Arrowverse Seasons Ranked Part 1
Earlier this year the Arrowverse came to an end with the 9th season of The Flash. To honor the legacy of the Arrowverse, I thought I would rank all of the seasons of the Arrowverse. That’s counting Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Stargirl, Batwoman, and Superman and Lois. This is part 1 of that ranking, let’s get started!
43. Legends of Tomorrow Season 4: This far and away the weakest season of the show, I think this season is pretty unwatchable from beginning to end. This show has always been pretty goofy, but with this season I felt they totally jumped the shark and went too far. The magical creatures were not interesting week to week villains, having them fight an evil fairy god mother and stuff like that isn’t very fun or interesting to me. They also made a big mistake with promoting Gary in the show. Gary in season 3 was a great spice character but you don't put a big spoonful of spice on your food. You want a little bit of spice to make it better, here they gave us a big spoonful of spice and it failed. Neron is not an interesting villain, you don’t care or remember him whatsoever. It’s fun to see Tom Wilson, Biff from Back to the Future in here but besides that, a total dud of a season.
42. The Flash Season 9: Speaking of total dud of a season…this is one of them. I was sure hoping this show was going to go out with a banger. Sadly, it didn’t. It disappointed me so much and I’m so frustrated with the decisions they made with the season. First up, it’s the shortest season with about 13 episodes. I think 13 episodes are good, Stargirl and Superman and Lois showed that they can work. But they still only had 9-10 episodes worth of plot, so episodes 6-7 are complete filler episodes where Barry is barely in any of them. He doesn’t put the suit on all that much in the season, Barry feels like a side character in the final season of his own show. The first five episodes involve a plot with The Red Death, a terrible villain that didn’t work. Even the series finale had some really supid ideas where they brought back Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Savitar, and Godspeed. Villains that took Barry an entire season to defeat, are defeated in like 5 minutes. Cecile is able to defeat Godspeed, Allegra just shoots a blast and knocks out Thawne. I don’t know what they were thinking, but it’s a bad final season for a very important show for me.
41. Black Lightning Season 3: This is a different type of bottom tier Arrowverse for me. The two seasons I just mentioned disappointed me with the stupid decisions they made. This season is bottom tier because it’s so forgettable and bland. I know for a lot of people, this is the best season of the show. And when I watch it, I don’t understand where people are coming from. Lynn in the season was totally unwatchable, they turn her into this crazy screaming woman that is being crazy and screaming for no real reason. The structure of the season is really odd where certain plot points are set up early on as being very important then aren’t explored or touched on for 5 episodes then it’s resolved quickly in the last episode. It’s a season that is just so forgettable, bland, and boring so I can’t rank it high up on this list.
40. Supergirl Season 6: Another disappointing final season to the show and one that I think had some ideas that could have worked, but an overall evacuation that didn’t work. The big thing working against the season is they tried to tackle political ideas in a way that just didn’t make any sense. Some of the Arrowverse seasons have politics, but this season more had it more than they should have. There’s like 5 episodes in the middle of the season where each episode tackles a different political agenda that doesn’t tie into the overarching plot or villain of the season. It’s just there to try and make a point, but fails at doing so. Kelly is terrible in this season, she has an episode dedicated to her that once again tackles a political statement that I don’t think works or fits in the show as a whole. It actually being the final season of the show, feels like it’s on the back burner. So some of the character moments don’t hit as hard as they should have.
39. Arrow Season 4: This season is typically ranked lower on the list, in the bottom 2 or 3 on a list like this. Honestly, I’ve never hated this season the way other people do. It’s not fantastic, but I think it’s fun and watchable so that I can have fun with it. Now it’s certainly a very flawed season that makes some weird choices. Stephen Amell has said that this is his least favorite season of the show, I think that’s a sign that indicates it’s not that good. Damien Darhk is a good villain, Neil McDonaugh is a great actor but the magical side of things feels out of touch with the show. Because Darhk is a magic user, there’s a plot line in the back half where Oliver gains magic powers, not a good idea. Felicity can be very annoying in the season, she’s lecturing Oliver constantly. Also there’s not a lot of episodes in here that stand out amongst the show’s best.
38. Black Lightning Season 4: Similar to what I said about Supergirl season 6, this doesn’t feel like the final season of the show. And I mean that even more with this season, because they don’t start to close out the show until the final scene of the final episode. It feels like they forgot that this was the final season and wrote that final scene for the sole purpose of closing out the show. So it doesn’t hit the right emotions at all, it feels so forced and underdeveloped it’s not at all satisfying. Beyond that, they introduce some characters that at first were interesting to me, I liked what they set up. But as the season went along, I really didn’t like where they took the characters. Like the show as a whole, it’s just forgettable and boring. There’s really nothing here besides the negatives that stand out to me as being fantastic, so it’s just another mediocre forgettable season.
