At the Television Critics Association Press Tour, the producers of “Arrow” have teased a second live action spinoff (after “The Flash”) that would share the same television universe. The early rumors tend to lean towards Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer aka The Atom as the most likely to get his own show after Routh’s appearances this season on “Arrow.”
However, The CW already has a new spinoff of sorts coming out in the near future. The CW will be releasing a six part “Vixen” animated series on CW Seed, the network’s online delivery platform.
Created by Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner in 1981, Vixen aka Mari Jiwe McCabe is an African model who inherits a magical totem that gives her the powers of almost any animal while allowing her to become a superheroine. Vixen headlined her own comic book series and she was one of the primary members of the Justice League during the Detroit era in the mid-’80s. Vixen was also featured as a member of the Suicide Squad.
“Arrow” executive producer Marc Guggenheim will be producing the “Vixen” animated series with Keto Shimizu and Brian Ford Sullivan on board as writers. “Vixen” will take place in the same shared universe of “Arrow” and “The Flash,” with both characters slated to appear in the series.
While speaking with Comic Book Resources, Guggenheim said “Vixen’s such a great character. First of all, she represents magic, which is an area that we haven’t explored on either of the two shows just yet. The other thing is, it’s a strong African-American hero who’s, like I said, a former Justice Leaguer. It’s set in Detroit, as a nod towards those Justice League [Detroit] stories. It’s done with the same love of the source material that we bring to everything.”
Guggenheim also held out hope that Vixen could make the jump to live action.
“We always say ‘never say never,’ and if the character resonates with people, that would be wonderful. I would love to be in a position where CW said to us, ‘Hey, we want a ‘Vixen’ live-action show.; That’d be wonderful. We’ll have to sort of see how things play out.”
“Vixen” is expected to premiere in Fall 2015 on CW Seed.
