Arrowverse problems this year

I’m starting to realize my username is actually somewhat fitting. I used to love all these shows and I admit I was a little obsessed with them but in the last 2 years I’ve really started to hate them. It used to be just Arrow but now Flash has joined that category and even Supergirl still has a few problems although that has majorly improved and the only show I still like completely is Legends of Tomorrow. This year has been especially bad for many of the Arrowverse shows and I’ve listed below what I personally think have been the biggest problems this year and I’d like to know if you agree with me.

Arrow[]

Cayden James and Ricardo Diaz[]

One major problem for Arrow this year was its main villains. For two thirds of the season it was Cayden James until he was abruptly killed off and Ricardo Diaz took over yet both had such bland and uninteresting motives and hell even Prometheus was more interesting than either of them. The fact there were two villains kinda felt like they changed things up halfway through production in response to fandom tension as I remember there was quite a bit of bickering when it became clear Cayden James would be the main villain, since this meant a Felicity villain therefore she’s going to be majorly involved, and people wishing it would be Richard Dragon instead so it felt like that’s what they actually went for when they were halfway through production. Yet they still didn’t make much effort to develop Diaz/Dragon who again is quite a famous comic character and they made him a winning bitch. Maybe he’ll improve in season 7 but I highly doubt he’ll ever achieve the same level of respect villains like Deathstroke and Reverse-Flash have.

Black Siren[]

I cannot believe I’m going to say this but Black Siren returning to Arrow this season was a mistake. Not only did she only appear in 13 episodes despite being credited as a regular all she did was just kill random innocents until 6x09 when she and Quentin starting bonding, then starting working for Diaz and living with Quentin but was scared of Diaz and turned on him. Now I’ve always been an avid supporter of the Black Siren redemption theories but man they fucked it up royally. The basis of it was Laurel trying to escape her abusive relationship with Diaz because she was scared of him even though she could’ve killed his entire gang with a single scream and slaughtered Barry effortlessly meaning even Zoom would’ve be careful about pissing her off, yet somehow Diaz is worse?

It also didn’t help when Quentin was the only person in her corner as she and Oliver barely interacted no doubt to stop people from getting the idea she and he could become a couple (and anyone whose played Injustice knows there is actual source material to back on this) and even she and Thea barely interacted. You also had Dinah Drake trying to kill her yet she’s just Laurel’s replacement while E2-Laurel is an evil version of the actual Black Canary who shouldn’t have died so it basically makes you support the murderous sociopath because the alternative is an appeasement move. Frankly she should’ve moved to Legends of Tomorrow instead and I’m hoping that’s where her future lies as I think that’s mainly why Sara was featured in 6x23. So I hope Laurel moves to Legends and leaves Arrow behind to die out as it should and if she remains in Legends until season 5, if it goes that far, that way she's the one thing saved from its own downfall lol.

Felicity + Olicity[]

You all knew I would mention this at least once so I’ll keep it as brief as possible. First of all why couldn’t Felicity have just died on the island and her death be used to motivate other character arcs? Oliver being a grieving parent, Thea becoming Speedy again to honor Felicity and Malcolm, Diggle being crippled emotionally and physically because of the explosion and taking over as Overwatch while Curtis becomes hardened and takes over the techno side of things all could’ve been what season 6 was if they just braved up and killed her. Instead they made Adrian a little bitch and if they never intended to kill anyone they never should’ve made that cliffhanger to begin with.

Also the first half of the season being techno crap, Felicity and William bonding and the wedding in 6x09 made the idea of watching Twilight feel exciting by comparison. Also did anybody notice how Felicity didn’t get blamed for anything going on this season? She let Cayden James out of prison, an act which should’ve gotten her locked up in ARGUS herself, which lead to him killing hundreds of innocents and recruiting Black Siren to kill even more and allowed Ricardo Diaz to benefit and plan his own schemes yet she didn’t get blamed at all while Barry got shit for creating Flashpoint? It’s no wonder people laughed when Doomworld-Felicity was killed in Legends 2x16.

NTA + Vigilante[]

Vigilante’s reveal was a huge letdown. They kept this characters’ identity secret for two whole seasons and then it turns out to be somebody we saw for like 5 seconds forever ago who you wouldn’t recognise because it was a different actor? It also felt like they did that to make Dinah Drake more relevant to the plot which didn’t help when she’s already useless and unwanted and then like 5 episodes later Vigilante is killed by Black Siren, and are we supposed to be angry at the evil version of the actual Black Canary who shouldn’t be dead and who Black Siren’s existence proves they could’ve better written in the first place and if they somehow can’t redeem her just bring in another alternate Laurel? Vigilante should've been Deadshot because that would've been worth the wait and there's never been confirmation he really died in 3x16 and it would've given Diggle more solid story material.

