The Arrowverse is an American superhero media franchise and shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series on CW Seed. The series were developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, Ali Adler, Phil Klemmer, Salim Akil, and Caroline Dries. Set in a shared fictional multiverse much like the DC Universe and DC Multiverse in comic books, it was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast and characters that span six live-action television series and two animated series.
The franchise began with Arrow, based on the character Green Arrow, which debuted in October 2012. It was followed by The Flash in 2014, and the animated web series Vixen in 2015. The franchise further expanded in January 2016 with the debut of Legends of Tomorrow, starring characters who previously appeared on both Arrow and The Flash. Later that year, the CBS series Supergirl, having already crossed over with The Flash, moved to The CW for the remainder of its run. A second animated web series, Freedom Fighters: The Ray, was released in 2017, which followed Ray Terrill / The Ray, who would make a live-action appearance during that year's crossover event "Crisis on Earth-X". In addition to the live-action and web-based series, the franchise has spawned three promotional tie-in live-action web series: Blood Rush, Chronicles of Cisco and The Flash: Stretched Scenes; released in 2013, 2016 and 2017 respectively. A fifth series, Batwoman, premiered in 2019. Six ensemble crossover events involving many of the live-action series of the Arrowverse have taken place, beginning with "Flash vs. Arrow" in 2014 and concluding with "Crisis on Infinite Earths" between 2019 and 2020. Additionally, Matt Ryan has reprised his role as John Constantine from the NBC series Constantine, initially in guest appearances in episodes of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, before becoming a series regular for the latter, in addition to continuing storylines from the former series. In 2023, the franchise concluded with the ninth and final season of The Flash.
The 2018 and 2019 crossovers, "Elseworlds" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths", saw multiple DC television series and films retroactively added to the franchise's multiverse. "Crisis on Infinite Earths" also rebooted the multiverse, with Supergirl joining the other live-action series on a new Earth-Prime along with the series Black Lightning, which had been separate up to that point. The franchise has been successful, creating a large fandom around the world, and has received positive reviews; critics have praised the themes, acting, action sequences, direction and character development.
Development
In January 2012, The CW ordered a pilot for Arrow, revolving around the character Green Arrow and developed by Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti, and Marc Guggenheim. Stephen Amell was cast in the titular role. When developing the series, Guggenheim said that the creative team wanted to "chart [their] own course, [their] own destiny", and avoid any direct connections to the series Smallville, which featured its own Green Arrow (Justin Hartley). In July 2013, it was announced that Berlanti, Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns would be creating a spin-off television series based on The Flash. The character, played by Grant Gustin, was set to appear in three episodes of Arrows second season. The third episode was supposed to act as a backdoor pilot for the new series, but a traditional pilot was eventually ordered instead.
In November 2014, Berlanti expressed interest in making his CBS series Supergirl exist in the same universe as Arrow and The Flash, and in January 2015, The CW president Mark Pedowitz revealed that he was also open to a crossover among the series and networks. However, CBS president Nina Tassler stated that month that, "those two shows are on a different network. So I think we'll keep Supergirl to ourselves for a while." In August 2015, Tassler revealed that while there were no plans at the time to do story crossovers, the three series would have crossover promotions.
In January 2015, the CW announced that an animated web-series featuring the DC heroine Vixen would debut on CW Seed in late 2015 and be set in the same universe as both Arrow and The Flash. Amell and Gustin would reprise their respective roles in the series, and the character of Vixen was expected to make a live-action appearance on The Flash and/or Arrow as well. The next month, it was reported that another spin-off series, described as a superhero team-up show, was being discussed by The CW for a possible 2015–16 midseason release. Berlanti, Kreisberg, Guggenheim and Sarah Schechter would be executive producers of the potential series, which would be headlined by several recurring characters from both Arrow and The Flash. That May, the CW officially confirmed DC's Legends of Tomorrow for a January 2016 premiere. Pedowitz later stated, "There is no intention, at this point, to spin anything else off" to add to the universe, though after Vixen was renewed for a second season he said, "Hopefully, that character could actually spin itself out, if not, maybe join as one of the Legends" in Legends of Tomorrow. In October, additional Arrow showrunner Wendy Mericle revealed that the producers had begun having someone track all the characters and plots used by each series, in order to make sure everything lines up, but the following April, The Flash executive producer Aaron Helbing noted that "sometimes the schedules don't line up exactly...and that stuff is out of our control", such as when Barry was shown using his abilities on Arrow, while not having them the same week on The Flash.
