The long-awaited DC Arrowverse crossover Elseworlds which crosses over Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and (subtly) DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has come and gone. Featuring some of the most prolific characters of the DC Universe’s roster, Elseworlds brings The CW’s every growing list of Superhero shows back to their roots of quality while providing a major change to come for the Arrowverse in 2019.

Elseworlds is a 2018 crossover event featuring Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and (subtly) DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, it aired on The CW between December 9-11. It is produced by Berlanti Productions and WB Television.

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Elseworlds may be present in this review. An Amazon Affiliates Link is present within this review.

Taking its name from a series of non-canon DC comic books, Elseworlds follows our heroes Barry Allen/The Flash, Oliver Queen/The Green Arrow, and Kara Danvers/Supergirl as their worlds are turned upside down by a doctor named John Deegan who was given a book to rewrite the universes by The Monitor; a mysterious man attempting to prepare the universes for a dark event destined to come in the very near future. Barry and Oliver switch lives and hero personas & even positions from heroes to villains altogether, while Kara deals with her Superman being replaced by Deegan himself. As The Monitor watches over the events unfolding as far as he’s concerned for Barry, Oliver, and co. it’s merely practice. Meanwhile, a trip to Gotham City introduces Kate Kane/Batwoman played by new Arrowverse star Ruby Rose in a move that may begin a change in the Arrowverse as we currently know it. 

THE GOOD: Elseworlds starts off with a “Freaky Friday”-esque life switcheroo of The Flash and Green Arrow assuming each others superhero personas, abilities and lives after a powerful being known as The Monitor enlists John Deegan as a “savior of mankind” by giving him a book which allows him to rewrite the universes as he sees fit. When Flash & Green Arrow come together and after a number of trials convinces their friends of their story about the switch Team Arrow & Team Flash work together alongside Barry Allen from Earth-90 in an attempt to set right the worlds. Meanwhile Barry & Oliver travel to Earth-38 to get help from Kara and end up meeting Superman (along with Lois Lane) for the first time. A we’re treated to a couple of awesome Smallville easter eggs including a snippet of the original theme song “Save Me” by Remy Zero.  CW can claim that a Superman spinoff isn’t in the works all they want, but there’s way too much foundation building here. 

Barry, Kara, and Oliver learn that John Deegan is employed at Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum which is also the likely location of the book and travel to the now Batman/Bruce-less city, with Bruce Wayne’s cousin Kate Kane taking over most of Bruce’s business. After some issues with the local law Kane bails the trio out of prison and gives them some dirt on the Asylum. Here we get several easter eggs including references to Captain Boomerang, The Penguin, The Joker, The Riddler, Bane, and even an appearance by Nora Fries (Mr. Freeze’s wife) as well as Freeze’s cold gun. Deegan releases some Asylum prisoners and The Flash & Green Arrow along with Killer Frost and Batwoman take them down including Psycho-Pirate who will have a major part in next year’s event. The Monitor encourages Deegan to be “more creative” with his redesigning of the universe and he re-imagines himself as The Man of Steel, with Barry and Oliver becoming criminals known as The Trigger Twins.  Barely escaping the law (on the corner of Nolan and Burton I might add), the heroes come across a dive bar full of criminals and get the aide of crime boss Cisco to steal the book from Deegan. After a battle of Supermen, Barry, Clark, Kara, and Oliver take back the book and set things right, while Batwoman gives Oliver a call warning him of Deegan’s new friendship with the aforementioned Psycho-Pirate. 

THE BAD: Batwoman’s build up felt a little over done for what was essentially a cameo. Granted they just wanted to show her off for the sake of the upcoming Batwoman series, but she definitely could have been used more during the final climax in some capacity outside of letting us know that she’d likely return to the Arrowverse in next year’s crossover. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Though not short of issues, Elseworlds does a fantastic job of putting the pieces together for some major shifts hinted at in the future of the Arrowverse. With fun references and jabs thrown at the DC Universe’s catalog of characters and what can technically be perceived as a part two of this storyline in Crisis on Infinite Earths things are looking the brightest they’ve ever been for The CW’s flagship superhero shows. Otaku Dome gives Elseworlds a 100 out of 100.