The Problem with Armageddon

When it was announced that Flash would premiere with a five-episode crossover, I was excited. Especially once they announced Black Lightning and Batwoman would be appearing. And Mia Queen! In a COVID world, the idea of doing a crossover across one show instead of the current five was a great idea. That being said, I was underwhelmed and confused by the crossover. It felt disjointed in many ways, which left me disappointed.

My first and biggest grievance with the Armageddon crossover event was the timeline. Or rather, timelines. We ended up with three different timelines by the end of the fifth episode and it wasn’t clear how they all worked together. First, we have the timeline where Despero has come from 2031 to stop Barry from causing Armageddon. In this timeline Joe is dead and only Barry knows he’s supposed to be alive (how does he retain that memory when everyone else’s memories changed with the timeline?). Second, we have the 2031 that Despero came from… but in this timeline Barry is the Reverse-Flash and Team Flash has no memory of him being a good guy. So how is this Barry’s future if it’s another timeline entirely? And finally we have the restored timeline with Joe alive and Thawne fading away. That timeline I have no issue with. 

Was that confusing enough to follow? 

Welcome to how I’ve been processing the crossover.

Second complaint: Batwoman, Sentinel, and Ryan Choi were vastly underutilized. I’ve enjoyed Ryan Wilder as Batwoman, in many ways more than I liked Kate. So to see how she’d be brought together with the other heroes was exciting, since none of our other heroes know Wilder’s Batwoman. But instead, we had her in the future already friends with the alternate Team Flash. I suppose that’s fine and Barry can bring that information back to the present day for future crossovers. So despite Alex, Wilder, and Ryan appearing in this crossover… not much happened. Also, what was with changing Ryan Choi’s whole personality in this future?

Speaking of Ryan Choi’s playboy personality, I really didn’t care about Part 4’s subplots. Maybe these plots will surface as a result of the Reverse-Flashpoint bleeding through into the new timeline, like Flashpoint’s memories arising during Season 3 of The Flash. But for now, I really don’t see the point of Allegra and Chuck’s story, Batwoman’s potential pregnancy, and Ryan Choi’s player side. But I guess we’ll see what the rest of Season 8 brings us.

Now with any of my “problem” posts, I like to be fair and mention what I did like. For this crossover, what I really enjoyed was the returning characters. We didn’t get any colossal battles like we did in Crisis on Infinite Earths, but we had some small scale team ups. Which I kind of like better. It reminds me of back when Cisco and Joe teamed up with Laurel and Quentin. Or when Oliver and Ronnie/Stein helped Barry against Reverse-Flash. Or Barry and Kara’s musical episode. These smaller scale crossovers mean more to me, as it reinforces the universe of shows we’re enjoying. They were all combined in Earth-Prime for a reason after all. So one or two returning/crossover characters per episode was basically perfect. 

Besides Atom, Black Lightning, and Green Arrow 2.0 returning, I’m glad they brought Mia back for another reason. Her show, Green Arrow and the Canaries, was never picked up, leaving the fate of her brother unknown. Now it looks like they’re going to use the other shows to fill in those gaps, starting with her appearance in Armageddon. Just like how Legends finished off the loose ends from Constantine, I’m excited to see where Mia’s story will take her next. Superman & Lois? Clark’s other incarnations (Tom Welling, Christopher Reeves, etc.) have time-traveled. Or maybe more Flash or Legends? I guess we’ll see what the rest of this season brings.

Before They Were Heroes: Arrowverse

As of the Legends finale last week, the Arrowverse has officially closed down for the year (also a new "Arrowverse" series, Stargirl, started last month, but that's a story for another time). The pandemic meant that some seasons got cut short, but there are worse things--Also we got the news of the surprise departure of Ruby Rose as Batwoman. In honor of the finales, I wanted to spotlight some of the leading actors and actresses and movies they were in before they were superheroes. My wife and I love picking up obscure appearances of our favorite actors appearing in “older” shows (like “Abed Nadir” appearing in Gilmore Girls). So I’m going to start with the main stars from the Arrowverse shows.

Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen/Green Arrow) - Heartland

Before he was the playboy Oliver Queen, Stephen Amell appeared repeatedly on one of my wife’s favorite cheesy Canadian cowboy shows. Since Stephen Amell is Canadian I wasn’t too surprised that he showed up there, but it was kind of funny to see him show up when my wife was watching this show over maternity leave.

Matt Ryan (Constantine) - Criminal Minds

While Constantine was a short-lived series, he keeps popping up in the Arrowverse, first on Arrow and now consistently on Legends of Tomorrow. I never got to his appearance in Criminal Minds when I watched it with my roommates years ago, but I do remember the show and its intrigue. Kind of makes me want to go back and watch the show again (add that one to my watchlist). Side note: he also appeared in an episode of Torchwood, an adult Doctor Who spin-off.

Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/The Flash) and Melissa Benoist (Kara Danvers/Supergirl) - Glee

I’ve only watched a handful of episodes of Glee (it’s been perpetually on my Netlfix queue). They do have good music though. I’ve never seen the episodes with Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist’s characters, but having seen their Arrowverse musical crossover, I’m not surprised that they were on Glee for a while.

Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer/The Atom) - Gilmore Girls

He was only a throwaway character back in the first season of Gilmore Girls, but he later became multiple superheroes in the Arrowverse. I remember his scene vividly, even though I had to jog my memory on his role, because I thought it was so cringey how these college boys talked up these high school sophomore girls.

Cress Williams (Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning) - Hart of Dixie

He’s appeared in a couple shows that my wife likes, but he had such a long-standing role on Hart of Dixie (he also appeared Grey’s Anatomy) that I chose this one. If I recall correctly he was the long-standing mayor in the small town. It was such a different role than what I’m used to in Black Lightning that it was cool to see the contrast.

Ruby Rose (Kate Kane/Batwoman) - Pitch Perfect 3

My wife and I were recently watching the Pitch Perfect trilogy. When we got to the third movie, I realized I recognized one of the singers of Evermoist. It was Batwoman! That’s the one that actually inspired this post. I didn’t realize she was a singer before making that connection (although I couldn’t actually confirm whether it’s her singing or not). -- Unrelated: I'm curious how things will go with them recasting her character for next season.

What other Arrowverse stars come to mind for you? I knew I couldn’t include everyone so I tried to hit the highlights.

Post-Crisis Arrowverse: Where Do We Go Frome Here?

SPOILERS FOR CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS

The Arrowverse’s epic 5-episode crossover had its finale last week. Over the course of the crossover, we saw the multiverse die and be reborn. Most of the deaths of the crossover were undone by the universe being saved, but there were a couple deaths (Oliver and Barry-90 to be specific) that were a bit more permanent. With all that happened over the Arrowverse in the course of five episodes, there are a lot of implications for where the CW will go from here.

Earth-Prime

Based on the little I knew of the Crisis comics, I wasn’t surprised that this happened. It made sense for them to consolidate our CW shows into one universe, instead of three. This could lead to more crossovers (I’ll cover that later), but it could also lead to some continuity concerns. For example, before Crisis, Lena was antagonistic towards Kara. Now apparently she and Lex are one of Supergirl’s biggest supporters? Does that mean that the course of Supergirl’s season will be abruptly changed? Is it part of Lex’s schemes? Or will it just be disregarded? It also effectively changes the backstory of many of our heroes. Like how did Barry and Kara meet, if he didn’t accidentally break into her universe? I’m guessing questions like these will be mostly ignored, but it’s just one thing that comes to mind.

Smallville, Birds of Prey, and Superman Returns

These series have been off the air for 10+ years, but as of this crossover all three of them are now officially part of the Arrowverse. It’s unlikely that we’ll have crossovers between these series and the current Arrowverse (especially since Smallville’s Clark Kent has given up his powers--though I’d love to see Tom Welling return again), but you never know. I watched Birds of Prey in preparation for the crossover and I would love to see more of them (assuming they exist in the new multiverse). On the other hand, Superman from Earth-96 could easily come back (especially for an episode of Legends); that’d be fun.

Titans, Doom Patrol, and Stargirl

In addition to the series that have ended, DC has its own streaming service with original shows, like Titan, Doom Patrol, and (coming soon) Stargirl. All of these were officially added to the Arrowverse during the prologue to the Crisis and the epilogue of the finale. I’ve never watched these shows (as the DC Universe streaming service requires a subscription that I can’t afford right now). It’s unlikely that Titan or Doom Patrol will cross over with the others later on, but it’s possible that Stargirl could cross over, as it’ll appear on both DC Universe and CW. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Justice League and Crossovers 

As the crossover drew to a close, Barry brought the main heroes from each show to the STAR Labs warehouse from the Invasion crossover and he unveiled a Justice League-like round-table. With everyone on the same Earth now and with a central base, besides the DEO or Star Labs, it seemed like they were prepping for more crossovers. We can definitely expect more crossovers to happen on an annual basis, as is tradition. However, the way Barry talked I wondered if we might get more mini-crossovers, like when Ray and Felicity visited STAR Labs in The Flash Season 1. Having Jefferson or his girls leave Freeland for an episode to help with an electricity-powered meta in National City could be a very easy thing to do now. Plus, I miss those kinds of crossovers. It made the universe feel more cohesive, instead of only getting together for world-ending scenarios.

DCEU

Ever since Man of Steel, DC has been trying to create a cinematic universe akin to Marvel. They haven’t been as successful (and honestly I haven’t seen their movies), but with Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen showing up for his Crisis cameo, it’s now possible for movies and TV characters to cross over. Will they cross over? Probably not. DC likes to compartmentalize. But they could! And honestly THIS is the thing that could get me to watch all those DCEU movies. They have seven movies so far and with eight more on the way, tying it into the established, successful Arrowverse could be beneficial for them.

