So just for fun, let’s take the best of the various DC shows, from any era but only from live action TV, and see what we can come up with. And some characters never appeared on a tv show so Green Lantern will be sadly omitted.
Superman-Dean Cain
Tough choice was an understatement here. Who do you choose? The classic George Reeves version? The pretty cool Dean Cain version? How about the Tyler Hoechlin version we’ve had in Supergirl? Tom Welling who was fantastic on Smallville? Well as hard a decision as it was as far as TV Superman’s go I think Dean Cain for being the one who filled all the roles. I had a tough time deciding between him and Welling but as I have said before, Welling never officially was Superman on the show, if I picking Clark Kent he would win. I feel bad always picking on him for that but there it is.
Batman-Adam West
Before you think I’m nuts, Batman hasn’t had a live action show since the Adam West days! Yeah we had Birds of Prey, where Batman never appeared. We also had Gotham, where Batman never existed. And coming this fall is Batwoman, where Batman doesn’t appear. And the show hasn’t premiered yet so I can’t judge it fairly. So this was the only choice, and to be fair Adam West was a good Batman. If you put the camp aside he was just as smart and skilled as Batman is supposed to be.
Wonder Woman-Lynda Carter
Unfortunately there wasn’t much of a choice here. Wonder Woman has never appeared in live action since the 70’s show. She was teased on Legends of Tomorrow, but that was all. And hey, Lynda Carter made the role more famous than it had already been.
Flash-Grant Gusten
I loved John Wesley Shipp on the classic 90’s Flash. I think he did a great job. But Gusten is a little better. To be fair, the two show’s were very different. So different this comparison is almost unfair. But Guesten really won me over and in fact when the Justice League movie came out fans lobbied for him to be in the role of the speedster. Smallville had a version of the Flash called Bart Allen which was awful, even lamer than the DCMU version.
Green Arrow-Steven Amell
Consider this the Green Lantern substitute. There are only two choices here and while I like Justin Hartley his Green Arrow on Smallville was just awful. So instead we have Steven Amell who kicks seven kinds of ass on his show. When “Arrow” was announced people had a good laugh, But eight years later now not only is the show going out on top but it’s spawned an entire “arrow-verse”.
Cyborg & Aquaman
I lumped them together because they are from the show (in case you hadn’t realized it’s been one character per show, here is the exception), Since for some reason everyone insists that Cyborg be a member of the Justice League, rather than The New Teen Titans where he started, I decided to include him. He does have an appearance in the series Smallville. He was played by Lee Thompson who did a good job. And the creators did a decent job in using the character despite budhet constraints on the look. And since Thompson has tragically passed away, he deserves a special nod. Smaville was VERY hit or VERY miss with their characters, this one was very much a hit. Another was one of the only live action Aquaman’s you’ll find (aside from the awful unsold pilot) played by Alan Ritchson.
Martian Manhunter-David Harewood
John J’onzz has been a key character in both Smallville and Supergirl. On Supergirl he was more of a “obi wan kenobi” type. With no real connection to any canonical backstory for the character. On Supergirl he kicked all kinds of ass. Played by David Harewood the character is much closer to the comic version than his Smallville counterpart. His a wise adviser but also strong in the field. And his character has been explored much more fully also.
Tech Assistance
There have been a lot assistance for these shows from Cisco on Flash (Tine McGee in the old days) to Felicity on Arrow and Brainaic 5 on Supergirl. But I always loved the version of Oracle we got in the short lived Birds of Prey. And she had the classic Barbara Gordon backstory right down to being shot by the Joker. The Huntress was pretty badass too, in fact she is supposed to be appearing in the Crisis event as well. Pretty good for a show that hardly lasted 13 episodes.
Back up reserves
That’s a pretty solid line up I listed but what happens when you meet a challenge even tougher? The ironic thing is that before the Arrowverse the heroes were always kind of alone in their own universe’s. Smallville was the one that broke that mold (FYI they had the best version of the Justice Society) with Zatanna, Legion of Superheroes and even giving us a Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. But of course the Arrowverse shows did it even better giving us versions of characters I never thought I’d see on TV. Black Canary, Speedy, Firestorm, The Atom, Steel, Vixen, Captain Cold, Hawkman and Hawkwoman, Mister Terrific, Vibe, Killer Frost, The Guardian and several more. It’s what makes watching these admittedly silly shows so much fun!
Well, that’s what I came up with anyway. The one show I missed was Black Lightning which is fine but I couldn’t find a place for him on the list. And yes he’d count because Black Lightning is appearing in Crisis. I can’t wait to see what they do with Crisis on Infinite Earths, hopefully it will be the best thing ever!
Hmmm, I wonder. What if you took the villains from all these shows to made a “Legion of Doom”?
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