Hello! Welcome to the second installment of the Superqueero Roundup Recap, the place where I recap all the queer and feminist goodness on all of DC’s superhero shows the day after they air. Make sure you’re following us on Twitter so you’ll know when this roundup recap is updated!
I have a sneaking suspicion this week will be low on the Queer-o-Meter but Maggie Sawyer is coming to us on Supergirl next week officially doubling our lady-loving lady count, maybe more if our dreams for Bisexual Alex Danvers come true.
These recaps (and wee-caps) are in reverse chronological order, with the newest ones appearing up top!
Legends of Tomorrow 202: Captain Sara Lance
I feel like there are more elegant ways to begin a weecap, but instead I will simply share the first thing I wrote in my recap notes:
SARA GETS THE VOICEOVER, BITCHES!
It’s a good sign of things to come.
We start where we left off, with the Legends of Tomorrow facing off with the Justice Society of America. Jax immediately tries to hit on Stargirl, but Stargirl immediately shuts him down.
I like her already.
The JSA doesn’t trust this band of weirdos yammering on about time travel and want to take them into custody, so a battle ensues. I love their group fight scenes and this was a double group fight scene and I liked it quite a lot.
Eventually the Legends get put in a cage and we find out that the Steve Rogers Cosplayer, better known as Commander Steel, is New Guy Nate’s grandfather.
Rex Tyler appears and asks what’s happening, and Sara starts to answer, and then Rex Tyler risks his whole damn life by INTERRUPTING SARA LANCE and then CALLING HER MA’AM and then saying he was talking to the team leader and TURNING TO STEIN. It’s a miracle all of his bones stayed unbroken in that moment.
But she continues to stay calm, cool and collected, even as the team runs through their sorted pasts, and remind everyone that our Canary is an Assassin.
Rex eventually lets them go and Ray points out that the JSA has very admirable team dynamics, and maybe they need a leader. The boys all puff out their chests and Stein is like, “Well Rex WAS just NATURALLY drawn to the leadership I OOZE from my pores,” and Sara rolls her eyes and lets him be in charge the way you let a toddler try to tie their own shoes even though you know they’ll just end up with a knotted mess and eventually ask you to do it for them anyway.
Sara wants to send Nate home but then he realizes that his dog tags are gone, meaning something in the past changed. And sure enough, his notes have changed (but not his memories, because time travel is confusing) and the JSA is going to die in 1942 if they don’t go back, despite a very explicit warning to never go back to 1942.
The Professor’s plan is to pretend to be Hitler’s favorite singer, I don’t really know (or care) why, because it gives us Sara dressed to the nines.
Vixen is there, undercover, and none too pleased to see the Legends again.
Stein sings Edelweiss while Nate figures out what the bad guy is up to, but before they leave, Ray gets busted not doing the Nazi salute, and a fight breaks out. They all make it back to the timeship, where they’re all confused but generally unimpressed by the technology on board.
But Sara says they’re going to help the JSA whether they like it or not. Stein tries to be In Charge and make a plan but Sara has a better plan and comes up with it faster and says it more forcefully. Even the sexist from the ’40s concedes that she’s right.
Sara pulls Nate away from the group and says that on top of being in charge without letting anyone know she’s in charge and trying not to flirt with Vixen, she’s noticed that Nate is a hemophiliac. She says they’ve only almost died all the time without him and probably they’re no better for him being there and she doesn’t feel like being worried about him dying at every turn so probably she should just go home.
The team goes off to find the amulet the Nazis have and some shit goes down and they GET the amulet, but Vixen and Ray are kidnapped by a SuperNazi. Stein is in full panic mode now. He’s too busy weighing all his options and trying to figure out how to make everyone happy; he doesn’t have the tactical training for this, and he knows it. The JSA is ready to sacrifice Vixen and Ray and ditch, but Sara hands him a firm NOPE on that plan.
He shrugs her off, saying she doesn’t have the authority to make decisions, but Stein comes in and practically begs her to take the helm. He says that Sara is the beating heart and steady hand of this team, and it’s TRUE. So Sara Lance is put in charge.
Meanwhile, Ray is doing science for the SuperNazi, stammering and stalling, while Vixen spouts off fiery quips at him to try to get him to stop, even though the Nazis are threatening her if he doesn’t do it.
But Ray reveals his plan and smacks people around with a microscope and they get out. Vixen doesn’t have her amulet, but she’s a blackbelt and much more useful than Ray without his supersuit, so they dash. Ray is going to inject himself with the serum he made to fix that very fact, but the team swoops in and saves the day. Sara gives Vixen back her amulet and I say again Vixen gives Sara a very interesting look and maybe she’s just excited that Sara is a Canary and she has animal powers but I don’t hate it. Until this promised gay character is revealed, the potential crackles everywhere! Anyway, Ray uses the serum to save Nate’s life and everything is just fine.
