The Elongated Man might make his live action debut in The Flash, season 3

According to tvline.com, The CW is casting a character that fits Ralph Dibny's description for the third season of The Flash.

"For Season 3, the CW hit is casting the major recurring character of Barry’s slightly older, slightly geekier contemporary, a guy who is as smart as he is intuitive. As such, this newcomer doesn’t buy Barry’s nice guy routine and sets out to learn what he’s hiding — all while concealing some secrets of his own…."

(sources: Den of Geek, TV Line)

Remember, the Elongated Man debuted in The Flash #112 (the 8th issue featuring Barry instead of Jay). In that story, he is introduced as a superhero rival of Flash. Ralph beats him to solve so many crimes he suspects him of being a criminal. Of course, the explanation is that Ralph is just a better detective.

This is a great move for the series. Ever since Flash: Rebirth, DC has limited the Flash mythos to Barry, Iris, Reverse Flash, the Rogues Gallery and the now altered story of the Allens, forgetting many important elements of the silver age: Ralph and Sue Dibny, Kid Flash, Earth-2 Flash and Dexter Myles (not to mention the occasional otherworldly villains like Mazdan, Katmos or the Breedans). Hopefully the series will also include Sue, Dexter and the rest.

The Rebirth Universe... Sounds like a good idea

Well... I don't see the recently restored Elongated Man in there, but I still have to tip my hat to Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns and the rest of the DC guys for this brilliant decision.

The next incarnation of the DC Multiverse seems to be a mix of the New 52 (or the "DCnU") with the pre-Flashpoint multiverse but with some improvements:

• Legacy characters like Ryan Choi or Jaime Reyes work with their predecessors instead of replacing them out of the blue.
• The original Teen Titans generation of sidekicks is restored, with a place for Wally and Donna.
• The golden age superheroes are back and World War II is part of their history again.
• Romance is back. Aquaman and Mera, and Lois and Clark are couples again.
• Love, hope and optimism is allowed again. 

Personally, I think it's an excellent change.

The time might seem odd, but if the grimdarkness of the New 52 was damaging the properties, it was smart to cut it before it does worse.

Some people believe DC to distinguish itself from Marvel, by being "the dark one", but it has only been that way in recent years. Traditionally, DC covers all sorts of genres an tones: comedy, romance, western, war, dark, etc. It became darker as it started imitating the tone of stories like Watchmen or Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, rarely with the same level of success outside its Vertigo imprint.

DC's superheroes were more optimistic than Marvel's during the silver and golden age. Usually more assertive and civic minded. Romance and couplehood isn't new to them either. Hawkman and Hawkgirl marry very soon in every incarnation, the Elongated Man was married by his third appearance, Aquaman married in 1964, followed by the Flash and the Atom.

The Rebirth Universe sounds great. So, let's see where it goes.