

When DC and CW announced that they would pursue a The Flash television series that not only drew on the success of current CW offering Arrow, but took place in the same universe, certain questions arose. If Arrow does take place in the same universe as the new Flash series, how will the show runners deal with the relatively super-powerless world of Arrow? Why did the CW put Amazon, their planned Wonder Woman show, on hold for the new Flash series? Will Arrow and the new Flash show cross over at any point after The Flash gets his own show? Well, two of these questions now have answers, thanks to Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim.

In an interview with Comic Book Resources, the writer and producer described how The Flash and Arrow could be integrated into the same universe, using Marvel as an example. The shows will certainly have a link, as the Flash will be introduced to Arrow first, before his own show premieres. Still, Guggenheim wants to keep the two shows unique, saying to Comic Book Resources:

I think a lot of people are justified in asking ‘What does this mean for Arrow in terms of its tone?’ And my answer is that the trick that we have – and this is a challenge we’ve discusses a lot and have an awareness of how to face it head on – is the fact that Arrow is like Iron Man where The Flash will be The Hulk. And just as The Hulk coming out did not change the tone of the Iron Man movies, The Flash will not change the tone of Arrow. We’re very cognizant of what Arrow is all about, and I think the Marvel movies demonstrate that each piece of a universe can have its own feel. Thor is consistent with the tone of Thor while Captain America is consistent with the tone of Captain America’s character. Arrow’s tone will remain consistent much in the same way, and we are looking forward to expanding our canvass a bit. And judging from the announcement, I think the fans are looking forward to it as well.

What Guggenheim says makes sense, and gives us some hope that the DC universe might expand on television like the Marvel universe has in film. The Marvel comparison certainly indicated the possibility of Wonder Woman as another addition to the gang at some point. Of course, Guggenheim’s partner on Arrow, Andrew Kreisberg will be responsible for writing the Flash into the universe, so his sentiments on the integration of new characters are likely very similar. Guggenheim explained to Comic Book Resources that expansion was not the original plan with the relatively grounded Arrow:

But at the same time, quite frankly, we didn’t plan to expand the DC Universe so much in the first season of ‘Arrow.’ For example, Greg [Berlanti], Andrew [Kreisberg] and myself never said ‘In the first season of this show, we’re going to introduce the Huntress and Deathstroke.’ We really didn’t have that plan. We were hoping to one day get to those characters, but we never thought it’d happen as quickly as it did.

It looks like the DC Universe keeps expanding on television, and Arrow’s show runners are becoming more and more willing to let this happen. Guggenheim even expressed great interest in cross overs after The Flash is introduced, explaining,

I think one of the big thing that appeals to me about comics in general is the idea of the shared universe. It’s a lot of fun to be able to do that in television, and growing up one of the things I enjoyed was the ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ and ‘The Bionic Woman’ and the way those two shows would interact with each other. We’re at least a season away from ‘Arrow’ interacting with ‘The Flash,” but the potential for that is really exciting for me.

(via Comic Book Resources, io9, image by Francis Manapul)

Previously in Arrow and Flash

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