37. The Flash Season 7: My ranking of The Flash seasons changed a whole lot, this season was ranked higher up in my ranking of the season from a few months back. But after thinking about the final seasons of the show, the more I realized who mediocre, flustering, and simply lazy the writing got. There’s some terrible CGI here, I get it’s a network television show. But the CGI in the early seasons of the show looks very good and convincing. Here it looks like a random dude was at home putting the CGI together and slipping it past the producers. This season was filmed and in post-production in late 2020 so maybe COVID factored into the production, but it’s still cheap and lazy. In a large portion of the season, Barry talks to the villains instead of actually fighting them. These are such bad ideas and mistakes, that it’s a great example of a show that started off fantastic and ended not so fantastic.
36. The Flash Season 8: A slight improvement over season 7, but still a season that is very frustrating for me. One that I think had a lot of good pieces to be a really good season. But once again, the evacuation of the ideas…not so good. I like the basic idea of having the season start off with a mini crossover event but it’s not super memorable, there’s some ideas in there that kind of work. But it’s not as good as I feel it should have been. That’s kind of what I feel like with the entire season, as a whole it’s not as good as it could have been. This is also like the fourth time where in the season finale Barry and Team Flash fight Reverse-Flash, and the more times it keeps on happening the less interesting it becomes. Because Barry has defeated Reverse-Flash many times previously, so it feels weird in that regard. Of all of the seasons of the show, this is the one that is just kind of there for me.
35. Black Lightning Season 1: A decent, mediocre first season of the show that is fine. It’s always fun to see the origin story, the beginning of our superhero’s journey and origin story. This season did it very differently with Jefferson Pierce coming out of retirement and putting on the suit once again. It’s not your traditional origin story the way other Arrowverse seasons did it. It’s also a much smaller season in terms of scope, scale, and size. It’s much more street level with the threat and the story here. At the same time, while I appreciate this season does the origin story differently with it’s a hero coming out of retirement, that means that Jefferson’s arc in the season is becoming Black Lightning again. That means that Black Lightning action doesn’t really happen all that much, it’s there but there’s not a whole lot of it. In general, I think this is one of the better seasons of the show. But it’s still not a fantastic season, it’s the second while still being ok.
34. Batwoman Season 2: I know Batwoman is a show that people like to dunk on, it gets a lot of hate online. I don’t really hate any season of the show, this is the weakest. I think the biggest thing working against this season is Ruby Rose not returning. Because of that the season has to introduce a new leader character, set her up with the rest of the characters, while also continuing the character arcs from the characters in season 1. So the season is a bit unfocused, it doesn’t always have a clear singular plot line happening. I like the idea of introducing Black Mask into this show, but he feels wasted in the end. He’s just there so they can reintroduce Kate Kane into the mix. If they’re going to recast Kate Kane in a twist reveal type way, why not recast Kate Kane at the beginning and pretend like nothing happened. There’s some weird stuff like that happening, that doesn’t fully make sense to me.
33. Supergirl Season 3: This is another season that I know a lot of people really like, several people could argue this is the best season. Maybe I was in a weird mood when I was watching this season, I didn’t understand the love it got. Reign is a good villain, she’s easily one of the better villains of the show. I like her character arc and what they do with her in the season, I think it is very interesting and makes for a different type of villain. It’s fun to see Martian Manhunter’s father played by Carl Lumbly in the season, they have a great dynamic that fleshes out Martian Manhunter nicely. At the same time, the love triangle between Kara, Mon-El, and Mon-El’s wife from the future felt weird to me, I don’t think that was the right direction to take things. The season as a whole was much darker than the other seasons, I think the show works better when it is more fun and lively. The darker season, like this one, didn't work as well. In general, I don’t hate this season, it's just ok to me.
32. Superman and Lois Season 2: By far and away the weakest season of Superman and Lois and one that never really reached the heights of seasons 1 and 3. The idea of having Bizarro as a villain, that’s a fun idea. You can do a lot of very cool things with that, the Bizarro world episode is a lot of fun. The cast is still fun and charming, they can play the characters really well. Where the season falls off for me is with the villain, the character worked better when she was the mustache twirling villain that was an evil mastermind. Then in the last couple of episodes she turned into a full on villain that fights Superman, that didn’t work as well for me. The character became dramatically less interesting in my mind. Also, some of the directions they took the characters didn’t fully work. Once again, Kyle Cushing is making mistakes that lead to him breaking up with Lana. Jordan is crying because Sarah broke up with him, you don’t really like Jordan in this season.
