Arrowverse

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The Arrowverse is an American media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series primarily airing on The CW and web series airing on CW Seed. The series were developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, Ali Adler, Phil Klemmer, Salim Akil and Caroline Dries, and based on characters appearing in publications by DC Comics. Set in a shared fictional multiverse much like the DC Universe and DC Multiverse in comic books, it was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters that span five live-action television series and two animated series.

The franchise began with Arrow, based on the character Green Arrow, which debuted in October 2012. It was followed by The Flash in 2014, and the animated web-series Vixen in 2015. The franchise was further expanded in 2016, when in January of that year a new series titled Legends of Tomorrow debuted, starring characters that originally appeared on both Arrow and The Flash. Later that year, the CBS series Supergirl, having already crossed-over with The Flash, was moved to The CW for its second season, where it has remained since. A second animated web-series, Freedom Fighters: The Ray, was released in 2017, which followed Ray Terrill / The Ray, who would make a live-action appearance during that year's crossover event "Crisis on Earth-X". In addition to the live-action and web-based series, the franchise has spawned three promotional tie-in live-action web series, Blood Rush, Chronicles of Cisco, and The Flash: Stretched Scenes; released in 2013, 2016, and 2017 respectively. A fifth series, Batwoman, premiered in 2019. Since 2014, there has been a yearly crossover event involving many of the live-action series of the Arrowverse. Additionally, Matt Ryan has reprised his role as John Constantine from the NBC series Constantine, initially in guest appearances in episodes of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, before becoming a series regular for the latter, in addition to continuing storylines from the former series.

The 2018 and 2019 crossovers, "Elseworlds" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths", respectively, saw multiple DC television series and films be retroactively added to the franchise's multiverse. "Crisis on Infinite Earths" also rebooted the universe, which saw Supergirl join the other live-action series on a new fictional earth along with the series Black Lightning, which had previously been separate up to this point. The franchise has been successful, creating a large fandom around the world and has received positive reviews, where critics praised the themes, action sequences, direction and character development.

[edit] Development

In January 2012, The CW ordered a pilot for Arrow, revolving around the character Green Arrow and developed by Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti, and Marc Guggenheim. Stephen Amell was cast in the titular role. When developing the series, Guggenheim said that the creative team wanted to "chart [their] own course, [their] own destiny", and avoid any direct connections to the series Smallville, which featured its own Green Arrow (Justin Hartley). In July 2013, it was announced that Berlanti, Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns would be creating a spin-off television series based on The Flash. The character, played by Grant Gustin, was set to appear in three episodes of Arrow's second season. The third episode was supposed to act as a backdoor pilot for the new series, but a traditional pilot was eventually ordered instead.

In November 2014, Berlanti expressed interest in making his CBS series Supergirl exist in the same universe as Arrow and The Flash, and in January 2015, The CW president Mark Pedowitz revealed that he was also open to a crossover among the series and networks. However, CBS president Nina Tassler stated that month that, "those two shows are on a different network. So I think we'll keep Supergirl to ourselves for a while." In August 2015, Tassler revealed that while there were no plans at the time to do story crossovers, the three series would have crossover promotions.

In January 2015, the CW announced that an animated web-series featuring the DC heroine Vixen would debut on CW Seed in late 2015 and be set in the same universe as both Arrow and The Flash. Amell and Gustin would reprise their respective roles in the series, and the character of Vixen was expected to make a live-action appearance on The Flash and/or Arrow as well. The next month, it was reported that another spin-off series, described as a superhero team-up show, was being discussed by The CW for a possible 2015–16 midseason release. Berlanti, Kreisberg, Guggenheim and Sarah Schechter would be executive producers of the potential series, which would be headlined by several recurring characters from both Arrow and The Flash. That May, the CW officially confirmed DC's Legends of Tomorrow for a January 2016 premiere. Pedowitz later stated, "There is no intention, at this point, to spin anything else off" to add to the universe, though after Vixen was renewed for a second season he said, "Hopefully, that character could actually spin itself out, if not, maybe join as one of the Legends" in Legends of Tomorrow. In August 2015, in a video about the production of Vixen's first season, Guggenheim referred to the series' shared universe as the "Arrowverse". Kreisberg confirmed that this was the name the producers used for it. The universe has also been referred to by the media as the "Flarrowverse", "Berlanti-verse" and "DC TV-verse". In October, additional Arrow showrunner Wendy Mericle revealed that the producers had begun having someone track all the characters and plots used by each series, in order to make sure everything lines up. The Flash executive producer Aaron Helbing noted in April 2016 that "sometimes the schedules don't line up exactly...and that stuff is out of our control", such as when Barry was shown using his abilities on Arrow, while not having them the same week on The Flash.

