Here's an idea: the Crisis has already happened and the Arrowverse as we know it is a post-crisis multiverse, which is why there are only 53 Earths left. So what if what they're building towards is the restoration of Infinite Earths?
News Next Arrowverse Crossover to Include Batwoman
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Here's an idea: the Crisis has already happened and the Arrowverse as we know it is a post-crisis multiverse, which is why there are only 53 Earths left. So what if what they're building towards is the restoration of Infinite Earths?
I just realized something that might be obvious to more experienced DC readers. I found the latest volume (#8) of the New Teen Titans trade paperback collection at the library, and toward the end of it, there was a bit where one of the villains the Titans were fighting suddenly got teleported away by the Monitor, who told him the CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS was coming (with the actual logo in his speech balloon) and his help was needed. So I looked into it more, and apparently the Monitor went around recruiting heroes and villains from across the multiverse to prepare for the Crisis.
So that seems like the simplest explanation for how all these heroes in "Elseworlds" are brought together -- the Monitor recruits them all to help with some crisis, though not necessarily the Crisis, which is still supposed to be 6 years away (although all the timeline alterations the speedsters and Legends have brought about might change that). And since he can recruit multiple heroes from a single world (e.g. Flash and Green Arrow), that doesn't rule out Batwoman being from Earth-1 or Earth-38. Anyway, it's possible that the scenes in Gotham City or the stuff with Clark and Lois might be setup scenes, showing the characters going about their normal lives and adventures before the Monitor whisks them away.
So that seems like the simplest explanation for how all these heroes in "Elseworlds" are brought together -- the Monitor recruits them all to help with some crisis, though not necessarily the Crisis, which is still supposed to be 6 years away (although all the timeline alterations the speedsters and Legends have brought about might change that). And since he can recruit multiple heroes from a single world (e.g. Flash and Green Arrow), that doesn't rule out Batwoman being from Earth-1 or Earth-38. Anyway, it's possible that the scenes in Gotham City or the stuff with Clark and Lois might be setup scenes, showing the characters going about their normal lives and adventures before the Monitor whisks them away.
That fits with something Kevin Smith said on the latest episode of his Hollywood Babble-On podcast (the ComicCon Theatre episode). He directed the Supergirl episode just before the crossover, and was apparently told that he'd have about a minute and a half less running time than usual, as they'd have a different director shoot an ending leading into the crossover.
I really wish they'd retired the Bat-Signal decades ago. In this age of Twitter and burner phones, it's ridiculous that the GCPD would still use a searchlight to get Batman's or Batwoman's attention. Indeed, with the degree of urban light pollution in modern times, I have to wonder if a searchlight beam would even be visible.
In a multiverse in which Supergirl can innocently disguise herself as Kara Danvers simply by putting on a pair of glasses, the Bat-Signal as well gives me a warm feeling of comfort.
This might put me in the minority, but I really don't think that the plot of Elseworlds has anything to do with the "Crisis" that causes Barry to disappear from 2024, which seems to be a "fixed point" that is "destined" to happen.
lets face it - the future for the Arrowverse don't look pretty - The Flash disappears and Star City turns into a hell hole.
Yes, the Signal of Freedom™!That's because it still uses incandescent bulbs and those are like 95% heat.
Exactly.
Love.
I don't think it's just about getting Batman's attention. It's also to tell the criminal element, Batman, Batwoman, Batgirl, Batdog, BatMite, BatEtc, are out and coming for them.
And I would be surprised if Batman would be on Twitter. He's more of a Snapchat sorta guy.
^Yes, the idea is supposedly about warning the criminal element that Batman is on the prowl, but that's why I mentioned light pollution. Who actually looks up at the night sky in a city anymore? Most criminals these days, like most everyone else, will be too busy staring at their mobile devices. So the modern equivalent of the Bat-Signal would be, maybe, some kind of mobile alert pushed out to people's phones.
The Bat-Signal is iconic. They tried to replace it about fifteen years ago with a laser-based Signal. It didn't stick.
Then make it a literal icon. Use an image of it as the symbol of whatever online alert system replaces it. Hardly a stretch, given that we have computer icons like a landline phone headset for a phone app, a cassette tape for a voice recorder app, an envelope for an e-mail app, etc.
I mean, heck, even half a century ago, the Adam West series relied mainly on the Batphone rather than the Bat-Signal. Even then, they'd mostly supplanted the 1940s tech with a more modern equivalent. The oddity is that the comics didn't take it the rest of the way and drop the searchlight a long, long time ago.
Seems like the light pollution in Gotham isn’t as bad. The Bat Signal seems to work.
I was thinking of that about the bat signal in the TV show. In that I think it was used as a backup when they had trouble calling. I also recall they used a Batphone in the comics. In fact during what I believe was Chief O'Hara's last comics appearance in the iconic 'Strange Apparitions' storyline from the bronze age where he's seen phoning Batman to warn him of trouble.
But still scenes like these wouldn't work with Twitter
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My comics are in storage at the moment but I do remember that the Monitor had been appearing in various DC comics for at least a year or so prior to this issue, watching and recruiting various heroes and villians.
This issue of Teen Titans was the last issue of any DC comic published prior to the start of the first issue of Crisis.
One of the things DC published after the Crisis ended was a two issue supplement that included a flow chart of every Monitor and Harbinger appearance prior to the Crisis and which issue, page and/or panel of each DC comic took place throughout the course of the twelve issue miniseries.