Hello, Couch Club readers! Another San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, and we are all in nerd heaven, spinning madly out of control about what’s coming for us in the future. In celebration of all this awesomeness, I wanted to break down some of what we have to look forward to!

Let’s start with the “super” of it all. Brandon Routh is reprising his role as Superman at long last! It’s been a minute since Superman Returns and Routh has been a wonderful addition to the Arrowverse as the Atom. But none of us have forgotten that he began his geek career by playing the Man of Steel…and that includes the Legends of Tomorrow writers! If you recall, they gave us that clever little Superman joke in the Invasion crossover a couple years ago (“She looks like my cousin.”) It’s great knowing that Routh will be returning to Superman’s iconic suit, even if it’s just for this year’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, but if you watched the panel or saw any of the photos that came out of it, you likely noticed that Routh was wearing a very specific Superman logo on his shirt…

If you aren’t familiar with Kingdom Come now would be a great time to get some reading done.

Okay, to be fair, we don’t know for certain Routh is playing the Kingdom Come Superman. After all, Alex Ross borrowed the iconic look from the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons. But let’s just imagine that Routh IS going to be playing the Kingdom Come Superman. If it’s true to the comic, he’ll be a little older…which, interestingly enough, would line up with the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic. The original Crisis on Infinite Earths features the Superman of Earth-2 (a.k.a. the Golden Age Superman), who is also a little grey around the temples. Could we be seeing a mash-up of the two? We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m certainly curious!

And speaking of Crisis, let’s move on over to The Flash for a moment.

Tom Cavanagh is going to be stepping into a completely different role this season. Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking. He undergoes a character transformation in almost every season of the show. However, there are heavy repercussions this time around. Cavanagh will be playing the role of Pariah. If you remember your Crisis, Pariah is the scientist who inadvertently summons the Anti-Monitor.

Oops.

That’s going to be a hard one for Pariah to live down, but fans of The Flash know Cavanagh is no stranger to carrying emotional scenes. I can’t wait to see him in action!

This news came on the heels of the announcement that the Rebirth-era villain Bloodwork, played by Sendhil Ramamurthy, would be a part of The Flash’s sixth season. In the past, we’d maybe say Bloodwork was season 6’s “big bad,” but it’s also been revealed that the upcoming season would take a cue from the comics and be divided into two parts, which the writers and producers are calling “graphic novels.” After the Crisis crossover, The Flash will launch into its second graphic novel, which will feature a new villain.

I’m all for shaking things up, especially when a show’s been running strong for six years! No pun intended. (Okay, well, maybe it was intended a little.)

But let’s get back to Crisis on Infinite Earths. We’ve met the Monitor, played wonderfully by LaMonica Garrett. Of course, comic readers know there is a yin to this yang. In Crisis, the Monitor squares off against a shadowy threat known simply as the Anti-Monitor and it was revealed at Comic-Con that Garrett would be playing the Anti-Monitor as well. And did you see how cool he’s going to look?

Crisis will also see the return of Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor, Elizabeth Tulloch’s Lois Lane, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman and the legendary Burt Ward in a role not yet announced (but I’m hoping it’s Robin)!

There are also some returns for the show that started it all. Arrow is entering its eighth and final season, and it’s clear that it’s pulling out all of the stops. Returning for the final season is beloved Arrow alum Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn, alongside one of the show’s all-time best villains, Prometheus, portrayed by the outstanding Josh Segarra.

It was also announced that the future timeline will introduce a grownup version of John Diggle, Jr. played by actor Charlie Barnett. I know we’ve already met Connor (above), but if you’re anything like me, the introduction of Connor Hawke just made me curious about what happened to baby J.J. Looks like we’re finally going to get the answers we’ve been waiting for! If you’ve read any of my Couch Club articles about Arrow in the past, then you know how hard I stan John Diggle and his family. I am so looking forward to this! Plus, the potential for more appearances by Lyla always brings a smile to my face.

Since everyone is showing up for the Crisis crossover, they have to look their best, which has meant a bunch of cool, new costumes! Green Arrow, Black Canary and Supergirl all have new duds. Supergirl’s garnered the biggest response and is my personal favorite. It recalls her cousin more directly than any of Kara’s costumes have in the past, and frankly, I think all superheroes should wear pants…especially if they’re flying!

We have so much to absorb and so much more news yet to come in the time between now and the fall. Please share your favorite bits of news, the theories swirling around in your brains and any other thoughts with us!
 

Ashley V. Robinson writes about TV, animation and comics for DCComics.com and is a regular contributor to Ink Spots, our corner of the site devoted to Young Adult graphic novels. You can find her on Twitter at @AshleyVRobinson and on the Jawiin YouTube channel.