Love or hate the Arrowverse but there’s one thing we can’t deny, it brought a lot of non-superhero fans to the fold. It also was the first superhero section to do full-fledged crossovers on the TV spectrum.
The Arrowverse will officially end with The Flash season 9. That has been confirmed.
For me, personally, despite a lot of downs, and I mean, a LOT of downs – there were still some moments that were truly spectacular. Firstly though, let’s take a look at all of the shows that were involved in the Arrowverse.
- Arrow (2012 – 2020)
- The Flash (2014 – 2023)
- Supergirl (2015 – 2021)
- Legends of Tomorrow (2016 – 2022)
- Black Lightning (2018 – 2021)
- Batwoman (2019 – 2022)
One of the main reasons why I appreciate the Arrowverse is because, in a sense, it made me a hardcore fan of superhero content.
Let me explain. I’ve always loved Marvel, DC, and Star Wars since I was a kid. I’m 29 now, but I don’t know, it’s weird. When I first watched The Flash in 2014 when I was hungover, something just clicked. I remember watching the episode where Oliver Queen shows up, I became intrigued and decided to stop and watch Arrow instead. At the time, Arrow was on its third season with The Flash on its first.
After this, it just clicked. I became almighty intrigued by everything, not from just the Arrowverse but basically anything superhero related, I was all for it. That’s one of the reasons why I appreciate it.
The next is the mental health side. You may not know this but in 2013 I attempted to commit suicide. Around this time of my life, I had nothing going for me. I was practically homeless with nothing. These mental health issues continued through 2014, and I remember after that hungover day – it gave me something to look forward to instead of just drinking every weekend.
I know that sounds far-fetched but until my life got properly in order towards the end of 2014, the Arrowverse kept me sane as I was able to look forward to something, even if it was just some TV series.
Reason number 3 is the entertainment side. Yes, the Arrowverse has had some very questionable moments which I’ll get into very soon. However, it was just brilliant at the start. The entire relationship between Oliver and Barry was fantastic and it was always so damn incredible when the pair crossed over.
Obviously, this got larger as the crossovers went on with other characters and shows being introduced, but this is one part where we were rarely let down with the exception of maybe Crisis (and even then it was decent for what it was).
Moving onto the poor moments. Each show had its bad runs, some lasting longer than others. Also, the Arrowverse isn’t for everybody. Arrow became a drama, The Flash lost its touch, Legends became too ridiculous, Black Lightning was set at the wrong time, Supergirl went too political and strangely enough, Batwoman only started to become good. But despite those issues, why did I love it so much?
Because of the characters. Even when the shows weren’t great, there were still very entertaining moments in those episodes/seasons.
I always knew in the end the Arrowverse would end. It’s fine. It became unsustainable and unfortunately, the executives of each show did lose their touch, but in a personal sense, I’ll always appreciate the Arrowverse. I miss the hype they had during 2014/2015.
