Before I even get close to critiquing the inaugural season of DC Universe's new Harley Quinn animated series, I must say it was quite beneficial to view every episode in advance of the premiere. Obviously, this can't happen all too often because it's very seldom that entire seasons of television are complete this early in the game, but you can imagine how it allows folks such as myself the chance to better get an idea of what's on tap. I think five episodes of a given series were the most I'd been allotted in the past, so this was quite the treat.
When you sit back and think about how the concept which gave birth to Batman Beyond could've otherwise panned out, it's very possible the project may have ended up being a train wreck. After all, when Bruce Timm and his colleagues were called into network executive offices over twenty years ago and were told to develop a show about a "teenage Batman," the whole thing could've easily spiraled out of control.
Reflecting back on what Arrow has accomplished over the years, it's very difficult not speaking of Deathstroke when doing so. After all, Manu Bennett's take on the world's deadliest mercenary was among those first making the character a household name after decades of being known only to comic book readers and viewers of the Teen Titans animated series.
Whenever Spider-Man 2099 is mentioned, I think it fills Marvel's True Believers with the same sort of excitement that it does whenever Batman Beyond is brought up around DC fans. Those franchises may have some major differences, sure, but they both offer awesome takes on future iterations of two of the most iconic superheroes around. That said, I can see why each caught on, whereas others of the sort had failed.
After having knowledge of only Robert Pattinson signing up for the titular role in The Batman for the longest time, the past few weeks sure have filled in a lot of blanks when it comes to director Matt Reeves' silver screen reboot of the Caped Crusader.
As much as I'd like to see a big budget movie spotlighting the Flash, I've had no choice but to file it under "I'll believe it when I see it." After already witnessing several directors abandon the project and Warner Bros. scrapping plans for a Flashpoint adaptation, how could you blame either myself or anyone else subscribing to that school of thought for being pessimistic?
Now that Barry Allen has begrudgingly accepted his fate in the upcoming "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event, we're seeing him readying the rest of his team so that they may protect Central City in his stead. In tonight's episode, Cisco Ramon will be asked to step up, with Ralph Dibny being next on deck.
If any character could be described as being the Jim Gordon to Oliver Queen's Batman, I'd say that honor went to Quentin Lance. During Arrow's earlier seasons, the two shared a rocky relationship as vigilante and policeman, yet were allies more often than not. Later on, Ollie gave Lance a job in the mayor's office once the latter's career as a cop took a dive, thereby showing us the good outweighed the bad in their storied history.
When the producers behind Arrow said Oliver Queen would be replaying his greatest hits during the eighth and final season, they weren't kidding around. So far, we've seen generous tribute paid to seasons 1 and 3, with more nods to the past undoubtedly out of the way.