In January 2016, Tassler's successor Glenn Geller said "I have to be really careful what I say here" in regards to a potential Supergirl/Arrowverse crossover, so "Watch and wait and see what happens." The following month, it was announced that Gustin would appear on the Supergirl episode "Worlds Finest". Berlanti and Kreisberg, also Supergirl executive producers, thanked "the fans and journalists who have kept asking for this to happen. It is our pleasure and hope to create an episode worthy of everyone's enthusiasm and support." In "Worlds Finest", Supergirl is established as being in an alternate universe where the Flash helps Kara fight the Silver Banshee and Livewire in exchange for her help in returning home. The events of the episode intersect with the events of the eighteenth episode of The Flash season two, "Versus Zoom". The crossover required "a lot more logistical trickery" than the usual Arrowverse crossovers, due to Gustin filming The Flash in Vancouver alongside Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, while Supergirl was produced in Los Angeles. The producers chose to use the Flash as the character to crossover, due to his ability to travel between various Earths, and because it was "a little more fun at first to bring the veteran from that show to the chemistry of a new show." Berlanti stated that "in a perfect world", the crossover would have featured both Gustin and Amell's Green Arrow, "but logistically that would have been a nightmare to try and do both shows. We had to facilitate one." Gustin was optimistic that the crossover in 2016 would allow another crossover the following year with the rest of the Arrowverse shows.
In May, it was announced that Supergirl would move from CBS to The CW for its second season, and that production would move from Los Angeles to Vancouver, where the CW Arrowverse series film. The second season premiered on October 10, 2016. It was also announced that Supergirl would appear on Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow during the 2016–17 season crossover episodes, though Guggenheim cautioned that "She is going to be coming over but we're not going to do a full on Supergirl crossover". Kreisberg also confirmed that, despite the series moving to The CW, the title character's universe would not be integrated into Earth-1, the main universe of Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, and would continue to exist in a parallel universe. The Earth the Supergirl series inhabits is Earth-38 in the broader multiverse, and has been informally referred to as "Earth-CBS" by Guggenheim, named for the network where Supergirl first aired. In August, the CW announced the animated web-series Freedom Fighters: The Ray for CW Seed, intending that the actor cast as Raymond "Ray" Terrill would appear in the live-action series, much like Mari McCabe / Vixen.
In May 2017, The CW ordered Black Lightning to series. The series had previously been in development at Fox, at which point Berlanti had stated Black Lightning would not crossover with his other DC Comics television properties on The CW, nor would it exist in the Arrowverse. With the move to The CW, Pedowitz said the series "at this time, is not part of the Arrowverse. It is a separate situation." Showrunners Salim Akil later clarified that they were not ruling out eventual crossovers, but wanted to establish the series and its own world first.
In July 2018, it was revealed that the CW was developing a script for a potential series centered on Batwoman, intending to launch it after the character debuted in the "Elseworlds" crossover event. The series, if picked up, would be written by Caroline Dries, with plans to air in 2019. In August, Ruby Rose was cast as Kate Kane / Batwoman. In December, it was announced that "Crisis on Infinite Earths" would be the fifth annual crossover, following the "Elseworlds" crossover. Further details explained that "Crisis" would run for five hours, marking the Arrowverse's longest crossover, and that the five parts would not air on consecutive nights, as with previous crossovers. Instead, three episodes would air in December 2019 and two in January 2020. It would also include Batwoman and Legends, which were not part of the "Elseworlds" crossover.
In January 2019, Batwoman received a pilot pick-up from the CW. On January 31, 2019, the four series already running on The CW were confirmed for further seasons, carrying them through the 2019–20 television season. On March 6, 2019, it was announced that the eighth season of Arrow would be the final season of the series, with an abbreviated ten-episode season. On May 7, The CW ordered Batwoman to series. Discussing a potential Black Lightning crossover with the Arrowverse in July 2019, Cress Williams revealed that "there's been lots of talk [...] nothing official, but at this point, I wouldn't be surprised." Two weeks later in August, Williams confirmed reports that characters from Black Lightning would appear in "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Also in August, it was reported that another untitled spin-off has been plotted. In September 2019, it was reported that The CW was developing a female led spin-off series with Katherine McNamara, Katie Cassidy and Juliana Harkavy as the leads. The following month, Marc Guggenheim released an image indicating Green Arrow and the Canaries as a potential name for the show. The same month, a Superman & Lois spinoff series entered development with Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch reprising their roles as Clark Kent / Superman and Lois Lane from Supergirl.