Nerdgasm: Legends of CALLED IT!

Hey everybody. You remember that time I did a post on how the CW was totally putting their own Justice League together? No? Well here's the proof, go read it now. I'll wait.

By your schedule.

So yeah, a lot of what I said, I still hold fast to, but I just thought I'd give a quick update to my theory, because now I can tie it into Supergirl! (But not in the way you're thinking.) Read on, oh true believer! Except don't, because "true believers" are Marvel fans, and this here's a DC Nerdgasm. Anyway, let's actually do a thing now.

What's the same?

Out of the gate, you'll note that my original post and video juxtapose the CW's Justice League with the "classic" line-up as it were. That means Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Martian Manhunter, and a seventh person. It honestly doesn't matter who that seventh person is. The animated series says Hawkgirl, the classic comics say Aquaman (and so, by the way, does Young Justice.), the New 52 says Cyborg and also replaces Martian Manhunter with Aquaman because reasons. Pick your favorite classic line up, it's not hugely important.

Upon reexamining my theory with current canon, I hold true to Oliver Queen's Green Arrow being the Arrowverse's equivalent of Batman. He has no superpowers, but he has extensive training, his adventures are the darker ones, he has very strong ties to the League of Assassins. Green Arrow is Batman. Not really hard to see that.

I also hold onto my comparisons of the Atom as the equivalent of Green Lantern, Vibe as the equivalent of Flash, and Firestorm as the equivalent of Martian Manhunter.

What's changed?

My previous assumption of Roy Harper's Arsenal filling in the role of 7th wheel though, proved sorely mistaken. On one hand, I suppose this makes me sad, because that means I wasn't totally and completely right, like always. On the other hand, this is great news because, as I said in that YouTube video way back, each hero really should bring something different to the table.

More good news, there are now plenty of heroes to choose from to fill the role of 7th wheel. Hawkman, Black or White Canary, Captain Cold and Heat Wave, oddly enough... all very interesting possibilities, and this time you will note that I will not say definitively who it is because I fell into that trap last time.

But if I had to toss in another two cents, I'd say White Canary. She's already with the Legends of Tomorrow and it's nice to have more than one girl on a super-team.

Speaking of...

Remember how I said Laurel as the Black Canary was essentially the CW's Wonder Woman, because she was literally the only heroine still alive when that article was written? Well, since then, a new character has joined the Arrowverse that is way more of a fit for the role of Wonder Woman than Black Canary.

Who? Hawkgirl of course! It all lines up pretty neatly. Strong, powerful, female warrior who flies and uses ancient weaponry. Who am I talking about in that sentence? Exactly why it works so well! So yes, Hawkgirl is CW's Wonder Woman equivalent.

So, in summary:

We see you CW. We can all see you.

Weren't you supposed to tie this in to Supergirl?

I was just getting to that! If you'll notice, I still haven't talked about my theory of the CW's Barry Allen being the local equivalent of Superman. Which is a semi-awkward segway into the concluding point of this article.

Barry Allen's the Flash exists as the most powerful (good) metahuman on the face of the earth. He's also the much lighter counterpart to the local Batman equivalent, who he fought once. He exists as a symbol of hope and an all around moral high ground type.

A lot of the weight of that character archetype gets lost if you live in the same universe as Superman (You know, not the Man of Steel one). I stand my ground in saying that the Arrowverse doesn't need Batman or Superman, because it already has characters filling their roles quite well, and adding Batman and Superman into that mix would only diminish the existing characters.

Which brings us to Supergirl.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for superheroines getting their time to shine. Jessica Jones? Loved it. Captain Marvel? Can't come out soon enough. Wonder Woman? God DC, don't screw that up. And by all accounts (from a good friend of mine), Supergirl's a very solid outing for a female led superhero property. Aces to that. But Superman exists in her universe. And if she's in the same universe as The Flash... well there's that whole problem I just talked about.

I love Supergirl, but I don't want Superman coming anywhere near the Arrowverse. He'd wreck the perfect balance we've got going on right now.

Unless they went the multiverse route, which I guess works. Huh. Defeated my whole point in one sentence. I'm not very good at this, am I?

For more evidence that I've clearly chosen the wrong line of work, check out my efforts on YouTube, where I'm trying to sell the concept of you becoming a superhero.