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DC Entertainment: 2017 in Review – Part 2 [Television]

2017 has been another great year for DC Entertainment. Warner Brothers’ DC Extended Universe released two movies again this year, one with great results. and one.. well one did not do too hot. DC Television worlds have grown exponentially, and animation is being used increasingly. Gaming realms have also increased with some new additions this year.

In this part of our annual reflection, we will be looking at major news, rumors, announcements, and SPOILERS regarding all things DC Entertainment’s television shows.

To see our recap of DC Entertainment’s Five Best Moments of San Diego Comic-Con 2017, click HERE.


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2017 has been the best year yet for DC TV (yep, I know we said that last year, but it was definitely true again so :P). The CW, with its Arrowverse had a GINORMOUS crossover this year, and we’ll start off with the show that began it all, Arrow. This year has had a relatively strong start, with Oliver trying to balance his life as mayor, Green Arrow, and now dad. He ends up dropping Green Arrow from his list for a time, but comes back when Diggle finally admits he’s been injured. We’ve had some pretty cool moments already this season, like a Bruce Wayne namedrop, the Olicity marriage, the reveal of Vigilante, and the Deathstroke episodes! This season, the heroes are up against a whole team of villains, including Black Siren, Cayden James, and Ricardo Diaz. Team Arrow is in dissolution, with Oliver being indicted for being a vigilante, the betrayal of Wild Dog/Rene Ramirez, and Curtis and Dinah being unable to trust Oliver. The last half of the season promises to be intriguing, as Colton Haynes is set to return as Roy Harper, Thea is awake from her coma, and Oliver goes to trial.

Next up is The Flash. This season has seen the wedding of Iris and Barry, and the inclusion of the first non-speedster villain for The Flash, The Thinker. Barry is brought back from the Speed Force by Team Flash in the season premiere, and as a result creates 12 metahumans (including Elongated Man) that The Thinker uses to fight Barry and draw him in, until in the midseason finale, where he frames Barry for his “death.”

Now to DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. After defeating the Legion of Doom in Season 2, the Legends have to split up after the time storm they caused in the season 2 finale sets off a multitude of anachronisms. Rip Hunter starts the Time Bureau which the Legends have come at odds with this season as they band together to take on anachronisms, with the help of some stolen gear from the Bureau, and they will begin the fight next year against Mallus, who unites a new villain team that includes Damien Darhk and Gorilla Grodd. The Legends added Zari to the team this year, and they lost Stein to a fight in Crisis on Earth X, and Jax left the team in the midseason finale, knowing he needed to move on after losing Stein. Fortunately, they already have plans for a replacementConstantine is set to take the Legends on a wild adventure when the show returns in February, and we got a peak of him at the end of the midseason finale.

Last on our list for the Arrowverse currently is Supergirl. In its third season, Supergirl has definitely picked up the pace and been phenomenal. The villain for this season is Reign, who is the weapon Worldkiller from Kypton. Reign is stronger than Kara, and put her in a coma in the midseasaon finale. The Legion of Superheroes is set to come in in the midseason premiere, with Mon-El and Saturn Girl already introduced, and Braniac-5 cast and set to come in in the second half of the season. The Legion has been stranded during time travel, and with their ship broken, they are stuck in the 21st century. The season has also introduced several new characters, such as Morgan Edge and M’yrnn J’onzz. Supergirl will share its timeslot with Legends of Tomorrow, which you can find out more about by clicking HERE.

Now the famous Arrowverse crossover. In its fourth iteration, The CW created the story Crisis On Earth-X, and it was ah-mazing. With Overgirl, Dark Arrow, and Reverse-Flash all as villains from Earth X, this four part series included every episode from all four shows, introduced The Ray and Citizen Cold, killed a character, and had major emotional ramifications for most of the characters, especially with the marriages of Barry and Iris, and Oliver and Felicity. For our review of the crossover, check parts 1&2 out HERE, and parts 3&4 HERE.

To see what 10 superheros we think still need to appear in the Arrowverse, click HERE.

Black Lightning is set to premiere January 16th 2018, taking over the Legends of Tomorrow time slot. The show is not currently part of the Arrowverse itself, but that could change, just like Supergirl did. The show follows Jefferson Pierce as he returns to his vigilante persona of Black Lightning, to defend his community from The 100.

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On to Fox’s DC Shows! We start with the Batman prequel series Gotham, which returns for its fourth season. This year has featured villains such as Solomon Grundy, Ra’s Al Ghul and Sofia Falcone, and seen Bruce Wayne begin his career as a vigilante. The show has seen steady ratings, and has had goodness knows how many characters on it. The series moved to Thursday nights this year, after spending three seasons on Mondays.
Lucifer has been continuing to be a big hit, returning this year with its third season in a new timeslot. A Vertigo show, stars Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil, who has resigned from Hell, and works as a consultant with the LAPD and runs a nightclub Lux. This season, they’ve introduced Cain, the first murderer, who is doomed to walk the Earth forever because of his sins.
The CW’s Vertigo adaption iZombie will return at the midseason mark for its fourth season. The release date has not been given yet, but the show is somewhat popular, and has decent ratings, with most looking forward to season 4 to come.
AMC’s Preacher, another Vertigo adaption, had its second season run over the summer this year. It rang in great reviews once again, and obtained renewal for a third season, to run at some point in 2018.

Syfy has finally put a ring on Krypton (hehe planet jokes), giving it an official release date. It will follow Seg-El, Superman’s grandfather, and Adam Strange as they combine forces to save the future Superman. The show will feature several more iconic DC characters, such as Doomsday and Brainiac.
DC’s Titans has had a ton of casting done and character images released. Set to premiere next year on DC’s untitled streaming service, the show already has its Raven, Starfire, Robin, Hawk and Dove, Beast Boy, and Amy Rohrbach. We have Alcolyte already being setup for the villain of the show’s first season, and we got some awesome first looks this year at the characters of Robin, and Hawk and Dove. The last bit of intriguing news is that we could possibly get Wonder Girl to pop up on the show.

Additionally, there has been some movement on HBO’s Watchmen adaptation. The pilot has been picked up, with Damon Lindelof developing it. Production is expected to begin in March.

2017 has been another stellar year for DC Entertainment’s television properties. The CW’s DC shows have taken another huge step forward, and other network’s shows are continuing to build up, and take shape.
Make sure to check back here tomorrow for our third and final part of our 2017 recap. It will cover DC’s animation and video game projects of the year.

Clemson University Graduate. Lover of all things Star Wars and DC.