In the “Invasion!” of The Flash, Flash (Grant Gustin, left) and Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) lead a mob of superheroes against the Dominators. Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
In the “Invasion!” episode of Arrow, dead characters such as Oliver Queen’s parents make an apparent return, played by the original actors, Jamey Sheridan as Robert Queen (left) and Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen. Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Lining up against the Dominators in the “Invasion!” episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow are (from left) Amaya “Vixen” Jiwe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), Kara “Supergirl” Zor-El (Melissa Benoist), Ray “Atom” Palmer (Brandon Routh), Nate “Steel” Heywood (Nick Zano), Oliver “Green Arrow” Queen (Stephen Amell), Jefferson “Firestorm” Jackson (Franz Drameh), John “Spartan” Diggle (David Ramsey) and Barry “Flash” Allen (Grant Gustin). Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
ICYMI: The CW’s “Invasion!” crossover was boffo.
Beginning with a tease in Supergirl on Nov. 28, and continuing the next three nights on The Flash, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, the story involved the Maid of Steel (Melissa Benoist) joining the casts of the other three shows in a huge superhero mob battling alien invaders. The Dominators, as these xenoforms are called, wanted to destroy Earth because … well, it has a huge superhero mob, for one. But mainly because Flash (Grant Gustin) monkeyed with the timeline last season, which the Dominators consider an existential threat.
Spoiler: The good guys won. But in more ways than one.
“Invasion!” was a ratings bonanza, with Supergirl getting its best ratings at The CW (it had previously been on CBS), Flash and Arrow getting season-high ratings, and Legends getting its best ratings ever. Also, what could easily have been a confusing mishmash was instead a surprisingly coherent story, with each show and character getting prominent and appropriate beats.
It’s worth a re-watch, especially to catch some of the clever bits that whizzed by too fast the first time. Here are some more “In Case You Missed It” moments:
* If you were wondering, “Invasion!” was loosely based on some DC comics. A miniseries of that name was published in 1988, in which The Dominators allied with a bunch of other alien races to wipe out Earth for much the same reason as the TV show: We’ve got too darn many superheroes for the other planets to feel comfortable. While the TV “Invasion!” offered maybe a dozen characters decked out in Spandex, in the comics there was a veritable army of super-doers led by, of course, Superman and the Justice League.
* The TV Dominators looked very much like their comic book counterparts, only they were naked. Their trademark green robes, according to a variety of sources, were too difficult to reproduce in CGI. In the comics, all Dominators have red discs on their foreheads, which were indicators of rank; the larger the disc, the more important the Dominator. The TV Dominators had the discs, but it was difficult to tell the relative difference in size. But in a nice Easter egg, the superheroes who were mind-controlled in the Flash episode all had red discs on their foreheads.
* Speaking of mind control, it’s such a common trope in superhero tales that Flash had to console Supergirl with the line, “You’re not the first superhero to be mind controlled.”
* Another standard in comics is the “perfect world” story, where a superhero is shown his or her ideal existence in a dream, hallucination, hoax or some other dodge, only to have it snatched away – or worse, the hero has to voluntarily give up utopia due to a sense of responsibility. The latter happened on Arrow, with Atom (Brandon Routh), Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), Spartan (David Ramsey), Speedy (Willa Holland) and White Canary (Caity Lotz). It was surprisingly moving, especially with various dead or disappeared characters appearing alive and loving, played by the original actors.
* The heroes use as their headquarters a building that Flash describes as an “old hall or hangar thing that S.T.A.R. Labs owns.” Yeah, maybe. But viewed from the front, it is quite clearly the Hall of Justice from Super Friends. Thea “Speedy” Queen remarks “You should do something with it.” Like, what, start a Justice League of The CW? Woo-hoo!
* If the Arrow entry seemed a little like an anniversary show, it’s because it was. This was the 100th episode.
