''Vixen'', also known as ''DC Comics' Vixen'', is an American

animated web series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

from executive producers

Greg Berlanti Gregory Berlanti (born May 24, 1972) is an American screenwriter, producer and director of film and television. He is known for his work on the television series ''Dawson's Creek'', '' Brothers & Sisters'', '' Everwood'', '' Political Animals'', ...

Marc Guggenheim Marc Guggenheim (born September 24, 1970) is an American screenwriter, television producer, comic book writer, and novelist. He is best known as the creator of the television series '' Eli Stone'' (2008–2009), ''Arrow'' (2012– 2020), and ''Leg ...

and

Andrew Kreisberg Andrew Kreisberg (born April 23, 1971) is an American television writer, producer and comic book writer. He is best known as the creator of the television series ''The Flash'', ''Arrow'', '' Supergirl'' and ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Personal life ...

, which debuted on August 25, 2015, on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

's online streaming platform, CW Seed. It is based on the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

character Mari McCabe / Vixen, a costumed superhero crime-fighter with the power to mimic the abilities of any animal that has ever lived on Earth. The series is set in the

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American superhero media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series on CW See ...

, the same

fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes ma ...

as ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers ...

'', ''

The Flash The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...

'', ''Supergirl'' and ''

Legends of Tomorrow ''DC's Legends of Tomorrow'', or simply ''Legends of Tomorrow'', is an American time travel superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, and Phil Klemmer, who are also executive producers a ...

''. In January 2016, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on October 13, 2016.

Premise

After her parents were killed in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

by local corruption, Mari McCabe inherits her family's Tantu Totem, gaining the powers of the animal kingdom, using them to fight as Vixen to stop threats like those that claimed her family.

Cast and characters

Main

* Megalyn Echikunwoke as Mari McCabe / Vixen: : Born in an

n village near the river of

Zambezi The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than ha ...

but raised in the United States, Mari is orphaned at a young age and inherits her family's mystical Tantu Totem, allowing her to access the powers of the animal kingdom.

Kimberly Brooks Kimberly D. Brooks (née Lawson) is an American voice actress who works in the voice-over, film, video games, and theatre industry. She has voiced in video games since the mid-1990s. She has played Ashley Williams in the ''Mass Effect'' serie ...

voices a young Mari. *

Neil Flynn Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles as Janitor on '' Scrubs'' and Mike Heck in the ABC comedy series '' The Middle''. He has had notable appearances in television series ...

as Chuck McCabe: Mari's foster father. * Sean Patrick Thomas as Professor Macalester: A university professor under Kuasa's employ. *

Anika Noni Rose Anika Noni Rose (born September 6, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for voicing Tiana, Disney's first African-American princess, as seen in ''The Princess and the Frog'' (2009). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011. ...

as Kuasa: Mari's older sister who seeks to obtain the Totem for herself.

Recurring

* Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon: A mechanical engineer at S.T.A.R. Labs who assists Barry Allen. Valdes reprises his role from ''

''. *

Grant Gustin Thomas Grant Gustin (born January 14, 1990) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his roles as Barry Allen / The Flash on The CW series ''The Flash'' as part of the Arrowverse, and as Sebastian Smythe on the Fox series '' Gl ...

Barry Allen / Flash Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 1950 ...

: A

Central City In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central cit ...

superhero with super speed. Gustin reprises his role from ''The Flash''. *

Stephen Amell Stephen Adam Amell (born May 8, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He came to prominence for playing the lead role of Oliver Queen on The CW superhero series ''Arrow'' (2012–2020). Amell also appeared in subsequent Arrowverse franchise media, along wi ...

as Oliver Queen / Arrow / Green Arrow: A

Starling City Star City is a fictional city that appears in stories published by DC Comics, best known as the traditional home of the superheroes known by, or affiliated with, the shared alias of Green Arrow. Beyond that, it is also known to other characters ...

vigilante archer. Amell reprises his role from ''

''. * Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak: A friend and partner of Oliver Queen. Rickards reprises her role from ''Arrow''. * Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Benatu Eshu: A former general responsible for destroying Mari's village, seeking Zambezi's lost totems. *

