The Elseworlds crossover event began on the latest episode of The Flash. I just watched it last night and it was probably the best episode of a superhero show I’ve watched all year. I regularly watch Arrow, The Flash and the Marvel series on Netflix. I watch Supergirl every now and then, though after this crossover event I’ve decided to go back and watch the previous seasons to get caught up. The crossover event is bananas! It’s got comedy, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard during any of these shows in a long time. It’s got heartfelt emotional scenes and that is what, to me, balances the comedy and action.
Elseworlds is actually a publication imprint for DC. It was used to produce stories that took place out of the DC Universe(DCU) canon. Reading through Wikipedia some pretty cool stories were put out. They were able to do stories that because they weren’t in the DCU canon could follow wild ideas. Things like Superman being raised by apes, an imitation of Tarzan, or Jonathan and Martha Kent adopting a recently orphaned Bruce Wayne and raising him along with their son Clark. So even the crossover event itself is a throwback to the comics. Especially when you consider that this reality in the crossover is outside of the reality of both shows.
I love Oliver Queen being Barry Aleen and vice versa. It gives each of the characters insight into the others life, struggles, victories and powers. They get to learn how to use a part of them that they’ve never had to use before. Oliver must learn to use the love, happiness and positivity of everyone around him for focus and drive like Barry does. While Barry must use the pain and anger to fuel him and keep him focused like Oliver usually does. It will help each character appreciate the other afterwards. Green Arrow and The Flash have always been a great team up in all the past episodes. They have a chemistry that plays so well off of each other. While Oliver Queen is Barry Allen he gets some insight into what Felicity has been dealing with while he’s been in prison. When Iris is talking to him, as Barry Allen, about what Felicity has said and gone through during that time. I’m hoping this translates over to the show once the crossover is done. I personally feel if each character is able to keep the changes from their expriences after the crossover it will make for better characters. I also happen to be a Team Oliver and Felicity fan.
The crossover also proves one of the points in my post about my thoughts on Season 7 of Arrow. In the crossover the Arrow characters are a much smaller core set, John, Oliver and Felicity. I really feel like the growing character list on Arrow has gotten too big. Sharing the spotlight with their stories has caused a change in the show for me. A dilution of the original Green Arrow mission and action sequences. Think of the dueling archers on bikes when Green Arrow went up against Simon Lacroix. It was cool, new and a total rush.
There are easter eggs and teases in the crossover. We get Supergirl, Superman, mention of Batman and Oliver’s insistence that Batman is an urban myth made up by the Gotham City police. We also get Ivo Industries and Amazo! This is not the first time we’ve seen either of these two. In my thoughts of Arrow’s earlier episodes I mentioned that Dr. Ivo’s ship being called Amazo was an easter egg. It referenced the android Amazo in the comics who was created by Dr. Ivo. Funny enough in the crossover Amazo is using the Mirakuru hybrid formula to clone meta human powers. The Mirakuru is what Ivo was searching for which Oliver, Sara and Deathstroke found on Lian Yu. So Ivo Industries, Mirakuru and Amazo all being connected in this new altered reality is interesting.
Which brings me to the next thing for me which was the brief use of Superman. Perhaps it was budgetary constraints, time constraints I don’t know. I understand that they want to finish the crossover in 3 episodes. As a fan though I feel an infinitesimal bit of disappointment. In DC comic’s big 3 which comprise of Superman, Batman and Wonder woman. Many people are either Team Superman or Team Batman. I myself am Team Superman viewing Superman as the ultimate badass of the DC universe. Which is why I would have loved to see him used more in the crossover episode. I feel like the defeat of Amazo was much too quick and could have lasted longer showcasing more of the teams abilities. There was a reference to Amazo as the terminator from T3. So it would have been awesome if after they destroyed him with the virus. The pieces started to reform like the liquid metal terminator. Then Superman does the quintessential sacrifice grabbing him as he reforms and blasts into the sky. The speed and force starts to freeze Amazo and as they get far into outer space he is frozen solid. I feel like I remember something like this happening in the comics!? Anyway this would have done a couple of things. It would have shown his power set, his willingness to sacrifice himself to save everyone else and it would leave Amazo open for use in later episodes. Oh well just what I wished could have gone down.
I’m partway through the crossover in the Arrow episode and I am loving it so much. I’m definitely interested to see what will happen at the end of the crossover. How it will translate into changes on both shows but mostly Arrow. Imagine if it wiped out the whole season of Diaz and no one knows Oliver is the Green Arrow. Hey one can dream right?
Mad about Innovation 