* In direct contradistinction to the humorless and depressing DC superhero movies, the DC superhero TV shows are electric with wit. Usually it’s the techies who come up with the funnies, such as when Flash’s tech guy Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) and Green Arrow’s tech gal Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rikards) rescue some captured Legends with her quip, “Y’all call for tech support?”
* In another Cisco-Felicity scene, the two come up with the same tech solution simultaneously, with one yelling “Bingo!” and the other “Yahtzee!” Talk about a team-up!
* Movie and TV quotes/references abound in “Invasion!” The dialogue includes allusions to Adventures of Superman, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Matrix, Princess Bride, Scarface, Star Trek, Star Wars, Superman Returns, Wizard of Oz, World War Z and probably some I missed.
* Twice when someone else beats Cisco to a movie quote, he reacts with amusing irritation. “Your tech guy quotes movies?” he mutters. “Reeeeeal original.” And later, when Nate “Steel” Heywood (Nick Zano) says “Have fun storming the castle,” Cisco responds with “For real? You’re going to use ‘Princess Bride’ against me? Against ME?”
* In one particularly subtle reference, Ray “Atom” Palmer notes that Supergirl “looks like my cousin.” Palmer is played by Brandon Routh, who portrayed the Man of Steel in Superman Returns where, of course, Supergirl (who didn’t appear in the movie) would have been his cousin.
* Speaking of Supergirl, she brings the hope and cheerfulness that are entirely absent in ponderous movies like Batman v Superman. When former supervillain Heat Wave says he got his name by burning his parents alive and because he likes to watch things burn, the ever-upbeat Supergirl finds the silver lining: “That’s a … colorful back story.”
* Supergirl is described at different times as “more powerful than a locomotive” and as “a strange visitor from another planet.” Those phrases come from the intro to the 1940s Adventures of Superman radio show, and/or the 1950s TV show of the same name.
* When Supergirl went into action, a brief sample of her theme music would play. When she was mind controlled, a more ominous, minor-key variant was used.
* Comic fans got a laugh when Supergirl called Flash, Arrow and the Legends teams “Earth’s mightiest heroes.” That’s the tagline for Marvel’s Avengers! (DC’s Justice League are usually referred to as the “world’s greatest superheroes.”)
* At one point, Felicity shivers with excitement and says, “Best. Team-up. Ever!” Maybe not in comics, where heroes have been teaming up since the 1940s. But she’s certainly right when it comes to live-action TV – unless you think that time Superman showed up on I Love Lucy was better.
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Replies
Any word of this team-up being released as a DVD package at all?
I would guess that any serie's season set would include the other three episodes, but I haven't heard that the four will be released in a standalone set.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
I would guess that, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Good question. I'd hope so -- though DVDs on the whole seem less and less important in these days of streaming media.
Glad that the ratings numbers on all four parts of this were good. It justifies bringing Supergirl over from CBS rather than canceling it outright.
Now if they'd just snagged Constantine (and changed the format like they did Supergirl). We were well on our way to getting a TV version of The Spectre!
I hope we haven't seen the last of Constantine.... and maybe see the Spectre, too, the next time he shows up...!
They had the character of Constantine down pretty well. But they messed with the status quo. He should be mobile, popping up weird places, like a mystical David Banner or Richard Kimble or David Vincent. Or in London. Instead, they gave him a Sanctum Sanctorum full of mystical artifacts, and placed it in the rural American South somewhere. Let me tell you, this is a DULL PART OF THE WORLD. At least put him in New York, like Dr. Strange! Or New Orleans, or some other place noted for voodoo or haints or hexes. But no, he was in the woods somewhere, in a charming old mill house, where the story had to struggle to get him any place interesting every episode. A character like Constantine, who thrives in an urban setting, especially pubs.
So if CW had picked the show up, they could have kept the lead actor, but changed the focus and setting, like they did Supergirl. A winnah!
Plus, it would give them a DC show for Friday nights!