State of the Superheroes

By: Cammien Ray

Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) is dabbling in politics. Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) has found other aliens and maybe likes them. Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) erased about four and a half plot lines by traveling in time. The “Legends of Tomorrow” gang were also able to travel in time, but they were able to sleep with historic royalty without doing anything to any of the other three shows. And that’s what you missed on “Glee” – I mean The CW DC universe. I’m kidding about some of the above, of course. However, with the world of DC television becoming more complex, interrelated and shall we say hierarchical – we thought it might be useful to have an overview of where all four of the shows currently stand in relation to each other and what sort of characters and tone are found on each so you are prepared for the upcoming crossover – just in case you do not watch all four shows.

A recent poll of over one thousand viewers indicated that only 27% percent report watching all four shows with 57% watching only one or two of the quad. Because of this, when crossover season approaches, there’s a bit of a scramble to catch up on where all the other players are so we can make sense of all the new faces appearing on our favorite shows. Do not worry, my friends! That is what I am here for – to give you a “State of the Superheroes” address so you’re ready to face whatever new face in a leather suit and superpowers shows up on your show.

Starting with “Arrow” (because the whole thing did start with “Arrow”), we have seen many characters from both “The Flash” and “Legends” crossover in at least five cases. While crossover characters do not get de-powered when on “Arrow,” the focus does tend to shift more towards gritty, grounded street-fighting and away from the superpowers and time-travel. If you do see a character from one of your other shows on “Arrow,” you can expect to see Team Arrow familiar with their skills as almost all but Supergirl had at least some of their power origin stories developed on the show. Barry, Sara (Caity Lotz), Ray (Brandon Routh), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) all made their first appearances on “Arrow,” with many other Legends characters also first appearing in crossovers prior to their show starting.

On “Arrow,” in comparison to the other shows, the heroes will have a darker vibe and a more real-world perspective on powers and villainy. When they crossover to the other shows, you can expect to see them as the strategists and ground team, involved in ground fight sequences and perhaps a bit stoic in the cheesier comic-family moments. However, the characters from “Arrow” are still friendly and familiar with the other hero teams and we’ve seen “The Flash” and “Legends of Tomorrow” members, at least, go to Team Arrow for advice since the beginning – something that continues even through this season.

When we get in to “The Flash” universe, it gets a little bit stickier. By stickier, I mean The Flash universe has a bit greater of an effect on the plotlines of other shows due to Flashpoint – an alternate timeline triggered by Barry’s time travel at the end of last season. Because “The Flash” does have some of the highest crossover rates, what you can expect if you see Flash characters on other shows is familiarity. “Arrow,” “Legends of Tomorrow” and “Supergirl” have all already had at least small crossovers with The Flash and know of the existence of him and his team. As mentioned, “The Flash” characters have gone to Team Arrow (for example, Felicity) for advice and there are running friendships/collaborations between Barry’s teammates (Cisco and Caitlin) and the Arrow characters. There was also an enemies-to-friends dynamic between Barry and Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) of Legends and Barry has also had some missions with Supergirl on her show. In fact, the familial focus of “The Flash” has manifested in quite close friendships on other shows, not just awareness of others heroes. If “The Flash” characters show up on your show, you can expect a level of idealism and a fast paced tempo to their dialogue and plans.

“Legends of Tomorrow,” much like ‘The Flash,” also involves time travel in assorted capacities. But unlike “The Flash,” you will not see repercussions of this in the plotlines of the others shows outside of crossovers. In fact, there is not much to indicate at this point that the “Legends of Tomorrow” plotline will be more than marginally attached to the crossover component, though we can certainly expect to see some of the familiar faces from the Legends team in the crossover – particularly Sara and Ray who both got their introductions on “Arrow.” Outside of official crossovers, we do have a bit of occasional integration of “Legends of Tomorrow” characters on other shows such as the recent reappearance of Captain Cold on “The Flash.” Should you see “Legends of Tomorrow” characters on one of the other three shows, here is what factors you can expect – “Legends” characters are cut from a rougher cloth with some ex-villains and antiheros in the mix. Unlike the other shows, they do not have one clear title lead hero so you can expect any “Legends” characters to be good team players when it comes to missions and planning, despite their tendency towards more extreme measures. Because the show does involve regular time travel elements, there may be reference of that, but historically in crossovers “The Legends” players do not time travel when not on their own show.

“Supergirl” presents an interesting situation in terms of relations to other shows, as she exists in an unnamed other Earth unaffected by Flashpoint yet is still capable of crossing over to the Flarrlot (Can we refer to the trio of shows Flarrlot? Probably not.) universe. Early (light spoilers) interviews, teasers and behind the scenes content has indicated the upcoming four-way crossover will involve aliens. That definitely takes us into Supergirl’s territory or, at least, her area of expertise. Over on “Supergirl,” outside of the one Flash appearance, we have not yet seen either characters from the other three shows nor have we seen references to their plot/actions/situations. So, her current state seems to be that she can appear as needed for large crossovers, but will not likely be highly integrated into anyone else’s season-long plot.

What you can expect in terms of tone/type when you see Supergirl or her squad on another show is a brightness, an element of fun and a fairly traditional and idealistic view of heroism that is similar to the idealism of “The Flash.” The only difference in shows is “Supergirl” has more discussion of human morality and consequences. As mentioned, “Supergirl” is not canonically in contact with any heroes from the other shows, aside from Barry. So, in any interactions where she appears on other shows, it will likely be framed as a first meeting. Additionally, while all of the shows have some team element, Supergirl” does fight in the field alone quite often, so it’s possible she will not crossover with too many other characters from her show.

So, there you have it. That is everything you need to understand about where on Earth(s) these new masked heroes are coming from for the upcoming four-way series crossover and what type of heroes you might see. The four-night crossover event entitled Invasion will air starting with “Supergirl” on November 28^th, followed by “The Flash,” “Arrow” and “Legends of Tomorrow” on each following day – all at 8/7c on the CW. Unfortunately, full-cast musical performances are unlikely.