Mind Your Surroundings: Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and Other Superhero Universes

[tv echo]

Why Black Lightning Is Set in the Real World: 'We Haven't Seen Any Superheroes in the Ghettos of America'
By Matt Webb Mitovich / July 26 2017, 9:58 AM PDT
http://tvline.com/2017/07/26/black-lightning-preview-video-cw-midseason-premiere/

Quote

Set in present-day Atlanta, Black Lightning will be quite tonally different from fellow #DCTV series such as Arrow and The Flash — right down to bad guys that in keeping with the comic books are “socially relevant.”

“Our villains are not necessarily aliens or other people with superpowers, they’re the villains that we know every day,” said Salim Akil. “One-hundred and twenty-five shootings in Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend — those are bad guys. Somebody needs to address that, and we haven’t seen any superheroes in the ghettos of America. So, with this character at least you have a superhero who’s sort of going into this era that needs it most of all, but you also have a man who’s educating that community as well. That’s how it’s different.”

Edited July 26, 2017 by tv echo

[Karlophe]

5 hours ago, AutisticSpoonie said:

Floriana got everything she deserved, so did her family. If you think it's okay for someone to make a career of bastardising Latinx culture and stealing jobs from actual Latinas or you say nothing while a family member does the same then you're getting no sympathy from me. Almost her entire career is theft.

I absolutely disagree.

What constitutes the bastardization or theft of their culture to any individual is their affair. I'm not here to judge anyone for their beliefs. But being personally attacked by complete strangers, for the actions or inaction of an adult relative whose choices are their own, gets plenty of sympathy from me. These actors are public figures. Their families are not. I personally, as a member of this group, have never felt disrespected or misrepresented having this character of Latin descent played by an actor of Italian descent. I have my reasons for feeling that way, as you do for yours. However. I personally find this willingness to sanction the harassment of an outside party for not reacting to someone in their personal lives  the way you see fit to be appalling. Dislike of an actor for what they do over the course of their professional careers often comes with the territory. Invading an actors personal life by going after their family crosses a line. 

If this means that I have Failed This Culture in the eyes of people who feel differently, so be it. Cada uno por su lado. 

[Velocity23]

Quote

In a blink-and-you’d-miss-it appearance during the Comic-Con trailer, it was revealed that one of the new villains coming in season 3 is Kuasa, the sister of Mari McCabe, a.k.a. Megalyn E.K.’s version of Vixen. For those keeping track, Kuasa is also the granddaughter of Maisie Richardson Sellers’ version of Vixen, Amaya. EW can confirm that Quantico and The Originals alum Tracy Ifeachor will take on the role.

Kuasa first appeared in the Arrowverse on the CW Seed animated series Vixen, where the character was voiced by Anika Noni Rose. A former guardian of the Anansi Totem that gives Vixen her powers, Kuasa became a villain in trying to get the totem back from Mari. However, she ultimately died fighting alongside Mari — as well as Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), so hopefully that’ll be addressed on Legends.

http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/26/legends-tomorrow-kuasa-tracy-ifeachor/

[Midnight Lullaby]

48 minutes ago, Karlophe said:

 

 These actors are public figures. Their families are not. 

I absolutely agree. I know nothing about the Supergirl cast but no matter what the actors or actresses do contacting their relatives is nuts. 

[TwistedandBored]

About the BI, I don't think it is LoT cast. I heard it from somewhere else that it might be the cast. I just think it is one of those things they say to make fans watch their interview more closely. 

 

Also, I think SG could have done a lot more with James without giving him a mask but I just don't think AK knows how to write for a normal characters that are not wearing a mask. Or at least he doesn't know how to incorporate them into the storylines. Anyways, I saw the writing in the wall for both James and de-powered J'onn and dipped. It is just seeing this interview and quotes from different interviews that made me feel sad for the actors. 

[tv echo]

[Starfish35]

That's an old pic.  Isn't that from SDCC 2015?

[Velocity23]

Spoilers for Supergirl and Flash

 

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Will Anne Dudek be returning to The Flash? — Casey
The good news is that EP Todd Helbing tells me that her character, Tracy Brand, will be back “at some point,” but she won’t necessarily be a full-fledged member of Team Flash. “I don’t believe so, but you’ll see her,” he says. As for the Barry-less Team Flash, Helbing adds: “Everybody has risen to the occasion, everybody has stepped up. You have Iris now as team leader, you have Kid Flash and Vibe going out on the town and taking out all the meta, they’re working closely with Joe and CCPD. They’re pretty formidable, but they’re still not quite [what they used to be].” In other words, they need their Barry back!

