Arrowverse

• 1. Introduction

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  The Arrowverse is a shared universe of DC Comics superhero television series, most of them broadcast on The CW. It began in October 2012 with a single hooded vigilante in a show called Arrow. Over the next decade it grew to six live-action series and two animated ones, all spilling into each other's stories. On the 24th of May 2023, the finale of The Flash, titled "A New World, Part Four", brought the whole enterprise to a close.

  How did a network that was wary of linking its shows end up running a multiverse? Why did a hero from a rival network eventually share a world with an archer from Starling City? And how do producers keep eight series consistent when they are filmed in different places on different schedules? The answers begin before the first episode aired.

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• 2. Charting a Course

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  In January 2012, The CW ordered a pilot for Arrow, built around the archer Green Arrow. Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim developed it, and Stephen Amell was cast in the title role. Guggenheim said the team wanted to "chart their own course, their own destiny". That meant staying clear of Smallville, which had already given viewers its own Green Arrow, played by Justin Hartley.

  In July 2013, Berlanti, Kreisberg and Geoff Johns were announced as the creators of a spin-off about The Flash. Grant Gustin, who played the character, was set to appear in three episodes of Arrow's second season. The third was meant to work as a backdoor pilot. The CW ordered a traditional pilot instead.

  In January 2015, the network announced an animated web series about the heroine Vixen, to debut on CW Seed in late 2015. It was to share a universe with both Arrow and The Flash, and Amell and Gustin would reprise their roles. That May, The CW confirmed DC's Legends of Tomorrow for a January 2016 premiere. Network president Mark Pedowitz said, "There is no intention, at this point, to spin anything else off".

  The shared world finally got a name in August 2015. In a video about the making of Vixen's first season, Guggenheim called it the "Arrowverse", and Kreisberg confirmed that producers used the word. The press tried others, including "Flarrowverse", "Berlanti-verse" and "DC TV-verse".

  Keeping the stories aligned took real effort. In October 2015, Arrow's additional showrunner Wendy Mericle revealed that someone had been hired to track every character and plot across the series. By the following April, Flash executive producer Aaron Helbing admitted that "sometimes the schedules don't line up exactly...and that stuff is out of our control". His example was Barry using his abilities on Arrow in the same week he did not have them on The Flash.

  Casting needed a new kind of paperwork too. Wentworth Miller left as a series regular during the first season of Legends of Tomorrow, then signed a deal with Warner Bros. to appear across any of the shows. Berlanti called it "the first contract not applicable to just one show". John Barrowman signed a similar agreement in July 2016, and Katie Cassidy followed.

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• 3. The Network Wall

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  In November 2014, Berlanti said he would like his CBS series Supergirl to exist in the same universe as Arrow and The Flash. Two months later, Pedowitz said he was open to a crossover between networks. CBS president Nina Tassler answered that same month: "those two shows are on a different network. So I think we'll keep Supergirl to ourselves for a while." By August 2015, she allowed only crossover promotions, not shared stories.

  The wall began to give in January 2016. Tassler's successor, Glenn Geller, told reporters, "I have to be really careful what I say here". The next month, Gustin was announced for the Supergirl episode "Worlds Finest". In it, the Flash helps Kara fight the Silver Banshee and Livewire, and she helps him get home.

  The logistics were awkward. Gustin filmed The Flash in Vancouver beside Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, while Supergirl was made in Los Angeles. Producers chose the Flash because he can travel between Earths. Berlanti said that "in a perfect world" Amell's Green Arrow would have joined, but doing both shows "would have been a nightmare".

  In May 2016, Supergirl was announced to be moving to The CW, with production relocating to Vancouver. Its second season premiered on the 10th of October 2016. Kreisberg made clear that Kara's world would not merge with Earth-1, the main universe of the other shows. It was Earth-38, which Guggenheim informally called "Earth-CBS".

  Black Lightning posed a different puzzle. It had begun life at Fox, where Berlanti said it would never cross over with his other DC series. When The CW ordered it in May 2017, Pedowitz said it was "not part of the Arrowverse. It is a separate situation." Showrunner Salim Akil kept the door ajar, wanting first to establish the show's own world.

  By July 2019, star Cress Williams offered a hint: "there's been lots of talk … nothing official, but at this point, I wouldn't be surprised." Within weeks, he confirmed that his characters would appear in the biggest crossover yet.

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• 4. Yearly Crossovers

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  Barry Allen first stepped into Arrow during the eighth episode of its second season, in the 2013-14 television year, before his own show existed. The next season, the eighth episodes of Arrow and The Flash joined as "Flash vs. Arrow". A metahuman who feeds on emotions to rob banks turns the Flash against the Arrow. Then both heroes face Captain Boomerang in Starling City.