Now I’ve never liked Dinah Drake just on the grounds that she’s Laurel’s replacement when she never should’ve died but she was a likable character which is why it was so frustrating that I disliked her so much, but after the NTA arc I hate her character altogether now. Getting pissed at Oliver for trying to protect Laurel when she wants to kill her to avenge the death of her boyfriend when he too was a serial killer and assaulting Quentin, the father of the person whose legacy she’s supposed to be honoring who has a heart condition for getting between them? That's the kinda stunt I'd expect from Malcolm Merlyn not a Team Arrow member. It also doesn’t help when all this fandom tension is still present and its basically unwanted successor trying to kill an evil version of her predecessor who people miss just as much as they did 2 years ago. So yea she's a lost cause as far as I'm concerned and any chances I was willing to give her went out the window in 6x14.

Wild Dog was actually the only new character besides Ragman I didn’t utterly hate last season and I actually grew quite invested in him yet this season he became about as interesting as Dinah, that is to say useless and annoying. Also come on he came at Oliver with a hatchet yet at the same time Oliver beat the crap out of him but these two are both parents who could’ve killed each other and left their kids orphans. I also really hated his new costume as it reminded me too much of Deadshot and I heard even Wild Dog’s comic creator didn’t like it. As for Curtis well I never liked him from the get go and he’s quite possibly the most embarrassing representation of LGBT in fiction that I’ve ever seen, and he also makes stupid comedic remarks during otherwise emotional moments which just kills the entire mood.

The Flash[]

Killer Frost[]

File:Killer Frost (Caitlin Snow).png

"I'm already bored and confused"

Now this storyline confuses me the most and I seriously wish they’d retcon all this crap. Last season Caitlin went from having mood swings and temper tantrums because her powers were developing and basically decided she wanted to be bad because it was easier, and given all the heartache she’s been through who could blame her? Yet she realized she was in over her head and gave this up but still retained her frost powers and appearance. Yet now she’s got split-personality disorder and she and Killer Frost are two separate entities in one mind and neither knows what the other does? It’s almost as if they worried they were making Caitlin unsympathetic and made her go from being the Hulk to Tyler Durden. If Killer Frost was actually a murderous sociopath that Caitlin had to keep under control I would’ve liked that better as we could’ve have Caitlin as both hero and villain, yet Frost is now just a hero with a bad attitude but this basically renders Caitlin herself useless and this should’ve just been who Caitlin herself developed into without the use of a second personality.

Iris West[]

I can’t believe I’m saying this but Savitar should’ve succeeded. I’ve never been an Iris hater and I’ve given her numerous chances since I wasn’t a Laurel Lance fan once upon a time but she grew on me, but this last season they’ve forced Iris into the spotlight in such a way she’s devolved into Flash’s Felicity. I know Iris’ comic job is a reporter but they’ve never managed to utilize this skill properly probably because this show is about scientists and police officers rather than journalists, yet this season they made her Team Flash’s leader even when Barry was around and she suddenly knows all this tech knowledge which probably took Cisco years of studying to learn and she just felt out of place.

She was also very nosy and opinionated like she knew the answers to everything (and her “we don’t redeem monsters” comment regarding whether they help Marlize DeVoe or not was stupid when you think about Captain Cold, Heat Wave and Deathstroke). They didn’t even address whether or not she still worked at CCPN until late in the season. Frankly they should take a cue from Earth-2 Iris and make Earth-1 Iris a police officer if they want to make her more relevant in a way that works. It would also give Joe some more material if he was training his own daughter to be a cop and she became his new detective partner, who would actually bring the old gag of Barry and Iris being involved with Joe’s partners full circle of now Iris was said partner.

Supergirl[]

James Olsen / Guardian[]

I don’t know what it is but the producers of Supergirl just seem to be completely incapable of writing storylines for Jimmy Olsen even though he’s Guardian and dating Lena Luthor now. He has been exploited a bit better in more recent weeks but they’ve underutilized Guardian for much of this season and its starting to feel like he’s turning into Supergirl’s Laurel Lance, as he used to be Supergirl’s love interest until the producers apparently got bored of that idea and changed it to Mon-El. While Jimmy Olsen has never been Kara Zor-El’s main love interest like Black Canary is to Green Arrow they could still be using him better and we all know what happened to Laurel in the end and I’m starting to worry he’s going to share the same fate, especially with Kara and Lena now at each other’s throats. Personally, and this seems to be the answer to every underused character in the Arrowverse, I’d send him to Legends of Tomorrow. Jimmy can fight and his armor and can hide his armor and weapons beneath his clothes which would be a useful tool when going undercover in history.

