With the end of Arrow coming up in two weeks, executive producer Marc Guggenheim, who has been there with the series since the beginning, says that he believes Batwoman is taking up the mantle of the series, serving the role as the gritty, grounded series of the Arrowverse. The character of Batwoman (Ruby Rose) was introduced during last season’s “Elseworlds” crossover — the same story that also introduced The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) and laid the groundwork for Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) to sacrifice himself during “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” which ended last night. Batwoman’s series launched earlier this season, after Arrow had already announced its “eighth and final” season.
Guggenheim spoke to the feeling during a recent interview with Comic Book Central, a podcast that also featured interviews with some of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” guest stars. His phrasing was nothing if not vivid.
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“After we did ‘Elseworlds,’ I said to the powers that be, ‘I feel like I just introduced my wife to her new boyfriend,’ because in many ways, Batwoman is carrying on the grim and gritty mantle of Arrow now that Arrow‘s going away. It was very surreal.”
(Yes, yes, hold all your “actually it would be her new girlfriend” jokes.)
Batwoman has received mixed reviews, but has clearly connected with an audience, becoming the second-highest rated series on The CW, following only The Flash. It is not yet clear whether the series is the last launch of the first generation of Arrowverse shows, or the first launch of a new generation that will also include Superman and Lois and, possibly, Green Arrow and the Canaries.
Superman and Lois, starring Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch, was picked up to series yesterday, with events in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” storyline setting up a surprising new status quo for comics’s ultimate power couple by the time their series launches. Meanwhile, next week’s episode of Arrow, titled “Green Arrow and the Canaries,” will serve as a prospective pilot for a new series of the same name, starring Katherine McNamara as Mia Queen, along with Katie Cassidy and Juliana Harkavy reprising their roles from Arrow.
Fans can get caught up by watching all five parts of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover on The CW’s website or app now, or buying them through video on demand platforms. The post-“Crisis” Arrowverse begins this weekend with new episodes of Batwoman and Supergirl before Arrow and Black Lightning return next week.
