Spoilers DC's Legends of Tomorrow - Season 3

[Christopher]

It is silly.
Until you remember that there's so many shitheads on the internet who will hurl all kinds of abuse at this Iranian actress playing a Muslim woman called Isis... then it stops being silly.

Yeah, that's ugly as hell, but the last thing we should do is let idiots like that shape the way the rest of us do things. Although, on the other hand, idiots like that have been known to issue death threats, especially against women, so there could be a concern there.

Still, if the makers of the show didn't want to use the name Isis, why base a character on her to begin with?

 

[wew]

Yeah, that's ugly as hell, but the last thing we should do is let idiots like that shape the way the rest of us do things. Although, on the other hand, idiots like that have been known to issue death threats, especially against women, so there could be a concern there.

Still, if the makers of the show didn't want to use the name Isis, why base a character on her to begin with?

Well, it could just be misdirection. I believe Prometheus on Arrow was Adrian Chase, yet the Vigilante was actually Adrian Chase in the comic books. So it could be something like this.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

They rarely use their super-hero names on LoT so it's not like she'll be called Isis all that much. And idiots are just going to idiot anyways. It's best just to ignore them.

 

[Noname Given]

Considering this is still on Youtube:

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I would hope people don't go off the deep end about a character named Isis; but hell, given who was elected POTUS - I expect this will be a circus at some point.

 

[Snick27]

Cant wait to set up those Isis fan groups on facebook . If you love Isis then become a member of Isis fan club. Weird i keep seeing that van parked outside my house and hear breathing when i call people.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Oh, you mean because of the so-called "Islamic State" organization that the news media insist on calling ISIS even though the US State Department switched to using ISIL years ago?

I dunno, the state department seems to be the ones insisting on calling them ISIL.

Yeah, I can see where having a Muslim hero called ISIS might be a bit problematic.

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[JD]

I wonder if the inclusion of Isis means we'll be getting more magic and mysticism next season?

 

[Christopher]

I dunno, the state department seems to be the ones insisting on calling them ISIL.

I think that's the preferred usage of most official government agencies in the English-speaking world, as well as the New York Times, Wikipedia, etc. And of course the Islamic State itself doesn't call itself ISIS; on the contrary, they hate it so much that they've been known to kill people for calling them that. (After all, it is the name of a heathen deity.) It's just the TV networks that cling to the "ISIS" usage because they assume their viewers are too stupid to learn new things.

I wonder if the inclusion of Isis means we'll be getting more magic and mysticism next season?

If they have both Vixen and Isis, then maybe. But if Isis is Vixen's replacement, then they're swapping out one superheroine with an amulet imbuing the power of an ancient African deity for another, so it's kind of an even swap. (Because Egypt is in Africa, after all, for all that Europeans have tried to ignore that.)

 

[Tuskin38]

How often do the main characters go by their 'hero' name anyways? They're usually calling each other by their real names. I doubt her being being related Isis will come up much.

She'll probably just go by Zari.

 

[Christopher]

How often do the main characters go by their 'hero' name anyways? They're usually calling each other by their real names. I doubt her being being related Isis will come up much.

She'll probably just go by Zari.

Well, I just hope we get to hear her say "O zephyr winds that blow on high / Lift me now so I can fly." Although that's probably too much to hope for.

The amusing thing about Filmation's Isis is that she was essentially omnipotent. She had total control over all the elements and the forces of nature -- she could suspend gravity, stop time, transmute matter, basically do anything. So it was amusing that she had this literally godlike power to do anything and everything, and only ever used it to deal with minor problems like car thieves, wild bears, trapped scuba divers, her students' personal issues, etc. And of course the actual things she did were pretty limited due to the tiny budget. I'd imagine that LoT's version will give her a rather different power set as well as a different name and backstory.

 

[JD]

Out of curiosity I looked the character up on Wikipedia to see what the comics version was like, and it looks like she's tied pretty strongly to Black Adam, so that version probably wouldn't work for the show with out major changes. Most of the characters have been changed pretty drastically from the comics, so I guess that wouldn't be anything new.

 

[Christopher]

Out of curiosity I looked the character up on Wikipedia to see what the comics version was like, and it looks like she's tied pretty strongly to Black Adam, so that version probably wouldn't work for the show with out major changes.

I read that Wikipedia article a few years ago when I learned DC had adapted Isis, and I was shocked at how dark, adult, and grisly they were in their treatment of a character created for a kids' show. It seemed very inappropriate. I hope LoT's version will be somewhat more upbeat, although of course I don't expect it to have much in common with Filmation's version.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

And of course the Islamic State itself doesn't call itself ISIS; on the contrary, they hate it so much that they've been known to kill people for calling them that. (After all, it is the name of a heathen deity.)

I know they take offense at DAESH but I have never heard that of ISIS but I'll take your word for it (they don't seem to need much provocation for offense). The spelling and pronounciation are not the same for the two in Arabic so I don't know that they make that distinction between ISIS the organization and Isis the Goddess. However, maybe LoT could go with the more authentic pronounciation EE-sis and could help differentiate the English association between the two.

 

[dahj]

I wonder if the inclusion of Isis means we'll be getting more magic and mysticism next season?

