The crossover episodes are always the best part of The CW’s Arrowverse for me. Whether it’s The Flash and Supergirl teaming up for a musical duet or the whole gang coming together to fight Nazis, these episodes are the most ambitious and the most fun, constantly exciting the inner nerd in me as beloved characters and storylines receive live-action treatments.
In preparation for next week’s crossover event, Elseworlds, The CW has released the first teaser for the three-part storyline, which promises some mixups in the timeline, our first glimpse at Batwoman, and a black-suit Superman.
Watch the trailer below.
First of all, what does Elseworlds mean? Elseworlds were stories about DC characters that were published outside of the official canon. Similar to Marvel’s What If?, Elseworld stories allowed DC to be wildly outlandish or overly creative with their characters without any consequences to the official timelines.
They included some crazy stories like Superman: Red Son, a comic book that explores what would happen if Kal-El landed in the Soviet Union instead of Kansas and Gotham by Gaslight, a story about Batman chasing down Jack the Ripper.
For me, some memorable Elseworld stories are Batman: In Darkest Knight and Superman: The Last Son of Earth, two separate stories where both Batman and Superman receive Green Lantern rings. They’re both awesome.
While it doesn’t seem like this CW crossover will follow a specific storyline, it certainly seems like it follows an Elseworld format similar to the comics. Let’s dive into it.
We start with immediate confusion as Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) is seen wearing Barry Allen’s (Grant Gustin) Flash suit and Barry wearing his Green Arrow suit.
Stephen Amell as The Flash
Grant Gustin as Green Arrow
This is apparently due to the work of Dr. John Deegan (Jeremy Davies), who receives “godhood” from The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) with the ability to merge universes and alter realities. It appears that Oliver and Barry have switched lives as they try to force their enemy to bring everything back to normal.
Dr. John Deegan (Jeremy Davies)
The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett)
From here, we learn a little more about Dr. Deegan’s nefarious plans as John Wesley Shipp’s Jay Garrick arrives to stop him from “doing to this Earth what he did to mine.” We then get to see Jay don an outfit that’s very reminiscent of Shipp’s foam padded suit from his 1990s TV series The Flash. Personally, Jay is one of my favorite characters because Shipp always portrays him with such wisdom and maturity, so I’m excited to see him suit up again with those he’s mentored.
John Wesley Shipp as the Flash (2018)
John Wesley Shipp as The Flash (1990)
While it’s seemingly obvious how Oliver and Barry are affected by these reality alterations, it’s unclear how the rest of the characters will be involved. According to Collider, The Legends of Tomorrow heroes won’t be featured in this crossover special, and we’re still unsure how Supergirl, Batwoman, and Superman’s world comes into all this. From the trailer, it doesn’t seem like any of their lives are switched around, but we do get to see all these characters in action.
Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) joins The Flash, (Stephen Amell) The Flash, (John Wesley Shipp), and Green Arrow (Grant Gustin)
Speaking of which, we finally get our first live-action look at Ruby Rose’s Batwoman.
Ruby Rose as Batwoman
Although not much has been shown, I’m still tingling with excitement at the introduction of the first Bat Family member to this universe. This tease of badassery is as important as it is exciting, and hopefully, her introduction can bring more hype to her own show. While Rose’s casting has sparked some controversy, I’m definitely excited to see her bring grit and representation to this ever-expanding universe.
Batwoman’s Batarang
Lastly, we finally get to see Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) in his black suit.
Tyler Hoechlin as Superman
I truly think Hoechlin’s Superman is better than Henry Cavill’s. While I like Cavill’s performances quite a lot, his Superman misses all the marks that Hoechlin’s has. The CW Superman is a beacon for hope and freedom while the DCEU’s is unnecessarily gritty and fluctuates far too much in tone.
Furthermore, Justice League was the perfect opportunity to unveil the Superman’s black suit, but they balked on that one. Luckily, in Elseworlds, we’ll finally get an opportunity to see the famed suit in action. It looks absolutely fantastic.
I’ll be the first to admit that these shows are goofy, but I can’t contain my excitement for this new crossover event. This teaser was the perfect way to introduce us to what’s to come and I’m looking forward to some iconic characters and suits in action.