  In January 2015, Pedowitz promised a crossover every season. "Heroes Join Forces" followed in 2015-16, pitting the Flash and the Green Arrow against Vandal Savage. He was hunting Kendra Saunders and Carter Hall, the reincarnations of Hawkgirl and Hawkman, and the story laid the groundwork for Legends of Tomorrow. Critic Alice Walker of Screen Rant later argued that this duty left the crossover feeling like "an exercise in synchronicity, with producers planting more seeds than they could reap".

  The 2016-17 event "Invasion!" gathered heroes against a race of alien invaders called the Dominators. Supergirl's recruitment happened at the end of her own episode "Medusa". That season also produced "Duet", a musical crossover in which the Flash and Supergirl face the Music Meister.

  A true four-part event arrived in 2017-18 with "Crisis on Earth-X". Guests at Barry and Iris's wedding were attacked by Nazis from Earth-X, led by their versions of Oliver and Kara and joined by Eobard Thawne. The animated series Freedom Fighters: The Ray explored the same world.

  In "Elseworlds", the Monitor tests Earths across the multiverse. He gives John Deegan, a doctor at Arkham Asylum, the power to rewrite reality, so Oliver and Barry swap lives and abilities. The story introduced Batwoman, along with Nora Fries, Lois Lane and Psycho-Pirate.

  The pandemic interrupted the pattern. In January 2020, Guggenheim promised a smaller 2021 crossover that would "return to the roots". By January 2021, the plan was dead because crews could not safely mix. Eight Flash episodes later, the event called "Armageddon" replaced it, which Pedowitz described as "not quite a crossover, but it will have a crossover-type feel".

  The last crossover-style episode came in 2022-23, when Ramsey Rosso crashed Barry's birthday party. It brought back Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle and Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West.

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• 5. Crisis and the Multiverse

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  In October 2014, Geoff Johns explained that DC's films and television shows would sit in separate universes of a multiverse. The point was to let everyone "make the best possible product, to tell the best story, to do the best world." The second season of The Flash introduced Earth-2, home to doppelgangers of people on Earth-1. Supergirl's world became Earth-38, and the animated Ray lived on Earth-X.

  The 2019 crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths" took its name and spirit from the comic of the same title. It ran for five hours, with three episodes in December 2019 and two in January 2020. The Monitor gathers seven "Paragons" from across reality to stop the Anti-Monitor from destroying everything. In the process, it destroyed every universe in the Arrowverse multiverse, both on screen and off.

  From the wreckage rose a new Earth-Prime. It merged the old Earth-1, Earth-38 and Black Lightning's world, so every CW series now shared one planet. Six more Earths in the new multiverse were revealed.

  The event also pulled in outside DC properties. Burt Ward returned from the 1966-1968 Batman series as an aged Dick Grayson on Earth-66. Tom Welling and Erica Durance reprised Clark Kent and Lois Lane from Smallville on Earth-167. Tom Ellis played Lucifer Morningstar on Earth-666. Kevin Conroy appeared as an aged Bruce Wayne, his first live-action turn after years of voicing the character.

  Ezra Miller's cameo as Barry Allen from the DC Extended Universe raised new possibilities. DC Films president Walter Hamada said television had previously needed film's permission to use characters. After the event, a Flash on TV and one in the movies could coexist. In February 2021, HBO executive Casey Bloys said DC and WarnerMedia were coordinating decisions across films and series. Yet director Andy Muschietti revealed that a Gustin cameo in the 2023 film The Flash was considered and ultimately cut.

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• 6. Borrowed Heroes

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  John Constantine belonged to another network. By May 2015, Amell had discussed guest-starring on NBC's Constantine, starring Matt Ryan, because the character is an expert on the Lazarus Pit. The show had not been renewed, but Amell said a crossover "was and is still on the table".

  In August 2015, Ryan's appearance in Arrow's episode "Haunted" was confirmed as a one-time deal. Guggenheim praised DC for being "magnanimous and generous in giving us this one-time dispensation". Because both shows shared a studio, the original trench coat, tie and shirt were shipped up to Vancouver. Constantine director John Badham directed the episode.

  In October 2017, Ryan was set to appear in two episodes of Legends of Tomorrow's third season, "Beebo the God of War" and "Daddy Darhkest". Writer Phil Klemmer described the tone as "The Exorcist meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Ryan became a series regular for the fourth season.

