Comic book TV superheroes Green Arrow, Black Canary and Ironfist in Sydney for Supanova
Some of the world’s biggest comic book superheroes, including Iron Fist’sFinn Jones and Arrow’s Stephen Amell and Juliana Harkavy, are shooting into Sydney this week.
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Some of the world’s biggest comic book superheroes, including Arrow’s Stephen Amell, are shooting into Sydney this week.
The Canadian actor, who plays Oliver Queen on The CW superhero series, said it was the Green Arrow’s vulnerability that put him apart from the super hero crowd.
“Like Batman and Ironman he doesn’t have any super powers there is a real vulnerability to him that the fans really respond to,” Amell said ahead of Supanova Comic Con & Gaming.
The Green Arrow, who first appeared in More Fun Comics in November 1941, jumped out of the DC comic books in 1973 in an episode of the animated TV series Super Friends.
But his big leap outside the world of comic book fandom came in 2012 with the launch of Arrow, that was such a hit it became a springboard for a DC Comics shared TV universe that now takes in The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and Defenders.
Amell is now looking forward to spending some time in Sydney with wife Cassandra and daughter Maverick, 4½, after his last whirlwind trip to Australia to promote Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows.
Joining Amell at Supanova Sydney, at Sydney Showground from June 15-17, is his co-star Juliana Harkavy who, after appearing two episodes of the Walking Dead TV series, scored the plum role of Dinah Drake – aka the Black Canary – in Arrow.
Harkavy said growing up in such a physically active family — her mother was a dancer and her father a basketball player while she trained in athletics and dance — was good preparation for the physically demanding role of a TV superhero.
Harkavy said it was great that today’s superhero universe contained so many strong female role models.
“Growing up with Batman and Superman we were always running around with capes but it is pretty cool now to be at the point where we have so many more female super heroes,” she said.
Another superhero who will make his way to Sydney this week is Iron Fist’s Finn Jones, who also played Loras Tyrell in the HBO series Game Of Thrones.
Jones did not approach Marvel TV’s Iron Fist character with any other superhero in mind.
“I never try to play a superhero – I try to play the story within, the character,” he said. “His powers are both a blessing and a curse. He doesn’t know what to do with them – it creates a lot of conflicts in this character that I really enjoy.”
The “supa” line-up includes Matt Ryan (Constantine, Legends of Tomorrow), Summer Glau (Arrow, Serenity, Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as well as veteran superstars Chuck Norris, Kathleen Turner and Richard Dreyfuss.
There are also a couple of Aussies — The 100 star Eliza Taylor (All Saints, Neighbours) and John Jarrett (Wolf Creek, Boar, StalkHer).
TICKETS
Supanova Sydney runs from June 15-14. Tickets moshtix.com.au
DID YOU KNOW?
Supanova has its roots in Sydney, having begun humbly in 2000 as comicfest! Changing our name to Supanova in 2002 helped, yet it still took a while to grind up through the gears being in such a large a city. But we kept at it long enough for fans to find the comic con they were looking for,” Supanova Comic Con & Gaming founder Daniel Zachariou.