Vixen (web series)

After her parents were killed in Africa 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 • Neil Flynn as Chuck McCabe: Mari's foster father. • Sean Patrick Thomas as Professor Macalester: A university professor under Kuasa's employ. A Starling City vigilante archer. Amell reprises his role from Arrow. • 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 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 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 as Patty McCabe: Mari's deceased foster mother. 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 as Esi: Mari's deceased biological mother. ==Episodes==

Season 1 (2015) Season 2 (2016) ==Development==

In January 2015, The CW announced that a six-episode animated web-series centered on Vixen from Marc Guggenheim would be debuting on CW Seed in late 2015, and would be set in the Arrowverse with Arrow and The Flash. with new episodes debuting weekly. Blake Neely, 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. 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 [the second] 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 episodes "Hunter's Moon" and "Grudge Match" and a new featurette. ==Reception==

as Vixen in Arrow. 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 Stephen Amell's Ollie, Grant Gustin'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 Legends of Tomorrow. Maisie Richardson-Sellers 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, while Chuck McCabe appears in the episode "I, Ava" and is portrayed by Eli Gabay. 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==