With the news that Legends of Tomorrow won’t be in this year’s big Arrowverse crossover, it’s clear that the combined universe would benefit from more mini crossovers.
The Arrowverse currently consists of four shows (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow) with a fifth on the outskirts (Black Lightning) and a sixth in development (Batwoman). That’s a large multiverse universe to work with.
The last two years have featured a big crossover with all the shows facing a major threat that requires a huge cast of heroes to defeat, and while that has been fun, that crossover tends to feel isolated.
Emily Bett Rickards would like to see the writers expand those crossovers. “The fact that we live in separate worlds and pretend they’re only one world for one episode of the year is very strange to me,” she told CinemaBlend at Comic-Con. “They should call more, and there should be more crossovers that aren’t the one crossover.”
“I’m hoping, actually, that we start doing more mini crossovers,” Caity Lotz told TVLine at San Diego Comic-Con when discussing the Legends’ absence in the big crossover. Her castmates agreed.
We’ve seen the occasional full-episode crossover, like The Flash‘s musical episode with Barry and Kara headlining. Oliver also appeared as a future version of himself in the Legends of Tomorrow episode “Star City 2046.”
The logistics of these large scale crossovers have to be difficult to work with, though.
Therefore, the Arrowverse would benefit from more small-scale crossovers that would be easier to schedule. We’ve seen crossovers in this vein before, like Diggle, Lyla or Felicity appearing on The Flash; Wally showing up for a cameo in Legends of Tomorrow and Sara appearing on Arrow.
Characters also sometimes “call” one another without their voices being heard on the other end of the line. And Cisco seems to be the designated costume designer and upgrader for the Arrowverse.
Yet, somehow the shows still feel separate despite most of the shows taking place on Earth-1.
This past season, for instance, no one on Arrow mentioned Barry being on trial for Clifford DeVoe’s murder or him being sent to prison, despite the close relationship Barry shares with Team Arrow.
No one, similarly, on The Flash mentioned Oliver’s trial for being the Green Arrow.
While it is understandable that too many crossovers might be frustrating for viewers who don’t watch all of the shows, the Arrowverse would definitely benefit from more small-scale crossovers than it is currently doing.
This not only rewards fans who do keep up with all the shows in this combined universe, but it also makes the universe feel richer and more lived in. Isn’t that the point of having a combined universe, after all?
So, how might we see some more mini crossovers?
Rickards thinks Felicity should interact more with Iris, who has become the team leader on The Flash: “I think if she can call Iris for tips, that would be a really cool thing to do. I think that the two of them should work together more.”
It would be interesting to see if Sara and Black Siren stay in touch in the wake of Quentin’s death, especially since Siren was the one to call Sara after Quentin was shot.
Lyla should appear on Legends at some point to address how A.R.G.U.S. came to be in charge of a police state in Zari’s time.
Team Flash seems like the go-to group when another team is dealing with metahumans.
More villains could cross from one show to the next, leading to the teams communicating.
And so on.
The Arrowverse has been extremely successful considering how many shows now or will inhabit it. It’s clear everyone involved in these shows enjoys rewarding fans for their loyalty with big productions like the annual crossover.
Yet, the connections between the shows could be even stronger. The characters could cultivate deeper friendships across the shows. The teams could take advantage of their super allies more often. The villains could challenge multiple teams of heroes.
The more the shows are drawn together, the more valuable the shared universe of the Arrowverse feels.