First Still Appears From CW's 'Arrow'

Seeing Stephen Amell actually don the Green Arrow duds somehow makes The CW's latest DC Universe endeavor feel that much more....official.

Deadline today has the network's first official still hyping "Arrow," the forthcoming origin story-ish pilot spun off from the legendary Emerald Archer's run on "Smallville." David Nutter has his ties to both shows - he was behind the camera for the "Smallville" pilot that led to a 10-season run, and he'll also be directing "Arrow." He's approaching the Green Arrow's further adventures with the same sensibility he lent his early-days Clark Kent before anyone knew him as the Man of Steel.

"When I directed the pilot for 'Smallville,' I knew that making Clark Kent relatable would be the key to audiences believing in him as a hero," Nutter said. "'Arrow' is a different show - darker and harder-edged - but it's the same core idea. We're creating a real, believable world in which Oliver Queen can do incredible things. Colleen Atwood's great work on the Arrow costume reflects that effort."

Ugh. Ever since "Batman Begins," the words "darker" and "harder-edged" have garnered mixed reactions when beloved heroes are slathered with them. Sure, going grim and gritty worked wonders for Batman, because it undid all the horrible, campy, lineage-defiling damage Joel Schumacher's "Batman And Robin" did. Then with every possible comic-property adaptation that studios discussed publicly, those words became more and more prevalent where they had no business ever being.

Sometimes it can be made to work. The single-season 1990 CBS series "The Flash" took a colorful DC hero, set him against a dark backdrop and the results were actually pretty expensive - it's just that it was expensive to produce and had the misfortune of debuting right around the time the Gulf War ate ratings like reality television eats dignity.

Then there was NBC's "Wonder Woman" pilot. How best to explain this? The Amazon Spirit of Truth referenced her "perfect tits," tortured a hospitalized suspect (that she herself incapacitated) and speared a man through his throat with a baton.

In the words of a post-production direction hilariously seen across the screen in the bootlegged pilot's footage: "PANTS TO BE DARKENED."

This, though? This could work. It's not the cartoon-ish, Robin Hood-esque look of Oliver Queen's early days. It's simple, streamlined and actually, somewhat believeable. The biceps-flaunting suit Justin Hartley donned in over 70 "Smallville" episodes just never really looked quite right to me, personally. Plus, this one better befits the origin story "Arrow" tells: former billionaire playboy Oliver Queen returns from five years marooned on an island with combat skills that he applies toward combatting crime.

So far, so good. Green Arrow has come quite a ways on The CW, for being a face that was never initially meant to be there. Don't forget, Green Arrow was essentially a 2006 guest-appearance audible called by writers when producers ran into a snag with Batman's adaptation rights; Warner Bros. wouldn't approve the Dark Knight's appearance on the show out of fear it might interfere with future big-screen appearances.