Say what you will about the Arrowverse, but there's no denying that those big crossover events were a lot of fun. Crisis on Infinite Earths, for example, pulled out all the stops and included huge cameos from the likes of Ezra Miller and Tom Welling.
Unfortunately, the end of shows like Arrow, Supergirl, Batwoman, and Legends of Tomorrow has made this world much smaller than it used to be. Throw in the recent revelation that Superman & Lois takes place in its own reality, and it's hard to imagine we'll be treated to any future crossover events.
Now, that's essentially been confirmed by Superman & Lois showrunner Todd Helbing.
"We're a different planet, a different Earth," he tells Looper. "The Superman that you saw in all the crossovers is not the same as the Superman on our planet. It's clearly a doppelganger. Part of how this all folds in the big picture with DC is ultimately a DC decision. I'm sure there'll be more clarity in the future, but as of now, we're a different Earth in the DC Universe."
"That version of what we did is probably [done] because we don't have all of those characters anymore. [From] those shows, all the actors are going to go on and do different projects, or life is going to make them busy," he said of possible future crossover events. "It's hard to speculate other than they're still comic book shows. There are guests in comic book shows all the time."
"I don't know if we'll have exactly the same thing - it's hard to perceive [what could happen in] the superhero genre. It would be great if, four years from now, there was a completely different second wave of this. We could do those. They were a lot of fun, but it's hard to say."
Helbing isn't closing the door completely, but it's pretty obvious that there's nothing planned. When Superman & Lois first launched, we were going to see a "World's Finest" crossover with Batwoman that was scrapped due to the pandemic. With that in mind, it clearly wasn't always the plan for this show to take place in a world completely separate to the wider Arrowverse.
Something obviously changed, and we'd guess it's due to Warner Bros.' evolving relationship with The CW (not to mention the launch of HBO Max).
Alas, when The Flash races through its final episodes, it appears we'll be saying goodbye to the Arrowverse...