10 Characters That Prove There Are No Consequences In The Arrowverse

WARNING: Major spoilers for Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl.

There is no denying that CW’s Arrowverse is pretty amazing. What started off with Arrow soon spawned The Flash, then Legends of Tomorrow. After Legends of Tomorrow came crossovers with Supergirl, Constantine, and even an animated series, Vixen. This universe has had many successful moments, including the introduction of the Flash, the Invasion crossover, Deathstroke, Flash vs. Arrow, and much, much more. However, this does not mean the universe is perfect. Other than Arrow season 4, there is one problem that sticks out to me whenever I think of the Arrowverse: there are absolutely no consequences.

Comic books have a habit of bringing dead characters back to life. With so many different creators, series, crossovers, and more, it is not hard not to see why characters return from the dead. After so many different versions and years of comics, it is understandable that characters get a little jumbled, but the CW shows have been going on for only a few seasons. There are many fresh characters in the DC universe, so why does CW keep going back to old characters? It results in annoyed audiences and the mentality that everyone on screen is safe. Real consequences need to be present for good storytelling. Here is my list of the characters that prove this universe has no consequences.

1. Carter Hall

Hawkman, aka Carter Hall, first appeared in the crossover event on The Flash called “Legends of Today". Carter had traveled to Star City in order to find Kendra Saunders and to explain they were both reincarnations being hunted by Vandal Savage. Savage had successfully killed the two over 200 times and Carter wanted to stop that from happening again. Carter and Saunders were then recruited by Rip Hunter to join the Legends of Tomorrow. The team’s ultimate goal was to stop Vandal Savage from taking over the world and killing Rip Hunter’s family. When the Legends are hunting Savage, Carter is stabbed by Savaged and killed so Savage could live on. Due to the fact this Hawkman had been killed while time traveling, he could not be resurrected, or so the team thought. However, Hawkman was resurrected as one of Savage’s soldiers and later had his memories restored so he could kill Savage. In the end, Kendra and Hall left the Legends to live out their lives in 2016 while the audience scratched their heads and wondered what happened.

2. Eobard Thawne

Eobard Thawne was the main antagonist of The Flash season 1. Posing as Harrison Wells, Thawne was able to gain the Flash’s trust and use him for his own benefits. The Flash figured out Thawne’s plan and team Flash decided to stop him. In order to stop the Reverse Flash, Eddie Thawne comes up with a tragic plan. Since Eddie is a relative of the Reverse Flash, Eddie kills himself to prevent the Reverse Flash from ever existing. The Reverse Flash disappeared and Eddie died knowing his plan worked. His plan only worked until season 3 of The Flash and season 2 of Legends of Tomorrow. In The Flash, Barry travels back in time and stops Thawne from killing his mother. As a result, we get to see Thawne back from the dead and he becomes a time aberration. After killing Barry’s mother again, Thawne forms the Legion of Doom so he can permanently insert himself into reality. The Legends of Tomorrow were able to stop this from happening and we see Thawne die again. Thawne just proves characters don’t stay dead in the Arrowverse and it makes me wonder how the writers will bring this iconic villain back again.

3. Damien Darhk and Leonard Snart

I’m going to pair these two villains together since they were both resurrected the same way. Damien Darhk was killed in Arrow at the hands of the Green Arrow after Darhk failed to recreate the world in his eyes. Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, was killed in Season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow. Snart sacrificed himself to save the rest of the Legends and to destroy the Time Masters. Then both of these characters were brought back to life through time travel. The Reverse Flash (who is mentioned above) traveled back in time to recruit the two villains into the Legion of Doom. The Reverse Flash also let them know about their future so the characters felt the same and it was if they never died in the first place. After the Legends of Tomorrow defeated the Legion of Doom, Darhk and Snart were returned to their timelines. Although they technically weren’t brought back from the dead, time travel is a cheap way to bring back characters that need to stay in their graves.