  IGN's Jesse Schedeen wondered in October 2018 whether this was truly the same man. Ryan insisted it was, with "the same DNA". He compared the changes to different comic artists and writers drawing one character: "He has the same outline, but he looks different."

  A stranger loan came in December 2020, when David Ramsey was revealed to be returning as John Diggle across several series. Diggle, last seen after Arrow's end encountering a glowing green box, refused its invitation. Ramsey reasoned that a grounded man would never accept an invitation from something otherworldly. The consequences followed him through Gotham, Central City and National City.

  In Central City, Cecile Horton sensed pain in his head from an infinite presence. During a fight, he collapsed and heard the phrase "worlds await". In National City, he told Kelly Olsen that he had turned down the chance to become a special kind of hero. Ramsey directed the Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl episodes he starred in, and the storyline concluded in 2022 in The Flash episode "The Man in the Yellow Tie".

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• 7. Beyond the Screen

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  On the 6th of November 2013, a six-episode set of shorts called Blood Rush premiered alongside Arrow and online. Presented by Bose, it was shot in Vancouver and starred Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes and Paul Blackthorne. On the 19th of April 2016, four shorts called Chronicles of Cisco premiered on AT&T. In them Cisco tries to make the Flash suit bulletproof, and Peek-a-Boo shoots him in a late-night visit to S.T.A.R. Labs. On the 14th of November 2017, three shorts called Stretched Scenes arrived, presented by Microsoft Surface, with Hartley Sawyer's Ralph Dibny pestering Caitlin and Iris.

  The CW also made promos. In April 2015, it released "Superhero Fight Club", a cage match between heroes and villains from Arrow and The Flash. Its follow-up in September 2016 added Supergirl and premiered exclusively in the network's new mobile app. In January 2018, "Suit Up" showed heroes putting on costumes to promote the return from mid-season break.

  On the 21st of December 2021, Legends of Tomorrow's toy character Beebo got his own animated special, Beebo Saves Christmas. Victor Garber narrated, Ernie Hudson voiced Santa Claus, and Chris Kattan played an elf named Sprinkles.

  Publishers filled shelves as well. Titan Books released the Arrow novel Vengeance on the 23rd of February 2016, covering the origins of Slade Wilson, Isabel Rochev and Sebastian Blood. January 2018 brought Fatal Legacies, co-written by Guggenheim and James R. Tuck. Abrams Books launched middle-grade trilogies for The Flash and Supergirl. Guidebooks included Oliver Queen's Dossier, from October 2016, presented as notes by the Green Arrow and Felicity Smoak.

  In 2022, a six-issue comic series called Earth-Prime gave five current shows an issue each, with a sixth crossing them over. The producers approved the stories and counted them as canon. The third trilogy, Crossover Crisis by Barry Lyga, wrapped up on the 23rd of March 2021 with The Flash: Legends of Forever.

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• 8. Reviews and Farewell

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  After the first Arrow and Flash crossover, Variety's Brian Lowry praised producers for repeating Arrow's success with "a lighter tone" and "a hero with genuine super powers". Forbes writer Paul Tassi took a more cautious view of Supergirl joining. Calling a moment where Barry briefly appears on Arrow a "weird moment", he argued that "Arrow needs to let its own characters solve its problems". Later, after the Elseworlds finale revealed the plan for Crisis, Mike Cecchini of Den of Geek called the Arrowverse "the most intricate, risky live action superhero universe in history".

  The wind-down began on the 6th of March 2019, when The CW said Arrow's eighth season would be its last, shortened to ten episodes. The 22nd of September 2020 brought the news that Supergirl would end after its sixth season. Black Lightning followed on the 20th of November 2020. The network passed on spin-offs Green Arrow and the Canaries in January 2021, Wonder Girl in February 2021 and Painkiller in May 2021.

  In April 2022, Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow were canceled. On the 1st of August 2022, it was announced that The Flash would conclude with its ninth season, which doubled as the end of the Arrowverse.

  Superman & Lois had been conceived as a Supergirl spin-off, but its second-season finale in June 2022 placed it in an adjacent universe. Showrunner Todd Helbing said that once Arrowverse references were stripped from his pilot, tying in "became a can of worms". The John Diggle seen in Smallville with Superman and Lois Lane was therefore an alternate version of the Arrowverse character. The CW passed on one last spin-off, Justice U, in May 2023.

  Sam Barsanti of The A.V. Club summed up the run before the finale. He wrote that "For 11 years, the Arrowverse tied together one show, then two shows, then three shows, then four, five, sometimes six."

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