Arrowverse Seasons Ranked Part 2

Arrowverse Seasons Ranked Part 2

Yesterday I shared part 1 of my ranking of the Arrowverse seasons, now today I’m going to be sharing the second part of that. Here is my ranking of the top 20 seasons of the Arrowverse. Let’s get started!

20. Stargirl Season 3: I really wish I could have ranked this season higher up on the list, because it had so much in it that I loved. But I think the final couple of episodes kind of dropped the ball and weren’t nearly as good. I loved getting Joel McHale in here, he can be a lot of fun and brings a fun energy to the show. I love a good murder mystery, so the fact this season is built around being a murder mystery is a lot of fun. The characters are still just as fun and charming as before, the actors are still nailing their performance. Where this season lost me was with the final reveal about who the murderer was, I thought was a bit frustrating and predictable. I wish they threw in an extra twist that redirected your thinking of certain things, but the final reveal didn’t leave much of a mark. The finale was also hurt by being an unplanned series finale, the show was canceled without a planned final season. So the finale can feel rushed with an ending that isn’t super satisfying in my mind. The positives do outweigh the good in my mind, but I feel like it could have been so much better. 

19. The Flash Season 6: The last good season of the show and it’s a season that I think wisely had two main villain plot lines. Part of the issues with the other seasons is that they have one plot line stretched out over 23 episodes. This season wisely divided it up so in the first half you have Bloodwork and in the second half you have Mirror Monarch. Bloodwork was a great villain. I liked the actor and how he was something different. He almost feels like a Spider-Man villain where a brilliant scientist does experiments on himself and it all goes wrong in the process. That’s a fun type of villain and the threat he poses towards Barry is something very different. In the back half they had a lot of mini story arcs take place. Where you have Barry losing his speed, romance between Ralph and Sue, Iris in the mirror verse. All through-out the season you have these mini story arcs that make for a good serialized television. On the negative, Mirror Monarch wasn’t all that interesting of a villain in my mind. She was fine, but she wasn’t anything super memorable to me. And there’s some weaker filler episodes that don’t work quite as well for me.  

18. Supergirl Season 2: After a weaker first season on CBS the show returned this time on The CW and I thoroughly enjoyed this season. One of the things I appreciated about the earlier seasons of Supergirl was it was more light hearted and fun. It had this weird charm about it that made it fun to watch. And I feel like that charm got lost as the show went along, even in the stronger seasons. We also get our introduction to Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman which is great. I've always enjoyed the vibe and energy he brought to Superman. And here he’s partnered up well with Melissa Benoist as Supergirl, the two of them have a nice chemistry here. I dig the relationship between Kara and Mon-El in the show, I buy their chemistry and their feelings for one another. Teri Hatcher is our villain of the season, a solid villain and liked how she tied into the story. There’s some elements in here that didn’t quite work for me. First up, James Olsen becoming Guardian doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t think Jimmy Olsen as a character should be a superhero, that’s part of the fun of Jimmy Olsen from the comics. He’s Superman’s best friend who is a photographer. Also, Maggie and Alex never really cared for them as a couple. 

17. Arrow Season 3: My thoughts on this season have gone up and they’ve gone down ever since I first watched the season. And as of now, I’m positive on the season and I like it a good bit. It’s the first time in the show where I thought there was a big drop in quality, so it’s not perfect but it’s solid enough. It’s fun seeing Ra’s al Ghul as our villain of the season. They switch up the dynamic so instead of it being Bruce Wayne it’s Oliver Queen, that’s fun. I loved seeing Roy as Arsenal in the season, Roy in general is a great character in my mind and seeing him out on the streets with Oliver is great. And this season came out back in the more grounded and simple days of the Arrowverse before everything got all cosmic and multiverse. So it has this weird appeal about it, that’s probably why I appreciate this season more now. I think the journey they take Oliver on this season can be a hit or mess for me. I think the idea of it is interesting, but that means that Oliver is detached from Star City and Team Arrow for almost half of the season. And Team Arrow without Oliver isn’t nearly as interesting in my mind. And I think they needed to do more with Laurel becoming the Black Canary to make it more impactful. 

