Grant already in the sense that she's entertaining, but now we're really seeing a more sympathetic side to her, which is nice. I like that she's starting to actually get to know Kara now. Unfortunately (for our heroine, anyway), I would not be surprised if that actually led to Cat figuring out Kara's secret. I mean, I can't be the only one who thinks that might be what they're going for? Might be a bit early to tell, tho'. Anyway, really liked this episode. The method of giving Livewire her powers was a bit contrived when I think about it, but eh, no big deal. I'm curious to see if we'll see metahumans in the future who have their powers naturally or if it'll mostly be due to other kinds of superhero/villain origins.

Also stop it with the gay jokes writers, it's kind of annoying. I will only forgive it if you're foreshadowing Kara realizing she's gay later when Batgirl shows up or something

Also, I find the concept of Superman IMing like a 2001 AOL commercial to be unreasonably hilarious.

Don't you recognize highly advanced Kryptonian technology when you see it?? That chat program was probably made by Jor-El himself when he got bored one weekend.

Still better than Skype, AM I RIGHT? #sickburns

[The Deleter]

New Legends of Tomorrow trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7LlmaFg0lw

Looks like it's got some pretty great special effects going on for it at this point. You can really tell DC is going all out with this show, and focusing on time travel is certainly going to create some great situations. Hope it'll end up at least as good as The Flash is overall.

Also, "I've seen Men of Steel die and Dark Knights fall..."

Guess Batman and Superman aren't completely off the table now?

[Celestia]

So today's Flash episode was pretty awesome. As one should expect from a mid-season finale. Although, I really wish I hadn't known ahead of time (due to a photo they released) that Wally was going to appear, since it would have been a nice surprise. Once we hit the halfway point of the episode I realized it was probably going to be something that happened near the end. Oh well, it's still really cool to finally see him.

Also I'm still amazed by that reveal in yesterday's Supergirl episode. Lots of great scenes other than that, too. I particularly loved the part where Kara stopped that robbery without her powers, or even any violence--definitely the kind of thing I'd expect from someone with the S-shield on their chest. Y'know, I had some mixed feelings about the show at first, but honestly, with each episode I've been enjoying it more and more.

Edited December 9, 2015 by Celestia

[Marcello]

Flash spoiler

Ok, it was sort of ridiculous that Cisco and Wells could find such a perfect reflection in the Trickster's eye with their computer, but Patty being able to see it on that small TV from a few meters away was just  completely, hilariously ridiculous. I seriously laughed out loud when she said that.

Also, you gotta wonder what Barry is thinking with having found out that Oliver has an illegitimate child last week and this week Joe also has one.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Dudes, apparently it's been confirmed for a while now, but he's coming back, and now we know when, in episode 15 we're getting the return of KING SHARK!... oh and the Diggles are visiting

http://comicbook.com/2016/01/06/exclusive-arrows-diggle-to-help-the-flash-take-on-king-shark/#Image2

Quote

EXCLUSIVE: Arrow's Diggle To Help The Flash Take On King Shark

Yesterday, ComicBook.com reported on an Instagram post from Arrow actor David Ramsey, in which he posed near a writers' room door and teased the possibility of a crossover with The Flash. 

Today, we have confirmed that, yes, Ramsey and his onscreen wife, The Walking Dead's Audrey Marie Anderson, are headed to The Flash for a one-episode crossover. The story will take place in the upcoming, fifteenth episode of The Flash.

"The Diggles arrive in Central City to help Barry take on King Shark who has escaped from ARGUS and is hellbent on completing his mission of destroying The Flash," showrunner Andrew Kreisberg told ComicBook.com.

Some of our readers had speculated that Diggle might head to Central City to chase down the villain, following King Shark's defeat at the hands of Harrison Wells earlier this season on The Flash. During that appearance, of course, King Shark appeared for a glorified cameo, which producers called "a very expensive thirty-five seconds" at the time.

King Shark, for those not in the know, is a humanoid shark-man. In the pre-Flashpoint continuity he resembled a Great White, as seen on The Flash, but more recently in the comics he's been depicted as a mutated hammerhead shark. Originally a Superboy villain, he was implied to have been descended from the Wild Men of Kamandi fame (his creator, Karl Kesel, was a big Jack Kirby fan). He would later go on to trouble everyone from Jimmy Olsen to Aquaman, and has served stints in the A.R.G.U.S.-backed Suicide Squad and the Secret Six. King Shark was rumored to be one of the characters in the Suicide Squad movie for a time.

"It was just fun for us, because obviously we can't afford to do an entire King Shark episode, so the idea that he's one of Zoom's minions," Kreisberg said back then. "He said, 'Zoom sent me here to kill you.' He's just the latest in another line, which does mean that there is a King Shark on Earth-1, now that we've designed him."

About a month later, they changed their mind about how obvious that was, and confirmed that King Shark would return for another episode in Season Two.

The Flash returns with new episodes on January 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

OK...I only caught a few glimpses of this Supergirl episode, but...

Spoiler

Supergirl not using X-ray vision to see that it was a doll and not an actual person crying for help? Heck, even I could guess that...and using ice to stop a bomb? UGGGHH.

On the flipside, from what little I saw, I thought Toyman was cool.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

On 1/19/2016 at 6:03 PM, Monkey Destruction Switch said:

OK...I only caught a few glimpses of this Supergirl episode, but...