31. Supergirl Season 1: A fun start to the show that has some fun charm about it, and kind of interesting because it’s the only season on this list that was not made by CW. The show originally aired on CBS and was then bought by CW. In a lot of ways, the season feels different from the other seasons of the show and the Arrowverse. But it’s still just a fun season, it’s not super ambitious with its story. The cast of characters is small so you can care about them more. It’s also refreshing that it’s a very lighthearted season that is just trying to have fun. It’s not trying to deconstruct our heroes or do anything dark like that, in some ways feels like the classic Christopher Reeve Superman movies, that’s nice about it. Now the villain of the season, Non not super interesting or memorable. The actor didn’t give off this villain presents about him, he’s just kind of there throughout it. The casting of Mehcad Brooks as Jimmy Olsen has always been very weird to me, I’ve never understood why they went in that direction with that casting.
30. Legends of Tomorrow Season 7: The unplanned final season of the show, that unfortunately is kind of hurt because of that. I think this season was largely hurt by having budgetary restraints tied to it. The first half of the season they're stuck in the 1920s then the back half of the season they’re either in Constatine’s mansion or the Waveride, so it’s not as fun or as interesting as some of the other seasons are. One of the more complicated parts of the season would be the villain. I think making the villain robots and Gideon was an interesting choice, and given the problems with AI going on in 2023 it’s weird to look back at this season. On the positive, it’s still entertaining from beginning to end. There’s no episodes that dragged down the season for me, all of them were fun and watchable and had something about them that was amusing to me. It was nice to see Donald Fasion in the final episode, I wish we got more of him in season 8. And the 100th episode of the show was quite good and nice to see everybody again.
29. Batwoman Season 1: I watched the first episode back when it came out, didn’t like it so I never kept on watching. But leading up to season 3 I decided to watch the entire season and once again I don’t fully understand the hate for the season. This season isn’t the best, it certainly has its flaws. But I think there’s elements in here that do work for me. First up, I’m a big fan of Batman and Gotham City. So getting an Arrowverse show set in Gotham City is fun for me, it’s fun seeing some Batman villains show up. I think Ruby Rose is a solid actress and is good in the lead, I can buy her as the vigilante and this complicated person. Alice is a really good and interesting villain that has layers to her. As far as the issues go, I think there’s too much melodrama and trust issues going on here. All of the characters are kind of jerks and feel at arm's length for the entire season. And it’s also one that's not super memorable. I only really remember some of the characters and fact this is Ruby Rose’s only time playing the character on the show.
28. Legends of Tomorrow Season 5: Whenever I’ve done a ranking of the Legends of Tomorrow seasons, this one has been ranked lower. But looking back the reason why this is now above season 7 is it’s more memorable. It is a more flawed season, but I remember more things about it then season 7. Like I said about season 4, I found that season to be too goofy and too outrageous. This season dials things back and it’s not as goofy, I appreciated that. You get a lot of great episodes in here, the two partners sending off episodes for Ray and Nora were very emotional and handled very well. Then the tv episodes were also a lot of fun, it’s a very Legends of Tomorrow thing to do. Now the villains of the season, once again, aren't super interesting to me. Charlie isn’t a very good character in my mind and because when the villains are focused around her, I think it holds back the season. But in general, I’ve grown to appreciate this season more as time has passed.
27. Arrow Season 6: A season that has a lot of elements that I really appreciate and lots of elements that left me very frustrated. On the positive, I think they do some very cool stuff with Oliver in the season. I think adding in William and making him a father changes up his character just a bit, there’s some nice conflict with that. Him being the mayor means you can do a different type of journey for Oliver in the season. Diaz as a villain is pretty good, I like how he’s used in the season. The character really worked for me in the final episodes of the season when he was in his groove. But this season is very flawed in my mind. First up, I don’t like the middle act of the season where Rene, Dinah, and Curtis leave Team Arrow because they don’t trust Oliver. Even though Rene testified against Oliver, it's confusing as to why Rene is so mad at Oliver. Diggle is whining in the season a good bit because Oliver isn’t letting him be Green Arrow. I don’t get why they would make these decisions, it doesn’t put any of the characters in the best light.
26. Black Lightning Season 2: EASILY the best season of Black Lightning but given the placement of the season on the list, I still don’t love the season. When it comes to the season, the villain, and the characters this is the best of the season. Agent Odell, played by Bill Duke, is the best villain of the show. He’s the typical government agent that is doing a lot of very shady things behind the scenes, he’s great in here and I love these types of characters. They also give a very clear character arc to Khalil that starts his redemption arc, I think that works really well here. At the same time, it still has some big flaws. Jennifer is very unlikable in the season, the choices she makes are kind of stupid that also cause a lot of what happens in the season to happen. Her arc to becoming Lightning wasn’t fully earned in my mind. Also, I didn’t like how in the last few episodes Agent Odell went from this mastermind to this full on villain, it cheapened the character for me a bit. But in general, easily the best of the show.
