Fan Fridays: Is the Justice Society Forming For the CW?

Welcome everyone to our first Fan Friday! For those not in the know, every week we’ll be taking one of your fan theories and discussing the possibilities of it happening in the future, it’s potential origins, and all the nitty gritty we can find. We encourage our readers to send us your own theories, artwork, or input at fans@comicbook.com. We may choose your idea, much like with Christopher Arnold’s theory this week that the Justice Society may be revealed sooner than we think in the “DC CW Universe” within the realms of Arrow and the Flash.

Clearly, we’ve entered into a wondrous new age for comic book media. You’d be hard pressed to not think of a major network that doesn’t have some sort of comic book show hitting the airwaves at this point with Arrow, the Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and many others on the way such as AMC’s Preacher for example. We’re even at a point where we have television shows that are featuring entire groups of heroes combatting immortal villains throughout time. I am of course referring to the Legends of Tomorrow that will be debuting on the CW next year, taking supporting characters from both CW shows: The Flash and Arrow respectively. DC stalwarts such as the Atom, Captain Cold, Heatwave, Firestorm, White Canary and Rip Hunter will be joining forces to create a new unorthodox gathering of super powered individuals.

(Photo: The CW)

So how does this potentially set the groundwork for the Justice Society of America? Well to answer that, let’s think about who the Justice Society is. Granted, much like Legends, it’s a big group of heroes, banded together to fight whatever new threat is imposing itself on the world at large, but unlike a lot of groups that simply get together to combat crime, the Justice Society has a unique mission statement. They certainly fight evil when they can, but they’re something of a gathering of older, more experienced heroes such as Jay Garrick (the Flash), Alan Scott (Green Lantern), and Ted Grant (Wildcat), along with a number of younger, inexperienced heroes who have taken up the mantles of those who have either passed away or in a long line of costumed personalities from the past. In the CW universe right now, we have something a mishmash of veterans and rookies, so it’s not with precedent that the Justice Society could follow the same path it did in the comics. With the Justice League storming into theaters in the coming years, television would be a good place to harvest the JSA for future adventures, seeing as how a bunch of the characters that make up the team have already appeared in either Arrow or the Flash.

Jay Garrick is currently a supporting cast member on the Flash, Wildcat appeared in an earlier season of Arrow, a Green Lantern was mentioned in the Flash as well (although of the Hal Jordan variety rather than Alan Scott), so we certainly wouldn’t have too difficult of a time finding members for it. While Legends is currently hitting the scene, they are somewhat isolated from the worlds of Barry Allen and Oliver Queen in so much as they’ll be bouncing around the time stream, fighting Vandal Savage. The idea of presenting a team for both Barry and Oliver to be a part of in their individual series would make for an interesting addition to both of their shows. It would create an even larger sense of grandeur in the CW-verse as having several teams would pull the universe closer and closer to its comic origins. Throw in some classic JSA villains such as Black Adam, Johnny Sorrow, and Despero and you can get things going right.

Do I believe however that the JSA will be getting their own television series on the CW in the same vein as Legends? Maybe, but I wouldn’t think it would happen anytime soon. The CW needs to get a feel for how Legends of Tomorrow hits the scene, and from there, can plan accordingly how they’d like to further mold the CW DC Universe. If anything, I would think that coinciding the formation of the JSA with the date of the first Justice League film would create some fantastic synergy between the DC movies and television properties. The CW could take a somewhat similar approach to Marvel with their strategy of releasing an onslaught of heroes across the board with movies, network television, and Netflix. If the CW were to create a massive event that took Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow, then smashed them all together in a Justice Society show, in a similar method to the Defenders, I think that would really be something special.

Keep an eye out on the Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow to see if seeds for the JSA start being planted even more and shoot your theories, fan art, and stories our way at fans@comicbook.com!