Black Lightning Scoop: Khalil Payne’s DC Comics Inspiration Revealed
We might not be seeing Jennifer Pierce and Khalil Payne rekindling their love on The CW’s Black Lightning any time soon.
But… we’ve at least gotten confirmation that the character of Khalil is inspired by an actual villain from the Black Lightning comic book.
According to the description on official promotional photos released by The CW, Khalil, played by Jordan Calloway, is the television version of Painkiller, a short-lived supervillain created in the ’90s who had the ability to anesthetize his opponents.
Painkiller debuted in Black Lightning Vol 2 #2 (1995) and was created by Tony Isabella and Eddie Newell. In the comics, he has the metahuman ability to anesthetize his targets or dull their senses. He has great strength and fighting abilities. He also has dreadlocks with knives on the tips that he uses as weapons.
Black Lightning airs its season finale this Tuesday at 9pm ET on The CW.
Marvin Jones III Breaks Down Tobias’ Return on Black Lightning
Tobias Whale made his triumphant return to The CW’s Black Lightning this week. Actor Marvin “Krondon” Jones III filled EW in on what Tobias has been up to during his hiatus from television screens.
He took a lot of losses, and he’s been going through a recalibration process. After the loss of his sister, the only person in the world he cared about, he’s trying to balance between that idea of who he is as powerhouse and succumbing to the consuming nature of revenge. Making decisions when you’re consumed by revenge ultimately results in your detriment. He’s struggling with that, especially during that opening scene in the mirror. ‘How am I gonna handle this now? I still have to maintain my position after suffering these losses.’ That’s where he’s at.
Jones discussed what it was like to finally have extended screen time with BL star Cress Williams.
Cress and I haven’t had a lot of scenes together, we’ve been on opposite sides of the wall. When we have met it’s been really quick, like the second he blasted me I was out of there. With this one, there was a lot of training involved, and we had to get really close and personal. I wanted to come to the fight overly prepared, because I knew he was going to do the same, and we could have time to work this out. We were actually talking about it over the weekend, how it’s interesting we didn’t really use doubles in this fight. Him and I have such a closeness, representing two perspectives on the show. To come together in the moment and create that magic, it was tiring. That scene was really intense for everybody — me, Cress, Jordan Calloway. We were in that school for 14 or 15 hours shooting every intricate detail of that scene. Physically it was traumatic, especially for the guy with the big suit on. I’m just hoping it came off great and people enjoy it. It was one of our bigger scenes we’ve done, but they have even bigger scenes happening next week, so worry not.
Jones also discussed how relevant the school fight sequence is during our present climate of school shootings consistently being in the news.
That association is to be expected, because we are in a time where that’s something we hear a lot about. Having Khalil walking through the school shooting darts, it definitely lends itself to remind you of some of the happenings we’ve been faced with in that environment. But it’s different in the sense that it is make-believe and it’s supernatural. Black Lightning is there because he’s protecting the school. That’s why he’s there. I would hope that when people see this show, they take upon themselves the responsibility we have to face adversity and things that are trying to come and destroy us, and band together. I think that’s what that scene represents.
Black Lightning airs its season finale this Tuesday at 9pm ET on The CW.
H/T: EW
Colton Hayes Will Be Returning To Arrow Season 7
It’s time to suit back up! Colton Hayes will be returning to Arrow for Season 7. Even after the two-episode arc in Season 6 felt like a goodbye arc, Hayes will be returning as a series regular for Season 7.
“We’re very fortunate and excited to welcome back Colton to Arrow,” the Arrow executive producers said in a statement. “While we’ve always enjoyed Colton’s returns to the show, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him return as a proper series regular and we’re very excited about all the creative opportunities Roy Harper’s return affords us.”
Colton Hayes said, “I could not be happier to return to my role as Roy Harper alongside my Arrow family.”
Arrow airs Thursdays at 9 pm, on The CW.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
Arrow Showrunner Confesses “Miscalculation” on Team Arrow Fight
Arrow co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim confessed to TVLine that he might have miscalculated the reaction to Season 6’s Civil War-style storyline.