16. Arrow Season 8: The first final season of the Arrowverse and this seems to be one of the more polarizing seasons of the Arrowverse. Some people love it and think it’s top tier Arrowverse and some people don’t like it at all. I’m more positive about the season, but I can see both sides of the argument. This season is very meant to be a love letter to fans of the show. The way they do this is where people get frustrated, some people love that it’s a love letter to a show that they’ve been watching for 8 years. Each episode brings us back to an important place in the show with a returning character from previous seasons. In order to do that they have to form a cosmic and multiverse, this is where people get frustrated. Cosmic and multiverse isn’t what was set up in season 1. As for me, I really like this season and I think it closes out the show nicely. I appreciate that it’s only 10 episodes long, they didn’t try and stretch it out for 20+ episodes. I think there are some nice character moments in here that do evoke some big emotions, especially in the finale. No matter where I rank this season on this list a group of people will get mad at me, that’s ok because I dug the season. 

15. The Flash Season 3: Similar to Arrow season 3 of The Flash is where there was a big dip in quality for the show. As you’ll see later on I love the first two seasons of the show. This season is still very good but it’s a big drop off from season 1 and 2. Aaron Helbing was still the show runner at this point, I think he makes much better seasons as a whole then Eric Wallace did for seasons 6-9. So it still has that fun charm and magic of the first two seasons, obviously not as good as the first seasons but that magic that worked is still in here. There’s a bunch of stand out episodes in here, episode 15-23 is a fantastic streak of episodes, that’s one of my favorite streaks of the show. I know some people aren’t crazy about the musical episode, I’ve always dug and it’s always been fun for me. I think the season is hurt by having Savitar be our main villain. Having the third season in a row where the villain is a speedster isn’t as exciting anymore. And some of the logic with Savitar doesn’t quite add up to me. So this is a very good season that I think gets too much hate. Seasons 1 and 2 are beloved and when season 3 isn’t that, people hate it a bit too much. But if you rewatch the season, season 3 is actually pretty good. 

14. The Flash Season 4: This is kind of a nice contrast with season 3. Season 3 was a bit darker of a season, it’s lighthearted but it went for a darker tone. Season 4 went a bit campier and goofier with the season and so it's a nice contrast with season 3. I think going campier and goofier works for the show, the meta human they introduce in here are a bit sillier with one who has the powers of luck. Even the introduction to Ralph Dibney in the season he fits perfectly on a show like this. He’s so much fun to watch, he’s funny and he has a great dynamic with everybody in the cast. I said earlier I don’t like the suit in season 5, season 4 I think has the best Flash suit of the show. I love the design of it, it looks really really cool. They even do some wise things here 

with the prison storyline. I think having the meta-humans from the first half of the season is nice serialized storytelling, it’s nice to see them return and not just be one and done villains. Now The Thinker is where the season can get a bit frustrating, when Clifford DeVoe is The Thinker I think the character really works. The body swapping they were doing made me frustrated. I think this season was hurt by having 23 episodes. They didn’t have 23 episodes worth of plot for The Thinker himself, so their body swapping didn’t work. Also Iris is just very annoying in the season, I think Iris is more annoying in this season then Felicity ever was on Arrow. But in general, I think this season has a lot to offer. It's a really solid 4th season of the show. 

13. Stargirl Season 2: After the high points of season 1 I was curious to see how well season 2 will match the quality. It obviously didn’t surpass it but it’s a great second season of the show. The season delivers everything you like about season 1, therefore it’s just fun getting to see more of it. More of these characters, more of the story, more of the humor all of it works really well in this season. What they did nicely in this season was introduce a villain in Eclipso that brought out our character’s biggest fear. That means they can dive deeper into the characters, so we get a lot of character development this season that makes you relate to the characters more than you did before. They also very much went more ambitious with the story, season 1 was smaller and more personal which was nice. Season 2 went bigger with the story, sometimes that can hurt a season or a movie sequel. But I think they did it nicely here, they didn’t overdo it and go so big that it started to crumble. This is the point in the ranking where it starts to get tricky, because I really enjoy this season and above so having some seasons ranked lower is a bit sad for me, but that’s ok. 