What were your takeaways from Crisis on Infinite Earths? I’m looking forward to seeing how the aftermath will play out on each show. I guess we'll find out the start of it with this week’s Batwoman and Supergirl.

6 Confirmed for "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (and 3 Rumored)

We've been having some fun with superhero crossovers lately. Avengers have been teaming up on and off since 2012, culminating in "Endgame" this year and the Arrowverse has been doing an annual crossover since 2014 (in addition to many mini-crossovers in between). Now the Arrowverse has its own sort of "Endgame" happening for their 2019 crossover. It's going to last for 5 episodes over 5 different shows and 2 months. It's supposed to be bigger than any crossover they've done before. We had all thought it was going to be just the five main super hero teams, but after SDCC, we learned it was going to be bigger than that. So here's where we're at currently.

CONFIRMED: Clark Kent/Superman (from "Supergirl")
Last we saw of Superman, he was heading off-world to Argo City to enjoy some Kryptonian culture and to save his fiancee Lois Lane from being kicked by a superpowered fetus. However, by the time "Crisis on Infinite Earths" happens, the baby should be born (assuming human/Kryptonian babies gestate 9 months like human babies). So it's a bit up in the air what he'll be doing when December/January comes around.

RUMORED: Joker (played by Mark Hamill)
Mark Hamill has been voicing the Joker in animated series and video games for years now. A rumor sprouted out recently that he will be coming to the Arrowverse for the crossover as the Joker. He previously played James Jesse on "The Flash". So either we'd have a Jesse James lookalike from Earth-1 or the Joker could be his multiverse doppelganger.

CONFIRMED: Lex Luthor (from "Supergirl")
Last we saw from the villainous Lex Luthor was his death, at the hands of his sister Lena. The Monitor visited his body afterwards. It's unknown what happened at that point, but since he's set to appear in the crossover, I think it's a fair guess that the Monitor has brought him back to life in some form.

CONFIRMED: Clark Kent/Superman (played by Brandon Routh)
Brandon Routh (who currently plays Ray Palmer/The Atom in the Arrowverse) will be playing a version of Superman during the crossover. He last played Superman during "Superman Returns". It's been alluded to before Ray said that Kara looked like his cousin (during the "Invasion!" crossover). It'll be interesting to see if this is the same Superman from "Superman Returns" or if it's a new Superman altogether.

RUMORED: Dick Grayson/Robin (from 1960s "Batman")
Burt Ward is confirmed to appear in the crossover, but his character is unconfirmed. He previously played Robin in the 1960s live-action "Batman" series, so it's rumored that he'll be reprising this character. If that's the case, 1960s Batman will be drafted into the Arrowverse. I guess we'll have to wait for more word on him.

CONFIRMED: Lois Lane (from "Supergirl")
Like her fiance Clark/Superman, Lois has been off-world since last year's crossover. Now she's coming back with a presumably superpowered baby. We don't know much yet about her involvement in the crisis (hopefully more than a cameo and a babysitter/mom role, but we'll see)

CONFIRMED: Jeffereson Pierce/Black Lightning (from "Black Lightning")
"Black Lightning" is coming into its third season. Up until now it's been kept separate from the Arrowverse. However, it looks like they're about to join. Their title hero will be joining the crossover, despite not having an episode of his own. We still don't know if "Black Lighting" exists on Earth-1 with "Arrow", "The Flash", "Legends of Tomorrow", and "Batwoman", if they're on Earth-38 with "Supergirl" or a separate Earth altogether. Maybe we'll get an answer here.

RUMORED: Clark Kent/Superman (from "Smallville")
As the CW's first DC show, "Smallville" has been rumored to be part of the Arrowverse for years now. Even though "Smallville" ended in 2011, there have been references to it sprinkled throughout the Arrowverse, particularly in "Supergirl" of course. During "Midvale" we had reference to Clark's friend Chloe (who was an original character for "Smallville") and her Wall of Weird. In addition, the "Smallville" theme played as Barry and Oliver fled to Earth-38 in "Elseworlds" (as well as the Kent Farm appearing as well) -- We even had Lois calling Clark "Smallville". If not Clark Kent, it's possible we could have a link to "Smallville" finally established in the Arrowverse.

CONFIRMED: Bruce Wayne/Batman (played by Kevin Conroy)
Kevin Conroy has been voicing Batman in animated series for years. I remember watching "Batman Beyond" almost 20 years ago and apparently he's been doing it ever since too. Now we get our first chance of seeing him as live-action Batman. It's unclear if this is the Earth-1 Batman referrenced in "Elseworlds", the Earth-38 Batman that Clark was said to work with, or a brand new Batman. Also would that bring "Batman Beyond" or any of these animated series into the Arrowverse?

Who do you want to appear in the Arrowverse? Christian Bale? 1990s Lois & Clark? The Teen Titans? Either way, I'm really looking forward to this winter's crossover