With the barrage of cancellations in the last 48 hours with more expected, I want to take a look at what was the most popular superhero content on television, where it used to be, and where it is now.
The Arrowverse has been going on for almost 10 years, starting with Arrow and then bringing The Flash onboard in 2014.
Since then, the universe has grown exponentially. Yes, there are shows out there that aren’t technically part of the Arrowverse but for me, Arrowverse just defines the superhero shows on The CW which means, they can crossover if they wanted to. I’m looking at you, Black Lightning.
Quick side note, when Black Lightning launched, the directors said it wouldn’t be a part of the Arrowverse but ended up so in the end anyway.
We’ve had some incredible moments throughout the Arrowverse’s 10-year span with some fantastic crossovers. It’s no wonder there is such a loyal community to each individual show and the overall thing as well.
Let’s take a look at all the shows The CW has given us over the years in a delightful table;
| Show | Release date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Arrow | October 10th, 2012 | Ended |
| The Flash | October 7th, 2014 | Renewed S9 |
| Supergirl | July 8th, 2015 | Ended |
| Legends of Tomorrow | January 21st, 2016 | Canceled |
| Black Lightning | January 16th, 2018 | Canceled |
| Batwoman | October 6th, 2019 | Canceled |
| Stargirl | May 18th, 2020 | Renewed S3 |
| Superman & Lois | February 23rd, 2021 | Renewed S3 |
| Naomi | January 11th, 2022 | No update |
| Gotham Knights | Possibly 2023 | New show |
As you can see by the above table, at one point during 2021 they had 7 shows running. Now we’re down to 3, with 1’s fate unknown and a new show coming in 2023.
The Flash has been renewed for a ninth season and I am willing to bet that it’s the last season for the speedster.
Firstly, in this article, I want to discuss the overall shows themselves. Which shows had their high points, did they deserve to be canceled, etc.
When I look at that table, I see a lot of stale content. Honestly. I am a huge fan of all of these shows but they all ended up bad in major parts.
Arrow ended up a soap opera after season 3. The Flash has just lost its touch and has done for quite some time now. Legends was awful after season 2. Black Lightning was bang average. Batwoman just got good in season 3 then canceled. Stargirl is class. Superman & Lois is a masterpiece and Naomi is a waste of time.
The point I’m trying to make in the above paragraph is that consistency is key, right? They’ve only done that with 2 shows. Stargirl season 1 was done by the DC Universe before moving over to The CW in season 2, and Superman & Lois is only mid-way through season 2 so there is time for both shows to take the all-familiar route.
Speaking of consistency. One of the major strong points of The CW was the crossovers. We had a grand total of 6 crossovers.
- Flash vs. Arrow
- Heroes Join Forces
- Invasion!
- Crisis on Earth-X
- Elseworlds
- Crisis on Infinite Earths
We won’t discuss the latest Flash crossover. That was truly trash. However, for 6 years we got crossovers. Some are better than others, but overall they were enjoyable even if they butchered the Crisis on Infinite Earths story, it was still entertaining as hell. That was in 2019. We’ve had next to nothing since then.
Now, even more so, it’s unlikely we’ll be getting anything else due to the fact there are so many canceled shows now. Not to mention that The CW constantly tried to backtrack itself in major plot points didn’t help. Such as Diggle becoming, or should I say, almost becoming the Green Lantern. Also, the set earths after Crisis didn’t work for long.
So what went wrong? Well, poor direction mainly. Look at it from this point of view. What if Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak never happened and instead, like the damn comic books, it was Oliver Queen and Laurel?
What if The Flash used the better villains in his rogue gallery? What if Legends didn’t go stupid after season 2 (some like this and it’s fine, I personally didn’t). What if Black Lightning was set earlier in his prime? What if Batwoman’s season 3 was actually season 1? What if Supergirl didn’t go all political?
Again, I get that some people enjoyed the direction some of these shows took and that’s absolutely fine. However, I feel like if the shows were taken better care of, the viewership wouldn’t be at an all-time low for pretty much all of these shows with the exception of The Flash and Superman & Lois which are averaging high numbers still.
These cancelations may come down to the fact that The CW is being bought out, it’s a fair assessment to believe that. But why has Superman & Lois, Stargirl, and The Flash all been renewed with Gotham Knights only recently announced?
The issue is, that the content just isn’t great anymore. When you look at what Marvel is doing over at Disney+, how can these shows possibly compete? Personally, the ONLY shows that are worth the invested time now are Stargirl and Superman and Lois.
I haven’t watched The Flash in over 3 weeks because I just don’t care anymore. The side characters are trash and the villains are just not interesting. So for me, the Arrowverse is finished in my eyes.
Another negative thing they kept doing was keeping these shows separate in “different universes”. Why?
We know Naomi has some sort of connection to Superman. Why didn’t they just link it to Superman & Lois so if they needed to, you have perhaps the best live-action Superman in Tyler Hoechlin just chilling there. Yet again, another move that makes zero sense and creates a much less impact right away.
The Arrowverse sells. People are invested. If they know a show is fully connected, it’s likely they will invest the time and energy into giving a new show a watch. Instead, originally Supergirl and Black Lightning were never connected. It’s dumb.
Out of all the cancelations, they deserved to be canceled in a way. I know each canceled show has its fanbase and will probably trash me for saying that, but they did. This is coming from someone who thought Batwoman’s season 3 was a masterpiece and fully deserved a 4th, I get why it was canceled.
The CW has proved they can make a show a masterpiece, they’ve done it time and time again but unfortunately, the directions after 2019 weren’t a positive one.
They need to learn to read the comics and follow through with the major character arks, i.e. Oliver and Laurel, not Oliver and Felicity. A point I would like to come back to which is why it’s not great. The directors said the story between Oliver and Laurel was told during season 1 and Arrow was trying to tell its own story. The Flash has done this with Iris and it’s worked out pretty well so far in that sense. Stupid decision on Arrow’s part. I’ll always stand by that as a comic book fan.
Wrapping this up, I don’t fully blame The CW for all of this. DC is an absolute mess. It’s all over the place. There’s no constant, no roadmaps, about 70 different universes with little connectivity, actors and actresses doing dumb shit or being fired for speaking out. The entire franchise is in a really bad way right now and it’s unlikely they will ever catch up to Marvel in terms of success.
Please remember before you blast me. If you disagree with any of this, remember, these are my thoughts and opinions. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this as well. Let me know if you disagree or agree with any of my points in the comment section below, or if you see this article on social media, you can comment there.
