DC comic fans have seen a lot of heroes and villains they never thought they would ever see in live action thanks to The CW shows Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. And because all these are set in one universe, the “Arrowverse” as fans like to say, it’s even more exciting seeing heroes and villains interact with each other on different shows and settings. In fact it’s very clear based on the box office and critical reception of a lot of DC films that the DC TV universe is doing much better than its film universe. The reason for this may simply be the fact that the characters are very authentic and adapted in a way that they remain true to their roots.
That said, a number of Arrowverse characters have been altered so that they better fit the shows. While some characters have been made stronger and more complex in the shows, others have been stripped away of the powers they had. So, lets break down 8 Heroes The Arrowverse Made OP (And 7 They Powered Down).
Overpowered: Green Arrow
Oliver Queen is said to be the greatest archer in the DC Comics but the TV adaptation shows him as the best fighter in the Arrowverse. In fact, he’s shown to be as skilled with a sword as he is with a bow and arrow.
CW’s Arrow is shown to be incredibly skilled as he basically becomes an indestructible human being in just five years time.
What’s even more strange is how fluent Oliver becomes in Arabic, Spanish, Japanese in such a small amount of time. In fact, his Mandarin is apparently so good that a blind Triad member into believing that he was Chinese. Linguistic skills aside, Oliver Queen is also able to withstand immense pain (as evidenced by the countless times he’s been tortured). The comics depict the Green Arrow as a formidable superhero but Arrow’s version has overpowered him to a point that he’s almost perfect.
Powered Down: Mr. Terrific
Comic book fans often scoff at Arrow’s version of Curtis Holt, and for good reason. His Arrow adaptation has not done a great job of adapting the finer aspects of the hero. In the comics, Holt is a gifted athlete and martial artist who also has about 14 Ph.Ds to his name. And while Arrow has maintained that he is an ex-Olympic decathlete, it has completely diverted from his origin story. Mind you, some of these changes aren’t negative, Holt working for Palmer Tech and being gay do no damage whatsoever for the character.
However, the show has done little to explain why he wants to be a superhero so badly and why he’s an asset to the team. Mr. Terrific is easily the weakest fighter of the group and his hacking skills are second not only to Felicity, but also to Helix employee Alena.
Overpowered: Savitar
Fans knew that Savitar was going to wreak havoc when the God of Speed was announced as the primary antagonist for Season 3 of The Flash. Despite being the third speedster villain on the show, Savitar definitely proved his worth several times, with his power and speed being better than that of the villains before.
While the show itself could have done more to make the villain more interesting, Savitar’s planning and commitment to Barry’s destruction was quite unprecedented.
Savitar turning out to be a version of Barry Allen made the character all the more powerful. While the comic book villain was as fearsome as they come, he wasn’t as ambitious and ruthless as The Flash’s version was and him tricking Cisco to split himself into different periods of time only added to his authority.
Powered Down: Zari Tomaz/Isis
Zari Tomas, or Isis as she’s known to DC Comic fans, was introduced in the third season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The Arrowverse version of Zari varies greatly from the comics in which she’s known as Adrianna/Andrea Tomaz. The comics show Zari as a girl who can channel the powers of the Egyptian goddess Isis and thus was able to fly. She also had super strength, super speed and was able to levitate objects, as well as make objects change their structure.
Amazingly Zari could also stop and reverse time, as well as telepathically control and influence people and animals. Comparing her to Arrowverse’s snarky hacker who only has wind controlling abilities shows just how much the show runners powered her down for the series.
Overpowered: Damien Darhk
Since Neal McDonough’s Damian Darhk was introduced in Arrow’s fourth season, he has remained an ever present fixture in the Arrowverse. Appearing in one season of the Arrow and multiple seasons of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, the super villain has distinguished himself as a masterful foe who is as cold and calculating as he is he is fierce. In the comics, the character’s biggest asset were his connections to organizations like H.I.V.E. and that fact that he never quite aged.
In the Arrowverse though he has been made a magician of sorts, trained in the arts of Dark Magic which give him powers such as telekinesis, enhanced strength, healing and teleportation.
He’s also shown to be a close friend (and eventual nemesis) of Ra’as Al Ghul, whom he met while training in the League of Shadows.
Powered Down: Cyborg Superman
In the comics, Hank Henshaw was hit with a solar flare which caused his body to mutate. To survive, Henshaw used Superman’s birthing matrix to make a body that would not only let him thrive but also make him indestructible. In Supergirl, an alien hating D.E.O. agent was saved from his death by Project Cadmus and genetically modified so he would be super strong. While the Cyborg Superman in the show has enhanced strength, heat vision and a plethora of other abilities, his powers pale in comparison to his comic book counterpart.
Cyborg Superman in DC Comics doesn’t only have super strength, speed and stamina, but he’s also shown to be almost immortal and with powers such as healing, flight and shape shifting. Cyborg Superman is also a very gifted technopath, meaning he can take any machine and absorb its energy before transforming it into whatever he desires.
Overpowered: Music Meister
Music Meister was created by Mike Jelenic for the popular animated series Batman: The Brave and The Bold and was voiced by Neil Patrick Harris. In the cartoon series, the character used his powers of vocal hypnosis and laser like weapons but the live action adaptation saw the character have powers like teleportation, visual hypnosis and he was said to be a fifth dimensional being of immense power.
In fact, many fans have even compared him to Mister Mxyzptlk, who comics fans know is supremely powerful.
