This week’s poll: The 12 greatest characters in the Arrowverse

So, after all these years (in year six of Arrow, where it all began), the CW still manages to give us exciting, full-blown superhero shenanigans ever week.

From the small acorn that was Arrow, The CW had a vision unlike anything ever tried before and managed to give us Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and then bring into the fold Supergirl and Constantine – not to mention the newest addition of Black Lightning and the two animated series Of Vixen and Freedom Fighters: The Ray and a soon to be added Constantine series and there’s no denying that what they started years ago with Smallville, they perfected this time around – and we’re not even counting iZombie or Riverdale!

And therefore, it goes without saying, that within so many shows there is a massive catalogue of characters who have all shone in one way or other… so, our newest team member, Ciaran, gave himself the unenviable task of picking the 12 best characters in the Arrowverse.

We at FTN all scoffed… and yet, here we are.

So, without further ado…

Arsenal

Roy Harper, played by Colton Hayes for three-ish seasons is Oliver’s main sidekick, a love interest for Thea and the guy who takes the fall as The Arrow.  Without Roy, Oliver wouldn’t be the hero he is today.

Felicity Smoak

Felicity is Oliver’s eyes in the sky as Overwatch, his tech support – and now his wife – helping him raise his son William; integral to Team Arrow’s success, Emily Bett Rickards has taken what could have been a minor character and pushed her to the forefront of Arrow.

Cisco Ramone

Francisco “Cisco” Ramon, AKA Vibe, is the Engineer on Team Flash and a metahuman in his own right. Unlucky in love and with one too many Big Bang Theory T-shirts, Cisco has grown over the course the three seasons of the Flash to be much more than mere comic relief.

Never really given a shot at a decent Superman movie, Brandon Routh finally got given a chance to be a superhero in Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow as Dr Ray Palmer, AKA The Atom.

Ray was a love interest for Felicity, a business rival to Oliver and just an all-round general nice guy. As The Atom, Ray is an important member of The Legends of Tomorrow, the moral core and the heart of the original line up of the Legends. From living in 70Million BC to being a Knight of the Round Table to kicking Eobard Thawne’s ass, Ray has proven his worth as a superhero to the past, present and future.

Bio-engineer, Medical specialist, and a frost-based evil metahuman called Killer Frost, Caitlin Snow has been on Team Flash from the beginning, although Killer Frost has been an adversary of the Flash while working for Savitar.

The dual nature of the character has given Danielle Panabaker more to work with over the course of the series as Snow has developed from one note goodie-two-shoes to complex and layered.  My odds-on favourite of the original Team Flash to die and stay dead when they finally decide to kill one of them off.

Supergirl’s adoptive human sister, DEO agent and ass-kicker, Alex Danvers is the viewer’s human eyes into the world of the DEO, working alongside J’onn Jonzz, AKA The Martian Manhunter, Alex is the most important human in Supergirl.

A strong, powerful female who has been involved in the most major plot lines of the shows, Alex’s character arch, especially in the episodes that explored her coming to terms with her sexuality, have been exceptional.

Tom Kavanagh sure gets to have a lot of fun on the Flash playing multiple versions of Harrison Wells.

From the original Wells – who was really the evil Eobard Thawne, AKA Reverse Flash, to his main stay Harrison Wells and later a poor HR who sacrificed himself for the team to the weird Australian Cyborg one, the steam punk one, the German one, the current version of Wells we see each week is originally from earth 2 but he’s now living full-time on Earth 1 helping Barry and Team Flash save the day.

Tyler Hoechlin is Superman and Tyler Hoechlin is Clarke Kent.

We have the Big Blue Boy scout we deserve finally!

Supergirl’s version of Superman is the spiritual successor to Christopher Reeve and was used just enough not to detract from Kara. The super fight they had during the Daxamites’ invasion was a highlight of the series so far.

How cool is Wentworth Millar as Leonard Snart?

The voice, the swagger, the relationship he has with Heatwave (see number 5),  Miller took a basic bad guy and made him memorable.

Starting life as a member of The Flash’s rogue gallery, Snart joined the Legends of Tomorrow where he sacrificed himself to save the team from the Time Master, a younger, less moral version of Snart was pulled into the timeline as a member of the Legion of Doom while they quested to find the Spear of Destiny; in the end his memory was wiped, and he left as a friend to the team.

During the Crisis on Earth X crossover Millar portrayed Leo Snart as Citizen Cold along with his boyfriend, The Ray (Russell Tovey).

