Warning: mild spoilers for tonight’s Arrow are ahead!
Arrow Season 4 has seen Oliver Queen seeking assistance from several of his superhero allies outside of Team Arrow. He had his annual team-up with Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash in December, he brought in John Constantine to restore Sara Lance’s soul and tonight’s episode will see him joining forces with Mari McCabe, a.k.a. Vixen. After voicing Vixen in six episodes of the Vixen animated web series, this will be actress Megalyn Echikunwoke's live-action debut as the superheroine, but she’s not being called in as mere back-up.
After discovering that Damien Dark kidnapped his son William, Echikunwoke informed Nerdist that Oliver will bring her in to track down locate their location, but she’ll also get to tangle with the Season 4 big bad. Echikunwoke elaborated:
We will see Damien Dahrk and Vixen going at it. She’s going to kick his ass! Or at least she’s going to try. She’s definitely going to be doing some major ass kicking, which was really fun. I was lucky enough to work with everyone on the episode, everyone from the core cast. I was really lucky.
Like Darhk, Vixen draws her powers from magic, specifically the Anansi Totem. This necklace allows her to mimic the abilities of all of Earth’s animals, from the strength of a gorilla to the speed of a cheetah. So since she’s also channeling these mystical forces while battling evil, she stands a better chance of going toe-to-toe with Darhk, though it sounds like he’ll still come out on top. If you want a taste of her powers at work, take a look at the clip below.
As for how Vixen’s appearance in “Taken” fits into the Arrowverse timeline, Echikunwoke said that her first live action adventure will take place a fair amount of time after Vixen Season 1 unfolded. She said:
Vixen is coming from Detroit and heading to Star City. This all happens after the animated series. The Green Arrow [Stephen Amell] and the Flash [Grant Gustin] and I have created this working relationship and this friendly relationship. Some time has passed since the ending of [the animated series].
Although Vixen aired its first episodes last summer, it obviously took place sometime during the last TV season, since Oliver was still active as The Arrow and Barry Allen still had the red-circled Flash symbol on his costume. So it will have been almost a year since they last saw each other. There’s no word yet on if/when she’ll return to Arrow, but since Vixen has been renewed for Season 2, fans will get to see more of her adventures in animated form.
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW. Meanwhile, if you still haven’t seen Vixen Season 1 yet, head over to the CW Seed to watch all six episodes.