Katie Cassidy Katherine Evelyn Anita Cassidy (formerly Rodgers) (born November 25, 1986) is an American actress. Following several minor television roles, she came to attention as a scream queen after starring in the horror films '' When a Stranger Calls'' ...

as Laurel Lance / Black Canary: A Star City attorney-turned-vigilante and a member of Oliver Queen's team. Cassidy reprises her role from ''Arrow''. *

Brandon Routh Brandon James Routh (; born October 9, 1979) is an American actor. He portrayed Superman in the 2006 film '' Superman Returns'', which garnered him international fame. In 2011, he played the titular character of the film '' Dylan Dog: Dead of N ...

as Ray Palmer / Atom: A scientist, inventor, businessman and CEO of Palmer Technologies who developed a power-suit that is now capable of shrinking. Routh reprises his role from ''Arrow''.

Guest

Kari Wuhrer Kari Samantha Wuhrer (born April 28, 1967) is an American actress, model, and singer. Wuhrer began her career as a teenager, and is best known for her time as a cast member on MTV's ''Remote Control'', as well as her roles as Maggie Beckett in t ...

as Patty McCabe: Mari's deceased foster mother. *

Franz Drameh Franz Alhusaine Drameh (born 5 January 1993) is an English actor. His film debut was in Clint Eastwood's fantasy drama, '' Hereafter'' (2010). He also appeared in British film ''Attack the Block'' (2011) and the 2014 blockbuster ''Edge of Tomor ...

as Jefferson Jackson / Firestorm: A former high school athlete whose pro career was derailed by an injury who now works as an auto mechanic and serves as half of the character Firestorm with Martin Stein. Drameh reprises his role from ''The Flash''. *

Victor Garber Victor Joseph Garber (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian-American actor and singer. Known for his work in film, television, and theatre, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also ...

as Martin Stein / Firestorm: A nuclear physicist focused on transmutation, who is also half of the character Firestorm with Jefferson Jackson. Garber reprises his role from ''The Flash''. *

Toks Olagundoye Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke "Toks" Olagundoye (born 16 September 1975) is a Nigerian actress.The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

announced that a six-episode animated web-series centered on

Vixen Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

from

would be debuting on CW Seed in late 2015, and would be set in the

with ''

'' and ''

''. In total, the six episodes encompass one 30-minute story. The series, described as an "origin story", is set in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

and "prominently" features characters from ''Arrow'' and ''The Flash''. Keto Shimizu and Brian Ford Sullivan, writers on ''Arrow'', also serve as writers for ''Vixen''. On adding Vixen to the established universe, Guggenheim said, "Vixen's such a great character. First of all, she represents magic, which is an area that we haven't explored on either of the two shows just yet. One thing we're always saying is, ''Flash'' is very different from ''Arrow'', ''Arrow'' is very different from ''Flash.'' If ''Arrow'' is crime and ''The Flash'' is science, ''Vixen'' has a big magic component." Guggenheim also talked about why the series originated as animation, saying, "One of the things we can do in animation is really push the envelope in a way that we can't on either of the two shows. So there's a much larger production value. We're taking advantage of the animated form." At the 2015

San Diego Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is c ...

, it was revealed that the series would debut on August 25, 2015, with new episodes debuting weekly. In July 2015, Guggenheim revealed the series takes place around episode S03E15 and S03E16 of ''Arrow'', saying, "We were shooting pisodeS03E14 f ''Arrow''when we wrote ''Vixen'' so we sort of tied it to the continuity not of when it ultimately came out because that would require us projecting very, very far into the future, but we just committed to our timeline of around when we were writing it. We knew, of course, at that point that Oliver would be going off to the

League of Assassins The League of Assassins (sometimes renamed the League of Shadows or Society of Shadows in adapted works) is a group of supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The group is depicted as a collective of assassins who ...

and changing his costume as a result, so this takes place just right before that."

Blake Neely Blake Neely (born April 28, 1969) is an Emmy Award-winning American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on ''Everwood'', '' The Pacific'', and ''Pan Am'', and won the Emmy (20 ...

