DC on The CW 2018-19 Crossover Event: "Elseworlds" (December 9-11 2018) (1 Viewer)

[holtge]

Not sure I really agree with the producers' choice for the actress playing Lois Lane.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Promos:

Barry Allen Teaser


Oliver Queen Teaser


Supergirl Teaser


Batwoman Teaser


Main Promo

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Guide Listings:
THE FLASH, “Elseworlds, Part 1″ (airing Sunday, Dec. 9 at 8/7c)
Kevin Tancharoen directed the episode written by Eric Wallace & Sam Chalsen (#509)

Spoiler: Part 1 Synopsis

When Barry Allen and Oliver Queen wake up one morning and realize they have swapped bodies with each other, the two set off to find out what disturbed the timeline to cause such a shift. However, things quickly go from bad to worse when they present their case to Team Flash and the gang doesn’t believe them. Barry and Oliver realize they need Supergirl’s help and travel to Smallville on Earth-38 where they end up meeting Kara’s cousin, Clark Kent (Supergirl’s Tyler Hoechlin), and intrepid reporter Lois Lane (Grimm‘s Elizabeth Tulloch).

ARROW, “Elseworlds, Part 2″ (airing Monday, Dec. 10 at 8/7c)
James Bamford directed the episode with teleplay by Marc Guggenheim and story by Caroline Dries (#709)

Spoiler: Part 2 Synopsis

With Oliver and Barry still stuck in the other’s bodies, the two get a lead on John Deegan (Lost‘s Jeremy Davies) and head to Gotham City with Supergirl to figure out why their reality has changed. While there, they meet the mysterious Kate Kane (Orange Is the New Black‘s Ruby Rose), who provides them with information that leads the group to Arkham Asylum.

SUPERGIRL, “Elseworlds, Part 3″ (airing Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 8/7c)
Jesse Warn directed the episode with story by Marc Guggenheim and teleplay by Derek Simon & Robert Rovner (#409)

Spoiler: Part 3 Synopsis

Supergirl, The Flash, Green Arrow and Superman engage in the battle of their lives.

Promotional Photos:
THE FLASH, “Elseworlds, Part 1″ (airing Sunday, Dec. 9 at 8/7c)
Kevin Tancharoen directed the episode written by Eric Wallace & Sam Chalsen (#509)

Spoiler: Part 1 Photos

Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent, Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers

Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent, Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane, Grant Gustin as Oliver Queen, Stephen Amell as Barry Allen, Carlos Valdez as Cisco Ramon, Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers

ARROW, “Elseworlds, Part 2″ (airing Monday, Dec. 10 at 8/7c)
James Bamford directed the episode with teleplay by Marc Guggenheim and story by Caroline Dries (#709)

Spoiler: Part 2 Photos

LaMonica Garrett as the Monitor

Ruby Rose as Batwoman

Melissa Benoist as Supergirl, Stephen Amell as The Flash, John Wesley Shipp as The Flash, Grant Gustin as the Green Arrow

Melissa Benoist as Supergirl

Jeremy Davies as Dr. John Deegan

David Ramsey as John Diggle

SUPERGIRL, “Elseworlds, Part 3″ (airing Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 8/7c)
Jesse Warn directed the episode with story by Marc Guggenheim and teleplay by Derek Simon & Robert Rovner (#409)

Spoiler: Part 3 Photos

Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon.

Love that they're using the same location as "Smallville" for the Kent Farm, and love the old red pickup truck as an homage to Superman: The Movie.

 

[Gary Seven]

I know I am in the minority but I do not care for Tyler Hoechlin as Superman. To me, he just doesn't quite look the part... too small (the Flash and Green Arrow are bigger than he is). Like Dean Cain, he is better suited as Clark Kent, but not Superman. Supes is tough to cast for because you have one guy to cast as two distinct people. No easy task but there is a large pool of talent out there. They could have cast better.

 

[Sam Favate]

This sounds really good.

As I said in the thread for the Berlanti-produced Titans show, these shows are just begging for the chance to do Batman. Warner and DC should let them. Matt Reeves' movie is in limbo, no one is saying if Affleck is coming back or who will replace him, and they're not going to make the character's 80th anniversary in 2019.

 

[holtge]

This really does sound awesome! Can't wait!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

New posters (click to enlarge):




That merge to form:

New extended trailer:

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

These crossovers are just so much fun. And I continue to love Tyler Hoechlin's take on Superman.

