If you are a big fan of the DC Comics TV shows over at The CW, then this was a huge week for you as we got several announcements and reveals about the upcoming seasons of The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow. As October approaches, we learned a lot of new details at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour during The CW’s big Superhero Panel with all the executive producers of the four shows.

With so much announced, we at TV Overmind thought we would break down all these announcements. We do warn for some spoilers as a big reveal of Supergirl happened as well as the reveal of a new big bad on one of the four shows. Hit the next page button below and let’s begin breaking down all the exciting DCTV news.

Arrow Gets Dolph Lundgren As Russian Big Bad In Flashbacks

Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) will be spending some time in Russia in Season 5 during the flashbacks as we will finally be seeing how he got into the Bratva. During the panel, Arrow producers revealed that The Expendables’ Dolph Lundgren has joined the show. All that we know is that he is going to be the big bad of the flashbacks this year who is a Russian.

Arrow Season 5 Is The Last Year Of Flashbacks

One of the core elements of Arrow since its inception has been telling the story of how Oliver became the weapon he is today through tons of flashbacks. Since this season will be the fifth year in Oliver’s journey back to Star[ling City, as that was the name back in 2012], this announcement made a lot of sense as executive producer Marc Guggenheim confirmed that this season will be the last season of the flashbacks, but that Season 6 could still feature flashbacks in a new way though that isn’t telling a serialized story.

“Last year, when we sort of realized we’re going to go past Season 5, we basically made a collective decision that Season 5 would be the final year of flashbacks. Next year, in Season 6, what we’ll end up doing is we’ll do some episodes without any sort of flashbacks. We’ve [also] established over the first four seasons of proof of concept that we can do flashback stories that don’t involve what I call the island narrative, even when he’s not on the island.

We still want to make that part of our storytelling, because we do like them. We like when those non-island flashbacks sort of illuminate what’s going on in the present day. That’ll always be a part of the show and a part of the show’s storytelling structure. It just won’t be telling a serialized story.” — via IGN

Legends Of Tomorrow Recruits Millennium Actor Lance Henriksen As Obsidian

We will be introduced to the Justice Society of America this season as we met Patrick Adams’ Hourman in the Season 1 finale. During the panel, it was announced that Millennium actor Lance Henriksen will be playing the JSA character of Todd Rice a.k.a. Obsidian, who is actually the son of the 1st Green Lantern, Alan Scott.

Obsidian has shadow-based powers, including the ability to merge with his own shadow which makes him stronger and can possess the shadows of others. While we don’t know what his power-set will be like on the show, he will make his debut in episode 5 in the new season of Legends of Tomorrow. He is the latest JSA casting addition as we recently got Sarah Grey cast as Stargirl and Matthew MacCull as Commander Steel.

The Flash & Supergirl Will Have A Musical Crossover In Early 2017

As we previously mentioned yesterday, Greg Berlanti announced that there will be a two-part musical crossover between The Flash and Supergirl in the second half of their respective seasons, most likely episodes 13 or 14, which would probably air in February 2017.

“Yes, there will be a musical crossover. There’s going to be a musical pair of episodes in the back half of the year with Supergirl and The Flash. We’re trying to write at least one original song per episode. My sense is we’ll be very careful about how it is they kind of break into song. There’ll probably be an element of being in some character or characters’ head at the time just so we’re sort of being delicate in terms of how we navigate those waters but it’s many episodes away.” — via TV Insider

Savitar Revealed As The Second Big Bad Of The Flash Season 3

In the Season 3 trailer of The Flash that came out during Comic-Con last month, we saw a mysterious speedster in a dark suit. Well it appears he will be joining Dr. Alchemy as the second big bad of the season. During the TCA panel, it was revealed that we will be seeing the introduction of the Flash villain, Savitar, who supposedly is the mystery speedster we saw in the trailer.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGQRbPERaU]

Kevin Smith To Direct An Episode Of Supergirl Season 2

One of the great episodes of Season 2 of The Flash was “The Runaway Dinosaur” which was directed by filmmaker Kevin Smith who is also a huge fan of the show. We know he will be directing episode seven of Season 3 that starts filming next month.

