Superhero Live-Action TV - DC Comics

DC COMICS TV SHOWS

The Arrowverse [by CW]:

A shared universe that was spawned from the television series starring the Green Arrow, Arrow, would later encompass The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Batwoman and retroactively Constantine. Has several other side-projects, including The Ray and Vixen, both taking place as animated tie-ins. Known for having a relatively consistent continuity, and loads and loads of characters.

Arrow

Arrow, Season 3: [2014-2015]

The third season of the long-running live-action adaptation of Green Arrow of DC comics. In this season, Arrow and his team face off against the League of Assassins and the various factions within. 

Maybe if I have a lot of free time I'll go back and watch the first two seasons of Arrow. 

Arrow, Season 4: [2015-2016]

The fourth season of Arrow, Oliver Queen finally takes on the name Green Arrow and has to battle the forces of Damian Darhk and the large organization of HIVE as both Oliver Queen and Green Arrow, while his allies have to confront their personal demons from their past. Despite the slightly disappointing final episode, the season is extremely solid and a massive improvement to the previous one.

Arrow, Season 5: [2016-2017]

Easily the strongest season of Arrow and the strongest CW-DC show during the year it went out, season five of Arrow brought a conclusion to the five years Oliver Queen spent in the hell-island of Lian Yu. Combating the enigmatic threat of Prometheus and creating a new team of vigilantes to replace his shattered team, Oliver Queen has to face against the sins of his past as he is forced to defend his murder spree in his first year of vigilantism, among other sins.

Arrow, Season 6: [2017-2018]

Facing the threat of new villains, Oliver Queen has to balance his life as Mayor of Star City and as the vigilante Green Arrow. Forced not only with the rise of multiple threats, Oliver has to contend with internal problems within his vigilante organization, as well as the CIA's attempts to try and get him to take responsibility for his actions as a destructive vigilante.

Arrow, Season 7: [2018-2019]

Originally intended to be the final season of Arrow before season 8 was instead decided to be the final season, this season has Oliver Queen spend the first half in prison, and the second half trying to deal with a mysterious new organization that seemed to include a figure tied to the Queen Legacy. In addition, the show also features "flash forwards" in this season, detailing a bleak potential future. 

Arrow, Season 8 [2019]

The final season of the long saga of Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow.

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The Flash

The Flash, Season 1: [2014-2015]

The Flash PosterSpun off the long-running Arrow show and taking place in the same universe, young forensic officer Barry Allen is struck by lightning during the explosion of a particle accelerator and found out that he has been gifted with super-speed. Alongside his newfound allies, the Flash combats the outbreak of superpowered humans both good and evil, while trying to figure out his mother's killer, a mysterious man in yellow with powers similar to his own. Flash's first season is easily hands-down my favourite season of superheroes in TV anywhere in terms of writing. While the season from episode 4 onwards were reviewed as they came out, the first three are reviewed in 2017.

The Flash, Season 2: [2015-2016]

The Flash has to deal with an escalation as even more metahumans arrive from a parallel universe, Earth-2, to which a portal was created at the climax of the previous season. This leads to some unconventional alliances, some devastating revelations, a new villain and some choppy writing. A very noticeable step down from the first season in terms of writing quality, but still exciting nonetheless to watch. 

The Flash, Season 3: [2016-2017]

After the events of season two, the creation of the alternate timeline Flashpoint plunges Team Flash and Central City into even more chaos as a new threat, the enigmatic speed god Savitar, harasses our heroes, who seems to come from the future and is intimately aware of how things will go. 

The Flash, Season 4: [2017-2018]

After Barry's sacrifice at the end of the third season, the rise of the threat of a new villain, the Thinker, and his seemingly unfathomable plans and machinations, causes Barry's allies to pull him out of where he has imprisoned himself -- something that led to the creation of a new batch of metahumans, all of whom are, of course, within the Thinker's plans. 

The Flash, Season 5: [2018-2019]

After the events of the previous season, Team Flash has to deal with a mysterious new speedster who arrives in town, apparently a speedster from a future with some connection to our heroes, as well as a new wave of metahuman criminals... including a mysterious one who seems to be hunting down all the rest...

The Flash, Season 6 [2019-2020]

The Flash, Season 7 [2021]
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DC's Legends of Tomorrow

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 1: [2016]

Spun off Arrow and the Flash, Legends of Tomorrow stars the time lord Rip Hunter, who has recruited a smattering of superheroes and villains from both shows -- Captain Cold, Heat Wave, White Canary, Firestorm, the Atom, Hawkman and Hawkgirl -- to travel through time and stop the immortal sorcerer Vandal Savage and his insane plans of world domination. No, the time-travel writing doesn't make sense most of the time, but the special effects and the great sets and some really great acting by a fun cast really make this more fun than it has any right to be. 

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 2: [2016-2017]

In the second episode of Legends of Tomorrow, the Legends have to deal with their greatest enemy yet, or rather, a collection of their greatest enemies. A coalition of the Arrowverse's most powerful villains, they Legends, featuring several new additions plucked from the timeline, have to deal with both losing their leader and combating the threat of the Legion of Doom, which can potentially break time itself.