[edit] Television series

Main article: Lists of Arrowverse episodes

[edit] Arrow (2012–2020)

Main article: Arrow (TV series)

Billionaire playboy Oliver Queen returns home after being stranded on a deserted island for five years. Upon his return to Starling City, Oliver rekindles his relationships and spends his nights hunting down wealthy criminals as a hooded vigilante.

[edit] The Flash (2014–present)

Main article: The Flash (2014 TV series)

[edit] Supergirl (2015–present)

Main article: Supergirl (TV series)

[edit] Legends of Tomorrow (2016–present)

Main article: Legends of Tomorrow

[edit] Black Lightning (2018–present)

Main article: Black Lightning (TV series)

[edit] Batwoman (2019–present)

Main article: Batwoman (TV series)

[edit] Superman & Lois

Superman and Lois Lane cope with the stresses and difficulties of becoming parents.

[edit] Web series

[edit] Vixen (2015–2016)

Main article: Vixen (web series)

[edit] Freedom Fighters: The Ray (2017–2018)

Main article: Freedom Fighters: The Ray

[edit] Recurring cast and characters

Main article: List of Arrowverse cast members

List indicator(s)
This section shows characters who will appear or have appeared in at least two series as a member of the principal ("main") cast for at least one of those.

• An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the series, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
• ^V indicates a voice-only role.
• A number beside a character's name indicates the character is from that alternate world (i.e. a ² indicates a character from Earth-2).

[edit] Expanded setting

[edit] Official crossover events

List indicators

• A grey cell indicates the series was not a part of the crossover event.
• The number in parentheses next to the episode title indicates which part of the crossover it is, if not clear otherwise.

[edit] Multiverse

Further information: List of DC Multiverse worlds § Arrowverse

[edit] The Flash (1990–1991)

Main article: The Flash (1990 TV series)

[edit] Constantine (2014–2015)

Main article: Constantine (TV series)

[edit] "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossovers

Main article: [[Crisis on Infinite Earths (Arrowverse Episode)|Crisis on Infinite Earths (Arrowverse)

[edit] Marketing

[edit] Reception

[edit] Ratings

[edit] Critical response

[edit] Commentary

[edit] Other media

[edit] Comic books

Further information: Arrow (TV series) § Digital comics, The Flash (2014 TV series) § Digital comic, and Supergirl (TV series) § Comic books

[edit] Books

[edit] Novels

[edit] Guidebooks

[edit] Promotional tie-ins

[edit] Blood Rush

Further information: Blood Rush (web series)

[edit] Chronicles of Cisco: Entry 0419

Further information: Chronicles of Cisco: Entry 0419

[edit] Stretched Scenes

Further information: Stretched Scenes

[edit] Audio series

[edit] Notes

a. ^ A total of 15 episodes are set to be produced: a special episode for the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover, which aired on January 14, 2020 before the fifth season, and 14 contributing towards the regular season, which officially premiered later on January 21, 2020. See Template:Slink and See List of Legends of Tomorrow episodes § Series overview and Legends of Tomorrow (season 5) § Release for further information.

b. ^ Although marketed as a six-episode second season, it was only made available as a single 30-minute special.

c. ^ Whyte voices Blitzkreig, an alternate version of the Earth-1 Flash.

d. ^ Ryan previously appeared as the character in the NBC series Constantine. The Arrowverse version of the character is the same that had appeared in the NBC series.

e. ^ Benoist voices Overgirl, an alternate version of the Earth-38 Supergirl.

f. ^{^ a b} Garrett is credited as a series regular in The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow during the 2019-2020 season, although he is only credited in the episodes which he appears.

g. ^ Mercer voices Black Arrow, an alternate version of the Earth-1 Green Arrow.

h. ^ Tom Cavanagh portrays Eobard Thawne in the form of Earth-1's deceased Harrison Wells in the first and fifth seasons of The Flash in a main role, in a recurring role in the second season, and in a guest role in the crossover events "Crisis on Earth-X" and "Elseworlds".

i. ^ Tom Cavanagh has portrayed several different versions of Harrison Wells from across the multiverse, notably "Harry" Wells from Earth-2, "H.R." Wells from Earth-19 and Harrison Sherloque Wells from Earth-221, in addition to portraying Eobard Thawne in the form of Earth-1's deceased Harrison Wells.

[edit] References

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