Well, until the Reverse Flash kills Rex Tyler.
That’s it for this week’s Superqueero roundup! Until next week when we flail around about MAGGIE FREAKING SAWYER.
Arrow 503: Popular Opinion
The theme of this episode was much like the last: Oliver resisting trusting his team and him ultimately listening to Felicity and trusting them – and I mean literally quoting Felicity at a press conference. The new squad is still learning how to work with The Green Grumpface and each other, but they have masks now and have been let into the Arrow Cave, so they’re on their way to becoming a real part of Team Arrow.
Let’s do a quick check-in on the ladies, shall we?
Let’s start with Lyla since her part was the smallest. Diggle is in jail (I think he’s being scapegoated for something?) and he’s hallucinating big time, so Lyla goes to Oliver for help at the end of the episode. (PS. Barry’s stupid timeline change didn’t affect the folks of Arrow much at all but it did DELETE BABY SARA FROM EXISTENCE and instead Diggle and Lyla have a son named John Jr. And I get how but I don’t get WHY. Ugh. CHANGE IT BACK, BARRY.)
Anyway. On to Felicity.
Her biggest thing this episode was that the newest member of the team, Ragman (not his real name, don’t care about him enough yet to learn his real name), is from Havenrock, the city Felicity redirected Darhk’s missile, killing tens of thousands of people. But, as Curtis points out, saving millions.
Eventually she realizes she can’t keep this guilt bottled up, so she tells Ragman that she was the one who chose Havenrock as the destination, but she doesn’t quite go into enough detail as to why, so I’m not sure he’ll understand right away. I AM glad that they’re addressing this though, because Felicity is a kind soul and you know this fucked her up right good. Anyway, for now, Ragman walks away without saying anything to her, leaving her a little more broken than before.
Baby Bird, despite her extremely badass parkour skills, is still trying to find her place on the team. She wants to follow the rules like a good little vigilante, but gets influenced by the Wild Dog.
But she works well with the rest of the crew and has a cute little sister rapport with Curtis, who is wearing a Fair Play jacket as an intro into his code name, Mr. Terrific. (Which is cheesy af but suits him because gosh darnit Curtis is terrific!) Baby Bird, while still officially codename-less, has upgraded to an adorable little mask.
She also asks Felicity the rules about dating while also being a vigilante (which…it’s adorable that she thinks there are rules) and Felicity’s short answer is DON’T DO IT.
And last but definitely not least is Thea, who is still fighting for justice even without her Speedy outfit, and who wins what Kristin Russo would call the Sexual Tension Award for her interactions with guest star Carly Pope. Carly Pope, you may remember, played Sam on the show Popular, where you probably shipped her with her arch-nemesis and step-sister Brooke, but what you MIGHT not know, but definitely should, is that she played queer in a cheesy campy badass movie called Concrete Blondes. It’s like DEBS: All Growed Up.
Anyway, Carly Pope is in our DC Universe to shake things up as news anchor/journalist Susan Williams.
She comes onto the scene tearing Oliver Queen’s administration apart by saying it was a bad idea to hire drunk fool Quentin Lance. Thea goes to talk to her and try to get her to correct her story, and Susan seems very accommodating. And either Thea has lost her edge or she’s distracted by Susan’s beauty because she’s just like, “Sweet thanks bye,” even though she’s a journalist and therefore obviously out for the best story.
So of course, as everyone but Thea could have predicted, Susan twists Thea’s words and makes Oliver look extra incompetent. But Oliver holds a press conference and doubles down on Thea’s decision to hire Quentin Lance and won’t let Thea resign and it’s fine. If he’s learned anything from Felicity it’s that he needs to trust his team, so trust he does.
Thea, not one to be toyed with, storms right up to Susan Williams, and gets SO CLOSE TO HER FACE and tells her that if she EVER messes with this Queen again, it’s off with her head.
In real life confrontation makes me VERY UNCOMFORTABLE but on TV it makes me shout NOOOOOW KISS. It’s a very confusing time for us all. Anyway, I doubt Susan Williams will back down, and she’s around for a few more episodes at least, so that dynamic should be interesting.
That’s it for Arrow, see you tomorrow for some Sara Lance hijinx!
The Flash 303: Lady Speedster
Buckle up, kids, because this week we had Iris in dresses, Caitlin getting sassy, a lady speedster, and a girl with misandrist superpowers. But don’t worry, I’ll make it…quick. (hehe)
We begin with Iris, ready for her date with Barry, looking lovely as ever.
