Back at press tour, the producers of the CW's superhero dramas “Arrow” and “The Flash” said they were in very early discussions about whether to develop another spin-off starring Brandon Routh as the Atom. Yesterday, news broke suggesting those discussions have become both more advanced and complex.
In a story first reported by Deadline, and then confirmed to an extent by Greg Berlanti himself, the spin-off won't just involve Routh, but will feature characters and actors from both shows, including Victor Garber (one half of Firestorm), Wentworth Miller (supervillain Captain Cold) and Caity Lotz (the original Canary on “Arrow,” who was killed off earlier this season and might be playing a new character). Deadline's Nellie Andreeva also wrote “I have learned the new project will include three major DC Comics characters who have never appeared in a TV series.”
Clearly, the superhero thing has been working for the CW, and for Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim. (Berlanti and Kreisberg are also developing “Supergirl” for CBS.) The most recent “Arrow” episode made Atom come across more as an Iron Man knock-off than the size-changing hero from the comics, and if the new show loads up on enough DC characters, it could theoretically be a super-team show, or maybe an anthology, bouncing from character to character and not over-using any one actor. We'll have to wait and see.
What does everybody else think? Are there side characters on either current CW show you'd like to see wind up in this new one? Since Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman don't qualify for Andreeva's description (and surely wouldn't be loaned out to this new show, especially with the existence of Gotham), any guesses on who this “major” trio of characters might be?