DC’s decision to make certain superheroes off-limits in its TV shows actually helped more than it hurt the CW’s Arrowverse. ittedly, the Arrowverse does include Superman (one of DC’s two biggest characters) but it was originally built on heroes like Green Arrow and the Flash. These aren’t B or C-list characters by any means, but they’re not on the same level as Batman.
Following the conclusion of Legends of Tomorrow.
From there, the Arrowverse grew even further. When CBS cancelled Ruby Rose’s Batwoman and a visit to Gotham City, a place that had been mentioned but never seen. On the shoulders of several interconnected TV shows, the CW has impressively created a popular, live-action universe of heroes and villains. Interestingly enough, it was able to pull this off despite certain restrictions from DC. Here’s why DC’s decision to stop the CW from using some of its heroes was good for the Arrowverse.
DC Movies Restricted Arrowverse From Using Certain Characters
When Smallville was on the air, DC prevented the show from having full access to its library of characters. The Arrowverse faced a similar situation when it was its turn to take a dive into the DC Universe. The reason for this is that DC doesn’t want the shows interfering with its movie plans. That’s why Batman and Wonder Woman haven’t appeared in the Arrowverse. In the beginning, DC had strict rules in regards to Batman and Gotham City, but these loosened in later years, and Oliver even name-dropped Bruce Wayne in a speech. With Batwoman heavily relying on Batman characters and an evil, alternate timeline version of Bruce Wayne appearing in “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, it would seem that only Batman himself and perhaps a few of the characters associated with him are still unable to be used.
The Question, Blue Beetle, and Harley Quinn are also off-limits. The same rules apply to Aquaman and Green Lantern, though Man of Steel released in 2013 and DC still had big plans for the character at that point.
The Arrowverse Became Creative With Its Smaller Heroes
The Arrowverse hasn’t suffered from not being able to use Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern. Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl never needed the Amazons, the Green Lantern Corps, or the Caped Crusader to tell good stories. As Arrowverse producers and writers have pointed out on several occasions, the number of heroes that DC does let them use is already quite large. Given how many heroes there are in the DC Universe, there’s no reason why it needs any one character.
Focusing on smaller heroes proved beneficial to the Arrowverse, partially because it allowed for more creativity. A perfect example of this is the Legends of Tomorrow team. For the most part, the series centers on heroes that viewers aren’t familiar with. The series even made the team’s lack of A-list status a plot point. In season 1, the Legends were led to believe that they were plucked from the timestream because they were “legends”, but as it turned out, they were only chosen because they didn’t have an impact on history.
Legends of Tomorrow started off with B-list heroes like Firestorm, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl, but ended up dropping all three of them. Now, it’s lead is Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), an original Arrowverse character. Since Sara isn’t in the comics, the Arrowverse was able to use her to craft all-new stories, such as her experiences with the Lazarus Pits and her trips through time. Similarly, Arrow and The Flash have delivered numerous major story-arcs for lesser-known heroes like the Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer), Vibe (Carlos Valdez), Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez), and more. With characters like these, viewers don’t normally know what to expect from them, and this gives the producers and writers plenty of opportunities to go in unexpected directions.
Arrowverse Could've Failed If It Relied On Bigger Characters
The CW had a lot of freedom when it came to what it could do with its characters. For instance, Oliver married Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) instead of his comic book love interest, Black Canary. Would DC have granted that level of freedom to the CW if it was using bigger characters? Smallville, for instance, was always going to end with Clark (Tom Welling) in a relationship with Lois Lane (Erica Durance), regardless of where it went with characters like Lana (Kristin Kreuk). Because Superman is an iconic DC Comics hero, there are certain things that fans expect to see when these stories are put on the screen. With this in mind, the Arrowverse may have been held to firmer expectations if it had started out with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, rather than Green Arrow, Flash, Firestorm, Black Canary.
The situation with the Arrowverse’s popularity can be compared with the MCU’s. Not having Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men in the beginning forced Marvel to create multiple movie franchises with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, whereas DC was still primarily looking to its flagship heroes (Batman and Superman). Telling new stories, as opposed to rebooted versions of familiar narratives, is really what made the Arrowverse take off. The freedom that came with using lower-profile characters became one of the Arrowverse’s best assets.