Rachel Maddow in ‘Batwoman’ Heralds Birth of DC/MSNBC Universe

Holy Fancasts, Batwoman! MSNBC news host Rachel Maddow confirmed on-air that she will voice Vesper Fairchild in CW’s Batwoman TV show!

The new series starring Ruby Rose as DC’s openly gay Bat-person premieres TONIGHT, with Vesper joining the cast for the October 13 episode. The Fairchild character is a radio talk show host, which seems a natural fit for Maddow, one of the most popular anchors on cable news.

As listeners of the Hard NOC Life podcast will know, recently we’ve been keen to discuss the DC TV shows’ upcoming crossover event Crisis On Infinite Earths. The premise of that epochal storyline involves the catastrophic overlapping of the many parallel Earths comprising the multiverse, each featuring alternate versions of DC’s iconic characters: Smallville Superman, Superman Returns Superman, Robin from the 1960s Batman show, umpteen different Flashes, and on and on.

By the rules of comic book physics, Rachel Maddow’s appearance in Batwoman signals the creation of another universe in which MSNBC hosts are also characters from the DC Universe. You may have heard that it’s hard to create whole universes, but in comics, that’s just how it works. (Because inventing spinoffs is A LOT more fun than maintaining continuity.) Every unusual iteration creates an Elseworld, a parallel reality, another Earth which will occasionally collide with ours.

On Earth-MSNBC, where our heroes are fervently engaged in covering the impeachment of our ridiculous president, we can only hope to see more new chyron-powered versions of Justice League characters, such as…

GREEN ARROW & BLACK CANARY

…because Morning Joe hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough could pull off that cosplay to a tee, Joe’s got the jaw for it, and Mika’s voice is in its own special sardonic way, her superpower.

ZATANNA

…because Hallie Jackson talks so fast she could probably recite her whole lead stories backwards in the time it takes Joe to ask one of his famously-lengthy questions.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER

…because Craig Melvin has sort of a similar physique to the powerful Martian’s alter-ego, J’onn J’onzz, and because he used to host Dateline, so I always think of him in association with the manhunting profession.

VELSHI & RUHLE as GREEN LANTERN & STAR SAPPHIRE

To my knowledge, recent Green Lantern recruit Simon Baz hasn’t yet met up with the Corps’ perennial frenemy Star Sapphire, but it’s only a matter of time. The fictional Baz and the actual Ali Velshi are both Muslims, and both possessed of gruff-yet-endearing charm. I don’t know how Stephanie Ruhle feels about magic gemstones, but I do know that she seems to be full of love, which is the underlying emotional-spectrum power of the Star Sapphires.

KATY TUR as HAWKWOMAN

Because I’m pretty sure “Tur” is actually a Thanagarian family name.

CHRIS HAYES as CLARK KENT

I mean, just look at those guys. Hayes’ self-effacing yet stalwart style of reporting on our unraveling democracy always, to me, evokes Christopher Reeve’s classic portrayal of the original journalist/superhero. And then of course, there’s this guy.

THE MOST SUPERMAN-LOOKING GUY as SUPERMAN