With so little information — and so many tantalizing behind-the-scenes peeks — about The CW‘s upcoming “Elseworlds” crossover so far, fans are having a blast speculating as to just what might be going on.
Because of the initial shock at seeing Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow and Grant Gustin’s The Flash get Freaky Friday-ed on the poster for “Elseworlds,” there has been comparably little discussion of something Amell said when introducing the image.
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“My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive,” Amell tweeted, following up with “this is real, btw. I’m in the Flash suit while I type this.”
While it is clear that we will get to see Amell doing some super-speed stunts and get to critique Grant Gustin’s archery form, what is less clear is exactly how this happens.
Are these the Earth-1 heroes, but somehow with their powers swapped? Are they the Earth-38 versions, revealing that on Supergirl’s world things are ever-so-slightly different? From another universe altogether, hence the “Elseworlds” moniker on the story?
But Amell saying that he is Barry Allen, not The Flash, is an interesting twist. It could be that Barry’s brain and powers get transferred into Oliver’s body, and vice versa — which could lead to some real fun with the actors aping one another’s mannerisms.
Or it could be that on some alternate Earth in the multiverse, somehow Barry Allen just happens to look exactly like the Oliver Queen of Earth-1.
That might seem unlikely, but remember — Jay Garrick of Earth-3 is the doppelganger of Henry Allen of Earth-1 and we never really got a sense for how that worked.
While the plot of “Elseworlds” remains a bit of a mystery — and arguably gets more confusing by the day — we do know that it will see Supergirl, The Flash (Grant Gustin), and Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) crossing paths with a wide array of DC Comics characters.
In addition to Superman and Lois, the event will include the live-action debut of Kate Kane/Batwoman (Ruby Rose) as well as appearances from Dr. John Deegan (Jeremy Davies), The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), and Nora Fries (Cassandra Jean Amell).
“The crossover is fucking bananas,” Amell explained during a recent Facebook Live. “It’s crazy… I think that this will be the best crossover event that we do. And not just the best but the best by a really, really wide margin. And I think that last year was fantastic.”
“‘Crisis on Earth X’, I think that’s what it was called, that was pretty crazy and getting to play doppelgängers was pretty crazy,” Amell continued. “When Greg Berlanti first talked to me about why he wanted to do crossovers, it was because it’s for the fans. It’s so people can watch characters and scenarios that combine their favorite things on TV or introduce them to new things on TV. But you also get this license to do things that we could never do in the vacuum — especially on Arrow — that we can never do in the vacuum of just our show.”
“It’s awesome,” Hoechlin said of Lois being involved with the crossover earlier this year. “It’s really exciting to have a lot of these new characters popping into this one. The crossover has always been a huge event, but it seems like there’s a lot of new characters coming into it for the first time this time, so it should be a lot of fun.”
The three-night “Elseworlds” event will begin with Supergirl on Sunday, December 9th, before carrying over to December 10th’s Arrow and December 11’s The Flash.