Especially loved the "Smallville" theme song when they cut to the Kent Farm on Earth-38.

 

[Matt Hough]

I'll have to watch it On Demand tomorrow. My CW channel tonight for some reason showed two Friends episodes back to back in that timeslot for The Flash. I was pissed.

 

[Sam Favate]

These crossovers are just so much fun. And I continue to love Tyler Hoechlin's take on Superman.

The first installment was delightful. Hoechin is a great Superman and I hope the rumors are true that Warner is looking to have a Superman show on the CW. I also really liked Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane. She has a gleam in her eye like Margot Kidder and a confidence that echoes Dana Delaney's animated version of the character (she even calls Clark "Smallville"). She'd be terrific as Lois on a regular show.

Nice seeing Oliver and Barry in uncomfortable positions. Loved Barry's take when Diggle gave him the suit to put on.

Next up is Gotham City. Can't wait.

 

[Matt Hough]

Watched it On Demand at lunchtime. Wonderful. The Smallville set-up brought back many happy years of viewing, and I, too, like Tyler and Elizabeth as Clark and Lois. Grant had some great comic moments as the confused Barry/Oliver and was priceless when he imitated that growling commentary a la Stephen. And when I saw it was Gotham City I got really excited. Looking forward to tonight's episode.

 

[Matt Hough]

SOme excellent surprise appearances tonight and nice introduction of Batwoman. I really loved Barry and Kara's belief in Batman and Oliver's total dismissal of the character. The basic reset at the end brings us into tomorrow's wrap-up.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Tonight's episode was clearly meant as a backdoor pilot for a Batwoman series with Ruby Rose.

The decision to shoot the Gotham scenes in Chicago gave the episode a scope and scale that the Arrowverse shows just don't usually have. And Chicago, of course, stood in for Gotham in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, so there's a bit of borrowed glory there too. The only downside is that there's no way a CW show can afford to shoot in Chicago on an ongoing basis, so if "Batwoman" does get picked up to series, we'll have to settle for establishing shots of Chicago cutting to the same kind of generic Vancouver locations that the other shows use -- kind of like the difference between CBS "Supergirl" where National City actually was Los Angeles, and CW "Supergirl" where only the establishing shots are Los Angeles.

It also made me appreciate the top-notch production design and cinematography of "Gotham". For whatever the faults of that show -- and they are plentiful -- it's the best looking superhero show on broadcast television. The exteriors shot on the streets of Chicago tonight were epic, but the interior sets didn't hold a candle to what "Gotham" is doing. It was much closer to "BIrds of Prey" quality, which makes sense since that show was the last time The CW (technically The WB) tried to tackle the Batman mythos.

On the other hand, I did like Ruby Rose as Kate Kane. I would watch a series built around that character. She's not a stellar actress, but she's got the kind of silver screen charisma that explains why she's done so well in movies since "Orange is the New Black". And I like the setup of "Batwoman" as a sequel to a Batman series that never aired. If it does go to series, hopefully they'll let the show bring in a version of Bruce Wayne/Batman a season or two down the road, the way they did with Clark Kent/Superman on "Supergirl".

All of the stuff with The Monitor seems like it's setting up Crisis on Infinite Earths to be next year's crossover, which would presumably culminate with Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-3, Earth-38, and the "Black Lightning" Earth being merged into one universe for easier future crossover opportunities.

Loved the quick hint that John Diggle's Earth-90 doppelganger is John Stewart aka Green Lantern.

I really loved Barry and Kara's belief in Batman and Oliver's total dismissal of the character.

It was a fun nod to the fact that the Arrowverse version of Green Arrow basically is Batman. But this episode really drove home for me how little time the Green Arrow spends leaping across rooftops. There was a verticality to Batwoman's introduction that just isn't there for the Green Arrow.

 

[holtge]

I agree with everything that's already been said. Just want to add though that I was initially unhappy with the producer's choice, Elizabeth Tulloch, as the actress portraying Lois Lane. I just didn't like any of the photographs I originally saw of that character on the set. However, after having seen Tulloch as Lois Lane in the finished product, I think the producers chose well. She did a fantastic job as the iconic Daily Planet reporter. Tyler Hoechlin is wonderful as Clark Kent/Superman, as well. I just wish we knew what he was going to tell Kara/Supergirl before Barry and Oliver breached themselves to Earth-38 in Part 1 of the crossover.

 

[Sam Favate]

The second installment was a hoot. Great stuff in and around Gotham. Nice to see Arkham in the Arrowverse.