Well, apparently Neal McDonough has also signed on for another season of Legends, so if Damien Darhk is the big bad that would make sense.

I also wonder if the Egyptian angle of Isis might bring back the Hawks for a guest appearance.

 

[Christopher]

I know they take offense at DAESH but I have never heard that of ISIS but I'll take your word for it (they don't seem to need much provocation for offense).

Well, I'm just taking Wikipedia's word for it, so...

The spelling and pronounciation are not the same for the two in Arabic so I don't know that they make that distinction between ISIS the organization and Isis the Goddess.

Like I said, they don't call themselves ISIS. Wikipedia says they insist on being called the Islamic State, or rather ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah. Of course, most actual Muslims refuse to call them that, because they are neither Islamic nor a state. As I said, they tend to be called Daesh in the Islamic world.

And here's a page giving the names used for Isis in other cultures. Historically, she was known in the Mideast by names such as Abd-isi, Amat-isi, Asdoulous, and Isidoulous. So probably the baseline form would be Isi. (The page says she was also called Ament, but that's a different Egyptian goddess, aka Amunet or Amonet -- a name familiar to Stargate SG-1 fans, and also the name of Sofia Boutella's character (Amahnet) in the upcoming The Mummy.)

By the way, the reason most institutions stopped using "ISIS" in favor of "ISIL" is because they were getting complaints from the dozens of organizations, businesses, etc. that were already called Isis beforehand: http://www.glossophilia.org/?p=7247 So it's really very inconsiderate for the mass media to keep using the acronym.

However, maybe LoT could go with the more authentic pronounciation EE-sis and could help differentiate the English association between the two.

Well, that's the pronunciation of the Greek form of the name (although "ees-ees" would be more like it). According to this site, the original pronunciation was probably something like Eset or Iset.

Well, apparently Neal McDonough has also signed on for another season of Legends, so if Damien Darhk is the big bad that would make sense.

That's odd, given that he's supposed to be dead. They got around that before by removing him from the timeline, but he was put back at the end along with the others. Well, maybe it'll have something to do with the temporal anomalies they created at the end of the season.

I also wonder if the Egyptian angle of Isis might bring back the Hawks for a guest appearance.

Ooh, I hadn't considered that. I'd certainly love to see Kendra again, though I have no interest in Carter's return.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I think that's the preferred usage of most official government agencies in the English-speaking world, as well as the New York Times, Wikipedia, etc. And of course the Islamic State itself doesn't call itself ISIS; on the contrary, they hate it so much that they've been known to kill people for calling them that. (After all, it is the name of a heathen deity.) It's just the TV networks that cling to the "ISIS" usage because they assume their viewers are too stupid to learn new things.

Not to get off topic, but I find ISIL highly offensive. I will always call them ISIS.

 

[Christopher]

Not to get off topic, but I find ISIL highly offensive. I will always call them ISIS.

Why do you find ISIL offensive? And I'd recommend going with IS or Daesh instead, because calling them ISIS is inconsiderate to a lot of groups that were already using the name Isis beforehand.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Why do you find ISIL offensive? And I'd recommend going with IS or Daesh instead, because calling them ISIS is inconsiderate to a lot of groups that were already using the name Isis beforehand.

I dislike the name ISIL because it implies that they have a claim over the Levant which includes Israel. So I feel using the name gives legitimacy to their belief that they have a right to wipe Israel out. I refuse to give any terrorist group any such legitimacy. I prefer ISIS or IS because those names are more accurate. Their territory does cover Iraq and Syria, not the Levant so ISIS is a more apt description of what they control. IS is also fine with me because it simply acknowledges that they are an Islamic State which they are, without acknowledging what area they control or want to control.

 

[Christopher]

IS is also fine with me because it simply acknowledges that they are an Islamic State which they are, without acknowledging what area they control or want to control.

No, they are absolutely not. They are not a state, they are a terrorist insurgency that is not recognized as a legitimate state by any nation, as far as I can tell. And they are not Islamic; their actions are not authorized by any legitimate Islamic authority, are condemned by the overwhelming majority of Muslims, and are in gross violation of Qur'anic principles and legitimate interpretations of Sharia. Just a week and a half ago, a gathering of Islamic scholars in Pakistan issued a fatwa (judicial ruling) declaring suicide attacks and armed insurgency to be Haram, forbidden in Islam. And that's not the first time that's happened; there have been similar fatwas condemning terrorism issued in 2010 and 2015, and that's just what a cursory Google search turned up. Daesh and al-Qaeda are no more "Islamic" than the Ku Klux Klan or the Westboro Baptist Church are Christian. What they are is Islamist -- i.e. pursuing a political agenda to create a state based on their (warped) interpretation of Sharia. That's very different from being Islamic, which is a religious belief and a choice of how to lead one's personal life. The politicization of religion tends to transform it into something deeply disconnected from actual religion, as we can see with all the so-called "Christian" politicians in the US whose policies are anathema to just about everything Christianity teaches (like nonviolence, helping the poor, welcoming refugees, etc.).

 

[LaxScrutiny]

I think that's the preferred usage of most official government agencies in the English-speaking world, as well as the New York Times, Wikipedia, etc.

The Canadian government refers to it as Daesh. European governments, including the UK (which is a notable English speaking nation) refer to it as ISIL.