The CW unveiled some big plans for their DC shows during their panel at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, which featured the producers for their hit superhero series Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
The CW has already shown they love weaving their superhero shows together and highlight the fact they share a universe. The Flash was birthed within an episode of Arrow and later became a spin-off series, with crossovers occurring between the two. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow owes its creation to both The Flash and Arrow, and The CW’s newly acquired Supergirl had its The Flash crossover which involved bit of maneuvering between parallel universes. Fans were not surprised when The CW announced a four-way crossover between all their hero properties, but what nobody was prepared for was a two-part musical crossover between The Flash and Supergirl.
Before you start wondering how this could possibly be successful, it should be noted that both Grant Gustin (The Flash) and Melissa Benoist played regulars on the the Fox musical series Glee, and both have had experience in musical theater with Gustin being a part of the Broadway revival of West Side Story in 2011, and Benoist having even more experience having been in productions of The Sound of Music, Bye Bye Birdie, and Footloose. The singing talent doesn’t end there, Jesse L. Martin (Joe West) was in Rent on Broadway in 1996, John Barrowman (Malcom Merlyn) has had a long career in theater and has released several albums, including a self-titled album which reached #11 on the UK Top 40, and Jeremy Jordan (Winn Schott) and Victor Garber (Martin Stein) have experience in musical theater.
The CW followed up with another big surprise for DC Fans when they announced they would be creating a second DC animated web series for 2017. Freedom Fighters: The Ray will be based on Grant Morrison’s The Multiversity, a limited series of one-shot stories set in the DC Multiverse which ran from 2014-2015. Freedom Fighters: The Ray will also feature the first gay superhero to headline a TV series, leaving many fans excited to see diversity within the Multiversity. Freedom Fighters: The Ray will follow Raymond “Ray” Terrill, a reporter who acquires light-based powers after he discovers a secret plan by the government to use light as a weapon of mass destruction. The new series follows the success of the 2015 web series Vixen which will also be returning for a second season. Both Freedom Fighters: The Ray and Vixen will be available on The CW’s digital channel CW Seed.