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 3: [2017-2018]

In the third season of Legends of Tomorrow, it became... a bit more of a comedy series, embracing the sheer absurdness of the episodes and receiving a significant shift in tone. As our beloved Legends have to deal with the new big boys in town, the strict police force known as the Time Bureau, our superheroing friends have to deal with problems as a new threat looms over the horizon.

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 4: [2018-2019]

With the focus changing into hunting down a massive horde of magical beings unleashed through the history of mankind due to the events of the previous season, John Constantine ended up joining the crew of time-traveling superheroes as they travel through time and end up in even wackier hijinks compared to the previous ones. 

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 5 [2020]

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Supergirl

Supergirl, Season 1: [2015-2016]

Initially produced by CBS, Supergirl is a show starring the Girl of Steel. The first season is pretty standalone, focusing more on finding a suitable tone. And despite the sub-par writing, the charisma of the main actress and some decent special effects manage to allow Supergirl to carve a niche among the superhero TV shows out there. The show has had a crossover episode with the Flash (see the CW series above) and season 2 being produced by the CW will lead to more crossovers with the worlds of Arrow, Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. 

Supergirl, Season 2: [2016-2017]

Supergirl's second season is produced by CW, and is brought in as a parallel earth to the one that Arrow, Flash and Legends of Tomorrow are set in, allowing for more consistent crossovers. The writing team has also significantly improved, allowing the characters to give a pro-gender/race-equality message without shoving it down our throats like the first season. Combating threats both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial, Supergirl has to also deal with matters of the heart as a mysterious man from Daxam, the enigmatic Mon-El, crash-lands on Earth. 

Supergirl, Season 3: [2017-2018]

In the third season, Supergirl has to contend with the rise of the threat of the mysterious Kryptonian Reign, while also befriending a group of superheroes that have arrived from the future. While the season started off relatively strong, it ended up sort of becoming somewhat inconsistent in its second half, thanks to a large amount of hiatuses and changes in character focus. 

Supergirl, Season 4: [2018-2019]

The fourth season of Supergirl features Supergirl facing off against a gaggle of villains out to destroy both Supergirl's good name and hurt the human/alien inter-race relationships in National City. Perhaps the most political of all the Supergirl seasons, and one that is somewhat burdened by said attempt to be more political than it probably should. 

Supergirl, Season 5: [2019-2020]

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Black Lightning
Debuting in early 2018, Black Lightning is a 'sister' show to Arrow and its other shows, set with a similar flavour but taking place in a different, standalone continuity (later established to be another Earth in the multiverse). The first two seasons follow Black Lightning as a retired hero trying to deal with the resurgence of his old enemies while a crisis starts to brew when people starts getting superpowers later on.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_lightning_1.pngCirca halfway through season three, Black Lightning was retroactively folded into the rest of the Arrowverse shows after a multiversal Crisis.

Season One [2018]:

Season Two [2019]:

Episodes 1-4 is has the prefix of "The Book of Consequences" arc, episodes 5-7 is "The Book of Blood", episodes 8-10 is "The Book of Rebellion", episodes 11-14 is "The Book of Secrets", episodes 15-16 is "The Book of Apocalypse".

 Season Three [2019/2020]:
Episodes 1-5 is "The Book of Occupation", episodes 6-9 is "The Book of Resistance", episodes 10-13 is "The Book of Markovia", episodes 14-16 is "The Book of War".

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Batwoman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batwoman_9.jpgThe character had a brief cameo in the "Elseworlds" crossover between the other Arrow-verse shows. After various instances of Batman and/or Gotham City being name-dropped in various shows in the Arrowverse, Batwoman follows the saga of Katherine Kane as she returns back to Gotham City, and finds out that her missing cousin Bruce Wayne is actually the (also missing) vigilante Batman.


 Season One: [2019]
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CW Seed :

An animated web-series spun off from the Arrow/Flash team, Vixen isn't a live-action series, but its ties to Arrow and the other CW shows, the fact that the live-action actors from the CW shows reprising their roles here, their canonicity to the CW shows and especially with Vixen herself making an appearance in live-action in Arrow, my reviews will be listed here for simplicity's sake. Has since been expanded to feature all other CW Seed ventures, including the Ray and Constantine's new series.

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Constantine: [2014]

Constantine TV show logo.jpgCanceled before it has a chance to actually explore the plot threads it is building up to, this live-action adaptation of DC's Hellblazer comics is a mixture of horror and British wit as the guilt-ridden John Constantine goes around combating the supernatural forces of the universe. Due to various problems, the show was eventually cancelled at around the halfway mark of the season.

 The show's events was eventually retroactively absorbed into CW's Arrowverse, with John Constantine making a guest-star appearance in Arrow's third season, receiving an animated special, and eventually became a recurring and later main part of Legends of Tomorrow. 

