Hello and welcome to a special Arrowverse catchup post as I have reached the 2018 annual crossover event, Elseworlds. This featured the casts of Supergirl, Flash, and Arrow for an enjoyable 3 part adventure which was essentially a set up for the next crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. I don’t mind it being a set up as it was also very enjoyable in its own right. The highlight was getting to see Superman in all his glory as Tyler Hoechin’s Man of Steel got ample screen time throughout the adventure. He just makes such a great Superman: he has the look, the voice and exudes a charisma needed for the role. The actor getting to play an evil version of himself complete with black suit was also just fan service at its best. Lois Lane made her on screen Arrowverse debut and she was just fine more than anything else. She didn’t really add much to the story (except for a pregnancy announcement and slamming down that magic hammer) but it did add another layer to Superman’s character…as did the Smalleville farm!!! I lost my mind when that theme song came on and was left disappointed because I thought we were getting that show involved but it was still great to see that familiar barn and truck from the Smalleville show.

We were rushing off all over the place as we also got our first glimpse of Gotham (they did not use any characters on screen who were cast in Gotham the tv show so my hopes of a crossover appearance can live on). With Batman not only being confirmed but also getting to see the bat signal left us all wanting to one day see the caped crusader. They got the balance of teases right, with Oliver and Barry having differing opinions on if Batman even being real added a drop of humour. We instead met Batwoman aka Kate Kane and she came off as a bad ass who was very confident but not arrogant. She actually came across as quite likeable which boded well as it acted for a back door pilot into her own show. The costume was brilliant too looking like it had been taken straight out of the pages of a comic book. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it I guess.

The whole body swap thing was great fun and in my opinion one of the overall highlights of the crossover. The credit goes to Amell and Gustin who are not only both brilliant actors in their own right but have superb chemistry with one another. The scenes with just them went from funny to charming to touching and it is hard for me to pick a favourite…but the scene with them trapped together in a pipeline cell was hilarious. Seeing them kiss the wrong people was strange though as was seeing them in each others suits. Barry actually made for an interesting Green Arrow though. Is it weird I want to see more of that!?

Not as many cameos as last years Crisis on Earth X (which if I had to pick I did prefer to this one…just) but the ones we got were fun. Apart from Superman we got John Barrowman returning to his role of Malcolm Merlyn for the hallucination scene and I was jumping for joy. We got Reverse Flash too which was cool but was somewhat undermined by him having appeared in the previous episode of Flash. The Gary cameo got me the most. So random but yet so perfect, he represented the absent Legends brand fittingly. Diaz even got his mandatory one minute of Arrow screen time!

The climax and action were both fun and you have to take the silliness with a pinch of salt. Why not fly around the world so fast to stop it? It was comic book fun which I was happy to accept. They left things on a slightly ominous note though as this action was supposed to kill Barry and Kara. The only reason this didn’t happen as Oliver seemed to make some sort of deal with the Monitor (who was a guy warned of a crisis similar to a Herald of Galactus in Marvel). He’s dying in their place I presume next year as we all know that Arrow is coming to an end. If so then it is a shame but I guess it is the only way that Oliver Queen would ever stop fighting the good fight.

Overall this was a very fun story paced well and split across the three shows.It really put Oliver and Barry in focus which was the right decision while having Supergirl, Superman and Batwoman play supporting roles well. Roll on next year’s crossover!

DD Rating: 9/10