After starring in her own animated series last summer, Mari McCabe, a.k.a. Vixen, made the jump to live-action in tonight’s Arrow episode “Taken,” with voice actress Megalyn Echikunwoke reprising the role. Active in Detroit, Oliver Queen sought her out to help him and the rest of Team Arrow track down Damien Darhk in Star City. However, Arrow is just one part of this DC TV universe, and over in Central City, The Flash is telling its own stories. So what are the chances Vixen might get team up with the Scarlet Speedster in the future? Fairly good, actually.
Echikunwoke was recently asked if Vixen will ever meet Cisco Ramon, a.k.a. Vibe, who is not only one of The Flash’s lead characters, but was Vixen’s Justice League Detroit teammate in the comics. Here’s how the actress responded to Comicbook.com:
There is a possibility. There's nothing in stone, but potentially anything's possible. I think Vixen could go anywhere, which is one of the cool things about her character; she's friends with everyone at school, you know? She's in almost every group.
Going by her statement, it looks like we don’t have to worry about Vixen biting the dust while helping Team Arrow any time soon. Right now, Echikunwoke’s appearance as Vixen on Arrow is only a guest spot, and there’s been no word on if she’ll return later this season or for Season 5. With The Flash busy dealing with its own Earth 2-related problems, Vixen showing up on the series would presumably occur during its Season 3. Beyond simply working with Barry to take down a metahuman, seeing Vixen chat with Cisco on The Flash would be neat, as he was actually the one who gave Mari her code name in the Vixen animated series. Imagine that.
It’s good to hear that the possibility of Vixen returning to the small screen is out there, even if her next appearance isn’t scheduled yet. This isn't like the excitement surrounding John Constantine’s role in the Arrow episode “Haunted,” where it was later confirmed that this was a “one-off” appearance for the Hellblazer. In addition to The Flash, CW president Mark Pedowitz suggested last month that Vixen could appear on Legends of Tomorrow, if not her own series.
Keeping in line with Arrow Season 4’s focus on magic, Vixen draws her powers from the mystical Anansi Totem. This necklace allows her to mimic the abilities of any animal on Earth, and makes her one of the more unique DC heroes. While her showing up in earlier seasons of Arrow definitely wouldn’t have fit, now that this DC TV universe is home to all kinds of powers, magic and weird sci-fi, she’s a welcome addition.
You can catch new episodes of Arrow Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW. Meanwhile, Vixen Season 1 can be found on CW Seed, and the show has been renewed for a second season airing later this year.
