And the Heroes Return
Forget what the CW wants to call it, DC’s TV shows on the CW will always be the Arrowverse to me. That’s where it all started whether they want to still acknowledge it or not. Despite a pandemic that has a fatality count reaching half a million people just in the US, the actors of the remaining shows have gone back and started working on their shows, many of which were cut short due to COVID early last year. Given everything that has been going on, I think we could all use some light, fun, and super-heroes in our lives right now.
The CW premiered their season with Batwoman which gave us a fresh start on things and set the bar high for the rest of the shows. Black Lightning was the next out of the gate with it’s fourth and final season. I still need to catch up on this one so don’t worry about any spoilers this time around. I’m just hoping that they give the show a more super-hero feel for it’s last season. Given that Black Lightning, Thunder, and Lightning all had super-suits, it was always disappointing that the bad guys tended to be “normal people” even if a few had abilities. Superman and Lois premiered tonight and I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet but I can’t wait to get to sit down for it. The revelation during Crisis on Infinite Earths that Clark and Lois have SONS (not just Jonathan) was big news. We just have to see how well this risk works. Messing around with minor or less well known characters is one thing, but changing something like that with Superman will mean having to do it for good reason and do a good job regarding it not to have fans get annoyed. (And we all know they can with any changes to their favorite characters.) Flash’s premiere was originally planned for today but was pushed off a week for the double length Superman launch. Flash really got left on a cliffhanger given the way COVID affected filming so it should be interesting to see where they take the show the rest of the season.
This still leaves us with a few shows. Stargirl, which originally aired its 13 episodes on the DC Universe platform and then repeated the show on the CW, is now solely on the CW with the DC app going to just comic books. (You can still find a lot of the stuff on HBO MAX which will have a lot of new DC stuff coming up. I just binge re-watched Stargirl on there recently.) I wasn’t sure about the show when I first saw the pictures advertising the show but quickly became a fan of it. I’m a big JSA fan so a show about JSA legacies is right up my alley. (Tho I’m disappointed that they made Star-Spangled Kid/Skyman into Starman and didn’t let Jack Knight pass the staff off to her like he did in the comics.) I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with Shade (a favorite from the Starman series) and Eclipso. I’m also looking forward to seeing who else they introduce. With Shade and Eclipso, it would be a great chance to bring Obsidian into the show (and thus give the show a gay character) as well as Jade to fill the Green Lantern spot. We do already know that John Wesley Shipp has been brought in to play Jay Garrick as he did on The Flash. It’ll be great to have him on Earth 2 this time where he belongs. It does make me wonder where he was during the big battle that ended the JSA though. This is probably the show I’m mostly looking forward to but an official premiere date has yet to be announced. Rumors are going around that it’s looking like a date in April 2021 but we’ll have to wait and see.
That still leaves Supergirl, which is also going into its final season, and Legends of Tomorrow with unannounced premiere dates. These are looking to be mid-year releases but we don’t know if that means after the current 4 shows are done or if there will be any overlap. One thing we can be sure of is that there won’t be any big crossover this year. It would be hard to beat the last one though.
Despite the late start and the fact that only 3 of the 7 shows have aired at all yet, the CW has already renewed Batwoman, the Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. With Black Lightning and Supergirl ending, that just leaves Stargirl and Superman and Lois up in the air. I’ll wait to see how the first few episodes go to decide if I think they should renew it but I’m hoping Stargirl’s popularity from the first season will be enough to pull it through. Even though an official renewal hasn’t been announced, there are rumors of development on season 3 of Stargirl. I can only hope that it’s true. For now, though, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the shows we have coming up.
Update: From the trailer released, it looks like Stargirl’s second season won’t be premiering until this summer. What this means in terms of season length given the normal fall season start for other new shows and the start of a third season if it is renewed has yet to be seen.
