From the humble beginnings of Arrow‘s very grounded first season in 2012, a wide-ranging, ever-growing shared universe of DC TV shows has sprung. With The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and of course, animated webseries Vixen, the so-called Arrowverse has been a gift come true for fans, as it’s brought so many previously neglected heroes to the screen – as well as creating some of its own from scratch.
But while Oliver Queen is still a billionaire archer, Barry Allen is still the fastest man alive and Kara Danvers remains Superman’s cousin, many of their sidekicks, allies and associated team members have had their backstories, powers or even personalities altered in the transition from the page to the screen.
Sometimes this is due to different versions of the character being blended together – such as The Flash‘s Wally West borrowing from both the Post-Crisis and New 52 incarnations. Other times it’s due to behind-the-scenes changes – like Jefferson Jackson taking over as the other half of Firestorm after Robbie Amell (Ronnie Raymond) left for other projects.
On some rare occasions, however, certain characters are incredibly different from their depiction in the comic books. A few to the extent that the only similarity is that they share a name….
