Vixen, the animated series set in the Arrow-verse, has aired all six episodes, and it presented a compelling origin story for a new superhero.
The final episode of Vixen went live on CW Seed today, completing the origin story of Mari McCabe, aka Vixen. The six-part animated series was a unique addition to the ever-expanding Arrow-verse, and the format left us wanting more.
So, what’s the verdict? First, the good:
Mari, aka Vixen
The origin story of Detroit’s newest hero was going to live or die with the titular character, and Mari was definitely up to the task of shouldering a series. Mari begins the series lost; she doesn’t know who she is or where she comes from. This lack of identity causes her to lash out and even lands her in jail when she stabs a potential employer in the hand for insulting her work. Mari is allowed to be flawed, and we appreciate that.
Because Vixen is an origin story, we learn just where she comes from by the end of the run. She comes up against a family member she didn’t know she had — too bad that family member is a power-obsessed psychopath who is perfectly willing to kill Mari to get what she wants. To Mari’s credit, she’s not afraid to fight back. She embraces her heritage, and that gives her the strength to come out on top. It’s not the most surprising turn of events, but there’s still a sense of victory that comes from her rise when all hope seems lost.
We should also add that Megalyn Echikunwoke lends a strong voice to Mari, bringing her emotions to life. We’d love to see her take Mari to live action.
Crossover with the ‘Arrow’-verse
Oliver Queen, Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon and Felicity Smoak all appear in varying capacities over the six episodes. Make no mistake, this is Mari’s story; but bringing in familiar characters helps establish the rules of the world, knowing that it is the Arrow-verse.
It’s also interesting to see that the teams on Arrow and The Flash are keeping an eye out for metahumans outside of Starling and Central Cities, respectively. Could we see these characters traveling more on their own shows?
The animation
The crew behind Vixen clearly took advantage of the animated format. The action sequences were beautiful, and we saw some sequences, such as the Arrow and Flash chasing Mari through Detroit, that might be too expensive to do in live action.
The manifestation of Mari’s powers, the shadow of the animal essence she summons appearing behind her, is also something particularly well-suited to animation. If Mari does make her way to live action, we’ll be curious to see how that is adapted.
With all those positives, we look at our main negative:
The running time
Vixen‘s six episodes ran between four to six minutes a piece. With this length, watching the series isn’t a major time commitment, but each episode ended just as it was hitting a high point. This could get frustrating — the endings felt less like cliffhangers and more like sudden stops in the middle of the action.
While the series hit the high points of Mari’s origin story, there is still plenty, such as Mari’s relationship with her foster father or her decision to take to the streets in costume, that could have used more screen time. Hopefully we’ll get more seasons that can dedicate time to these areas that were skimmed over for time.
Episode 4 also featured a complete retread of an action sequence we saw in the first episode, which felt like a waste of the limited time the story already had.
Final verdict
Vixen is a worthy addition to the Arrow-verse and definitely worth the comparatively small time commitment it takes to watch the episodes. We hope to see Mari make the jump from animation to live action, but if she doesn’t, more animated episodes would also be welcome.
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