Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths to be 5-Part Crossover
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It occurs to me that after this, the "Arrowverse" as a concept will be basically meaningless and obsolete. It's been defined to this point as Arrow and its direct spinoffs, expanding from there to encompass shows like Supergirl, Constantine, and the '90s Flash series as they crossed over with Arrow and its progeny. But it was still a distinct and manageably limited number of shows.
But this crossover is not only going to explode the number of shows and movies that are explicitly part of the Arrow multiverse, but by implication, bring every filmed DC thing ever under the same umbrella. I feel like there would be little point, after this, to saying, "Well, Smallville is part of the Arrowverse because those characters appeared in 'Crisis,' but Lois & Clark isn't." After all, shows or movies that aren't included are probably more matters of time/money/availability than any deliberate choice to include or exclude, and conceptually, I think the idea is that it's all just one big multiversal thing.
But this crossover is not only going to explode the number of shows and movies that are explicitly part of the Arrow multiverse, but by implication, bring every filmed DC thing ever under the same umbrella. I feel like there would be little point, after this, to saying, "Well, Smallville is part of the Arrowverse because those characters appeared in 'Crisis,' but Lois & Clark isn't." After all, shows or movies that aren't included are probably more matters of time/money/availability than any deliberate choice to include or exclude, and conceptually, I think the idea is that it's all just one big multiversal thing.
Meh. That's just how it goes with contextual labels. A year from now, if you say "Arrowverse," people will know what you're talking about. Feel free to ignore the obnoxious pedants who try and correct you.
I think of the Arrowverse as the shows that continuously share a reality, rather than just on one special occasion. (Although that can mean "continuous" in the sense of elements from older shows making multiple appearances on Arrowverse shows, like Constantine, Flash-90, and all the doppelgangers of 1990 Flash characters who've shown up over the years.)
Supergirl was always part of the "core" Arrowverse, so you're only half-accurate with this description.
I also think you're wrong in assuming that there are going to be drastic changes made to what the Arrowverse is - and what that term defines - post-CoIE.
It wasn't at first... Even more so than Black Lightning, they made it a point to be different than the Arrowverse, especially being on CBS, a very different market. It is my contention that when the ratings dropped, they decided to go ahead with a crossover to see what it would do. While it didnt help a lot with CBS, it was a clear winner for the CW, and made the transition pretty easy...
In other words, the 1st half it was not in the bdirect Arrowverse orbit, but after the Flash crossover it sure was
I agree. The show had a guest spot with Flash in S1, but if the show hadn't come to CW, I would consider that to be like the non-core shows that are crossing into Crisis.
This is a false statement.
Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler were crystal-clear from the very early stages of development that Supergirl was meant to fit into the overall "Arrowverse" tapestry; the only reason it was set on a different Earth than the other series was because they had no desire to exclude Superman as being an essential part of the series' mythos, and that character doesn't exist on Earth-1.
A theory based on...?
The DC movies, and by that I mean the DCEU are a separate production entity with a continuity having nothing to do with TV productions, and that appears to be a choice, which is why you will not see anything from Man of Steel to Joker (and running) as a part of the TV productions and their stories.
That much is true.
Which would fall under the heading of "availabiity," from the perspective of the Arrowverse producers. I have zero doubt that if they could have used DCEU characters/actors in this crossover (putting aside all the practical considerations of studio approval, actor willingness, salaries and budget, etc.), they would have jumped at the chance.
Again, unless something in "Crisis" directly contradicts this assumption, I think the clear implication is that all things DC are now part of the larger "Arrowverse," whether they actually appear in this crossover or not. Somewhere, there is an Earth where Kirk Alyn was a Superman active in the 1940s, where George Reeves was Superman in the '50s and, yes, where Henry Cavill is Superman in the present day. And again, that makes the "Arrowverse" as a discrete, defined continuity of its own essentially defunct, on a conceptual level -- though as others have argued above, we will still know what it means as a real-world label.
Even though it hadn't crossed over until now, I've always thought of Black Lightning as an Arrowverse show since it was a CW superhero show produced by Greg Berlanti.
For anyone trying to jump in with Crisis on Infinite Earths, or needs a refresher, IGN has posted a "Road to Crisis on Infinite Earths" video.
For anyone trying to jump in with Crisis on Infinite Earths, or needs a refresher, IGN has posted a "Road to Crisis on Infinite Earths" video.
Wonder what the aspect ratio of crisis is going to be? That of Batwomans or the rest of the series. Or will Batwoman be shot like Batwoman and the rest in their native aspect ratio, which would be weird
Okay... I've been saying all along that I didn't believe they'd merge the universes like the original Crisis did, but I'm afraid a couple of things are making me wonder if they will after all, at least in one case. Though I'm not sure that implication really makes sense.
The episode description for Part One says, in part, "With their worlds in imminent danger, the superheroes suit up for battle while J'onn (David Harewood) and Alex (Chyler Leigh) recruit Lena (Katie McGrath) to help them find a way to save the people of Earth-38." And there's a line in the trailer where Supergirl says something to the effect of "If we can't save the planet, we can at least save the people." Which suggests that maybe they're going to be relocating all the Supergirl characters to Earth-1.
But does that even make sense? For one thing, there's the budget/logistical issue that they couldn't just ditch all their standing sets mid-season, or throw out their digital National City skyline against which so many action scenes are shot. For another thing, it would be like the Thanos Snap in reverse -- the population of Earth-1 would suddenly double, not to mention that there would be a lot of people with identical doppelgangers all of a sudden. I just don't see it working in practical terms, either real-world or in-story.
Also, what would be gained by it? The usual thing people say is that it would make crossovers easier, but the Earth-1 shows these days barely interact outside of the mega-event crossovers anyway, so I don't see it really changing anything in that regard. And even if Earth-38 is saved, what about the rest of that universe? What about Argo City? What about the Legion in the future? It's hard to believe they'd throw out all that Earth-38 worldbuilding.
So maybe it's a red herring? Maybe we'll think Earth-38 was destroyed, but something will happen to restore it.
But does that even make sense? For one thing, there's the budget/logistical issue that they couldn't just ditch all their standing sets mid-season, or throw out their digital National City skyline against which so many action scenes are shot. For another thing, it would be like the Thanos Snap in reverse -- the population of Earth-1 would suddenly double, not to mention that there would be a lot of people with identical doppelgangers all of a sudden. I just don't see it working in practical terms, either real-world or in-story.
Also, what would be gained by it? The usual thing people say is that it would make crossovers easier, but the Earth-1 shows these days barely interact outside of the mega-event crossovers anyway, so I don't see it really changing anything in that regard. And even if Earth-38 is saved, what about the rest of that universe? What about Argo City? What about the Legion in the future? It's hard to believe they'd throw out all that Earth-38 worldbuilding.
So maybe it's a red herring? Maybe we'll think Earth-38 was destroyed, but something will happen to restore it.
4K isn't an aspect ratio. I haven't seen Batwoman, but I assume it's maybe 2:1 or so? IIRC, that's the most common wider AR in use for series these days, as you mentioned.
I I've always imagined if they did merge some of the Earths (I think the legacy ones and some of the ones that alternate Wells hale from will be saved/spared) they'd do it like they did in the comics with the worlds fully merged and the duplicated people merged as well along with their memories amended so there'd still be a National City and a DEO, a Mars that has indigenous inhabitants etc. I haven't been watching Black Lightning as its on Netflix here in the UK and I don't have it, only season one is out on home video here but I believe that Freeland is being occupied by something or someone and if they merge that earth as well, how will that play out?
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