Spoilers DC TV Arrow/Flash Universe Crossover Discussion

[Christopher]

I got to say I like their marketing gimmick of using comic art to sell it.

It's becoming a tradition for them to do comics cover homages for their crossovers. They did the iconic "Flash of Two Worlds" cover for the episode of that title, homaged the first Superman-Flash race cover for the Supergirl-Flash crossover, and did the Crisis on Infinite Earths cover with Superman holding the fallen Supergirl for the first Superman guest appearance. Although those were photo montages, and the latter two homage shots were actually in the episodes. I think this is the first time they've actually gotten a comics artist to do a proper cover. Marvel's had noted artists do "cover"-style posters for Agents of SHIELD a number of times, though. Those haven't been direct homages to SHIELD covers, I think, but the one for the season 3 finale homaged a famous Spider-Man cover.

It's appropriate that the CW DC shows are the ones that do the comics cover tributes, because they're the shows that come closest to capturing the style of the comics, both in terms of the story content and the interconnected nature of the different series.

 

[N-121973]

Yeah, that graphic definitely reminds me of the JSA-All Star Squadron-JLA crossover comics I bought when I was a kid. They are proving they understand the fans that (rightfully) hype their shows.

But I am having trouble looking at it (too small, low resolution)....I would lOVE to share it, especially if I could see it clearly. it looks like there's another character named Zari? Also from Earth X?

I am not sure if this is a clearer picture of the comic cover.
https://www.supermanhomepage.com/the-cw-announces-crisis-on-earth-x-superhero-crossover/

 

[Christopher]

I'm wondering how this is going to unfold. It looks like the wedding of Barry and Iris is the instigating event, but the crossover begins with Supergirl and Arrow on Monday and then The Flash and Legends on Tuesday. And it occurred to me to consider the logistics of a superhero wedding and the effort to reconcile the need for secret identities with the desire to invite all one's superfriends (since I've just been reading the TPB collections of The New Teen Titans where that comes up with Donna Troy's engagement). Like, "Gee, Barry, how do you know Oliver Queen? And where does your friend Kara live?" Although it's not quite as big a problem as it was for the Titans, who had people like Cyborg and Changeling who couldn't hide their identities.

So I'm thinking, what if the plan is to hold the wedding on Earth-38 so that all the heroes can get together without people on Earth-1 finding out about their connections? Most of the people in Barry and Iris's families know their secret already. Although that would exclude people like their work colleagues. And would a wedding performed on a parallel Earth be legally binding on one's home Earth? At least it would have to be officiated by someone with legal standing on Earth-1 to perform the ceremony. Hey, can mayors officiate weddings?

Oh, and Alex and Maggie are supposed to be engaged too. Maybe the others go to Earth-38 for a joint wedding?

If they do hold the wedding on Earth-1, maybe they'll hold it in the Hangar of Justice from "Invasion!" so that they can bring back that location.

 

[Snaploud]

I assume they will file in an Earth 1 courthouse and hold a ceremony on Earth 38. Though, that would make party planning more complicated. I suppose Cisco could act as party planner as he would have the easiest time going back and forth.

 

[JD]

From what Stephen Amell has said, it sounds like there will be less seperation of the episodes than there were in the last couple crossovers.

 

[CorporalClegg]

From what Stephen Amell has said, it sounds like there will be less seperation of the episodes than there were in the last couple crossovers.

That could backfire. It seems to me that there a lot more people who don't watch all four shows (only one or two) than who do.

 

[dahj]

That could backfire. It seems to me that there a lot more people who don't watch all four shows (only one or two) than who do.

Backfire?
They're airing episodes back to back, I doubt someone would just leave half way through just because they usually don't watch the other show.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

That could backfire. It seems to me that there a lot more people who don't watch all four shows (only one or two) than who do.

Backfire?
They're airing episodes back to back, I doubt someone would just leave half way through just because they usually don't watch the other show.

