Spun: Arrowverse – The Society and Justice League Dark!!

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Every now and then, a successful TV show creates a spinoff that fans fall in love with (Frasier, Daria, even The Simpsons, believe it or not). Unfortunately, these gems are heavily overshadowed by the worst of the worst (Joey, Joanie Loves Chachi, Saved by the Bell: The College years). The term “spinoff” is now met with rolling eyes and groans, when its full potential hasn’t even been tapped. In the new Golden age of television, the fields are ripe for harvest! Sick of waiting for Hollywood to hurry the hell up, we’re just going to do it ourselves. Your favorite shows are about to be Spun. 

With Avengers mere weeks away, it’s difficult not to get excited for anything and everything superhero related. A new Deadpool trailer, Ant-Man and Wasp right around the corner, new seasons of Luke Cage and Daredevil…the Day of the Dork is upon us. Noticeably absent from that lineup, (and most lineups) is any mention of a DC comics property. With Justice League disappointing the masses (there’s still Blu Ray sales, right?), having to wait till Christmas for Aquaman, and WB having no idea what to do with Flashpoint, we’ve all spent too much of our collective time waiting for the DCEU to do something worthwhile. With the exception of Wonder Woman, every installment from DC Comics has been a critical or financial disaster. I can go on (and on) but it will end up sounding too much like a "C'mon Hollywood!" installment. 

If you had a conversation with some of my film students however, you would never get that impression. Don’t get me wrong, they agree…Batman V Superman sucked, Suicide Squad was a mess, and Justice League…well, it was better than those two, but that’s not really saying much. Yet they talk about the flash just about every week. That’s because they’re discussing the Arrowverse. If you’re not familiar with it, it is the DC shared universe that actually works. 

In 2012, The CW ordered a pilot episode of “Arrow” Focusing on the origins of Oliver Queen. If you read the comics, You may know him as The Green Arrow from Justice League. The basis was to create their own way, staying away from predecessors like Smallville and other DC properties. In what may have been a surprise to some, the series took off, and in a big way. In 2015, The Flash joined the fray. After making appearances on Arrow that generated quite a bit of excitement, the fastest man alive was given his own series. Eventually, several recurring characters from those programs joined up, creating “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”. Over on CBS, the show runner for “Supergirl” expressed interest in crossing over with these popular shows. A year later, The CW’s version of the Flash actually showed up alongside Kara Danvers! The program moved to The CW for it’s second season, and Supergirl has since appeared alongside everyone else in multiple crossover episodes. Not even diving into properties existing or in development (Vixen, Freedom Fighters etc.), or the fact that CONSTANTINE is now a series regular for Legends of Tomorrow Season 4, it’s safe to say the Arrowverse has accomplished what Hollywood sees as impossible; a successful DC Universe. Capitalizing on that success, the question may arise…Where could they go from here? 

Title: The Society

The Pitch: Originally I was thinking The Injustice League, but seeing as how so many of those members are Batman villains, that wouldn’t seem to work terribly well for the Arrowverse. Not to mention, the seeds for The Injustice Society have already been planted on the Flash in the form of The Thinker. The most exciting antagonist of the season, The Thinker has already (sort of) recruited The Fiddler (what a name to get stuck with), and bragged when the Flash finally showed up, that he was unable to save him in time. Barry may be the fastest man alive, but The Thinker is the fastest mind alive. Clifford DeVoe (AKA The Thinker) continues recruiting others in an attempt to further humiliate Barry Allen, but his master plan has yet to be revealed. With the ability to convince anyone to do his bidding, he may be building the most dangerous force our CW heroes have ever faced. Let’s continue down that path:

After recruiting the talents of many Meta Humans and villains, The Injustice Society sets out to slowly chip away at the victories our familiar heroes had assumed they’d achieved. With the occasional crossover appearance from Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and multiple members of the Legends of Tomorrow, The Injustice Society plants themselves firmly in the faces of the heroes that have defeated them at every turn, getting their own form of Justice and building towards a showdown much larger, and formidable than any of them (hero or villain) have ever faced. 

The Characters:

The Thinker begins recruiting the talents of some familiar faces to the Arrowverse (Artemis, The Huntress, Shade), even some that we thought were deceased (Solomon Grundy…Just do it already)! He also contacts some new faces, like Black Adam…I know the Rock is playing him in Shazam next year, but how about some friendly competition? Get Tyrese to do it, I’m sure he’d have no problem going toe to toe with the Rock.

We could also throw in a few members of the Injustice League (because why not?) like Bizarro, Deathstroke or even Lex Luthor. 

Please let me do something meaningful.

All of this to say that there is one area (at least in my opinion) that DC will always have Marvel beat: Villians. I can't predict what's going to happen with Thanos, and Michael Keaton turned in a great performance as The Vulture in Spiderman Homecoming. Warmonger in Black Pather had, perhaps, the best motivation of any villain in Marvel to date (again, my opinion). And if we're honest, those are three villains out of over a dozen that they've introduced. If villains is DC's strongsuit, than they should use it!! 

Plan B Pitch: Justice League Dark 

I considered a few stories for a second pitch. A Justice League for the Arrowverse Heroes, making a Green Lantern Corps series as opposed to a movie. The trick is it has to be a property that is strong on it’s own that can have regular ties to the rest of the universe. You know who has those ties? John Constantine, who has already made appearances on Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. He’s said to be a series regular for the latter, which was just renewed for a 4th season. 

Justice League Dark was actually rumored to be a film directed by Guillermo Del Toro in 2012, then in 2015 he was only attached to write, later that year he wasn’t attached at all, and as of last year he’s attached to write again with no director attached…it’s safe to assume this project is in developmental hell. Perfect time to throw away your script and start fresh!

John Constantine (fresh off of his stint with the Legends of Tomorrow) witnessed the darkness and mystical threats that hover around the lives of our familiar heroes (Arrow, Flash, Legends etc.) first hand. Given the lack of respect he has for costumed heroes, he feels this is a job better suited to him and others better quipped to deal with Supernatural elements. This sets him on a path to find and form his own Justice league…and that path begins with a creature known as “The Swamp Thing”. 

I’m afraid of the reaction this time around, but Sound off schmoes! Do you want DC to give The CW more creative freedom? Do you want to see more heroes and villains join this ever expanding universe? Would you rather see a JLD movie or weekly tv series? Let us know in the comments below!