A eulogy for the Arrowverse

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https://www.avclub.com/eulogy-for-th...-cw-1850405897

As The Flash bows out on The CW, it's high time to eulogize the groundbreaking DC saga

By Sam Barsanti

With the series finale of The Flash on May 24, The CW’s ambitious and groundbreaking superhero saga known as The Arrowverse (first unofficially, then semi-officially) comes to an end. If not for the fact that it was focused on television, the Arrowverse would be regarded as one of the only cinematic universes beyond the MCU to actually work—and if you’re basing it on pure hours of content, the Arrowverse is completely unmatched.

For 11 years, the Arrowverse tied together one show, then two shows, then three shows, then four, five, sometimes six, then—once the multiverse was introduced in the Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover event—the entirety of all live-action DC superhero shows and movies that have ever been made. Michael Keaton’s Batman movie happened in the Arrowverse. The ’60s Batman show happened in the Arrowverse. Titans, Superman Returns, the 2002 Birds Of Prey show, NBC’s short-lived Constantine, Fox’s Lucifer, and Smallville all happened in the Arrowverse (at least on some level of its vast multiverse).

But it all began with its namesake, Arrow, in 2012. Somewhat incongruously, given where things ended up, Arrow started as an obvious nod to the standalone Christopher Nolan Dark Knight movies: gritty and “realistic” in quotes, with no magic, no superpowers, and no aliens. Just a vigilante in a costume with a growly voice. Early in Arrow, Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen didn’t even have a superhero name—but he did have a surprising penchant for straight-up murdering villains.

Not that the show was ever really as serious as it pretended to be. This was peak CW soapy genre show era, with The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural going strong, and early Arrow was about one-third violent superhero action, one-third survivalist mystery with Oliver learning superhero skills while stranded on a not-so-deserted island, and one-third relationship drama with a bunch of characters who just refused tell each other how they really feel.

The balance was readjusted in the show’s second season, which stands today as one of the best examples of superhero storytelling on television. With a phenomenal villain in Manu Bennett’s Slade Wilson, the gradual introduction of more comic book-y concepts (namely a superpower-granting/insanity-causing drug called Mirakuru), and a prominent role for future Arrowverse queen Caity Lotz (debuting as Sara Lance, the assassin eventually dubbed White Canary), the show grew into being more of its own thing rather than a pastiche of CW-friendly tropes and Nolan Batman aesthetics.