When Kara said her cousin was friends with Bruce, is it the Bruce of Earth-1? (This was taking place on Earth-1, wasn't it?) If the CW ever does that Superman series, they're going to need to show Batman.

 

[Richard V]

Just wanted to note Ralph Dibney's "it's not even Tuesday" remark. I thought I would bust a gut laughing on that insider joke.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I loved all of the Superman III nods in tonight's wrap-up of this year's crossover.

The climactic battle between Deegan's faux-Superman and the real Superman was suitably exciting to watch, though there's no way that -- even evenly matched in powers -- the real Superman should have spent so much of the fight on the defensive. He's been doing this for at least 15 years at this point. Deegan is brand new to Superman's powers. It shouldn't have been close.

We know that, for whatever reason, Earth-1 has very little in the way of aliens, including Clark and Kara. My pet theory is that in the Earth-1 universe, Krypton never exploded so their doppelgangers had long happy lives on Krypton, and Fort Roz never crashed to Earth, unleashing all of its baddies. But it's very interesting that it does have an Alex Danvers and a Jimmy Olsen, and that Earth-1 Alex's early life tracked almost identically with Earth-38 Alex's early life. Given how similar Earth-1 and Earth-38 are compared to many of the other Earths, it stands to reason that the point of divergence between the two came much later than many of the others. Perhaps Kal-El's pod not crashing into that field in Smallville was the point of divergence between the two Earths.

We know that the Book demanded balance, so it stands to reason that saving the lives of Kara and Barry would have required sacrificing the lives of two others. I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for both Oliver Queen and "Arrow".

All of the stuff with The Monitor seems like it's setting up Crisis on Infinite Earths to be next year's crossover, which would presumably culminate with Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-3, Earth-38, and the "Black Lightning" Earth being merged into one universe for easier future crossover opportunities.

It was very exciting to have that confirmed at the end of tonight's episode.

Assuming that "Batwoman" does get ordered to series, I hope "Crisis on Infinite Earths" is a six-part event across "Arrow", "The Flash", "Supergirl", "Legends of Tomorrow", "Black Lightning", and "Batwoman". If they could film the Gotham scenes in Chicago for this crossover, they can surmount the fact that "Black Lightning" shoots in Atlanta while the rest of the shows shoot in Vancouver.

And it would be nice to come out the other side with all of the shows unified into one universe, with the Star City, Central City, and Gotham City from Earth-1, National City and Metropolis from Earth-38, Freeland from whatever Earth "Black Lightning" is set on all brought together on one Earth.

I just wish we knew what he was going to tell Kara/Supergirl before Barry and Oliver breached themselves to Earth-38 in Part 1 of the crossover.

On one hand, it seems pretty clear based on how this ended that he was about to tell her than Lois and him are expecting a child.

On the other hand, it makes no sense that a Kyptonian and a human could have a child together, so I'm wondering if that was a change Superman made when he had control of the book; a little something selfish for himself and the woman he loves after so many years of selfless service. If that's the case, then the news he was about to share would have obviously changed with the universe-altering hijinks.

When Kara said her cousin was friends with Bruce, is it the Bruce of Earth-1? (This was taking place on Earth-1, wasn't it?) If the CW ever does that Superman series, they're going to need to show Batman.

It's the Earth-38 Bruce Wayne/Batman. Up until this crossover, the only Earth we'd had confirmation of Batman on was Earth-38. Only Bruce Wayne had previously been confirmed on Earth-1, and only fairly recently.

If they hadn't built this crossover around the idea of Green Arrow and The Flash switching places, I think they would have just ventured to Gotham City on Earth-38. Depending on how next year's crossover shakes out, it might end up being a moot point.

 

[Sam Favate]

What was the significance of Oliver shooting that arrow that knocked Deegan down and made him drop the book? Was this a show of Oliver’s failing character? It seemed like it somehow averted the deaths of Kara and Barry.

 

[Richard V]

What was the significance of Oliver shooting that arrow that knocked Deegan down and made him drop the book? Was this a show of Oliver’s failing character? It seemed like it somehow averted the deaths of Kara and Barry.

I'm guessing it was part of some deal he made with The Monitor

 

[Matt Hough]

Always sad when they come up with reasons to take Superman away from these universes for extended periods. I know they contractually have to, but for me he is always a welcome presence in these stories and with an appealing new Lois Lane by his side, that's even more reason I wish they could be worked into these series more regularly.