ELSEWORLDS: All The Biggest Moments And Spoilers From ARROW Including Those BATMAN Easter Eggs
Last night, The CW aired the second part of this year's Arrowverse crossover and as Green Arrow, the Flash, and Supergirl headed to Gotham City, we were treated to some amazing Batman Easter Eggs...
The "Elseworlds" crossover continued on The CW last night and if you thought the first episode was good, then this one will have undoubtedly knocked your socks off. Green Arrow, the Flash, and Supergirl travelled to Gotham City and met Batwoman, while The Monitor's machinations finally started to become clear: there's a "Crisis" on the horizon.
Now, we're delving into the second part of this event to bring you not only a recap of the biggest moments but also a closer look at those Easter Eggs which, yes, referenced Batman's world.
It's finally been confirmed that the Dark Knight exists in the Arrowverse and he's right there alongside many of his most famous rogues. We delve into all of that here, so to check out this list in its entirety, all you guys have to do is hit the "View List" button!
A New Opening
Arrow kicks off with its usual recap but this time, Grant Gustin has replaced Stephen Amell and it's a lot of fun seeing him play Oliver Queen in these moments from the last couple of years.
Sunday's episode of The Flash really missed a trick by not doing the same thing, especially as we all knew going in that Barry Allen and the Green Arrow would be switching places. Either way, this is definitely a fun way to kick off the second part of this crossover.
"You Don't Believe In The Batman?"
Early on in the episode, we find out that Batman does indeed exist on Earth-1 but he's very much an urban legend and like his comic book counterpart for a very long time, he's never been photographed or seen on film. Barry believes he's real but Oliver does not and remains convinced that he was this world's first vigilante (Supergirl, meanwhile, looks perplexed but we'll get to that later).
Vesper Fairchild
Before attempting to marry Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman), Bruce Wayne dated a number of women and Vesper Fairchild was among them. Well, it turns out that she once slept with Oliver Queen too!
The heroes reach out to the radio talk show host for help in tracking down John Deegan but things don't go well as she clearly wasn't happy to see Oliver again after what happened between them.
Bruce Wayne Left Gotham Three Years Ago
Why haven't we seen Batman before now? Well, it's said that the Caped Crusader disappeared three years ago and it was soon after that when Bruce Wayne also chose to leave the city. When Kate Kane is explaining all of this, she's obviously trying to protect her cousin's secret identity so common sense says that they actually would have vanished at the same time.
No sort of explanation for what happened is revealed but Kate does say that the city continued getting worse and that could have broken the hero. It's hard to believe Batman would ever abandon Gotham, though, so something tells me that there may be a twist in store for us in Batwoman itself.
Wayne Enterprises
Since Bruce vanished, Wayne Enterprises has fallen into rack and ruin. The building is abandoned and the company fell apart after the remaining board members tried to embark on some get rich quick schemes as soon as the CEO went missing. Kate, meanwhile, says she intends to turn it into a real estate company!
It's here that we get one of the episode's best Easter Eggs as Kate mentions that the Wifi password is "Alfred." What's become of the loyal butler isn't mentioned, sadly. Could it be that he's died?
Superman And Batman Are "Frenemies"
Batman may be considered a myth on Earth-1 but Supergirl makes it clear that the Dark Knight definitely exists on her world and is "frenemies" with her cousin, Superman. It sounds like things there are a little closer to what we've seen in the comic books but who knows if that version of Gotham City is one we'll ever see, especially as Warner Bros. is reluctant to use Batman on television.
Arkham Asylum Inmates
Arriving at Arkham Asylum, Oliver and Diggle make their way through the building and cross a number of cells with some familiar names on them. Those are "E. Nygma", "P." Isley, "B." Karlo, "O. Cobblepott", and "M. Guggenheim."
That's right, The Riddler, Poison Ivy, Clayface, Penguin, and, uh, Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim are all locked up in Arkham Asylum when this crossover takes place. While they do all later manage to escape before being put back in their cells by the Flash, we don't get to see any of them so perhaps The CW is holding off so they can appear in Batwoman!
More Big Easter Eggs
There are some even more obvious Batman Easter Eggs during this sequence, including a surprise appearance from Psycho Pirate. While this may seem like a random cameo, there could be a very good reason for it, especially with a "Crisis" now on the horizon.
He played a huge role in Crisis on Infinite Earths and the newspaper glimpsed at the start of The Flash's fifth season confirmed that he's one of the few people to remember the world before they all collided to create a new reality. He could be a key player in the Arrowverse moving forward because of this so his appearance here may be setting the stage for that.
Shockingly, Nora Fries also appears, this time as an Arkham Asylum inmate who seems as villainous as her husband! It's also hinted that he may be behind bars in Arkham Asylum somewhere.
Reverse-Flash And Malcolm Merlyn
There are two surprise cameos in this crossover and they come as a result of Barry and Oliver being exposed to some of Scarecrow's gas. Faced with each other's biggest fears, Oliver is forced to take on Reverse-Flash, while Barry squares off with John Barrowman's Malcolm Merlyn who makes an unexpected cameo appearance a couple of times throughout this episode of Arrow.
Ruby Rose's Performance
Last night's episode of Arrow featured the debut of Ruby Rose as Batwoman and, well, it's obviously important that we take the time to weigh in on how the actress did as the new Caped Crusader.
Honestly, she was...okay. Her performance was more than a little wooden but that can seemingly be blamed on the fact she's basically playing a cold, emotionless, female Batman. With any luck, her solo series will give Rose the chance to flesh Kane out and make her feel a little more human.
Batwoman does look fantastic in action, though, and seeing her kick some butt was great fun!
"World's Finest"
Another cool Easter Egg, it seems as if we can probably look forward to a Supergirl/Batwoman team-up somewhere down the line as there's definitely chemistry between the two heroes (Kate is actually quite flirtatious towards Kara when they first meet). It's said that they'd be the "World's Finest" pairing if they were to work together again and that's a reference to Batman and Superman.
A Different Role For John Diggle On Earth-90
When Earth-90's Barry Allen finally arrives on Earth-1, he's shocked to see John Diggle just standing there and wonders where his ring is. I'm pretty sure longtime Arrow fans will understand that!
For years now, there has been a very popular fan theory that Diggle will become Green Lantern and that's obviously a role he has on Earth-90. It doesn't mean it will ever happen to our version, though.
The Book Of Destiny And A "Crisis"
During the course of this episode, we learn that The Monitor has given John Deegan the Book of Destiny so he can rewrite reality. Why? Well, he's been visiting multiple Earths and changing them in order to see which, if any, will be capable of facing off with an even bigger threat that's on the way.
That unnamed threat will reportedly be what brings on a "Crisis" and it's clear now that The CW is building to the event which was first referenced in season one of The Flash when we learned that Barry Allen ultimately goes missing. That's not set to happen until 2024 but the network could bring it forward.
Trigger Twins
When reality is once again rewritten, Barry is powerless and both he and Oliver are now wanted criminals known as "The Trigger Twins." As with most characters in the DC Universe, there have been a couple of different versions of them but the latest are bank robbers and that's exactly what these two former heroes have become.
They're then confronted by some cops with familiar faces: Malcolm Merlyn and Richard Dragon!
Evil Superman
As the episode ends, The Trigger Twins are confronted by Superman decked out in a black suit and it's clear that he's an "evil" version of the Man of Steel we know from Earth-38!
Based on the preview for tonight's episode of Supergirl, this new version of the hero is going to play a key role in proceedings and may even be John Deegan: after all, he wanted to transform himself into the Flash but his failure is what led to Oliver and Barry switching places.