12. Legends of Tomorrow Season 1: Another season that I know a lot of people crap on and don’t appreciate all that much. I’ve never understood that I’ve always thought this was a really fun and really good first season to the show. And especially with the later seasons going bigger and crazier, the simplicity of season 1 stands out to me. Of all the seasons of the show this is probably the best team of the show. The chemistry and dynamic between everybody was a lot of fun. And everybody has a very distinct personality about them, so Leonard Snart’s sarcastic dry sense of humor plays well off of Ray Palmer’s more lively and bubbly personality. They also go to some very interesting places in the world, it’s fun to see Star City and Oliver Queen in a different timeline. The western episode is a lot of fun, Jonah Hex is a solid character. The stuff with Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Vandal Savage has never been super interesting to me. Vandal Savage should have been a much better villain. But overall, this is a really solid first season of the show. 

11. Supergirl Season 4: Of the seasons of Supergirl this is the most well constructed with the most interesting storylines going on. The big thing I appreciated about this season was how they grounded the story. They told a story about how different groups of people would respond to aliens being in National City. So it provides this tension and it reminds us of what’s going on in the real world. Some people might not like that, but I think here they do it in a very nice way. It would make sense as to why people wouldn’t like aliens. It feels organic to the themes of the show. Sam Witwer’s Agent Liberty is the face of this, he’s the driving force for this chaos and he’s a great central character here. I thoroughly enjoyed the episode dedicated to him showing how aliens affected him and his family. We also get introduced to Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor, a great version of the character that is mysterious and feels like a classic version of Lex Luthor. He’s the guy that to the public everybody loves, but he’s also the evil mastermind that is doing a lot of shady things. Getting The Red Daughter story line in here is a nice touch, I think it’s a nice antagonist for Kara. 

10. Superman and Lois Season 3: This season feels very different from the rest of the show and Arrowverse, because it’s not an action based season. It’s about Lois Lane’s cancer treatment and how that would affect a marriage. That was super fascinating to me, I loved that aspect of it and that it really let us spend time in it. It wasn’t this side thing, Lois Lane’s cancer ties into what the main villain’s big plan is. That was just really clever the way they did that and I wished more Arrowverse seasons did something like this. Where you have the fantastical stuff going on but have a very human and emotional aspect that brings it back down to reality. Other things here, the season introduces its over version of Lex Luthor. It’s not Jon Cryer’s version because this show isn’t connected to the Arrowverse. This version is very different, it’s a very intense version of the character that is scary and I’m very curious as to where they go with some of this. This season does have a lot of the issues that the other seasons have, Jordan is too unlikable and annoying in the season, it seems like they don’t really know where to go with The Cushing Family after season 1. And the structure of the season is a bit odd. Where the plot line with Bruno Mannheim ends in episode 11. Episode 12 and 13 feel like the first two episodes of season 4, so it’s odd with the way it’s strutted. Now obviously this season is this high up on the list, I think this is a great season. 

9. Legends of Tomorrow Season 3: Just a really fun season of the show that has a lot of humor and entertainment value inside of it. This and season 2 feels like the writers found their groove with the show, they knew what works and they went for it. Each episode is so lively and so much fun, all of them have something unique about them that stands out. You get some of the best villains of the show in this season, Mallus is a great villain that has lots of connections to Thanos in Infinity War with what his big master plan is. They bring back Damien Darhk in the season and he does feel very different from his time on Arrow. Here he’s like the goofy awkward dad and it’s really funny, Neal McDonaugh is clearly having a blast in the season. The episode where he and Nora capture Ray is some of the best Damien Darhk we’ve gotten in the Arrowverse. The addition of The Time Bureau as these antagonistic type figures toward our team of heroes is a nice touch. They aren’t villains, but can be antagonistic with what they do. So when you put it all together, this is a great season of the show and one that’s an absolute blast. 