I think if I miscalculated anywhere, it’s probably on the order of not taking into full consideration the fact that while all the arguments may be equal and equally strong, there’s always going to be a love and affection for the original characters that the new characters don’t get a chance to enjoy.
In crafting these arguments, we were being, I think, very evenhanded. At least we were trying to be. But we were not taking into account the familiarity factor.
Superheroes having a falling out and fighting amongst each other is one of the most longstanding comic book traditions. Again, this is maybe where we miscalculated, but I always assumed the fans would go along with us in this regard, because it is such a tried-and-true comic book [convention].
Evoking the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Captain America: Civil War, Guggenheim went on to say, “In the Marvel cinematic universe, very good movies have been made about [infighting].”
The thing I always ask, or I think any showrunner would ask, is: We’re basically in the middle of the story, so try to try to withhold judgment until you see how the story resolves itself.
Arrow airs Thursdays @ 9pm ET on The CW.
H/T: TVLine
Legends of Tomorrow Scoop: A Legend Exits(?); Constantine Enters
The Season 3 finale of D.C.’s Legends of Tomorrow aired last night on The CW and it appears as if there’s an open seat on the Waverider.
Although Amaya Jiwe, played by Maisie Richardson-Sellers, decided it was finally time for her to fulfill her destiny and return to her village, EW reports that this won’t be the last time we see Richardson-Sellers. She will continue as a series regular in Season 4.
PRAISE BEEBO! #LegendsOfTomorrow pic.twitter.com/hPOfWjr7Pw
— Legends of Tomorrow (@TheCW_Legends) April 10, 2018
Prior to the insane fight between Mallus (pronounced “Malice”) and Beebo (view below), it does look like former Captain / Director Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) sacrificed himself in order to stall Mallus’ attack on the Legends. But as we sci-fi fans like to say, if we didn’t see the body, we can’t confirm the death.
At the end of the episode, (new Season 4 series regular) John Constantine (Matt Ryan) arrived in Aruba 2018 to inform the Legends that “You opened a door, love — and Mallus wasn’t only thing that got out.”
Executive Producer Phil Klemmer teased that Mallus was in fact but the “tip of the iceberg,” a preview of other fantastical, supernatural and/or monstrous beasts to be dealt with next season. “Everybody knows that Constantine is joining our show [for Season 4],” he said, “and he’s certainly the shape of things to come.”
Legends forever! Thanks for watching this season of DC’s #LegendsOfTomorrow! pic.twitter.com/xztmwjGoqG
— Legends of Tomorrow (@TheCW_Legends) April 10, 2018
H/T: EW
Arrow Star Stephen Amell Believes Black Lightning Crossover Will “Eventually” Happen
New CW hit Black Lightning hasn’t officially joined the Arrowverse just yet, but Arrow star Stephen Amell believes that’s just a small technicality.
Amell was recently asked about the crossover potential and here’s what he had to say:
Everyone pretends like we’re not going to eventually cross over with Black Lightning but we’re probably gonna cross over with Black Lightning because that’s just the way that the world works… I think that anything you can do to expand the universe and to build out what we’ve built on our show would be great. So, I’m glad that show’s doing well, I hope that it has a very successful run, and I would love to be a small part of it in some way shape, or form.
H/T: ComicBookMovie
Legends of Tomorrow Co-Showrunner Discusses Season Finale: “The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly”
Monday’s season finale episode of Legends of Tomorrow is going to feature a major showdown, as the Legends face off against Mallus and a number of fan favorite characters return for the main event.
Legends co-showrunner Phil Klemmer was interviewed by TVLine, and he gave a preview of the season finale which includes a former team member’s return and some possible good-byes.
Here are some of the most important questions asked / answered:
In his true form, what are Mallus’ powers besides looking damn intimidating? Does he breathe fire…?
He’s, like, a fire-hurling, flying demon. His greatest power, though, is chewing through visual effects money. His one superpower is that every moment he’s on screen, you can imagine a pile of cash turning into smoke.
What is his agenda? What does he “want” most in the world?