I think you are missing CorporalClegg's point: if someone is not a fan of the other series, they are far less likely to watch the other shows, even if aired back to back. This is the average viewer, and if their interest is centered on one series, they usually only care about plots native to that series.

 

[dahj]

if someone is not a fan of the other series, they are far less likely to watch the other shows, even if aired back to back.

That's not what the ratings indicate.
Ratings and viewership spiked last season, almost doubling the usual numbers for some shows for the crossover. And those weren't aired back to back...

 

[JD]

I think as long as they make it clear just how connected the episodes are it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Christopher]

I think as long as they make it clear just how connected the episodes are it shouldn't be a problem.

Well, moving Arrow from Thursday to Monday right after Supergirl would certainly help do that.

Really, this just goes to show that you can't satisfy everyone. Last year, fans complained that the crossover wasn't one big completely integrated story. This year, fans are complaining that it is one big completely integrated story.

 

[Morpheus 02]

I am not sure if this is a clearer picture of the comic cover.
https://www.supermanhomepage.com/the-cw-announces-crisis-on-earth-x-superhero-crossover/

It is -- thanks!

Now stuff like this is why DC TV fans love the shows so much. The DC F U could REALLY learn from that .. It isn't tat all DC F U critics are simply Marvel pawns.... they LOVE DC Comics heroes.... they just feel the CW actually respects the material

 

[JD]

First clip from the animated Constantine series

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That was good, but I am a bit surprised by just how gory it is.

 

[Christopher]

That was good, but I am a bit surprised by just how gory it is.

Also it used more graphic language than it could on NBC or The CW, and showed Constantine smoking, which was a no-no for his network appearances (although I think the NBC show was able to get away with it once or twice in later episodes). They're really taking advantage of their freedom from network censorship.

That's actually a bit surprising, since Vixen was on about the same maturity level as the live-action Arrowverse. I hadn't expected this to go so much further.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Well, the Vixen series had at least one instance of what might be considered adult language.

 

[Christopher]

Over 90 publicity photos of the upcoming "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover have just been released:

https://www.cbr.com/arrowverse-crisis-earth-x-crossover-photos/

Some highlights:

Spoiler

• Tom Cavanaugh as Reverse Flash. Is this Thawne disguised as Wells, or is Wells actually the Reverse Flash on Earth-X?
• Supergirl and Green Arrow's evil twins Overgirl and Dark Arrow in costume.
• Our first look at Russell Tovey as the Ray.
• Citizen Cold, the heroic counterpart of Captain Cold. Wentworth Miller sports a very comics-accurate costume.
• Several photos of Sara Lance and Alex Danvers side by side. I'd love to see how they hit it off.
• Earth-X Winn Schott, looking like a badass resistance fighter.
• A group scene of nearly all the heroes in costume on the Waverider. At first I thought it was a posed cast photo, but apparently it's actually a scene in the story where they're all reacting to someone or something. There's another scene of a whole bunch of heroes lined up in a row under a bridge, probably facing off against the bad guys.
  
• New costume for Zari -- black and gold, nothing like Isis's TV and comics costumes.
  
• All the regular Earth-1 team members appear to be involved except Diggle.
• Wally shows up for the wedding, at least. I wonder why he doesn't suit up as Kid Flash.
  
• Lots of photos of the wedding -- idyllic at first, until the inevitable party crashers show up. Captain Singh is seated next to Mick Rory!
  
• Is that... Kara singing at the wedding?

 

[Captain Crow]

I wonder if this time Supergirl will actually be the proper first part of the crossover or if it's just a regular Supergirl episode with a tacked on cliffhanger ending like the last two "crossover" episodes.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I really hope it's good after this week's mega DC adventure was a ... disappointment.

And as Christopher mentioned, that group of pictures near the end - I'm totally thinking 'rebound.'

 

[Christopher]

I wonder if this time Supergirl will actually be the proper first part of the crossover or if it's just a regular Supergirl episode with a tacked on cliffhanger ending like the last two "crossover" episodes.