8. Stargirl Season 1: Speaking of being an absolute blast, that statement applies to this season. This is probably the most surprising season of the Arrowverse, I wasn’t really expecting much going into it. I heard some good buzz about it and decided to check it out and I’m so glad I did, but I loved it. Of the Arrowverse seasons this is probably the most charming of the bunch. It has a delightful side of characters, a fun lead character, and interesting and complex villains. Courtney Whitmore as our lead is such a fun character and she’s naive but in a fun way. She’s very relatable as she’s a high schooler dealing with very relatable stuff while also being a superhero. Luke Wilson as the father figure/mentor is great casting. I never would have thought he would work in a show like this but he absolutely does. The villains here are great, Icicle is a great main villain who is developed a lot. You see him as the family man and as the villain, he can play both sides really well. When bad things happen to him and his family you feel it, that’s when you have a great villain. The show can also be very funny with a lot of solid jokes in every episode that make me laugh. 

7. Legends of Tomorrow Season 2: This is the show, Legends of Tomorrow in it’s prime. This is when they were firing on all cylinders and delivered the best villain, story, characters, and locations. Right off the bat I felt like they found the right angle for the season, they expanded the DC universe by getting introduced to the Justice Society of America and introducing all of these iconic DC characters. With having the Legion of Doom as our villains it’s fun seeing villains from Arrow and The Flash come together to stop heroes from Arrow and The Flash. With Damien killing Laurel at the end of season 4 of Arrow, it gives Sara this revenge plot line in the season so it makes the threat more urgent. Bringing back Snart as a villain I think is very cool, I always love seeing Wentworth Miller in this role. And bringing him back starts to question Mick’s role on the team. They bring back villains that provide an inner conflict with our main heroes. Citizen Steel, Nate is a lot of fun. He brings this fun energy and vibe to the show. It has character moments, world building going, and overall this sense of fun. So easily the best of the show and one of the best of the Arrowverse. 

6. Arrow Season 5: After some weaker seasons, the show returned with a really strong fifth season. They very much went for a back to basics approach for the season, where the villain is very grounded and personal to Oliver. And I love the way that he’s presented as being the opposite of Oliver, it makes Prometheus this more menacing and memorable villain. Prometheus is just a great villain, EASILY one of the show’s best. In a lot of ways he’s doing what The Joker did to Batman in The Dark Knight. Both villains know the hero doesn’t kill, but keep on doing evil things that pushes our hero’s moral code because of it. It makes them more dangerous and a threat needs to be stopped. Again Oliver being mayor I think adds in some interesting dynamics and some conflict that comes with that. There’s also just a bunch of stand out fantastic episodes in here, the season finale being one of the show’s best with a great and shocking cliffhanger that makes you want to see the next season. But all throughout the season, you get some great episodes that are memorable and intense. The 100th episode of the show aired during season 5 and in some ways it feels like season 5 as a whole is sort of a love letter to the show. Maybe that’s just me, but that’s the vibe I get from the season. 

5. The Flash Season 2: This is a fun season to look back on because this show introduced the multiverse before multiverse was a big part of the superhero genre. Now we have Marvel and DC both doing their multiverse movies, but they did it beforehand. I rewatched this season a couple of months back and that was one of the elements that stood out to me. It's fun to see a multiverse season of television, it’s not contained to a 2 hour long movie. But they can do a 23 episode long multiverse story and there’s a lot of fun that can be had there. There’s also some very clever writing thrown into the mix where they use the audience’s knowledge of The Flash lore and characters against us, so when Jay Garrick is introduced in episode 1 we trust him. But they use that as a way to misdirect us as the viewers, that was nice and very clever. Zoom is of course a classic Flash villain and they do a great job with him, he’s probably the scariest villain on the show and in the Arrowverse. He’s a legitimate threat that when he’s established in episode 6 he breaks Barry’s back, posing him as a threat. It’s a season that is so good, it’s so fun with a great story line and a great villain. This is what I wish we got more from with this show, season 2 fantastic follow-up to season 1. 

