Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl Trailers: DC’s TV Universe is More Fun

The CW/CBS

This comes with no offense intended toward Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter or Daredevil, but I’m finding that the DC Comics television universe might be more fun than Marvel’s. This comes in stark contrast to the state of the two companies’ cinematic universe. On those grounds, Marvel is far more fun than the jokeless, dour DC movieverse. But with shows like Arrow and The Flash, DC’s television arm has found a real sweet spot for mixing comedy, drama and action. Needless to say, I’m a fan of what they are doing.

Which brings us to two newly released trailers for the next wave of DC on TV: Legends of Tomorrow on The CW and Supergirl on CBS. Both trailers bring with them some new and interesting elements, so let’s look at them individually.

First up is DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, a trailer that dropped today (the show has not been given a date yet). It’s the promised spinoff of Flash and Arrow that reunites several characters from the supporting casts of both shows and introduces a few fresh faces:

I love the Doctor Who vibe that I’m getting from this show and not just because of the time travel element or the fact that Arthur Darvill, shown as time traveler Rip Hunter, was a member of the Doctor Who cast very recently. It’s got that low-budget, but still clever production value and the wackiness that comes with expanding your comic universe through time and space. Bringing back Caity Lotz as the undead Sara Lance, seen here as White Canary, is fun. As is the larger role given to Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer, a.k.a The Atom. In the realm of crazy spinoffs that look like terrible ideas on paper, this one actually turned out to be interesting. I expect that to have some fun with it.

The second trailer is for Supergirl, which will air on CBS in the fall. This “first look” isn’t so much a trailer as a condensed 6-minute version of the show’s pilot. It sets up the entire backstory for Kara Zor-El (Whiplash‘s Melissa Benoist), Superman’s cousin:

Given the very network-sitcom-ness of this first look, I’m a little less confident in Supergirl. But with the unifying thread of having Greg Berlanti (Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow) on the creative team, there’s plenty of room for hope. Even though the network is different and the tone is even more saccharin, Supergirl still looks interesting. It will be nice to see Calista Flockhart back in a prominent television role, the visuals look solid and as soon as they introduce a little drama into Kara’s life, I’m sure things will land just fine. There hasn’t been solid word yet about whether or not this show will cross over with any of the other DC properties (which would require some cross-network cooperation), but hopefully it can stand on its own. Consider me curious, at the very least.

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