Why Batman Hasn’t Been Seen In Arrowverse Will Be Addressed In “Elseworlds” Crossover

When the Arrowverse’s highly-anticipated “Elseworlds” crossover comes to The CW next month, it’ll find the heroes traveling to Gotham City. Although they’re descending on Gotham — the iconic city from the DC Comics mythos will be missing its famed defender.

Confirmed to not be appearing in the crossover earlier this month, Arrow consutling producer and Arrowverse architect Marc Guggenheim expanded on the mysterious absence of the Caped Crusader.

Speaking with EW, Guggenheim revealed that within the Arrowverse, Bruce Wayne’s Batman has been missing for years, allowing crime in Gotham to flourish.

“It’s a dead city,” said Guggenheim. “The way I sort of described it to Stephen is, it’s there but for the grace of God goes Star City. It’s the worst case scenario. The reason no one talks about Gotham is the city might as well be dead. It’s practically a ghost town.”

Caroline Dries — a writer who consulted on the crossover and executive produces the potential Batwoman series for The CW — expanded on the idea of a hero-less Gotham, calling it a “grimy, scary” city.

“Our approach is: What does Gotham look like after the Batman has been gone for three years? So if you have the law and order, protector, and hope gone, what happens as a result?” Dries said. “Some people are thriving in his absence because now they can start to do their own thing without the oversight.”

“A lot of other people are suffering and they’re losing hope, and the city itself and infrastructure is falling apart. So it’s not a happy place. Our guys walk into a grimy, scary Gotham.”

Although Batman himself won’t be making his Arrowverse debut this time around, another member of the Bat-family is set to be introduced in Batwoman. Played by Ruby Rose, Kate Kane/Batwoman will be serving as the protector of Gotham in “Elseworlds,” and the character might even get to the point where she has her own series on The CW.

According to Rose, her character isn’t entirely impressed to have all kinds of her heroes descend on her city.

“Kate does not want to deal with this,” Rose said. “She has a whole other agenda, a whole other life that she’s trying to sort out right now, and these frigging superheroes come in and they’re a mess, and they need her help.”

Elseworlds kicks off on Sunday, December 9th on The Flash, and continues on Arrow December 10th and finishes on Supergirl Tuesday, December 11th.