Earth-X[]

The entire crossover was an elaborate love story cleverly concealed by well done action scenes but I saw right through this and frankly I hated it. WestAllen I understand because a crossover is actually the perfect time to have the wedding (though as I said Iris herself was becoming quite annoying by that stage too) and the event getting crashed was totally to be expected (after all superheroes can’t just have simple lives can they?), but they kept lingering the Olicity element in the background and making it about them when it wasn’t their event you also had SuperArrow and EX-Oliver’s motives were to save EX-Kara from dying rather than invading Earth-1 (in fact Thawne seemed to be the only one remotely interested in this notion and he’s not even from Earth-X). You also had two more romance subplots between Sara and Alex as well as Leo Snart and Ray Terrill and while those two were to be expected (having two different show’s lesbians meeting is too good to pass up after all and having a gay couple on a Nazi ruled Earth is also logical), Olicity and SuperArrow was completely unneeded and the time they focused on those plots could’ve been more focused on Earth-X. Frankly the only non-romance related subplots I can recall were the end of Firestorm and return of Reverse-Flash.

I also wasn’t a fan of Tommy Merlyn being Prometheus on Earth-X because not only was he just wasted (probably because Colin Donnell was still filming for Chicago Med) but he also had the same ending as Adrian Chase, so that’s two Prometheus who killed themselves and giving everybody the opinion that’s what Prometheus is. As a fan of the comics Prometheus this makes absolutely infuriated. They could’ve made Prometheus the Earth-X Roy Harper since Colton Haynes was returning and made him more involved in the plot or they could’ve replaced Prometheus with Earth-X Sara as Dark Canary or something. Also would've saved time and resources just repeating what Black Siren did last year than waste them on a suicide character. Meanwhile you have Iris and Felicity trying to save everybody when not only should both characters have gone with Wally for their own safety but can somehow beat up Nazis and navigate like ninjas, and somehow Felicity can now use 22nd century technology. You also have the newbies of Team Arrow trying to help but considering they’re all selfish hypocrites who gives a shit? No joke I actually laughed when Earth-X Oliver beat the crap out of them and admitted to enjoying it because I’ve wanted Earth-1 Oliver do that for so long.

Another thing that annoyed me was Reverse-Flash being the villainous speedster. Don’t get me wrong I love Eobard Thawne but they never really bothered to explain how he’s alive again and it kinda feels like they should’ve used Earth-X Barry instead, though considering Savitar was the main villain last year this would’ve been too repetitive I guess which in itself demonstrates that it was too soon to use Savitar. I also don’t see why he had to bother relying on the Nazis when he is a living paradox and could just go back in time and alter the outcome of Earth-1’s World War II. Still I would’ve liked to see an Earth-X Barry and since there is a ship between Barry and Kara and if they’re so hell bent on romance plots they could’ve had EX-Barry be secretly in love with EX-Kara while EX-Oliver is his best friend. The heroes also could’ve used this to turn the New Reich against each other by exposing this and prompting EX-Oliver to kill EX-Barry but he kills him first then EX-Kara vengefully kills EX-Barry then she herself explodes in space seconds later showcasing how much more volatile and twisted the protagonists doppelgangers are.

Sturmbannführer — It would've made much more sense for Earth-X Quentin to be Hitler's successor.

I also thought it was strange that Earth-X Oliver was Hitler’s successor as the leader of the Earth-1 heroes just happens to be the leader of an entire planet in another life? Hitler also died in 1994 on Earth-X and Oliver was born in 1985 so unless Oliver became Führer at age 9 who was in charge between them? Personally I would’ve had Earth-X Quentin be the Führer as he would’ve been old enough to succeed Hitler by 1994 and he is one of the Arrowverse’s authority figures so it would make more sense, and it would’ve been ironic to see Oliver taking orders from him when their Earth-1 counterparts have had such a volatile history. Again if we’re keeping the SuperArrow romance subplot in play it would make sense if EX-Oliver was scheme behind EX-Quentin’s back and he wanted to just straight up conquer Earth-1 which would’ve given EX-Oliver reason to consider revolting and taking leadership for himself. Or alternatively they could’ve had Stein die killing EX-Quentin, ironic as it would’ve been a Jewish man killing the Führer.

Then there was the double wedding, a stunt that broke my faith in the Arrowverse entirely. Not only was it done in a Legends episode when Stein, a fan favourite had just died, but what should’ve been just a simple and nice moment between WestAllen was gate crashed by Olicity. Bad enough Olicity is still around after it destroyed its own show to satisfy the ego of a demented fanbase on Twitter but now they’re crashing the yearly crossovers? I also heard Greg Berlanti planned that event since the previous year which means Felicity was never in any danger of dying which also means Prometheus’ cliffhanger was pointless from the start (I just thought they didn’t think it through and chickened out from killing anybody), and frankly I’m not sure I’m even watching next year’s crossover because I’m finding its way too easy to assume they’ll mess everything up. Batwoman also happens to be one of my favourite characters so unless they make their version the Earth-1 Alex Danvers I’m not entertaining their bullshit.

Conclusion[]

This year's crossover was utter bullshit, Arrow and Flash were trash, Supergirl has made an impressive comeback but still has flaws and Legends of Tomorrow is awesome.