A shared universe.
Superheroes needed to belong in a shared universe early in their creation. Superman was first published in 1938. Two years later, the Man of Steel, Batman and Robin appeared together on the cover of New York World’s Fair Comics. That same year, Timely Comics put together two of their most popular characters, The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, and had them duke it out.
Boom. Shared Universes.
It wasn’t long before superheroes and their spouses were throwing dinner parties on the Justice League satellite.
It’s part of the fun of the comics. Team-Ups are cool! We all know it. The logistics for doing such a thing on TV make crossovers difficult, but not impossible. Who didn’t dig it when the Fonz showed up on Laverne and Shirley? And if you weren’t jazzed about the big Diff’rent Strokes/Facts of Life crossover back in the day then, my friend, you have no soul.
Naturally, “Arrow vs Flash” made my inner kid giddy as all hell and he was not disappointed! I tried. I really did. But I just couldn’t split my excitement away long enough to give this episode a critical eye. So, I’ve decided not to try. I’m gonna gush for a few paragraphs.
The Flash is a lighter show than Arrow both in tone and message and it was refreshing to see Stephen Amell, David Ramsey and Emily Bett Rickards adopt that attitude. Like an Andy Hardy movie, they had a whole “Hey, I’ve got some old costumes. I’ve got a Super-Villain. Let’s put on a show!” attitude. And it worked! This first, real meeting of the teams felt fun. The way you feel when you’re around people who actually get you. The people who have seen you at your best and your worst.
Though everyone had memorable screen time, this episode belonged to Oliver and Barry (Grant Gustin). The initial team-up, training and the inevitable fight all felt natural. The two actors were very comfortable with each other and I hope this becomes an annual tradition.
Yes, the fight between Arrow and the Flash was contrived but no more so than the usual “misunderstanding” that occurs in most superhero team-ups. This week, the villain was Chroma, a guy who can turn people evil by stimulating their Lizard Brain with sparkly lights. I was entirely satisfied with the pseudo-science. Been reading comics a long time and I’m still inclined to believe that radiation can give me the ability to crawl on walls instead of just cancer. Barry gets blasted by Chroma and the fight is on.
Luckily, the fun-tastic, super support team is there with more pseudo-science to save the day. All worth it! There was tremendous chemistry between the casts. They could have peeled potatoes for an hour and I would have enjoyed myself.
Another thing I admired about this episode is the possible, long term ramifications it set up. Under Chroma’s influence, Barry beats the hell out of Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett) and causes a rift between The Flash and Iris. Eddie was already out to bring in The Flash but now, he has a personal reason to fear the speedster. Could this be the setup for the Reverse-Flash? Is he Eddie from the future? Gotta wait until next week.
Though not a true continuation of this week’s Flash, Arrow continued the team-up on Wednesday. Sean Reid will have that review for you tomorrow!
As for tonight’s episode, I’m going to put myself on the line and make a prediction: the Man in the Yellow Suit will be…
… Barry Allen!
Well, not really, the Reverse-Flash will still be Thawne. If not Eddie himself, then a time-traveling descendent. But, for a while, he’s going to look an awful lot like Barry.
See you next week where I’ll either be dancing with a smile on my face or eating a big plate of crow. Whichever happens, it’ll be fun.