That’s really all there is to report about this first scene. Even Iris admits it was boring. Luckily, Cisco calls them into Star Labs because a breech is open that they decidedly did not open. But don’t worry, it’s not another Zoom coming to torture us for another season, it’s just Harrison Wells and his daughter Jesse. Though his daughter is a little different from the last time we saw her, proven by her flying out of the breech like a bat out of hell and zipping around the lab in a flash of yellow light.
Caitlin Snow offers to test her in the SpeedLab, which sounds a lot like superflirting to me. Barry didn’t know they had a SpeedLab, and neither did Wells or Jesse, so Wells figures out that Barry mucked up the timeline again.
Meanwhile, the metahuman of the week is a young girl named Frankie with misandrist powers. Her foster father starts being a real ass, and her eyes turn purple and she throws a light post at him with her mind. It’s pretty badass. The problem is, she doesn’t remember doing it.
Back at Star Labs, Wells is stressed about Jesse’s new powers. He knows she’ll want to be out and proud about having powers, but he thinks it’ll be safer if she keeps them to herself. He knows that Caitlin and Jesse have a special relationship and asks Caitlin to talk to his daughter. Caitlin’s eyes grow wide and she’s like I DON’T HAVE POWERS I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT I’M PERFECTLY ORDINARY I CAN’T HELP YOU SORRY.
At the police department, Draco Malfoy figures out that the light post couldn’t have been bent by hand and starts SCREAMING in the face of traumatized little Frankie, thus activating her misandrist powers again. Her alter ego Magenta takes over and admits that Alchemy is to blame/thank for these powers.
It turns out the girl has always had dissociative identity disorder, and Dr. Alchemy preyed on that to create Magenta. Plus her foster father has a history of being an abusive monster so probably she was just trying to knock some sense into him with the light post thing.
Jesse is ready to head out to find Magenta before she can hurt herself or someone else, and Wells begs Caitlin to have The Talk with her. Caitlin reluctantly agrees and tries to talk to Jesse, but Jesse doesn’t want to hear it. At first she thinks people want her to take it easy because she’s a girl, but Caitlin is just like, “Well if I had powers, which I definitely do not, I would take it slow and not rush into things.”
But Jesse will not be closeted by anyone, especially not her father. Just because he can’t accept that she’s different now doesn’t mean she has to hide who she is. Wells turns on Caitlin for this not going well but Caitlin finally snaps; she won’t take the blame for this.
She says that maybe if Wells celebrated Jesse’s new identity instead of fearing it then it would bring them closer together.
With this in mind, when the Magenta drama comes to a head, he sends Jesse off to help Barry save the day.
And save the day they do.
Afterwards, Jesse and Wells have a heart-to-heart, where Wells names her Jesse Quick and gives her a supersuit. He explains that he was just scared; the world’s not always welcoming or safe for people like her, but she’s always been his hero, so he’s ready to let her be that for other people, too. (There’s a reason superhero stories have always resonated so strongly with gay people!)
He even gives her a supersuit of her very own. And joined PFLAG. Wait, sorry. I ran too far with the metaphor. I’m back.
Anyway, Iris and Barry go on another date and she somehow looks even lovelier and it goes even better even though he has to dash away again because the work of a speedster is never done.
See you tomorrow for an update on Felicity, Thea and the gang!
Supergirl 202: The Danvers Sisters
We start the episode with the Krypton Kids tag-teaming some superhero stuff. It’s still pretty adorable, fine, whatever. When they get back to the DEO, J’onn gives them a hard time because they’re off having #toomuchfun and not following protocol, but Kara yells at him because she knows he’s just upset because him and Superman are in a fight.
To try to cheer Kara up, Alex reminds her that they have Sister Night tonight. But Kara invites Clark.
Alex puts on a brave face and says, “The more the merrier.”
At CatCo, Kara is nervous but excited about her first day as a reporter; that is, until Cat introduces her to her new boss, Snapper Carr. He stares at her, unimpressed, while she tries to make a good impression, and then he walks away from her mid-sentence. Which poor sweet Kara doesn’t know what to do with.
Later that night, Clark shows up at Sister Night and then ASKS ALEX TO GIVE HIM A MINUTE ALONE WITH KARA. On SISTER night! The nerve! But whatever it’s fine because he’s there to say he has to go back to Metropolis. But before he does, they have one last mission to go on: Someone is about to jump off a bridge and needs the SuperDuo’s help. Except it’s not really a person at all, but Metallo, who can shoot Kryptonite beams out of his chest like some kind of defective Care Bear.
The fight leaves Supergirl wobbly and Superman a little shaken, but they get back to the DEO in one piece. Clark blames J’onn and his Kryptonite hoarding, and he admits a shipment went missing, but he and Alex failed to mention it. Before they can fight about it, Cadmus releases a Mr. Robot-style message essentially declaring war against “the aliens.”