Quote

Is there any chance Alura is actually still alive on Supergirl? — Martin
With Erica Durance joining the show in a recast of Alura, I had that same thought and pressed new showrunners Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner for answers at Comic-Con. “Shrouded in mystery, those questions,” Yoda Queller said coyly. Rovner added: “We wanted to keep Alura’s presence on the show because it really connects Kara to Krypton and her roots and what it meant to see her family and her planet destroyed. It’s an emotional grounding that’s always important.” However, there’s a good chance Mon-El ended up in the Phantom Zone — you know, the same Kryptonian prison that Alura had a hand in sending criminals to, so what if she escaped the destruction of Krypton and ended up there herself? Another dodge from the EPs: “Where Mon-El is and how he comes back is the central mystery of our season,” Queller said. “But the theme of this season is what does it mean to be human? Kara is going to be especially grappling with that, and all of the characters are. The loss of her family and Krypton impacts that a lot. The mother-daughter relationship is something we still want to explore in whatever fashion.”

http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/27/spoiler-room-supergirl-once-upon-time-defenders/

[BkWurm1]

14 minutes ago, Velocity23 said:

Will Anne Dudek be returning to The Flash? — Casey
The good news is that EP Todd Helbing tells me that her character, Tracy Brand, will be back “at some point,”

This seems more like a no to me.  So she's not a regular and the actress that plays Gypsy isn't a regular.  Are we back to just two female characters on The Flash again?  It's a dude bro's world.  

[Primal Slayer]

They need to bring Linda back. 

[johntfs]

1 hour ago, BkWurm1 said:

This seems more like a no to me.  So she's not a regular and the actress that plays Gypsy isn't a regular.  Are we back to just two female characters on The Flash again?  It's a dude bro's world.  

It's a superhero show. Those are almost always dude-bro worlds.  For my part, I'm happy to see the return of Britne Oldford as Peek-A-Boo.  I tried to get into her Syfy show, Hunters, but it was creepy-gross.  Like, naked woman in a cage creepy-gross.  No thanks.

[Autistic Queer]

14 minutes ago, johntfs said:

It's a superhero show. Those are almost always dude-bro worlds.  For my part, I'm happy to see the return of Britne Oldford as Peek-A-Boo.  I tried to get into her Syfy show, Hunters, but it was creepy-gross.  Like, naked woman in a cage creepy-gross.  No thanks.

Oh yeah, I got through about 20 minutes of Hunters. 

I skip season 3 of The Flash but I got the impression they were pairing back The Flash cast back. My only bug bear is they seem to be talking about another Harrison Wells. I like Tom Cavanagh, and I love season 2 Wells, but I hate this new Wells, each season, that was part of the reason I stopped watching.

I have to say if your trying to win viewers back The Flash trailer from Comic-Con is the way to go. 

[statsgirl]

51 minutes ago, johntfs said:

It's a superhero show. Those are almost always dude-bro worlds.

They are, but there's no reason for that other than writers cemented in the past.  When half you're audience is female and want to see female superhero, there's no excuse for keeping them a minority on the show.  LoT would be a pretty pitiful thing without Sara.

[Autistic Queer]

16 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

They are, but there's no reason for that other than writers cemented in the past.  When half you're audience is female and want to see female superhero, there's no excuse for keeping them a minority on the show.  LoT would be a pretty pitiful thing without Sara.

She's the worst thing about that show along with the criminal from The Flash. Well she was for the first couples of episodes, I couldn't watch any longer. I wanted to watch for Vixen but Caity Lotz and the ugly dude from Prison Break made it impossible (no idea of the character or actor's name Dom something?) 

Why do Berlanti and co hire so many queerbaiting white women? I count seven over four shows (The Flash is fine). Not completely related to the above point, I just noticed it. Is it too hard when casting bi and lesbian women to cast bi and lesbian women? Especially women of colour. 

