Could Vixen Get Her Own Series On The CW?

The so-called Arrowverse on The CW has a little bit of everything. It has relatively grounded street level action in Arrow, full out superhero grandeur in The Flash and the time travel and group dynamics on display in Legends of Tomorrow. They’re also admirably diverse, but the one thing that universe doesn’t have is a series fronted by a female hero … yet.

More from TV

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episodes 1 and 2 review: Aftermath
• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters
• 10 things nobody wants to admit about The Walking Dead
• Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
• The Walking Dead: Every TWD spinoff show coming in 2024 and beyond

If Greg Berlanti and company wanted to do one, the most likely candidate of all just arrived this week on Arrow. Megalyn Echikunwoke made a strong live action debut as Mari McCabe, otherwise known as Vixen, putting her mystical, animal-based powers to use in helping Team Arrow take down Damien Darhk. It was a strong enough showing that outlets like Entertainment Weekly are speculating about whether Vixen could have the next spin-off in the Arrowverse.

Berlanti has gone on record saying he isn’t expecting to do more superhero shows, but plans can and do change pretty quickly in the world of television. Could Vixen support her own show? Here are three reasons to expect that she could.

Supergirl has shown the way

After some hand-wringing over the fact that the first five episodes of Supergirl each had less people watching than the previous week, the CBS series has stabilized at a point where it can pretty comfortably rely on at least seven million viewers every Monday night. That’s an impressive number that speaks to the idea that fans don’t care if the star of a superhero is male or female.

Vixen isn’t even in the same universe as Supergirl in terms of name recognition among the general public, and the ceiling isn’t as high on The CW in terms of viewership. The Flash is the network’s highest rated show and doesn’t even draw four million people per episode. But that also means series don’t need as big an audience to be considered a success there, and since Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg are also EPs on Supergirl, they can take heart in the fact that they’ve already had a female-led show take flight.

She’s got her own unique setting

One cool aspect of the DC heroes we’ve seen on TV so far is that their cities are almost characters in their own right, and both of them fit the tone of the series perfectly. Arrow‘s Star City is rarely seen in the daylight, and is a gritty place where Green Arrow provides a contrasting light (at least in Season 4), while Central City is where the impossible becomes daily reality on The Flash.

Yet the DC Universe also has real life cities too, and Vixen has already been established from her CW Seed micro-series as the protector of Detroit. Written well, the use of a real world location like the Motor City could help Vixen stand out a little bit more and be different than any other superhero property currently on TV.

The links to the other DC shows will help

When Arrow first hit the air a few seasons ago, it was going it alone on The CW and in superhero TV in general. That’s no longer the case, and the strong foundation of the Arrowverse makes it much easier for spin-offs to find their wings. Legends of Tomorrow is entertaining enough that it works even for people who don’t know all the characters from their previous appearances, but it would not have been possible without the work done to set all of them up first.

That gives Vixen a huge advantage, because even fans who didn’t catch her on Arrow would at least go into it knowing that she’s part of that universe. Crossovers would be easy and expected — particularly since Green Arrow owes her a favor — and simply being a part of a shared continuity provides a stronger foundation from which to start with a relatively obscure hero.

Next: Stephen Amell is Down for an Arrow-Supergirl Crossover

Add in the impressive visual effects that were shown off to help visualize Vixen’s powers, and she feels like a shot worth taking if The CW wants to add another superhero show to its roster. The network’s full season plate is already pretty full (it doesn’t help that The CW doesn’t have the extra prime time hour at 10 pm like other networks), but if it wanted more DC flavor for the winter or even something to show during the summer, giving Mari the spotlight would make a lot of sense.