"Elseworlds" Part 2 Sees the Return of Multiple Arrowverse Villains

The Arrowverse's heroes might be trying to stop Dr. John Deegan (Jeremy Davies) in "Elseworlds", but it looks like they're crossing paths with a few familiar faces in the process.

Spoilers for tonight's episode of Arrow, "Elseworlds" Part 2, below!

The episode essentially opened with the return of a familiar face, as Joe Wilson (Liam Hall) attacked John Diggle (David Ramsey) and his team during an ARGUS operation. On the brink of killing Diggle, Joe was stopped by Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell).

As Arrow fans will remember, Joe is the son of Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (Manu Bennett), who Slade and Oliver attempted to rescue during a Season 6 arc. Of course, considering the reality-shifting antics of "Elseworlds", there's no telling exactly how Joe came to cross paths with Team Arrow again.

Later on in the episode, Oliver and Barry were trying to save the day inside Arkham Asylum, only for Oliver to accidentally knock over several vials of Scarecrow's fear toxin. This caused the two superheroes to hallucinate each other's first foes, with Barry fighting off Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) and Oliver fighting with Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanagh).

If that wasn't enough, the episode's final scene provided a hearty blast from the past -- but in an entirely new way. Deegan manipulated reality once again, creating a world where Barry and Oliver are notorious criminals known as the Trigger Twins. A cop car then stopped Barry and Oliver, and the police officers were none other than Joe Wilson, Merlyn, and Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo).

These nods probably proved to be a bit of a surprise for viewers, especially since "Elseworlds" is taking a decidedly smaller approach to the Arrowverse than past crossovers. But seeing as most of the villains that returned were previous foes of Oliver's, it does make sense on some level.

"I think this year, it feels a lot more like individual [episodes]," The Flash showrunner Todd Helbing explained in a previous interview. "Flash kind of feels like a Flash episode, Arrow feels like an Arrow episode, Supergirl feels like a Supergirl episode."

"It's like a three chapters of one story," Supergirl EP Robert Rovner echoed, "but they're all kind of unique to their own show."

What did you think of the Arrowverse villain returns in "Elseworlds" Part 2? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

"Elseworlds" will conclude with Supergirl on December 11th at 8/7c on The CW.