Update on 7/3/18:
I originally wrote this post on 12/13/17. I am now adding a sixth character to this list in light of John Constantine's promotion to series regular for Legends of Tomorrow season 4.
Opening Remarks
The Arrowverse is big. Like really big. I would argue that a strong majority of the most significant DC comics characters have appeared in the Arrowverse (or at least been referenced) in some capacity. We've gotten everyone from the JSA to the Legion of Super-Heroes in full-blown appearances, and everyone from Hal Jordan to Harley Quinn in cameos and Easter eggs.
In fact, the Arrowverse is so big, that's its actually kinda hard to think of too many comic book characters that would be good on the shows that haven't already been done. Of course, there's always room for more--here are
Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter) on Legends of Tomorrow
If any character feels like a natural fit on Legends of Tomorrow, it's the self-centered, time-traveling superhero Booster Gold. In fact, for the past three years, I've been expecting every season to be the one in which they announce Booster Gold is coming to Legends. As far as I know, the closest they've come to referencing him was revealing Rip Hunter's real first name as "Michael" back in L1x12.
In the comics, Michael Jon Carter originates as a jerk from the 25th century who realizes he could use the technology of his time period to achieve fame and fortune in the past. Carter steals an arsenal of useful equipment--including a time machine previously belonging to Rip Hunter--from a museum and then departs for the 20th century. There, he has a long and exciting career as superhero Booster Gold, though he continually butts heads with more traditional heroes due to his prioritization of money and fame. In later adventures, he travels through time with Rip Hunter, and the duo discover that Carter is in fact Hunter's father!
Booster Gold seems like he would be a good fit on Legends of Tomorrow, even besides his obvious connections to Rip Hunter and time travel. He has a comedic, larger-than-life personality that would totally feel at home with the tone of the show. Also, his obsession with fame would make an interesting counterpoint to the Legends' role as the secret, thankless protectors of history.
The Question (Victor Sage) on Arrow
The Question happens to be one of my absolute favorite superheroes: he's just so different! He defeats his foes with superior detective skills, philosophical clarity, and thoroughly superfluous abstruseness! And with Marc Guggenheim recently citing the Question as the one character he would want to bring to Arrow, this choice may just come true... then again, Marc Guggenheim says all kinds of things.
In my opinion, the Arrowverse can always use more super-smart characters who aren't more of the same-old math/science-y super-geniuses. Nate Heywood's unique perspective as a super-historian has definitely been one good addition to the Legends in that vein. And while Team Flash ostensibly has a few super-detectives, The Flash has never really had good enough mysteries to sell those characters' abilities (we'll see if Ralph Dibny proves a worthy opponent to the Thinker, but frankly, I doubt it). And for all of Team Arrow's motley skills, their detecting abilities have never been particularly impressive (in fact, they seem rather oblivious more often than not). If done well, Victor Sage could bring not just a fun new personality to Arrow, but also open up possibilities for exciting mystery-based storylines.
Aquaman (Arthur Curry) on The Flash
The Flash has been sporadically referencing Atlantis' existence on Earth-2 ever since season 2. Apparently, it's some kind of vacation destination in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (above the ocean, of course). Plastic manufacturing may also be one of their industries. In any case, with Atlantis comes Aquaman, its glorious king!
Of course, Aquaman is also in the process of becoming a major character in DC's film universe, so there's always the question of whether or not Warner Brothers will allow the Berlanti shows to use him at all. Then again, with Superman appearing on Supergirl, the possibilities certainly seem a lot more open than they did a few years ago when the entire Suicide Squad got thrown under the bus to make room for their (painfully bad) movie. Furthermore, perhaps if the Arrowverse Aquaman is significantly different from his movie counterpart, the conflict would be less problematic. With that in mind, here's my pitch...
Atlantis is a modern, above-water nation fully immersed in the international community, and, of course, monarchy is an archaic form of governance. It would be silly to expect that Earth-2's Atlantis bears much resemblance its traditional portrayal from the comics. Though Arthur Curry should still be the rightful king of Atlantis, that position is probably simply ceremonial and cultural, like it is in modern European monarchies. So instead of making Curry a warrior-dictator, go all-in on this portrayal of Atlantis as a tourist desitnation and make Arthur Curry its premier real estate mogul! The owner and proprietor of Atlantis (not unlike how the crown of Britain still maintains enormously valuable real estate holdings)! Perhaps "Aquaman" is just his public nickname (because he's the king of a country that's pretty much one big SeaWorld!). With this portrayal in mind, I imagine a two-part Flash arc (not unlike season 3's Gorilla City arc), where Team Flash visits Atlantis and helps Curry with some super-problem of his. Really, from there, it writes itself...
Hippolyta of Themyscira on Legends of Tomorrow
Legends of Tomorrow 3x06 made more than a few viewers gasp with excitement when that episode ended with a visit to Wonder Woman's homeland of Themyscira. Taking compassion on Helen of Troy for her cruel fate at the end of the Trojan War, Zari opted to return Helen to Themyscira rather than Troy in her home time of 1253 B.C. Zari described Themyscira to Helen as an island inhabited by warrior women, and expressed her belief that this small change to the timeline would not have a significant effect on history. Let's all hope that she turns out to be wrong!
