You may recall that during SDCC (here) a trailer dropped for The CW’s new DC show Freedom Fighters: The Ray.
The show is an animated series and, like Vixen, will debut on CW Seed, the online part of The CW’s expanded Arrowverse which is also set to have a Constantine series debut later this year for the 2017/2018 season (here).
Freedom Fighters: The Ray will have a gay metahuman fighting Nazis during WWII, but don’t let that lead ou to believe it’ll be a dark series, as Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim calls it “a classic story about a normal guy who gets superpowers, with all the complications and wish fulfillment that entails [and] in true superheroic fashion, his obligations are a complication for his love life.”
The Ray can generate and manipulate light and turn into a powerful energy form and is one of the heroes of Earth-X, a parallel world where the Nazis won World War II: “This animated version also takes its inspiration from Grant Morrison’s popular The Multiversity series (the seventh issue of which featured a reimagined Freedom Fighters).”
As for the plural in the title, Guggenheim explains: “We knew we wanted to establish the Freedom Fighters and Earth-X. In Multiversity, Grant Morrison came up with an idea we really responded to: The Freedom Fighters are made up of various minorities targeted by Nazis—women, gay men, Jews. We wanted to honor that idea. At the same time, it’s an origin story about the Earth-1 iteration of The Ray.”
And if that’s not all exciting enough, it seems that some of The CW’s established stars will be appearing to voice their evil counter-parts, most notably (so far) Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist will play Overgirl, the Earth-X version of the Girl of Steel: “Melissa is so sweet, and so is her interpretation of Supergirl. It was fun to hear her voice records and see she’s capable of a darkness. I think she really enjoyed playing the bad guy for a bit!”
It sounds like The CW may have plans to keep the animated part of The CW alive for the foreseeable future: “What’s been fun about the CW Seed series is, with each one, we’ve learned something new and been able to apply it to the next one. So Vixen Season 2 is better than Season 1. And The Ray is stronger than Vixen Season 2. I’m thrilled with the way things are shaping up.”
We’re on board for all this! Are you?
The series, is set in a parallel universe wherein The Nazis won the war and now it’s up to a group of Freedom Fighters led by The Ray to save the world.
With Legends of Tomorrow setting up the idea that tinkering with time events can lead to serious consequences, the timing of this series is pretty significant.
In the trailer (below) you’ll see The Ray, Red Tornado and Phantom Lady taking on – gasp! – Arrow, Flash and Supergirl.
It’s kind of cool that while the DC universe has the movies and the TV shows in a multiverse, The CW is setting uo its own multiverse within the multiverse.
How meta is that?
Freedom Fighters: The Ray, Premieres Fall, CW Seed
Source: TVInsider
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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