  Hide contents

Supergirl not using X-ray vision to see that it was a doll and not an actual person crying for help? Heck, even I could guess that...and using ice to stop a bomb? UGGGHH.

On the flipside, from what little I saw, I thought Toyman was cool.

X-ray vision doesn't work on Lead, remember, lots of old(and iffy) toys are made of Lead

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

If memory serves, she didn't even try to use her X-ray vision, and as far as I could tell the box wasn't made out of lead and the toy inside didn't look like a real person, so she still should've been able to figure it out.

[Marcello]

First look at live-action Vixen

Quote

That's Megalyn Echikunwoke as the live action iteration of Mari McCabe, better known around these parts as Vixen. First appearing on CW Seed's digital animated series of the same name, Vixen will be appearing in live action for the very first time this year on Arrow.

http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2016/01/21/first-look-megalyn-echikunwoke-brings-vixen-to-live-action-life

Looks good.

[Scott]

So finally watched DC's Legends of Tomorrow. It was okay. Although I feel they really made Rip Hunter a bit of a Dr. Who rip-off...

 

Spoiler

He's British, Has a female companion (albeit AI) and his own ship. And he's a "Time Master"

 

[Ratcicle King]

Alright so, with Legends beginning pretty strong if I might say so and Flash getting closer and closer to the climax, I would like to discuss a few theories I have.

First, for Legends, which I think is pretty much confirmed at this point:

Spoiler

Connor Hawke's been confirmed to appear at some point when they go to the future, but not as Oliver's son and will take the mantle of Green Arrow. We'll also see an older Oliver which was also confirmed.

Honestly, I don't know about you guys, but just this set up already sounds like they're gonna go with a Batman Beyond approach to this, with Oliver choosing someone completely unrelated to him to take up the role of the next generation's Green Arrow and working as his mission control of sorts, also training him.

I have mixed feelings about this. For once it'd be pretty cool to see this set up as I love Batman Beyond. But on the other hand... They'd be throwing MORE Batman mythos into the Green Arrow show instead of Green Arrow's own mythos.

As for Flash, I have two ideas of who Zoom could be so I'll be calling these right now:

Spoiler

He's A Wally West, not sure if the same one from this Earth or from some other Earth. Notice how Wally is jealous of Barry for taking his place, or how Zoom went out of his way to avoid hurting the Wests, even when it would've been the obvious choice (He chose to attack Linda instead of Iris to get Barry's attention), and Wally does seem to have an addiction for racing, maybe Zoom has something similar? He wants to race and fight enemies who are stronger and faster just to beat them and take their speed, Wally races and beats faster racers and takes their cars.

Also from a storytelling standpoint, not only it's suspiscious as fuck to introduce Wally West during the threat of Zoom but also there's no way these storylines won't connect in the end somehow.

 

The other idea is Jay Garrick, let's be honest here, the Hunter Zolomon thing was a HUGE red flag. And the writers said Zoom's secret identity WON'T be Hunter Zolomon, so this could be them throwing a curveball at us, Jay Garrick isn't Hunter Zolomon, but Hunter Zolomon here IS Jay Garrick in a sense. Would explain why Jay has been training Barry, trying to get him to go faster and only tried to stop Wells when he used that serum that could kill Barry, so far, the only scene he had with Zoom was his own Flashback told from his point of view, would explain why he never caught Zoom. Not only that, but when you think about it, all the told them was pretty much trying to remove him as a possible suspect, he has no speed, even if he had, he's slower than Barry, he tries to be this nice friendly guy to everyone BUT Wells, who he knows he can't trust, but what if he doesn't trust Wells not because he thinks he can betray them for Zoom, but because he thinks Wells can betray Zoom instead. Also remember when his helmet flew from the vortex during season 1? The Reverse Flash had a small freakout and took that as his signal to get the fuck out of there asap, that's ALSO another huge red flag, why would the Reverse Flash be afraid of someone slower than the Flash, who the Reverse Flash can beat any day? Unless he knows something we don't, say, Garrick is Zoom, and he knows very well how dangerous Zoom is.

That said, the last few batch of episodes have been pretty good, tho' I'm still not sure about Arrow, they've been having a hard time to get back on track.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I haven't actually watched many Supergirl episodes all the way through, so I decided to today. I have to agree with my initial assessment of it, mostly - it's about five million miles away from being a great show, but it's not totally worthless either. While it's awfully mediocre and the writing is kinda bad, it's entertaining enough and always has a bit of good in it. I actually did get a little bit emotional at the end of this episode. I honestly think I might watch it a little more often in the future, just because, eh, why not. I can't call it a good show, personally, but it's not bad either, and it's kinda fun. And maybe it would do me better in life to be a little less picky and try to find more enjoyment in quasi-good things.

[Celestia]

There's a lot I enjoyed about this episode but I'm especially thankful for Bizarro not dying. Was kinda worried about how they'd actually end it, especially with this season of the Flash being more than happy with just killing off villains without a second thought and wasting their potential just like that. I know, different show, but yeah, I'm just glad they didn't take the easy way out.

Hyped for next week's episode, aka the "For The Man Who Has Everything" homage. I'm probably gonna cry a lot