The Arrowverse was largly successful in its own right. It had huge bursts of success and panned many different shows and seasons. It was diverse and well executed in the beginning. However, the downfall began. The shows got stale. Ideals ran out. Was there a saving grace? Maybe. Here’s 10 things I would have done differently if I was in control (which I know I never would be).
Please note, these aren’t in order and are my own opinion.
1. Olicity
Oliver and Felicity shouldn’t have happened. I would change this in a heartbeat, it’s one of the reasons I’ve pinned this at #1 despite the fact this list isn’t in order. In the comics, Oliver is with Dinah (Laurel). We did get this story during season 1 but it ended after that. It should have continued and that’s the biggest thing I’d change.
I didn’t mind the fling type between them but Felicity was better as the tech expert and had her specific storylines. I did like Felicity but I think she should’ve had her side arks and storylines to go off. She and Oliver maybe could’ve had a fling but then left it there. Injustice 2’s story showed how well Green Arrow and Black Canary work together.
Then a final point to make was the fanbase this made. It was horrifically toxic, even to the point a small section of these fans were promoting Olicity during the Manchester Bombings. They also forced it into play when it came to real life, we know whenever Stephen Amell posted a photo of his wife online, she was battered in the comments. That’s how toxic it was, more so the fact they couldn’t separate fiction from reality.
2. Legends of Tomorrow post season 2
This show started off in a serious manner and was enjoyable but then it became ridiculous. It felt like the show was trying to rival Doom Patrol but in a worse way. I understand Legends of Tomorrow had a loyal fanbase that kept the show alive longer than it perhaps should have. However, I can’t get a sense of feeling away from this that the show may have been even more successful had it continued with the serious tone and linked well with the other Arrowverse shows.
3. Black Lightning’s timeline
Black Lightning was an okay show at best. It had a great cast but the story was lacking. For me, it was due to the fact they have Jefferson older, past his prime. Black Lightning would’ve been a much better show if it showed Jefferson from the beginning. The issue is, that Black Lightning isn’t an A-grade hero. Casual fans aren’t overly familiar with who he is – by starting him in his prime, missing out on the most important aspects of his heroic career leaves fans still unsure of who he is.
4. The Flash’s villains
Season 1 we had Reverse Flash. Season 2 we had Zoom. Season 3 we had Savitar. Then it all never went to plan. There’s 2 reasons and I’m going to explain. After season 3, I got the need to move away from a speedster but they didn’t really have to. There’s so many rogues in The Flash’s gallery they could’ve used. The Thinker was poorly done and it never recovered after that.
The second point is the split villains. When you have the likes of Godspeed and Red Death, only giving them half a season to shine was never going to work. The CW always took it’s time to build it’s villains up and they never made any villain that impactful when only using them for half of a season. Some of the villains in this show were horrendous and there’s a lot I would re-do when it came to choosing the season villains.
5. Supergirl’s political direction
Supergirl had a very strong opening season. It makes sense though because during the opening season, the show was made by CBS before moving to The CW from season 2 onwards. The CW did manage to sustain momentum moving into the second season and keeping some of it during season 3 but it fell flat afterwards. It became a running them in The CW at this point. Season 4 moved into the Agent Liberty story when it became far too political.
It was from this point the show struggled to recover. It did not need to go down that route whatsoever. This entire plot should’ve went in a completely different direction as it would’ve kept some of that momentum. This show had an amazing cast and a perfect Supergirl, it’s just a shame it feels like The CW couldn’t see it at the time.
6. Made side characters more impactful
I think this is an article that needs to be done in further detail but I’ll try to do a TLDR (too long, didn’t read) now. There were a LOT of side characters that were memorable, but memorable for being outright boring. To name a few, Ragman, Dinah, Chester, Alegra, and Curtis. These are just 5 and it took me less than a few seconds to think of.
When you consider Supergirl, The Flash, and Arrow – they gradually got better side characters as the first opening 2 seasons progressed. It fell dramatically thereafter. I don’t know if this is a CW issue but it felt like they pushed our heroes to have these overextended teams for no reason. When you look at Arrow, he had John and Felicity. Barry had Caitlin, Cisco, and Wells. Supergirl had Whinn and James. They started small but the characters were great at the time, it then went way too far.
Ragman had the potential. Dinah wasn’t ever needed if they followed the comic source material in the beginning. Chester was not Cisco. Alegra was a waste of time. Curtis was frustratingly annoying. There needed to be better care of these characters and their directions. It’s no good just replacing Cisco with Chester knowing fully well it was never going to have the same impact.
7. Powers were overdone
Simply put, I wouldn’t have done this. The Flash is the main player when it comes to this. It’s worth noting I completely understand that The Flash is extremely overpowered in the comics and I get that but, lightsabers? You get my point now.
Some of the other characters’ powers were overdone and unnecessary. Cecile being one, never really needed powers. John getting the ring at the end (I’ll go into that shortly) was a waste. It felt like at times they needed these normal humans to have powers for whatever reason. Even Arrow at times was quite bad for this.
8. Roy should’ve never left
I said this at the time season 3 was airing. The Red Arrow is a vital part of the Green Arrow’s story in the comics. Roy was a fantastic character and built perfectly. Before we could truly enjoy his time after being injected with the Mirakuru, he just left. I understand the actor may have had his reasons but The CW should’ve done all they could to keep him onboard. I wanted to see more of him and I wanted him to be the same as John was during all of those seasons where he never really left Oliver’s side.
9. Re-do the entire Crisis story
The Crisis story was great at the time but oh boy was it a complete waste of time. They never capitilised on the after effects of it. The only thing that truly stuck was Oliver becoming Spectre. I also think that Crisis needed an entire re-do. Looking back on it now, it was just lacklustre despite the fact I loved it at the time.
I even remember highly rating it on our website when the site was starting out. You can tell by the after events that they made several mistakes during the Crisis story. I believe Oliver becoming Spectre was also a mistake. I think it took far too much from the character considering how grounded he was during the first season.
10. Naomi and Gotham Knights given the green light over Green Arrow and the Canaries
When this type of news was coming out at the time I remember being a bit thrown back. You have these established characters (not always impactful) that may have done pretty well with their own show. We even got a Pilot episode which was enjoyable too. The problem is that this show got canceled and perhaps the two worst superhero TV shows to ever exist were given the green light.
That’s ultimately it. Naomi and Gotham Knights were horrific. I mean, horrific. I couldn’t even get past episode 1 of Gotham Knights it was that bad. I don’t think Green Arrow and the Canaries would have set the world alight but it would’ve been levels above what we did end up with.
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