, composer of ''Arrow'' and ''The Flash'', composed the music for ''Vixen'' along with Nathaniel Blume. In January 2016, CW President Mark Pedowitz announced that The CW had renewed ''Vixen'' for a second season of six episodes, again totaling about a half-hour of content. Pedowitz also stated he regretted not airing the entire series as a half-hour special on The CW, something he hoped to do with season two. In January 2017, in terms of renewing ''Vixen'' for a third season, Pedowitz said, "We haven't had that discussion, but based on the success of

he second He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

season I have no reason why not to." The entire series made its broadcast debut on The CW on August 30, 2017.

Home media

In February 2017, Warner Bros. announced ''Vixen: The Movie'' for release on digital download on May 8, 2017, and on Blu-ray and DVD on May 23, 2017. The release sees the first two seasons combined into a single story, with 15 minutes of never-before-seen content. Bonus features on the release include the ''

Justice League Unlimited ''Justice League Unlimited'' (''JLU'') is a 2004–2006 American superhero animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics univers ...

'' episodes "Hunter's Moon" and "Grudge Match" and a new featurette.

Reception

IGN's Jesse Schedeen gave the series a 7.3/10, praising the action sequences, the animation and the tone, saying the series "finds its niche in the Flash/Arrow-verse". Schedeen criticized the short run time and the voice acting of some actors, particularly those crossing over from the live-action shows, saying "There's a certain stiffness and even slowness to

's Ollie,

's Barry and Carlos Valdes' Cisco that isn't present in live-action. This is especially apparent whenever the characters launch into witty banter with each other." Oliver Sava of '' The A.V. Club'' gave the series a "B+" rating. In 2017, Vixen was nominated for the Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Computer Episodic (Webisode).

Arrowverse

Guggenheim stated that if the series was successful, a live-action series centered on the character could be possible. Echikunwoke appeared as the character on ''Arrow'' during the fourth-season episode " Taken," in which Mari aided Oliver Queen and his team in rescuing his kidnapped son. After Vixen's appearance on ''Arrow'', Pedowitz reiterated again that it would be possible for the character to spin out to her own live-action series, or potentially join the characters on ''

''. It was originally intended for Echikunwoke to reprise her role in the second season of ''Legends of Tomorrow'', but she was unable to do so due to previous commitments.

Maisie Richardson-Sellers Maisie Richardson-Sellers is a British actress. She is known for her recurring role as Eva Sinclair on The CW series '' The Originals'', as well as her starring roles as King Saul of Israel's daughter Michal in the ABC Biblical series '' Of K ...

was ultimately cast to portray Amaya Jiwe, the grandmother of McCabe who also operated as Vixen. Kuasa appears throughout the third season of ''Legends of Tomorrow'', portrayed by

Tracy Ifeachor Tracy Ifeachor is a British television and theatre actress best known for playing the role of Aya Al-Rashid in The CW vampire series '' The Originals'' and Abigail Naismith in both parts of the ''Doctor Who'' Christmas special, " The End of T ...

, while Chuck McCabe appears in the episode " I, Ava" and is portrayed by

Eli Gabay Eli Gabay (also credited as Eli Gabe born 1 June 1959) is a Canadian actor. He is known for voicing Quetzal, the teacher at School in the Sky, as well as voicing Max and Emmy's father, in ''Dragon Tales'' and a gangster named Abrego in the ani ...

. The events of the season end up retroactively changing the continuity of ''Vixen'', resulting in an altered timeline where Zambesi was never destroyed, and Mari shares the Vixen mantle with Kuasa.

References

External links

* * {{CW Seed 2010s American adult animated television series 2010s American black cartoons 2015 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings American adult animated action television series American adult animated adventure television series American adult animated superhero television series American adult animated web series American animated web series American animated action television series American animated adventure television series American animated superhero television series American black superhero television shows English-language television shows Animated television series about orphans Television shows set in Ghana Television shows set in Detroit Television series by Warner Bros. Animation Adult animated television shows based on DC Comics Television series by Blue Ribbon Content Television series created by Marc Guggenheim