Slade Wilson, played by Manu Bennett, is Oliver’s greatest foe and was once one of his few friends and a mentor while Ollie was stuck on the Lian Yu.

Injected with Mirakuru, Slade swore vengeance on Oliver after learning that he chose to save Sarah Lance over Shado (it’s a long story). Left for dead after Ollie stabbed him in the eye with an arrow, Slade showed up in Star City with the intention of taking away everything Oliver had, starting by killing his Mother in front of  Oliver and his sister, Thea.

Eventually his evil plan failed and Slade was cured of his Mirakuru and locked up in an Argus facility on Lian Yu. During Oliver’s battles with Adrian Chase, Slade and Ollie buried the hatched and teamed up once again to bring down Chase. Slade departs the show redeemed but still a 100% badass.

Here’s to hoping he makes a return to the Arrowverse soon

Nicknamed Heatwave and played by Dominic Purcell, Mick Rory was in a criminal partnership with Leonard Snart and was an enemy of The Flash in his early appearances.

However, Mick really developed when he joined the Legends of Tomorrow: after being marooned by best friend Leonard Snart, Mick was taken by the Time Masters and turned into the temporal bounty hunter Chronos, it eventually took Snart’s sacrifice for Mick to fully embrace his role as a Legend.

Hard drinking, hard fighting, light fingered and a budding sci-fi romance author, Mick’s sweet yet cynical nature and 50 cigarettes a day voice make him one of the more multi-faceted characters on Legends of Tomorrow as he is not totally good and could turn bad again at any moment.

The success of Supergirl rests solely on Melissa Benoist’s shoulder and she has carried her show with aplomb.

Strong as Supergirl, yet vulnerable as Kara, the duology of the character is played to perfection.

Kara was sent to earth to look after her infant cousin Kal-El but got lost in the Phantom Zone for 24 years before eventually arriving on earth and being sent to live a normal, human life with the Danvers Family  until the fateful day the she had to embrace her powers and save her sister from a crashing plane; Kara then joins the DEO to fight the alien menaces that have escaped from the Kryptonian prison Fort Rozz.

The Princess of Power has fought her evil Aunt, kissed Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen, sang beautifully with Barry Allen, fallen in love with a Daxomite, been to alternative Earths and is currently facing off against Reign, one of the world killers.

Sorry Erza but Grant Gustin is the Flash to me.

Barry Allen is the “Fastest Man Alive” apart from The Reverse Flash and Zoom.  The Flash may have the best rogues galley in DC, after Batman naturally.

Barry has helped clear his father’s name and freed him from prison, saved countless ransomer’s lives while zipping about, caused temporal paradoxes, visited more alternative earths and timelines than most superheroes have had hot dinners, been betrayed by friends, been imprisoned in the speed force, fought a massive psychic gorilla, made Kevin Smith cry a lot on youtube, got married to his childhood sweetheart (and kinda adopted sister) Iris West and is currently facing off against his first non-speedster arch villain, The Thinker.

The lynchpin of the Arrowverse, the man without whom we would not have 4 (5 if you include Black Lightning) hours of top quality superhero TV to watch every week.

Oliver Queen, The Hood, The Arrow, The Green Arrow, has been kicking ass and taking names for six Seasons now and has gone from strength to strength all thanks to Stephen Amell who has performed the role masterfully.

Physically impressive and able to handle the drama as required, Amell has made what is essentially Batman with a bow into an interesting and engaging character who we have followed to Lian Yu and back to Star City via Russia and Nanda Parbat.

The Arrow has faced The Bratva, Ra’s Al Ghul, Brother Blood, Adrian Chase, Deathstroke, Aliens, his parents dying, his own fears and becoming a husband and father. I salute you Green Arrow because without you, TV would be a lot more boring.

Should Ollie be number 1? Probably, but I’m contrary like that and, to be honest, the character who has left the biggest impression on me is Sarah Lance.

A member of the League of Assassins, captain of the Wave Rider, lover, legend and survivor of Lian, no one in the Arrowverse has had a more complex and interesting character arch than Caity Lotz’s White Canary.

Assumed dead a few times and resurrected once after being killed by Thea Queen, Sarah is currently the leader of The Legends of Tomorrow now that Rip Hunter is out of the picture; a fearless warrior, Sarah has fought across time and made her way through numerous lovers – both male and female.

Sarah provides a level head when others are losing theirs, makes the hard decisions, recently had a fling with John Constantine and, above all, she kicks ass.