We Already Have A Perfect Live-Action Justice League... On Television

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They already have Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl starring in her own CBS show. She is a cheerful and exhilaratingly heroic character that could act either as the would-be “Superman” of the team or a member alongside the show’s never seen Superman (is Tom Welling available?). That show also stars David Harewood as frequent JLA member J’onn J’onzz; sometimes referred to as the Martian Manhunter.

Moving over to Tuesday nights on the CW gives you Grant Gustin’s charmingly goofy and endearingly self-sacrificial Barry Allen/The Flash. And Thursday nights on the CW offers the ensemble time travel fantasy Legends of Tomorrow, which at the very least gives us Ciara Renée as Hawkgirl alongside its other DC characters like Brandon Routh’s The Atom. So just going by those three shows, you’ve got three members of the unofficial “magnificent seven,” or four such members if you merely sub in Supergirl for Superman.

And then you’ve got the one that started it all, Arrow. Here’s the rub: If you’ve watched Arrow for any length of time, it’s a hybrid of a true-blue Green Arrow story and a would-be Batman episodic television show. Like the best Batman stories, Stephen Amell’s careless playboy by day/tormented avenger by presumes himself to be a lone wolf while surrounding himself with a rather large surrogate family. So you either use his Green Arrow as a Batman stand-in, or you magically age up the Bruce Wayne that stars as a wee child on Fox’s Batman prequel Gotham.

In the grand “use everything at your disposal” scheme of things, the current DC Comics television universe has Supergirl, Superman, Green Arrow, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, White Canary, The Atom, Firestorm, and two potentially reformed Flash baddies (Captain Cold and Heat Wave) at your disposal. Do you want a Justice League? You’ve got a Justice League already awaiting assembly if such assembly is desired. Okay, we’re missing Wonder Woman and a Green Lantern, but nobody’s perfect.

Obviously, there are complications involving getting the whole band together (Gotham and Supergirl air on separate networks and are in different worlds than the CW shows), but the television universe has succeeded in doing what the film world, as of now, has not. They introduced these characters either in stand-alone shows or as supporting players in other shows, and over the last few years has allowed audiences to become invested in their fates and their character arcs.

As I wrote in late 2014, the team-up between Arrow and The Flash was impactful because they were characters we already knew with established histories. It wasn’t just “Arrow meets Flash,” it was Stephen Amell’s Arrow joining with Grant Gustin’s Flash. This is similar to the long-game work that Marvel began in 2008 with the first Iron Man and the rebooted The Incredible Hulk. The Avengers was a culmination of something, not the opening act.

Now as easy as it would be for me to use this to pick at the DCEU film franchise and said “let’s throw everything against the wall at the same time” approach. But the relative cult fandom of the DC TV world (the CW shows and Gotham pull in 2.5 to 4 million viewers while Supergirl averaged around 7.5 million viewers in its first season) allows a certain amount of freedom on the film side.

I and others have argued that Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc. is trying to build a cinematic superhero universe based on deconstructionist versions of these characters. But if this television world is giving fans the somewhat classical version of these characters, then there is arguably less of a concern if the films go down their (speculation alert) Injustice: Gods Among Us path.

If the DC television world is offering up somewhat original recipe versions of said characters, then the fact that the film world is giving us extra crispy versions is that much more of a valid artistic choice, perhaps even a necessary one. The versions of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. that the DCEU presents are every bit as valid as (for example) the classical Marvel Cinematic Universe versions of their characters, especially because those who want traditional live action interpretations of the iconic DC Comics characters have a television outlet.

Superman in Dawn of Justice may not be a conventional Superman, but Supergirl is presenting high quality, high production value episodic “Last Survivor of Krypton” stories every week on CBS (and yes, I’m presuming it will be renewed). If Ezra Miller wants to play a slightly unconventional Barry Allen in Justice League part I or The Flash, that’s fine because we’ve got the classic version of Barry Allen tonight on the CW. The continuing efforts of Supergirl, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow to provide old-school super heroics makes a good case for the film versions going way off the proverbial reservation.

The irony is that Greg Berlanti and friends pulled off what Warner Bros. desperately wanted on the movie side, namely the potential for a functioning Justice League filled with characters we already know and like. But in Berlanti’s television triumph, he has also afforded artistic cover for Zack Snyder’s deconstructionist versions (their flaws as films notwithstanding) as well. Fans and audiences will determine which is the “right” version and which is the “Elseworld.” But as long as they both exist, they are both that much more valid.