4. Felicity Smoak

Felicity Smoak is a huge part of team Arrow and specializes in technology. She keeps the team together, finds problems that need to be fixed, and makes sure all the operations run smoothly. Felicity Smoak doesn’t die in the Arrowverse, (excluding her vigilante death in the alternate reality, Doomworld) but instead was shot by H.I.V.E. agents and became paralyzed. This was a huge, brave move by the writers and impacted the show severely. It showed there would always be consequences and no character is safe. It also made Damien Darhk’s character more menacing, which was much needed. Felicity’s paraplegic state impacted so many characters in the show and could have been the push that Arrow season 4 desperately needed. However, Curtis Holt saves the day by implanting Felicity with a scientifically impossible bio-stimulant that allows her to walk again. This was weak writing and a stab in the back to the fans. It felt like a waste of the past few episodes. The series then continues on without any mention of Felicity being paraplegic and it was as if it never happened. Writing like this makes the audience think their favorite characters are completely invincible and unfortunately they are correct.

5. Laurel Lance

In my opinion, Arrow season 4 was the weakest season of Arrow and I almost stopped watching the show.  One of the highlights of season 4 was Episode 18, “Eleven-Fifty-Nine”. In this episode, team Arrow finds out there are plans to break Damien Darhk out of prison. While attempting to stop Darhk, Laurel Lance aka the Black Canary is brutally murdered. After allowing Felicity to walk again, I thought this was the change Arrow needed. This was the death that would end the constant resurrections. Technically Laurel Lance didn’t come back to life, but her doppelganger from Earth-2 escaped from team Flash and came to Star City to wreck havoc. Although it wasn’t the real Laurel Lance, the characters were still affected by here appearance. To make things worse, Oliver is trying to connect with the Earth-2 Laurel so she can take Laurel’s place and become the Black Canary even though they already recruited a Black Canary. It is a cheap trick and doesn’t seem quite right.

6. Thea Queen

Thea Queen is also known as the vigilante Speedy who works with Team Arrow. Although she is currently retired, she was once an important member of the team. During season 3 of Arrow, Ra’s al Ghul appeared in Thea’s apartment and stabbed her in order to get to Oliver. Oliver finds Thea bleeding out in her apartment and things aren’t looking too good. This death would have had a huge impact on Oliver and the rest of the series. However, Oliver takes Thea to Nanda Parbat and uses the Lazarus Pit to cure her fatal wound. This resulted in a very confusing and muddled plot line in which Thea had an urge to kill. Later, a magical plant that was obtained from Nyssa al Ghul later cured Thea’s “incurable” bloodlust. Once again, there were no lasting consequences with a character in the Arrowverse.

7. Jeremiah Danvers

Up next is Dr. Jeremiah Danvers from Supergirl. Although Supergirl isn’t set on the same Earth as the other heroes, she is still considered to be part of the Arrowverse so I’m going to include her Earth on this list. While Jeremiah was on a mission to find J’onn J’onzz in Peru, he tried to stop the mission after realized J’onn wasn’t a threat. Jeremiah sacrificed his life to save J’onn and when he died, he made J’onn promise to take care of his daughters. However, Project Cadmus found his body and he was brought back to life with cybernetic advancements. Now Kara and Alex must deal with their father who was brought back from the dead and the audience must deal with another character that should be in a grave.

8. Cisco Ramon

Cisco is a huge part of Team Flash and is the scientific mind behind most of the team’s gadgets. During season 1, Cisco figures out Harrison Wells is the Reverse Flash and as a result Wells kills Cisco. This was a heart-wrenching scene and it was hard to watch Cisco cry while the Reverse Flash tells him he is the closest thing he has had to a son. This was one of the boldest moves the writers on The Flash have ever made and it showed not only can Barry not save everyone, but also the Reverse Flash is not someone to be messed with. It would have made the conflict between the Flash and the Reverse Flash much more emotional and meaningful. In the very same episode, Cisco is killed and the Flash goes back in time which saves Cisco from his fate. Not only was Cisco’s death a punch to the gut, but his resurrection was as well. It makes the audience think there will never be any consequences because Barry can just go back in time and save someone. In the current season, Barry even tries to change the future after we are shown Iris West’s death. What is the point of killing a character if they are going to come back? All that does is lose the audience and weaken the story telling.