He is a sort of bellwether of bad guys to come in Season 4. Up until this point, we’ve been dealing with earthly and historical bad guys, and we certainly had fun with all of that, but this year we dabbled in the world of the occult, through Damien Darhk and his enterprises. But you know that Constantine is coming onto the show [as a regular] next season, so we want to go deeper, we want Mallus to be used as “the tip of the iceberg.” He is not human, and we want to start playing with the idea that Earth hasn’t always belonged just to our kind.
We want to get into the world of fantastic myths and monsters a bit more. It’s kind of presumptuous for anybody to think they have ownership of this Earth or any part of it. Not to get deep into immigration metaphors, but Mallus is an ancient evil, he doesn’t understand humans and doesn’t understand why we have any claim to controlling this world of ours.
New photos reveal that Franz Drameh is back for the finale, as Jax. What do you want to say about that encore?
You might have noticed that we’ve included a number of family members of our regular cast on the show as guest stars — like Brandon Routh’s wife Courtney Ford in the role of Nora Darhk, and the guest appearance of Maisie Richardson-Sellers’ mother Joy Richardson as Amaya’s vision quest ancestor. So if you look very closely, you’ll notice that the finale doesn’t just include Franz Drameh but a brief cameo of someone related to him.
The Jax we meet in the finale isn’t the same one who left our team a matter of months ago — he has been inspired by what he learned from his friend and mentor Martin Stein. Being a time traveler is like living in Neverland, where you never have to grow up, and having Jax return to our show after a stint in the real world is a bittersweet reminder of what his friends and former teammates are missing. When we started this show three years ago, we never would have guessed that the youngest Legend would be the first to “grow up,” or that the guy that had to be tricked into joining the team would be the one to answer the Legends’ call in their hour of need.
OK, the big question I have been building up to: Will we see Beebo again? The finale title does have the word “cuddly” in it.
And he is a very cuddly guy. I will say this: Once you’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in CGI assets, it’s a shame to only use them once. That’s why you see Grodd [on a recurring basis] — we finally figured out how to do this really well, so we have to do it again! So keep your eye open for Beebo, for sure.
Because you’ve promoted both Matt Ryan (Constantine) and Jes Macallan (Ava) as regulars for next season, does the finale pave way for any exits?
It does, it does. There’s heartbreak in the finale. A Legend leaves.
It could be argued that Amaya’s story, for one, has come full circle.
As far as her and Nate, I don’t know if love is made to last in the world of the Legends.
But at least one seat will be freed up aboard the Waverider itself…?
Yeah, yeah.
D.C.’s Legends of Tomorrow airs its Season 3 finale on Monday @ 8pm ET on The CW.
H/T: TVLine
Caity Lotz Returns to Arrow for Season Finale
Legends of Tomorrow star Caity Lotz’s Sara Lance will return home in present-day Star City during Arrow‘s season finale, airing Thursday, May 17. Lotz herself IGed the news.
Lotz last appeared on Arrow (in a non-crossover episode) in November 2015, not long before the Legends spinoff made its series premiere.
No further information on exactly what Sara will be up to in the season finale has been released.
H/T: Collider
Legends‘ Jes Macallan Bumped Up to Series Regular
Send in the clones!
Legends of Tomorrow has promoted Jes Macallan, who recurs as Ava Sharpe, to series regular for Season 4.
Macallan joined the superhero series in Season 3 as a Time Bureau agent who eventually went on to lead the organization and become romantically involved with Waverider captain Sara. During last week’s episode, Ava learned that she was a clone from the future.
Last month, it was announced that Matt Ryan (aka John Constantine) would be a series regular in Season 4 — if the show got renewed, which it did (just yesterday)!
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs its season 3 finale on Monday @ 8pm ET on The CW.
H/T: EW
The CW Renews Arrowverse Shows (and 5 More!)
The CW renewed 10 series on Monday, including all of your fan favorite superhero dramas.
The network renewed all of the Berlanti-verse shows: Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and Black Lightning all got picked up (for Seasons 7, 5, 4, 4 and 2).
Critically acclaimed dramas Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (entering Season 4) and Jane the Virgin (renewed for Season 5) were also renewed.
Fan favorites Riverdale (renewed for Season 3) and Supernatural (entering Season 14) will be back, including the ratings-challenged cult fave Dynasty (returning for Season 2).
H/T: TVLine