Welcome to the 12th Annual CSBG DC/Marvel Character Tournament!
This time around, you will be voting for your favorite DC or Marvel live action television series and TV movies. Amusingly, this was also going to be the tournament last year, so the delay has changed the list dramatically, as WandaVision, Superman and Lois and Stargirl all debuted AFTER last March! Notably, though, I will not be including Falcon and Winter Soldier, as there have only been two episodes released so far in its first (only?) season, so that seems like too little to actually cover for something like this.
The rankings were mostly determined by the use of IMDB user reviews, which turned out to be EERILY in line with the voters back in 2019 when we did superhero cartoons (the first time I can recall a tournament where all four #1 seeds made it to the Final Four). This time around, I made a few more changes, as it was just way too unreasonable for Batwoman, for instance, to be the lowest rated show out of ALL of the shows listed. So I made some judgment calls occasionally with the rankings.
After the shows were all ranked, they were split into four different regions. In the early rounds, we’ll do two regions a day.
This is the fourth round and here are the last two (of the four) regions and the match-ups! We finish out the Elite Eight!
Simply choose which show you like better. The voting concludes roughly 48 hours from right now! I’m sorry that the voting is over Twitter, but the site that I had used for embedded poll voting for YEARS was purchased by someone else and it no longer is an option. If you know of another good and free embedded poll site, please let me know, I’d gladly use it in the future. For now, we’re stuck with Twitter polls.
TULSA REGION
Watchmen defeated Black Lightning, 77% to 33% while Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. upset Incredible Hulk, 61% to 39%
The final matchup in this particular region is Watchmen, a miniseries for HBO by Damon Lindeloff that was set years after the events of the famous Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons maxiseries, with a sinister group planning to take control of Doctor Manhattan’s powers for nefarious purposes. Meanwhile, police departments have had to become masked vigilantes and one of those vigilantes, Sister Night (Regina King) has to deal with a shocking secret about her beloved mentor, a shocking secret about her own grandfather and a MOST shocking secret about her own husband and his connection to Doctor Manhattan vs. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the long-running ABC follow-up to the Avengers films that saw Clark Gregg reprise his role of SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson (after being killed in the first Avengers film), leading up a new team of field agents including characters played by Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge as his initial team. The series took a number of twists and turns over its seven seasons (perhaps nothing more notable than the initial Season 1 twist back when the series was tying more directly into the Marvel Cinematic Universe), with Gregg playing literally three different characters over the course of the series. The series tied into the Inhumans and then became a time-traveling show for a while, as well.
The best review for Watchmen came from Ben Travers at IndieWire, who wrote, “Season 1 Review: The series’ scope is astonishing given its subject matter, and even more so given its relentless entertainment value. Through six episodes, “Watchmen” has already provided a bounty of intelligent theories to study and debate, but it’s designed to be one helluva good time, as well.” The best review for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. came from Verne Gay in Newsday, who wrote, “As with “The Avengers,” Whedon’s ear and sensibilities match the material perfectly.”
CENTRAL CITY REGION
Flash outpaced Doom Patrol 56% to 44% while DC’s Legends of Tomorrow upset Punisher by the same percentage, 56% to 44%.
The final (and only) matchup in this region is Flash, the first spinoff of Arrow (and thus the creation of the “Arrowverse”), starring Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, a young man who received superspeed from a particle accelerator exploding (which gave other people powers, as well). Barry worked alongside the creator of the particle accelerator, STAR Labs, while also working as a rime scene investigator alongside Detective Joe West, who had taken in Barry when Barry was a kid after Barry’s mother was murdered, seemingly by Barry’s father (but Barry never believed his father killed his mother). Barry was in love with Joe’s daughter, Iris (Candice Patton) and they eventually married. The series continues as the central series of the CW TV universe vs. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which starred a collection of various characters from other Arrowverse series, like Firestorm, Heat Wave, Captain Cold and Atom, led by Caity Lotz’s White Canary. The cast of heroes travel throughout history on various missions, with each season having a distinct concept behind it. The cast has gone through tremendous overhaul over the years, with new cast members joining pretty much every season (and leaving, as well). It has been renewed for a seventh season, making it one of the longest running series on the CW Universe of TV shows.
The best review for The Flash came from Eric Joseph at We Got This Covered, who wrote, “In the eyes of this critic, showrunner Todd Helbing and company have rediscovered what’s quintessentially The Flash. … These folks have put together one of the strongest premieres this show has ever produced, and it’s guaranteed to leave people talking.” The best review for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow came from Darren Franich at Entertainment Weekly, who wrote, “Legends of Tomorrow flies high as a kite, and the kite was hit by lightning, so now it’s an omnisexual talking kite firing electric rays at sexy history. … A little self-awareness goes a long way, but Legends has a charm that’s more old-fashioned than meta. Every adventure is a game of dress-up.”
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