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Stargirl: [2020]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stargirl_jsa_poster.jpgAn adaptation of both Stars and STRIPE and Justice Society of America, Stargirl is a new show associated with CW, although standing independently from its new 'Earth-Prime' in the same way that Black Lightning used to be. Young Courtney Whitmore discovers that her stepfather is actually holding a key to a legacy of superheroes, and her small town of Blue Valley might not be what it seems...

Season one:

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Gotham

Gotham, Season 1: [2014-2015]

A noir-style alternate universe retelling of the days of Gotham City before there was a Batman, when Bruce Wayne was an orphan but not yet a vigilante, Gotham tells the story of a young Jim Gordon as he faces off against a corrupt police system, two gang wars trying to take over the city and the hints of a sinister breed of psychopaths that plague Gotham City. Also, the Penguin, who is the most awesome actor ever. Despite a rather bad start, Gotham's first season really shines in its second half with some really great acting especially from the Penguin.

Gotham, Season 2: [2015-2016]

A bit of a strange thing where this second season of Gotham is split into two mini-seasons with a vastly different tone. Episodes 1-11 (subtitled Rise of the Villains) focuses on a new threat, Theodore Gallavan, a seemingly innocuous man running for mayor who unleashes many previous threats in Jim Gordon's life upon Gotham City. Episodes 12-22 (subtitled Wrath of the Villains) focuses on Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne separately uncovering the mysterious conspiracy that is happening in Arkham Asylum, headed by Hugo Strange, who seems to be intent in creating things that are... not quite human.

Gotham, Season 3: Mad City: [2016-2017]

With maniacs and metahumans created by Hugo Strange running rampant in the streets of Gotham City, Gordon desperately tries to keep his city and the police department together, while the Penguin tries his best to have a grip on Gotham City's criminal underworld and its myriad factions. However, all involved are thrown into even more disarray as the enigmatic Court of Owls, a society comprised of powerful people secretly ruling over Gotham City, rise and make a power play to finally step out of the shadows.

Gotham, Season 4: A Dark Knight [2017-2018]

With Bruce Wayne now a masked vigilante and the Penguin rising once more as leader of much of Gotham City's underworld, Gotham City is attacked by various threats -- the arrival of the enigmatic League of Assassins, led by Ra's al Ghul, who was responsible for a good chunk of the previous season's troubles; a new serial killer named Professor Pyg; the return of the insane clown the Joker Jerome Valeska and a lot of power plays that promise to shake Gotham City to the core. 

Gotham, Season 5: Legend of the Dark Knight [2019]

The final season of Gotham loosely adapts a version of the comics' No Man's Land arc, shutting out Gotham City and its cast of colourful heroes and villains out from the rest of the world. A threat is looming over the city, and as the clock ticks down to the city's destruction, series-long character arcs are completed and by the end of it, a certain traumatized billionaire orphan will rise into the hero that Gotham City deserves.
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"Titanverse"

A project headed by Geoff Jones and the spotlight of the DC Universe streaming service, "Titansverse", headed by the TV show Titans, an adaptation of the Teen Titans, is the second major shared superhero universe based on the DC comics.

DC's Titans
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/titans_poster.jpg

A live-action adaptation of the Teen Titans superhero team, kickstarting a new DC-TV shared universe that's apparently separate from both the live-action WB movies as well as Arrow's TV series.Titans itself has a darker tone compared to most of DC's television output, being R-Rated, and adopts various incarnations of the comic-book Titans team. It focuses mainly on the struggles of the central team, as well as the shared history with a couple of guest stars.

Season One: [2018]

Season Two: [2019]
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Doom Patrol
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/51364597_1137868023062337_8893929800230502400_n.jpgA spin-off from Titans, and taking place in the same continuity as the Titans series, starring the Doom Patrol, a group of misfit non-humans trying to find their place in the world. Well-renowned thanks to the dark-yet-snarky tone it shares with its comic book inspiration.

Season One: [2019]
Doom Patrol, Season Two [2020; full season review]
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Other DC Comics Shows:

Sandman:

Netflix's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's iconic The Sandman graphic novel series, focusing on Dream of the Eternals, a higher being who finds himself forced to pick up the pieces when he goes missing, as we go through the world of deities and beings of Gaiman's world.
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Krypton:

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/krypton_1.jpgDone by Warner Brothers and originally billed as a prequel for the Man of Steel series of movies, Krypton takes place in the distant past and tells the story of the past of Krypton, involving Kal-El's grandfather, Seyg-El, and his attempts to fight an extraterrestrial threat as well as the rigid caste system of Krypton. Despite its interesting concept and decent cast, the show was sort of bogged down with bland and inconsistent writing.

Season 1: [2018]

Krypton, Season 2 [2019; full season review]
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Swamp Thing: [2019]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/swamp_thing_9.jpgDone by the same team that does the Titans and Doom Patrol show, this stand-alone adaptation of DC's monstrous protector of nature is initially meant to be another shared-universe project. However, despite great reviews, due to budgetary constraints and some internal drama, the show ended up being cut short and canceled after its first season.

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