9. Ronnie Raymond

Ronald “Ronnie” Raymond was an engineer for S.T.A.R. Labs and the husband of Caitlin Snow. When the particle accelerator exploded, Ronnie was vaporized in the blast and left Caitlin very damaged. It was later discovered that Ronnie didn’t die, but merged with Professor Martin Stein and was now the metahuman known as Firestorm. Firestorm stuck around and often helped the Flash in times of need. After Eddie Thawne killed himself to defeat the Reverse Flash, a huge singularity formed about Central City. The Flash was able to stabilize the singularity, but could not stop it. Ronnie decided to try and stop the singularity as Firestorm and when the singularity began to collapse on itself, Stein and Ronnie separated and Ronnie was killed for the second time. Caitlin began to mourn Ronnie’s death once again and the audience had to sit through Caitlin’s reaction to her husband’s death just as we did with season 1 of The Flash. Ronnie may be dead now, but with the Arrowverse’s tendencies, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him again in future episodes.

10. Sara Lance 

Sara Lance is the best example of the problem the Arrowverse has with keeping lasting consequences. Sara was introduced in the very beginning of Arrow, but she did not last very long. When the Queen’s Gambit went down, she was seen being sucked into the roaring waters and was presumed dead.  She was revealed to be alive on the same island Oliver was stranded on. Oliver and Sara reunited, but after falling from the Amazo, she “died” once again. In Season 2 of Arrow, she was revealed to be alive and well. After falling from the Amazo, she was rescued and later recruited by the League of Assassins. She left the League and returned to Starling City and joined Team Arrow. In the Season 3 premiere of Arrow, Thea, who was under control by Malcolm Merlyn, kills Sara Lance once again. Sara stayed dead for only about a year until season 4 of Arrow. In this season, he sister Laurel uses the Lazarus pit to bring Sara back to life. After being brought back to life Sara was recruited into the Legends of Tomorrow even though she had a bloodlust like Thea once did. Sara trained more with the League of Assassins so she could cure the “incurable” bloodlust. In season 2 of Legends of Tomorrow, Sara is fatally shot by Rip Hunter and was believed to be dead. However, a supercomputer named Gideon noticed her brain cells were still functioning and future technology was used to bring Sara back from the dead once again.

Well, there is my list of characters that best display the Arrowverse’s biggest problem. Good writing requires real consequences and consequences is something all of these shows severely lack. This makes the audience not care whenever a character dies because they know they will see them again. Whether it will be through several flashbacks, time travel, another earth, alternate dimensions, or straight up coming back from the dead, it is likely characters won’t stay dead.

 Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Arrowverse. There are a few problems here and there (Arrow Season 4), but overall it is amazing what the CW has done with these characters. Legends of Tomorrow had a rough start, but has found its footing and is such a fun show to watch. Arrow is a dark and gritty show that benefits from being grounded in reality while at the same time opens the doors for superhuman characters. The Flash is a fun and charming show that the whole family can enjoy and I love all the things they can do with a smaller budget and a television audience. Supergirl is witty and refreshing, I love seeing Supergirl on the small screen and it is great to have a strong and heroic female lead that can tackle problems like sexism and homophobia head on. Personally, I loved Constantine and I think Vixen is really entertaining. The corresponding between all the shows is amazing. There are rarely loopholes or continuity errors between the shows. The crossovers between all the different shows are so much fun and definitely the highlight of the shared universe. I really hope the writers of the show stop looking for excuses to bring characters back from the dead and look for lasting consequences that can affect the characters in their respective shows. I think this if the Arrowverse fixes this problem they can create something spectacular and even more amazing than what they have already created.