Elseworlds: An Arrowverse Crossover

I’ll start by saying this is NOT spoilerless.  I will be geeking out on topics taken up from the entirety of the Arrowverse, so if you haven’t seen this crossover yet, turn aside.  You have been warned…

“People don’t become heroes because of circumstance, they become heroes in spite of circumstance.” Wise words from Barry Allen in the crossover which effectively encapsulates what the big baddie here, Mar Novu,The Monitor, was doing to test our heroes.  Are they truly heroes?  Do Green Arrow, Flash and Supergirl have what it takes to save the multiverse?  The direct answer is a resounding, ‘YES’, and this story is not shying away from being direct.  This being the fifth installment of the yearly crossover event(Yes, FIVE times already), you’d have thought they’d run out of ideas for a new one.  That’s not the case for this year’s ‘Elseworlds’ crossover in Flash, Arrow and Supergirl.

What I really love about these crossovers is that, though there is a singular story arc, the shows connected to the event retain their unique charm.  I am missing the participation of the ‘Legends’ in this three-part story after back-to-back appearances in ‘Invasion’ and ‘Crisis on Earth X’. I can understand why there wasn’t a need for them.  You have enough superheroes running around with the introduction of Batwoman into the Arrowverse along with appearances of Superman, Martian Manhunter and Brainiac 5 that you really don’t need the other heroes around.  Perhaps in Next year’s ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ they would be needed? But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

There are beautiful inclusions from the DC mythology here.  Aside from the obvious use of Amazo (such a welcome sight, and I’m sure we won’t see the last of him), to a familiar ‘Cobblepot’ villain, and the use of ‘World’s Finest’ in reference to a(cross your fingers) Supergirl/Batwoman pairing, there’s a lot to geek out on in ‘Elseworlds’.  But, perhaps the most intriguing part of this crossover event is that this is still just a prelude to another event next year: the aforementioned ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’.  That is something the other crossover events never hinted on in the past.  I mean, aside from the ‘Heroes Join Forces’ crossover story arc that led to the formation of ‘Legends of Tomorrow’, these yearly run-ins never stayed directly leading into each other.  This was the first time, and to its credit, ‘Elseworlds’ pulled it off without feeling like an incomplete story.  In fact, it just creates more anticipation for the next crossover.  As the inmate in Arkham(who I presume is Psycho Pirate) so aptly phrased, ‘World’s will live, worlds will die and the universe will never be the same.’  This of course is a direct nod to the tagline of ‘Crisis’ as it first appeared in comic book form in the mid-80s.  True to its word, that maxi-series held its promise.

As predicted, you can’t really kill off Kara/Supergirl nor Barry/Flash because of their importance to their respective series.  Though, with Oliver’s cryptic deal with the Monitor, you have to wonder if this is a permanent situation.  You wonder what his deal was to keep them alive.  And, if you’re familiar with how ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ ended, you know that both Barry and Kara die heroically to save the multiverse.  Is there survival in ‘Elseworlds’ set up for their imminent demise in ‘Crisis’?  That will really change the dynamic of these shows moving forward.  We shall see.

To my mind, the crossover event was the best one so far, and that’s saying a lot considering there was ‘Invasion’ and ‘Crisis on Earth X’.  You just can’t get more epic than reality alteration to trump the other crossovers that came before even though the main villain Dr. John Deegan is just a test patsy for the Monitor. Until of course next year when this story will seem lighter and less cataclysmic.  I do hope they pull off ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ properly.  That would take a lot of great storytelling and character management.  Something that the creators of the Arrowverse has been capable of doing so far.

Though Barry keeps asking if this is going to be a yearly thing, while Oliver contests this constantly, I do hope these crossovers continue to happen with the same quality that have been presented so far.  By now, I trust these creators of the Arrowverse, and next year’s ‘Crisis’ will create a world of infinite possibilities.