At this point, these people have taken Alex’s father and are threatening her sister, so she’s feeling very No More Miss Nice DEO Agent.
When Kara shows back up to work at CatCo, Snapper tells her she’s in the wrong place. He doesn’t have to hire her just because Cat said so. Kara says, “This is the job I chose,” but he gives her the brush-off and tells her she has to earn a place on his team. Literally. He won’t even give her a chair.
Kara stomps to Cat for help, but Cat tells her that it’s time to stand up for herself. She calls her “Kara” over and over again and calls her smart, talented, astonishing. Astonishing! Oh to be called astonishing! By Cat Grant no less! Who doesn’t give compliments easily. She tells Kara to own her power.
This is especially important advice for Kara to take right now, because Cat is taking a leave of absence. She’s taking her own advice and taking a dive into something new.
Kara sits down, overwhelmed, and I relate to Kara often but never so much as when she sighed and said, “Everything is changing so fast.”
Kara tells Cat that she’ll miss her — and we all will, so much — and Cat gets choked up. They hug and it’s beautiful and gah I’m really going to miss their dynamic.
Cat tells her to get her head in the game and show Snapper what she’s made of. No protégé of hers will be beaten down by a MAN.
When Kara confides this onslaught of emotions to Alex, she offers her ice cream, like a good big sister. But in return, Kara says that maybe she wants to move to Metropolis. She positions it like it would be doing everyone, including Alex, a favor. And finally Alex can’t be silent anymore. They take care of each other, that’s their whole deal. In fact, it’s Alex’s only deal! She’s sacrificed so much to be there for Kara, as a sister and as a DEO agent, and it’s all been worth it, unless Kara is going to up and ABANDON HER. She hasn’t even gone on a date in two years! In another timeline, she becomes a doctor and goes by Lexie instead of Alex and is trained by the greatest bisexual TV character in all of space and time!
Kara doesn’t get what Alex is saying though, so she continues to emotionally punch Alex in her heart’s face by saying Clark “understands” her and makes her feel less alone. Alone! If there’s one thing Kara Danvers has never been it’s alone! Alex points out that Clark abandoned her to live with the Danverses.
Before they can break my heart any more, Metallo strikes again — but this time he’s a decoy, because there’s a SECOND Metallo, and he’s destroying Krypton Park in Metropolis. The Supers are too late to stop the damage, and are pretty sad about it.
Meanwhile, at the DEO, Alex is super angry at her sister, but channels that energy into finding the person who stole the Kryptonite. And it’s Jackson from The 100.
She asks him to transport some Kryptonite, and follows him, knowing he’ll take her to his leader. And sure enough, it’s a trap.
The Queen of Cadmus tries to recruit Alex, tries to prey on the very things Alex mentioned earlier, that her whole life has been affected by these Kryptonians. But Alex’s love for Kara is stronger than that, and also Kara had been looking for her to apologize anyway, so the sisters work together and get away from the baddies.
Kara apologizes for being a brat and says that she knows how important Alex is, that she’s the one who made Earth feel like home, not Clark. They both agree that they’re better together and THANK KRYPTON THAT’S OVER because I hate when they fight.
Winn makes anti-Kryptonite shields for Kara and Clark, giving them a fighting chance against the Metallos. They use the fact that Cadmus doesn’t think anyone supports Supergirl and Superman anymore, and split up, having Alex and J’onn as backup respectively.
Also Alex has some kind of supersuit that is amazing albeit a little bulky.
Together, the Danvers sisters kick Metallo’s ass and save the day. (Superman and J’onn do fine too.)
Supergirl flies to Cat’s balcony — THEIR balcony — to say goodbye. Cat says kind things about Supergirl and her amazingness, and tries one last time to get her real identity from her, and they say goodbye for now. (Side note, I love the way that Kara is just naturally more at ease with Cat when she’s Supergirl. I don’t love the amount of disbelief I have to suspend to buy that Cat hasn’t figured out who she is yet.)
Kara musters all her courage, fueled by the people she loves who believe in her, and marches up to Snapper’s desk and tells him that he’ll give her a chance OR ELSE.
He still plays gruff, but says if she comes back tomorrow, he’ll try to teach her something, which is just fine for Kara.
Clark says goodbye for real, taking the rest of the Kryptonite and a promise to find Alex’s father with him. Kara goes to talk to the stranger from the mystery pod and says that she’ll be there for him when he wakes up. And in return she gets a giant alien hand around her throat.
What did you think of this week’s Supergirl? Next week, Maggie Sawyer! And President Wonder Woman! Lena Luthor! All the ladies!
Check back Wednesday for an update on the ladies of The Flash, which will now be ABOVE this post! So depending on when you’re reading this you could have already read my recap of The Flash…oof, even the real world is too timey-wimey wibbly wobbly sometimes.