First of all, the mere existence of Themyscira in the Arrowverse raises some interesting questions. Does it still exist in modern times? Does Diana (Wonder Woman) necessarily exist? Frankly, I think the best choice would be to completely avoid answering either of these questions directly. The Arrowverse certainly doesn't need Wonder Woman running around, just like it doesn't need Batman. Either of those characters would only detract from the primacy of the superheroes that are more important to this world: the Green Arrow, the Flash, etc. Furthermore, is it really believable that Themyscira has existed in the world, undetected through the millennia up to the present day? I rather like the fact that the Arrowverse started out pretty grounded and mundane in 2012 and has gradually gotten crazier with time. If the Amazons were to pop up in 2017 now, it would sorta mess up that whole progression.
What does make sense for the Arrowverse is to say that the ancient world is actually a much more magical and exotic place than the modern world believes. Legends of Tomorrow has already moved in that direction with their portrayals of Camelot and the story of the Trojan War (which in real life is almost certainly mostly mythical). Themyscira fits well in that era of fantasy. That's why I would rather see Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's mother) on Legends than her more famous daughter. Here's my pitch...
For whatever reason, Zari's delivery of Helen to Themyscira immediately called to my mind "Fury," an episode of the old Justice League cartoon. In that episode, a human girl named Aresia washes up on Themyscira, and Hippolyta makes the decision to share the powers and knowledge of the Amazons with her. However, since she has already been tainted by the evils of the outside world, Aresia eventually goes rogue and sets out on a genocidal quest to rid the world of men. I imagine a similar story taking place in 1253 B.C. with Helen playing Aresia's role as a rogue Amazon. Of course, that's just one idea. There's a lot of different directions they could go, but given the provocative ending to L3x06, I doubt that we've seen the last of Helen of Troy and Themyscira.
Solomon Grundy on Arrow
This one's admittedly a little strange. Cyrus Gold appeared in Arrow season 2 as Sebastian Blood's chief enforcer and the first Church of Blood member to survive his Mirakuru transfusion. Oliver battled him in episodes 2x08 and 2x09 and eventually defeated him by triggering the explosion of the centrifuge producing Mirakuru. The last shot of Cyrus Gold shows a suspicious green chemical from the centrifuge dripping over him as he lay (apparently) dead.
Of course, in the comics, death is only the beginning of Cyrus Gold's story. He reanimates as a sort of zombie (thanks, magic) and becomes a recurrent enemy of Superman, Batman, and the Justice League in general under the name Solomon Grundy. Gold's conspicuous chemical bath on Arrow was clearly a reference to the zombie angle, but the question remains of whether or not the writers would ever want to actually come back to that story on-screen.
After a rather colossal failure in portraying magical and metahuman villains on Arrow in season 4, Solomon Grundy would be a... risky character for the show, to say the least. However, I still do believe that there's nothing inherently wrong with doing superhuman villains on Arrow, as long as they are done well. In fact, I think pitting Oliver against a foe like Solomon Grundy could be a great way of stacking the odds against the heroes. Also, Grundy could definitely be made to fit in the pseudo-grounded, relatively gritty tone of Arrow. Then again, as cool as this all could be, it's still just very... risky.
Zatanna Zatara on Legends of Tomorrow
John Constantine's joining the Legends for season 4 is all-around good news. Matt Ryan brings tons of personality to the role, and Constantine is sure to have plenty of hilarious and interesting relationships with his fellow Waverider-mates. His inclusion also opens the door for a bunch of connected, magic-related characters to appear on the show.
Dr. Fate is one possibility (his helmet was on CBS's Constantine as a sort of Easter Egg acknowledged by the dialogue), but he doesn't excite me too much. Swamp Thing would be a great option, but I'm guessing that he'll be saved for the dedicated Swamp Thing show (non-Arrowverse) that's gonna be on the DC Universe streaming platform (that's a weird thing, isn't it?). My personal favorite Constantine-friend, though, is the illustrious magi Zatanna Zatara.
Besides being generally pretty cool on her own merits, Zatanna has a romantic history with John Constantine in the comics, which could certainly make for some spicy Legends character drama/comedy/romance (it's really all the same on Legends, ain't it?). Her father, John Zatara is also a significant character, and another magic-powered crimefighter. The Legends writers sure love playing with characters' ancestors via time-travel, so it's easy to imagine a multi-generational team-up of Zatara's appearing in Legends season 4.
Closing Remarks
Voila! Five (now six) comic book characters that should appear in the Arrowverse. Actually, as I alluded to in the Opening Remarks, I actually kinda had a hard time just coming up with five (Solomon Grundy is rather a stretch). There are a lot speedsters that would have been obvious choices, but I refuse to promote adding more speedsters to The Flash--there have been too many already! It undermines the specialness of Barry and Eobard's rivalry, in my opinion.
So, what characters would you like to see in the Arrowverse? I'm sure people have tons of different ideas for this. Let me know in the comments!
Hope you enjoyed!
Phillip
