See The First Pictures Of Russell Tovey As Gay Superhero The Ray In CW's Arrowverse Crossover
Fans of the Arrow-verse series—Arrow, The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl—have been enjoying some of the most abundant queer representations on TB. And now there's one more ray of light: Out actor Russell Tovey (Looking, Quantico) plays gay superhero The Ray in a four-part crossover.
The focus is on Flash's (Grant Gustin) wedding to Iris West (Candice Patton), though like every other superhero nuptials ever, something dreadful goes wrong. The assembled heroes must fight the counterparts from Earth X, an alternate version of our planet where the Nazis won WWII.
Ray is a native of that Earth, as is Citizen Cold, an alternate version of Captain Cold, played by fellow out actor Wentworth Miller. (Other LGBT characters in the crossover include Mr. Terrific (Echo Kellum) and Supergirl's sister, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh).
Possessing light-based powers, the Ray first appeared in comic-book form in 1940. In his current incarnation, he's Raymond “Ray” Terrill a reporter who uncovers scientists trying to turn light into a weapon of mass destruction. They try to kill Terrill by exposing him to a "genetic light bomb" (just go with us on this) but only end up granting him super-powers.
Calling himself The Ray, Terrill joins Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters to battle injustice and tyranny.
The character is also heading to The CW Seed online in animated form, for Freedom Fighters: The Ray, executive produced by Arrow's openly gay co-creator, Greg Berlanti. (Tovey also voices the Ray on the CW Seed show.)
The big two-night primetime crossover, “Crisis on Earth X,” begins November 27 on the CW, with back-to-back episodes of Arrow and Supergirl, followed by The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow on November 28.