4. Superman and Lois Season 1: Another pretty surprising season that was much better than I thought it would be. When it came out the Arrowverse wasn’t the best, but this came out and established it felt as one of the best Arrowverse seasons. I think what helps out this season is it didn’t feel constrained to the limitations of being an Arrowverse show on The CW. What I mean by that is they didn’t have to connect it to the rest of the Arrowverse, it doesn’t feel like any of the other shows. It feels like the writers and producers had more creative freedom. It’s a much darker show then I think some of us were expecting, it has a lot more in common with Man of Steel then it does with Superman the Movie (1978). They establish this version of Superman being very family focused, The Kent Family is a big part of this show. The production value of the show is great, there’s not really any bad looking shots in here it looks like it’s from a different network. I really like this version of the character, Tyler Hoechlin can be the hopeful hero but also be the husband, the father, and the family man. They also manage to have lots of great twists and turns in here that I didn’t see coming and made the show interesting to watch week to week. Morgan Edge I think is still the best villain on the show, he’s intimidating and just this evil man that you do NOT like. 

3. Arrow Season 1: I have so many fond memories of watching this season with my dad, we binged this show over the course of about a week and loved it. This is a great first season of a show where they did a great job of establishing the tone, the world, and the characters that became this very popular show for 8 years. They did a great job of establishing everything in this season. In a lot of ways it feels like Batman Begins except stretched out over an entire season. Origin stories if done right can be a lot of fun, they did it right here so therefore it’s a lot of fun. The characters here are great and very interesting. One of the fun things about this season is Felicity was only meant to be in like 2 episodes of the show. But Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Richards had such great chemistry that they promoted her to being the second most popular character on the show. Diggle in the season is a lot of fun, he’s the bodyguard trying to keep Oliver in line but given how outrageous Oliver can be that’s can be hard. And you very much by the bromance between Oliver and Diggle in the season. Malcolm Merlyn, great villain, John Barrowman can just chew up the scenery and be this despicable business man that is a true believer in what he’s doing. Again it has a lot of great twists and turns in here that keeps each episode interesting and fun to watch, the episodes end on a cliffhanger that makes you want to see the next episode. 

2. The Flash Season 1: This was the first Arrowverse season that I ever watched live, so I have a soft spot for this season because of it. Now that the show is done and over, it’s fun to look back on this season. I rewatched this past summer and I loved it. It's a season that is so much fun, it’s emotional, it’s twisty, it has a great villain inside of it, and it can be really really funny. There can be this sharp sense of humor in it that was lost as you went into the later seasons of the show. It’s a nice counter to Arrow which is designed to be a much darker show, this is more light hearted and fun. Again they assembled a great cast of characters that you care about and love. Grant Gustin is so beloved in this role that fans were so hoping he would appear in The Flash movie (I wish he did). And he can play all of the sides of the character so well. When he needs to be awkward nerdy Barry Allen he can do that, he can be emotional and dramatic when he needs to be. But you also buy as a superhero, he can play it all. The central mystery involving Harrison Wells aka Eobard Thawne creates this great through line in the season. It provides some conflict amongst the characters as some of them believe that Wells is hiding something, while somebody like Caitlin isn’t buying into that as much. Tom Cavanagh is a great actor and creates Reverse-Flash as being one of the best Arrowverse villains out there. Rewatching this season it made me so sad that the show started with a fantastic first season and ended with a bad final season. This is peak superhero television, I love this season and honestly goes back and forth between my number as the Arrowverse’s best. 

1. Arrow Season 2: This is Arrow going full swing ahead where they knew the formula and what people liked about the show and they went for it. Right off the bat, OTA is the goat and so iconic. When the team is Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity, that was the best group dynamic. As the show went along the team got bigger and bigger I don’t think that worked as well. But Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity that’s where it’s at. You get more than flirty chemistry between Oliver and Felicity; it adds this extra layer on top of everything. The flashbacks of the season I think are the best of the show. Here it has a lot of emotional weight, there’s some interesting characters introduced here. There’s some twists and turns as to what’s going on and who is on whose side. Deathstroke I would say is the best Arrowverse villain where they really spend a lot of time with him. Slade Wilson was introduced in season 1 as a friend, and in season 2 in the flashbacks we see the transition from friend to enemy. And when he returns as Deathstroke the season did such a great job of building him up as a villain that you understand him. Manu Bennett is giving a great performance in the season, I think he’s pretty safely the best villain on the show. When you put it all together you get a season that has everything I want from this show and it does all of it so well. With some strong competition season 2 is the best show in the Arrowverse.