Sorry, I'm still dreaming of Sara Ramirez as Maggie Sawyer, Jenna Uskowitz as Alex Danvers, Li Jun Li as Kara Danvers and Santina Muha as Lena Luthor. Supergirl had so much potential. *sigh* 

[way2interested]

19 minutes ago, AutisticSpoonie said:

Is it too hard when casting bi and lesbian women to cast bi and lesbian women?

I can't speak for actors, but I don't think everyone would be comfortable just publicly proclaiming their sexuality to the world or being cast based on who they are seeing/sleeping with (plus, it would be even easier to lie about that than fudging race. Like, idk CL's life, how does anyone know if she's not bi?)

[FurryFury]

Isn't the POINT of acting pretending to be someone you're not?..

[Delphi]

 There probably wouldn't even be a LoT if not for Caity.   (No offense Brandon,  you're super sweet. )  It's also super illegal to hire or not hire someone as an actor because they aren't or are lgbt.  Producers aren't even supposed to ask an actors sexuality.  

Besides that,  Caity and Katrina have made it very clear how important their characters sexuality is to them and how personal the characters relationships are and I've never seen that not translate onto the screen. 

But sure... let's invade people's personal lives so that you're more comfortable with the casting department. 

[wonderwall]

15 minutes ago, FurryFury said:

Isn't the POINT of acting pretending to be someone you're not?..

Well to be fair this argument doesn't really work because then it'd be like saying it's OK for Emma Stone to play a Hawaiian/Asian in Aloha because the point is to play someone she's isn't.

Which... it really isn't OK that she did at all.

Edited July 27, 2017 by wonderwall

[Autistic Queer]

Sure let's use the idea sexuality is something you can pretend, employment law and concerns of privacy to not hire marginalised people. These shows have a minority of people of colour, two or three openly gay men, no disabled actors, please do not use pretend concerns for the marginalised to defend that. 

I can think of plenty openly bi/lesbian women, why not hire them?

[Midnight Lullaby]

That's basically saying if a person wants a job they have to be open about their sexuality which is not a requirement that can be imposed on anyone. No one is denying that almost all shows don't have a diverse cast, it would be denying the obvious, but they can't do auditions and ask people what's their sexual orientation. Well I guess they could but I can imagine the reactions.

[yellowfred]

1 hour ago, AutisticSpoonie said:

Why do Berlanti and co hire so many queerbaiting white women?

I'm not sure if you meant this to refer to Sara/Caity Lotz, but, if so, that's not what queerbaiting means.

[johntfs]

1 hour ago, statsgirl said:

They are, but there's no reason for that other than writers cemented in the past.  When half you're audience is female and want to see female superhero, there's no excuse for keeping them a minority on the show.  LoT would be a pretty pitiful thing without Sara.

Sure, but even LoT is minority female with only two of seven member being women.  I suppose the ratio gets a bit better next season with three of eight being women.  I don't want an increased quantity of women without a commensurate increase in the quality of their storylines and writing.  Even Kara on Supergirl felt like she was becoming "the girlfriend" on her own show.  The only female characters that seem to maintain high quality writing are Sara from LoT and Felicity from Arrow, and the latter probably only gets it because she's really popular and Stephen Amell likely swings by the writers' room ever so often to issue death threats.

[Autistic Queer]

57 minutes ago, Midnight Lullaby said:

That's basically saying if a person wants a job they have to be open about their sexuality which is not a requirement that can be imposed on anyone. No one is denying that almost all shows don't have a diverse cast, it would be denying the obvious, but they can't do auditions and ask people what's their sexual orientation. Well I guess they could but I can imagine the reactions.

Yeah, I mean I'm sure the only reason they know Barrowman is gay is because they asked at auditions. 

So true story an actress went up for the part of a trans woman, showrunner was livid because he assumed she was cis and auditioning for a trans role. Said actress called showrunner and came out as trans. That's bad in your book, he should've cast a cis actress? 

Privacy concerns of marginalised people to keep privileged people in a job is the most stomach churning nonsense I've ever heard. "You can't ask" you know what if you actually work with marginalised groups you don't have to. We're dying to see genuine rep on screen, people who genuinely want to do this don't find it difficult. Greg Berlanti is just a better looking Ryan Murphy, he wants all of the cookies for diversity and none of the actual work. 

[BkWurm1]

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She's the worst thing about that show along with the criminal from The Flash. Well she was for the first couples of episodes, I couldn't watch any longer. I wanted to watch for Vixen but Caity Lotz and the ugly dude from Prison Break made it impossible (no idea of the character or actor's name Dom something?) 