25. The Flash Season 5: Typically this season has been ranked lower on these types of lists, but again I’ve appreciated this season more with time. And with how bad and mediocre seasons 7-9 of the show were, this one got better because of it. There’s some interesting ideas in here with Cicada being a metahuman serial killer that’s a great idea for a villain on this show. Nora is a fun character and her coming back from the future makes it once again a great idea for this show. I loved what they did with Reverse-Flash in the last couple of episodes, that stuff was more interesting to me than the actual plot with Cicada and Nora. Now Cicada really is not a good villain, I think the idea of him is great. But I don’t feel like they had 22 episodes worth of plot for his character. Also this season contains the worst Flash of the suit, I think the chinless cowl just looks bad; it fits awkwardly on Grant Gustin’s head.
24. Arrow Season 7: Probably the most frustrating season of the show where there’s so much in here that I love with some things that really don’t work for me. The big thing to talk about with this season is the prison arc that was fantastic. It was so tense and I wish we got more story arcs like that in the show. If the entire season was as good as the prison arc, this would have been a top 10 Arrowverse season. Also, I think this season has some emotional moments here especially in the last couple of episodes. It’s nice to see Roy show back up and have a lot to do here. They use him in some clever ways that also make sense. Like most of the Arrowverse seasons in the bottom half of the ranking, the villain…not really all that good. The idea of Oliver’s half sister being the villain is interesting but her motivation for why she’s evil mixed with the performance just didn’t work for me. She’s the weakest main villain on Arrow for me. And then the flash forwards in the season aren’t that good. The whole point of why Oliver is the Green Arrow is to save the city. But in the flash forwards it’s revealed that Star City lost and Oliver failed, a weird decision to throw in there.
23. Batwoman Season 3: This is the season of Batwoman where I felt the story, villain, and characters came together the best. What’s so cool about this season is this is the Batman villain focused season of the show. Where you get a lot of classic Batman villains showing up in here Poison Ivy, Mad Hatter, Mr. Freeze, and Killer Croc are in here. A version of The Joker is basically the main villain of the season. I loved that version of him, I thought the actor did a great job here. As somebody who is a lifelong Batman fan, seeing all of these villains show up was so cool in my mind. I really didn’t care for what they did with Mary in the season, her character arc becoming Poison Ivy felt very sudden, I don’t think the season did a good enough job of setting that up so when it happens it falls a bit hollow for me. But in general, I’m kind of bummed that this show got canceled after this season because I felt like with this season they were finding their groove and would have loved to have seen more.
22. Supergirl Season 5: If season 5 of The Flash and season 7 of Arrow were the seasons of those shows I was the most split on. Season 5 of Supergirl is the season of this show I’m the most split on. On the positive, I loved getting to see a lot more of Jon Cryer as Lex Luther. That’s a great villain and he was only in three episodes of season 4. Here he’s the villain through-out the season and loved seeing that, he gets some great moments in here. They use him to cause tension between the characters that provides good story arcs in the season. What they do with Brainy and Nia in here can be emotional and heartbreaking as you care about them a good bit. Supergirl finally gets a new suit in the show, it’s a cool suit that fits the character. The big issue with this season is I don’t like Lena in the season. Season 4 ended with her learning that Kara was Supergirl. Here she’s mad and angry at her because she kept it a secret and lied to her. So she turns from being Kara’s best friend to Kara’s enemy. I get hurt, she doesn’t like being lied to but her turn is so drastic in the season it makes you hate Lena. Also these aren’t some of the more memorable villains of the show. I remember the actors playing them but not specifics about them.
21. Legends of Tomorrow Season 6: After some weaker seasons with 4 and 5, I thought season 6 was a nice return to form for the show. And it had a lot of really good moments and elements inside of here. I thought this season got back to the tone of seasons 1-3 and ignored some of the goofier elements of seasons 4 and 5. Spooner is a fun new character in here, I liked the energy she brought and the dynamic she had on the show. They give Sara and Mick some great character arcs that feel like the next step in their arcs in the show as a whole. Mick gets a great send off in here with daughter, that was a nice note to leave his character. Bishop was a fun villain that had a really fun energy about him, he’s one of the more livelier villains on the show. I think the season can get a bit clunky with the way it explores all of these plot lines, I think there’s a bit too much happening so it’s cutting between plot lines a lot so it can feel unfocused. When I look back on this season I remember the positives of the season more so then the negatives.
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