Arrowverse Crossover Ranked
The 9th year of the Arrowverse has been going on for a few months at this point. But it doesn’t look like we will be getting the annual Arrowverse crossover. So, I wanted to rank the 6 big event Arrowverse crossovers. I know there are a whole lot of crossovers, but I’m only counting the ones that were released in December.
6. Heroes Join Forces: For me this is easily the weakest of the crossover episodes. It’s still a lot of fun to see Barry and Oliver team up and there are some funny moments with that. But, I think this crossover makes some big mistakes. First, I have never been a fan of the Hawkgirl, Hawkman, and Vandal Savage characters. And when they are three of the most important characters of the crossover...it’s a bit of a problem. Second, Felicity’s storyline in the second episode isn’t very well. We are in this big crossover with a thousand year old threat. And it stops to have Felicity lecture Oliver about trust. Felicity had some weak moments in season 4 of Arrow, but why did you put in this crossover. Beyond that, Oliver finding out about William isn’t a bad plotline just feels weird to have it in the crossover itself. This is one that I think if the performances were better, Felicity was annoying, and the William plot was removed this could have been a great crossover.
5. Flash vs Arrow: There is a big step-up from number 6 to number 6. I really dig this crossover and think it is a lot fun. I like that in the early stages of these crossovers they are much smaller in scale. They aren’t about the end of the multiverse or the world. No, they are just about Flash teaming up with Green Arrow to defeat a villain. I mentioned earlier, but it’s also a lot of fun to see Oliver and Barry interact, and there are some really funny moments. I think the fact that Stephen Amell and Grant Gustin have great chemistry. I like the fact that Barry gets mind-controlled and causes him to go evil, and so Oliver is the one to take him down. I wish that there was one big story through-out the two episodes and not two separate episodes. The Arrow episode still has flashbacks and is very much an Arrow episode. And I think that if Captain Boomerang and Rainbow Raider were the main villains for both episodes this could have been an even better crossover.
4. Invasion!: The first crossover where all four of the shows came together. I’ll start with the negatives about this crossover. First, like the previous crossover each episode feels like an episode from that show. The Arrow episode was the 100th episode of the show, so they used the crossover to find a way to create a 100th episode. The episode itself I think is great, but it feels out of place. The Legends of Tomorrow episode, the Legends themselves take front and center while Oliver, Barry, Supergirl, and everybody else are side characters. Also, I wish that Supergirl was actually part of the crossover. It was said to be a four episode event, but it’s really only a three episode event. And the only crossover aspect is the final scene with Barry and Cisco showing to tease the actual event. That’s a bit frustrating. But it’s fun to have the different characters interact and there are some really funny moments in the Flash episode, and some really cool action in all three of the episodes. It might sound like, I’m bashing this crossover but I still really like this crossover and think it’s a lot of fun.
3. Crisis on Infinite Earths: I know this is a hot take, because a lot of people on the internet hated this crossover and thought it was a big disappointment. For me, I dug it and I had fun with it. Granted, I don’t think it’s as good as it could or should have been. But this crossover has a lot of very solid cameos. My favorite being the Tom Welling cameo in episode 2, and I’ve never seen Smallville but I thought that scene was great. Getting to see Kevin Conroy as a live action Batman is so cool...the execution of that isn’t the best but it’s still interesting to see. I felt the epic scope of this crossover, and the danger and stakes of the entire thing. And I enjoy ⅘ of the episodes a good bit. I think each of them bring something interesting to it. So I had fun with this crossover, I thought that it delivered on the important aspects. But I can get where people come from when they say it is disappointing and not as good as it could be.
2. Crisis on Earth-X: We move from one crisis to another crisis. And I think this crossover does so many things so well. I think the villains in this crossover are the best crossover villains that we have gotten. Getting to see Nazi versions of Green Arrow, Reverse-Flash, and Supergirl is so interesting to see. And their costumes are really really cool. I think this crossover came up with the best excuse to have our heroes come together, Barry and Iris’ wedding. And the first episode of the crossover, I think is the best episode of this crossover. The wedding action sequence is just great, it’s long, and every hero gets a great moment. When they go to Earth-X in episode 3, it’s tense and it’s nice to see Wentworth Miller back as Snart. I think there are some really funny moments in episode 2 between Oliver, Barry, and Kara. So put the pieces together, and you get a fantastic crossover.
1. Elseworlds: I might be biased toward this crossover, because the week before this aired I got to meet Stephen Amell and got my picture taken with him. And the Elseworlds crossover was a big talking point, and I also got to meet Brandon Routh. But for the crossover itself, I think this is the most fun of the crossovers. Getting to see Oliver and Barry swap bodies is a lot of fun and Amell’s and Gustin’s chemistry and humor is shown in the crossover. You have Oliver saying “you have failed this city”, but it’s funny because everybody thinks that he is Barry. And it’s to see Superman involved more and him teaming up with The Flash and Green Arrow makes the universe feel bigger. It sets up Crisis on Infinite Earths in some nice ways. Put the fun, story, entertainment, characters, and set up together you get my favorite of the Arrowverse crossovers.
What is your favorite of the Arrowverse crossovers? I’ve ranked the Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow seasons, and done a number of different Arrowverse rankings and reviews.
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