We've been told that this time it's a full-on, entirely unified crossover that's essentially a 4-hour miniseries. They're even moving Arrow to Monday night right after Supergirl that week, so that the whole thing will play as a pair of 2-hour TV movies on consecutive nights.

 

[Christopher]

I just took another look at the "Crisis" photos, and I noticed that they have code numbers on the side that indicate what episode they come from -- "Spg308" for the Supergirl segment, "Ar608" for the Arrow segment, "Fla408" for Flash, and "Lgn308" for Legends. They're also lettered "a," "b," and "c" in what I imagine would be story order, but not necessarily (see below). For some reason, they have the Supergirl photos last even though that part will come first. Anyway, that allows us to get some sense of the order of events:

Spoiler

Part 1 (Supergirl):
a) A pre-wedding reception at CC Jitters, with Kara, Oliver & Felicity, the West clan, Barry, Cisco, Jax, Mick, and probably others.
b) The wedding itself, going beautifully until a bunch of Earth-X soldiers storm the place for some reason.
c) Boy, did those bad guys pick the wrong wedding to crash...

Part 2 (Arrow):
c) Oliver, Felicity, Barry, Iris, Sara, and Kara are still in their wedding clothes here, so I'm guessing it comes before the other photos. They're in the STAR Labs Pipeline entrance, where they appear to meet the Ray and Citizen Cold.
a) The heroes with some sort of capture collars around their necks, in a bunker somewhere. I'm guessing shock collars rather than power-dampers, since Sara and Alex have them too. We meet the evil counterparts, Reverse Flash, Overgirl, and Dark Arrow. It looks like the Flash gets loose and Green Arrow then shows up.
b) In what appears to be the STAR Labs Speed Lab (or its Earth-X counterpart), a confrontation including Dark Arrow, Wild Dog, and Heat Wave.

Part 3 (The Flash):
a) In the STAR Labs Cortex, Dark Arrow, Reverse Flash/Wells, and some Nazi grunts have Felicity and Iris captive. Overgirl appears to be there too. From the weird lighting, I'm guessing this is the Earth-X STAR Labs.
b) Green Arrow, White Canary, Alex, and Citizen Cold in a firefight in a warehouse or storeroom.
c) Oliver, Barry, Sara, Alex, Jax, and Stein in what looks like the Earth-X resistance HQ with Ray Terrill (the Ray), Snart, and stubbly alternate Winn. Terrill is wearing a Nazi prison uniform with a pink triangle, the symbol used by the Nazis for gay people. It looks like he's giving the heroes exposition about something. Later, they're gathered around a tabletop miniature listening to Oliver strategize. (This is still under "c," but it must be a new scene, since Terrill has suited up.)

Part 4 (Legends)
a) In a location I can't place, Kara looks on as Felicity shares a tender moment with... Dark Arrow? Or maybe Oliver in disguise as Dark Arrow? EDIT: Kara seems like she may be in hospital scrubs and leaning on Felicity for support. If Supergirl was weakened/captured somehow, that might explain why she's absent from so many of the photos from parts 2-3.
b) Big gathering on the Waverider bridge -- all of Teams Flash, Arrow, and Legends except Diggle and Firestorm, plus Supergirl, Alex, the Ray, and Citizen Cold. I'm guessing they're listening to Gideon or watching a hologram she's projecting, and they don't seem happy about it. Then the group spreads out and there's more business on the bridge, including maybe Cisco and Harry trying to pilot the ship somewhere -- is Cisco trying to reprogram the Waverider to breach back to Earth-1?
c) The Legends, Team Arrow, the Flash, Alex, and Citizen Cold standing their ground under a bridge, with a wrecked bus behind them. Probably the start of the big climax. I'm thinking they're back on Earth-1, defending their home against the invaders. No sign of Supergirl or Firestorm, but maybe they're in the air. No sign of the rest of Team Flash either.