In the Supergirl and The Flash’s crossover episode ‘Duet’, Music Meister also had the incredible ability of being able to adapt the powers of both Supergirl and The Fastest Man Alive, making him far more overpowered than anyone expected.
Powered Down: Guardian
Supergirl has done a lot to redeem Jimmy Olsen after his character was received poorly by fans. The biggest thing they’ve done for the character is to make him the superhero Guardian. In the comics, Olsen isn’t the one who dons the identity of Guardian though he does work alongside him. The comic book version of the Guardian is far more skilled in fighting and martial arts than Olsen. Like Olsen in the show, he also has a motorbike, but his bike unlike Olsen’s isn’t ordinary and contains features like autopilot and cameras.
Guardian was shown to be even stronger in certain comic books where the cloned version of Jim Harper (the man underneath Guardian’s helmet) possessed super strength, accelerated healing among other powers. If one compares the two, Olsens’ Guardian is severely underpowered.
Overpowered: White Canary
In DC Comics, White Canary has appeared very briefly during the Birds of Prey tie-in with the “Brightest Day” storyline, where she’s shown as an assassin who wants to blackmail Black Canary by threatening to reveal her identity. This White Canary had basic martial art skills, but they don’t compare to the power and fierceness of Sara Lance. Lance, being an League of Assassins member, possesses a wide range of abilities from sword fighting and bo-staff fighting.
She also is an excellent acrobat and in peak physical condition.
Lance is also shown to be great with knives, bows and firearms. White Canary also has an extensive knowledge of toxicology and is familiar with poisons and diseases. Arrowverse’s White Canary is also multilingual and great at infiltration and stealth.
Powered Down: Firestorm
Arrowverse’s Firestorm may not be active anymore, following the deaths of Ronnie Raymond and Victor Stein, but the superhero has been one of the most important and easy to recognize character in the Arrowverse. The Firestorm in the show can manipulate matter and change its subatomic structure, as well as absorb nuclear energy. Firestorm in Legends of Tomorrow can also use his pyrokinetic abilities to cause nuclear blasts.
However, the Firestorm in the comics is significantly more powerful. While the comic book character has all the abilities of the Firestorm on the show, he has far more tricks up his sleeve. Firestorm can use an objects “memories” to find out all that he can about it, he has enhanced vision, and phasing abilities (similar to the Flash’s). He can also regenerate physical properties as well as function on his own, without any sustenance.
Overpowered: The Thinker
The Flash’s first non-speedster villain, The Thinker, has quickly proven how formidable he is after sending threat after threat Barry’s way. The calculating history professor is based on the comic book villain of the same name who first appeared back in 1943. The comic book character possessed the ability to control, alter and infect various types of data and could also project himself as a holograph.
The Flash’s version has all these abilities but he’s much more magnificent as he can calculate and deduce the answer to every question ever.
DeVoe is also great as he can absorb powers of other meta humans. He is also an expert polymath as well as a skilled tactician and isn’t afraid to be ruthless when he needs to be.
Powered Down: Martian Manhunter
Martian Manhunter is one of the most powerful DC heroes. The alien has been an invaluable asset to the Justice League on numerous occasions with his powers often being the reason the League triumphs. In Supergirl, the hero acts as a supporting character to the Girl of Steel and is subsequently given less chance to shine. The show still manages to show how powerful he is by using his array of abilities on different occasions. He is shown as a telepath, shape shifter with superb healing facilities and has a longer than average lifespan.
However,what the show doesn’t include are his powers like super sight, smell, technopathy, invisibility and superhuman durability. He also has, what is known as “Martian Vision,” which allows him to see past the normal sight of humans and even Kryptonians.
Overpowered: Zoom
One of the most vicious villains on this list, Zoom entered the Arrowverse in the second season of The Flash, where he created havoc in the lives of the characters. In the comics, Hunter Zolomon is quite similar to Reverse Flash both in looks and objectives. But The CW’s version made Zoom a menacing threat from another world who broke Barry’s body and soul and even eliminated his father in cold blood.
While the comic book character is super fast too, the live action adaptation of the speedster manages to make him far more dangerous as Zoom has powers like Electrokinesis, superhuman agility, durability and reflexes.
Zoom became even more powerful after he became the Black Flash and his powers now include decay inducement and death touch.
Powered Down: Rip Hunter
Rip Hunter is a time travelling superhero who formed the superhero team called the ‘Legends’ in the DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Unlike the comics where he was an expert marksmen, tactician and martial artist, the show’s version of the character is far less powerful and knows very little apart from hand-to-hand combat.
The show also doesn’t bother to explain his interesting origins or the fact that his father is the superhero Booster Gold. Rip Hunter on the show isn’t an inventor and knows only basic martial arts, in the comics, though he has learnt fighting techniques from different eras of history. He is shown as an expert in the field of quantum theory and temporal mechanics.
Overpowered: Prometheus
For many Arrow fans, Prometheus is the best villain Green Arrow has faced in the TV series. That said, both the comic book character Prometheus and the live action super villain of the same name have a few similarities. For starters, both are human characters with their biggest assets being their brains and both have had affiliations with Helix.
While Prometheus in the comics is a forgettable character, Arrow’s Prometheus was anything but.
He was as skilled with a bow and arrow as Oliver Queen and also the best planner and manipulator in the Arrowverse managing to thwart Team Arrow at every turn and leave a lasting impression after his death. Prometheus also proved himself to be a great fighter which stems from his training under Talia al Ghul.
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What characters do you think have been over powered and powered down in the Arrowverse?