Clearly fans of the show are going to disagree.  Sara and Mick Rory are two of the things that make the show great.  

Quote

I can think of plenty openly bi/lesbian women, why not hire them?

Well first of all, if one is demanding accuracy, then only bi women could apply since Sara remains bisexual and unlike what they may suggest in the world of porn, not all women that want to be with women also want to sleep with men.  

Honestly though, I get the impression you don't understand how LoT was developed.  Who knows if when CL was hired if Sara was even yet written as bi.  The character developed over time and later she and other characters from the Flarrowverse moved to Legends.     

6 minutes ago, AutisticSpoonie said:

Yeah, I mean I'm sure the only reason they know Barrowman is gay is because they asked at auditions. 

So true story an actress went up for the part of a trans woman, showrunner was livid because he assumed she was cis and auditioning for a trans role. Said actress called showrunner and came out as trans. That's bad in your book, he should've cast a cis actress? 

Privacy concerns of marginalised people to keep privileged people in a job is the most stomach churning nonsense I've ever heard. "You can't ask" you know what if you actually work with marginalised groups you don't have to. We're dying to see genuine rep on screen, people who genuinely want to do this don't find it difficult. Greg Berlanti is just a better looking Ryan Murphy, he wants all of the cookies for diversity and none of the actual work. 

And like someone also mentioned upthread, we don't know that CL isn't bisexual since demanding she put it on her resume probably would result in a lawsuit and there is no way that anyone should judge anyone else for what they do or do not want to reveal about their sexual identity.  

[catrox14]

6 minutes ago, AutisticSpoonie said:

Yeah, I mean I'm sure the only reason they know Barrowman is gay is because they asked at auditions. 

Barrowman is openly gay and has been for years. He didn't audition, they offered the part to  him. I'm not really sure I understand where Barrowman fits into this. Malcolm is straight.

[Proteus]

2 hours ago, AutisticSpoonie said:

She's the worst thing about that show along with the criminal from The Flash. Well she was for the first couples of episodes, I couldn't watch any longer. I wanted to watch for Vixen but Caity Lotz and the ugly dude from Prison Break made it impossible (no idea of the character or actor's name Dom something?) 

Why do Berlanti and co hire so many queerbaiting white women? I count seven over four shows (The Flash is fine). Not completely related to the above point, I just noticed it. Is it too hard when casting bi and lesbian women to cast bi and lesbian women? Especially women of colour. 

Sorry, I'm still dreaming of Sara Ramirez as Maggie Sawyer, Jenna Uskowitz as Alex Danvers, Li Jun Li as Kara Danvers and Santina Muha as Lena Luthor. Supergirl had so much potential. *sigh* 

LOL. Caity Lotz and Dominic Purcell are two of the best things about Legends.

Sara Ramirez? Please no.

[BkWurm1]

3 hours ago, AutisticSpoonie said:

I skip season 3 of The Flash but I got the impression they were pairing back The Flash cast back. My only bug bear is they seem to be talking about another Harrison Wells. I like Tom Cavanagh, and I love season 2 Wells, but I hate this new Wells, each season, that was part of the reason I stopped watching

I think they've said that TC is bringing back Harry, the season two Harrison Wells.  

[Oreo2234]

Quote

I don't want an increased quantity of women without a commensurate increase in the quality of their storylines and writing.  Even Kara on Supergirl felt like she was becoming "the girlfriend" on her own show.  The only female characters that seem to maintain high quality writing are Sara from LoT and Felicity from Arrow,

I'd say Alex on Supergirl gets comparatively decent writing.   I agree that the writing for Kara really went downhill after the Mon El story took off and dominated her screentime but they at least seemed to be finding a better balance with the character towards the end of the season so hopefully that continues into next season.  

 

Quote

 

Edited July 27, 2017 by Oreo2234

[BkWurm1]

1 minute ago, Oreo2234 said:

I'd say Alex on Supergirl gets comparatively decent writing.   I agree that the writing for Kara really went downhill after the Mon El story took off and dominated her screentime but they at least seemed to be finding a better balance with the character towards the end of the season so hopefully that continues into next season.  