But The Flash isn’t the only DCTV show he will be directing this year as it was revealed that Smith is also directing a Supergirl episode that he revealed is titled “Supergirl Lives” in a YouTube video that he released. Check out the video below and hear him talk about his excitement to direct an episode of the Girl of Steel.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHICbi2t6eE]

The Flash Season 3 Will Feature Gorilla City 2-Episode Arc

In “Gorilla Warfare”, we saw Team Flash send Gorilla Grodd to a jungle sanctuary on Earth-2 that is known as Gorilla City in the comic books. We have been getting teases by the producers over the year that we could possibly be seeing a storyline take place in Gorilla City in Season 3. That is exactly what is happening as executive producer Andrew Kriesberg confirmed that fans of the show will get to see Gorilla City at some point this season.

“Yes, we’re going to be doing a two-part episode that takes place in Gorilla City.” – via Collider

A Significant DC TV Character Will Be Coming Out As Gay

Throughout the panel, Berlanti revealed that a DCTV significant character will be exploring their sexuality this year and eventually come out as gay. It isn’t a new character they are adding, it’s an already established character on one of the four shows that will be exploring their sexuality this year.

“We didn’t get to the story. We just didn’t have enough real estate to deal with it in the way that we wanted to deal with it. So when we were planning this season, we said to the network and the studio that it was a priority for us, and everyone was cool with it.

And obviously, because the character hadn’t been gay, we hadn’t necessarily discussed it with the actor, too.” — via TV Line

Supergirl Recruits Hellcats’ Sharon Leal As Miss Martian

At Comic-Con this year during the Supergirl press room, we asked David Harewood (Martian Manhunter) if we might see Miss Martian this year. While Harewood would only give us a teasing smile and “We shall see!”, it appears that we weren’t far off as they revealed that she is in fact coming to the show. Hellcats’ Sharon Leal will be bringing the character to life in the second season, but what her relationship with J’onn will be like, remains to be seen. In the comics, M’gann M’orzz is a White Martian (which we have seen on the show) that pretended to be a Green Martian due to the Martian War and she was a member of the Teen Titans.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=521pdPeVS0c]

Before you click on the final announcement, which has to do with Supergirl Season 2, we give you one last spoiler warning as it is a big spoiler.

Christopher Wood’s Mysterious DC Character On Supergirl Revealed

In the Season 1 finale of Supergirl, we saw the arrival of a mysterious Kryptonian space ship arrive in National City. The episode ended with Kara opening the pod and being shocked over what she saw inside. At Comic-Con, it was confirmed that Christopher Wood, who had been recently announced to join the show as a mysterious DC character, was the person inside the pod. During the TCA panel however, we finally learned his identity as Wood will be playing the DC Comics character, Mon-El.

BONUS: Episode Orders Revealed & Debunked Rumors

While this part wasn’t revealed at the Superhero Producers Panel, network president Mark Pedowtiz did confirm that Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl will have 22 episodes. Legends of Tomorrow, however, will have 13 episodes instead of 16. During the heroic panel, Kriesberg debunked a couple of online rumors that Batman and Batwoman were coming to Supergirl or any of the CW DCTV shows.

“That wasn’t true. We saw that rumor online as well. That would be a neat trick if somebody could pull it off, but that’s not happening.” — via KSiteTV

That was the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour for The CW this year that pretty much felt like a nerdy early Christmas. What are you looking forward to in these upcoming seasons of the DC TV shows on The CW? What announcement got you most excited? Let us know in the comments below!

The Flash Season 3 premieres on Tuesday, October 4 at 8/7c on The CW.

Arrow Season 5 premieres on Wednesday, October 5 at 8/7c on The CW.

Supergirl Season 2 premieres on Monday, October 10 at 8/7c on The CW.

Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 premieres on Thursday, October 13 at 8/7c on The CW.

[Images via Warner Bros. TV/The CW/CBS/DC Comics]