I did enjoy Alex and Maggie which was a good thing since if I hadn't, I think I would be complaining about how they let Alex's character down this last year.  She was very much stuck like Kara most of the time in relationship stuff.  She had a few great moments kicking ass still but her relationship with other characters, specifically her bond with Kara and Hank, was neglected in comparison to the previous year.  

[Proteus]

11 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

I think they've said that TC is bringing back Harry, the season two Harrison Wells.  

They did. But TC kept teasing at SDCC that there will be a new Wells as well.

[BkWurm1]

10 minutes ago, Proteus said:

They did. But TC kept teasing at SDCC that there will be a new Wells as well.

Oh good.  I like my yearly new Wells.  I thought they'd caved and were playing it safe this year.  I'm going to miss H.R.

[Mellowyellow]

Just now, BkWurm1 said:

Oh good.  I like my yearly new Wells.  I thought they'd caved and were playing it safe this year.  I'm going to miss H.R.

Lol I think you and I are the only ones!

I was fond of HR and I look forward to my yearly  new Wells. It's one of the highlights of Flash for me. 

[Karlophe]

That was also my impression; that Harry has been with the team for the past six months, but sometime after Barry was home and settled a new Wells would make his way in. 

And add me to the list! I cared very much for H.R, and look forward to Cavanaugh's new iteration every year. 

[johntfs]

1 hour ago, Mellowyellow said:

Lol I think you and I are the only ones!

I was fond of HR and I look forward to my yearly  new Wells. It's one of the highlights of Flash for me. 

No, I'm in it too.  It's a bit ridiculous, but screw it.  If The Flash, involves time travel and multiple dimensions (and it does), then I'm cool with the idea of having characters played by one guy that embody that.  Sure, Harry Wells from Earth 2 is probably going to be the recurring callback character, but I like the idea of multiple Wells over the show's course.  And I still hold out hope for Tom C in drag playing Harriet Wells.

[Delphi]

1 hour ago, catrox14 said:

Barrowman is openly gay and has been for years. He didn't audition, they offered the part to  him. I'm not really sure I understand where Barrowman fits into this. Malcolm is straight.

Meanwhile Colton is gay (his cast mates knew even while he was closeted) playing a straight Roy while Echo is a straight man playing a gay man. 

Over on HtGAWM there is straight Jack Falahee playing gay Connor and gay Conrad playing gay Oliver. 

I don't understand this line of logic.   Should they have recast Chyler after they decided to have Alex come out?

[raven]

The topic is the various superhero universes and how they relate to each other, not how realistic it is/isn't for an actor to portray a character whose sexual orientation is different from their own or how casting decisions may be influenced by an individual's sexual orientation.  Let's get back on track, thank you.

[Trini]

I haven't been following all the Comic-Con spoilers from all the shows, but from what I've gathered, the question of 'who gets married this season and when' is still unanswered. (Not that I expected much clarity this far before the season starts.) Unless there's some info I missed?

I'm surprised there haven't been more hints about the crossover, in general. SDCC is the perfect place to promote that.

[LeighAn]

4 minutes ago, Trini said:

I haven't been following all the Comic-Con spoilers from all the shows, but from what I've gathered, the question of 'who gets married this season and when' is still unanswered. (Not that I expected much clarity this far before the season starts.) Unless there's some info I missed?

I'm surprised there haven't been more hints about the crossover in general. SDCC is the perfect place to promote that.

Well considering Arrow cast have actively been teasing wedding and Olicity being in a good place while The Flash cast have been teasing/hinting trouble brewing with WestAllen or things they need to work out first then to me it's more answered but I guess we will see.

[quarks]

8 minutes ago, Trini said:

I haven't been following all the Comic-Con spoilers from all the shows, but from what I've gathered, the question of 'who gets married this season and when' is still unanswered. (Not that I expected much clarity this far before the season starts.) Unless there's some info I missed?

I'm surprised there haven't been more hints about the crossover, in general. SDCC is the perfect place to promote that.

To my genuine shock, MG admitted at SDCC that they had not yet pitched the crossover concept to the networks yet, even though filming for it starts up in just a couple months.  That meeting was/is this week.

In a related note, this is why I give a hollow laugh whenever anyone on this forum, me included, uses the words "plan" "planning" or "thought in advance" when commenting on this show. I'm tempted to suggest that we ban that word outside of the Small Talk thread.

[LeighAn]

1 minute ago, quarks said:

To my genuine shock, MG admitted at SDCC that they had not yet pitched the crossover concept to the networks yet, even though filming for it starts up in just a couple months.  That meeting was/is this week.

That's weird cause Wendy Mericele said they had already picked out a comic book storyline for the crossover so if they haven't even pitched and gotten approval I hope they have something else in place if they don't get it.

 

(I was going to say 'plan B' haha) 

[Primal Slayer]

How else would they pitch something to the network if they didn't already have an idea of what they wanted to do?

[LeighAn]

4 minutes ago, Primal Slayer said:

How else would they pitch something to the network if they didn't already have an idea of what they wanted to do?

Did I say they couldn't pitch without an idea? I just commented that it's so weird that they are leaving it this late to pitch given they seem to know what they want to do AND if they aren't allowed to do what they want to do for whatever reason they have a back up in place.

 

No need to be defensive.

[Primal Slayer]

Wasn't being defensive just a simple question since they have to start with an idea in order to pitch one to the network thus not what WM that weird.

[Trini]

1 hour ago, LeighAn said:

Well considering Arrow cast have actively been teasing wedding and Olicity being in a good place while The Flash cast have been teasing/hinting trouble brewing with WestAllen or things they need to work out first then to me it's more answered but I guess we will see.

The Flash cast and EPs have also stated that there will be a wedding for Barry and Iris, since they are engaged; the question is 'when'. Whatever issue they have isn't going to take a season and a half to work through, so the wedding can still happen.

But with Jesse L. Martin saying that Joe and Cecile get more serious, I wonder if they'll get married so Iris (and Barry?) can have a mother figure at the wedding?

About the crossover, Supergirl is supposed to be fully integrated this time (yay!), I'm really interested to see how they get the characters from the other shows into Supergirl's universe.

Edited July 28, 2017 by Trini

[wonderwall]

Maybe Joe/Cecile & Iris/Barry will have a double wedding lol

[apinknightmare]

[quarks]

18 minutes ago, Primal Slayer said:

How else would they pitch something to the network if they didn't already have an idea of what they wanted to do?

My shock is not that they had an idea to pitch to the network, wherever it came from. My shock is that they waited until July to pitch it - since this also means that they haven't done various things like, not at random, try to cast the villains yet, or do location scouting. 

[LeighAn]

13 minutes ago, Trini said:

The Flash cast and EPs have also stated that there will be a wedding for Barry and Iris, since they are engaged; the question is 'when'. Whatever issue they have isn't going to take a season and a half to work through, so the wedding can still happen.

But with Jesse L. Martin saying that Joe and Cecile get more serious, I wonder if they'll get married so Iris (and Barry?) can have a mother figure at the wedding?

About the crossover, Supergirl is supposed to be fully integrated this time (yay!), I really interested to see how they get the characters from the other shows into Supergirl's universe.

If the writers and the network wants dto stretch out Barry and Iris' issues to last an entire season they will. That's the beautiful thing about manufactured drama for tv writers Besides I think Iris supposedly having internalised anger at the way Barry treated her last season and his not consulting her before running off to the speed force or whatever doesn't sound that much different then Felicity being mad that Oliver didn't consult her about sending away William. And they got a whole season and half distance out of that

Edited July 28, 2017 by LeighAn

[ComicFan777]

Since the crossover is hinted to be more emotional and a potential wedding, an across-universe emotional comic book storyline that comes to mind is the Identity Crisis series - where someone stole the ATOM suit to kill Elongated Man's wife, causing the other superheroes to want to hold their significant others that much closer.  This made the superheroes realize that they always took for granted that their loved ones could always be saved, but this time, it didn't happen - one of their own was killed.  This could push a DC couple to think..let's not take things for granted...let's get married right away.

[Trini]

2 minutes ago, ComicFan777 said:

Since the crossover is hinted to be more emotional and a potential wedding, an across-universe emotional comic book storyline that comes to mind is the Identity Crisis series - where someone stole the ATOM suit to kill Elongated Man's wife, causing the other superheroes to want to hold their significant others that much closer.  This made the superheroes realize that they always took for granted that their loved ones could always be saved, but this time, it didn't happen - one of their own was killed.  This could push a DC couple to think..let's not take things for granted...let's get married right away.

Thanks for the info! This seems plausible. The Flash is supposedly casting for Elongated Man.