The heroes of the DC Comics' Arrowverse TV series, The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Batwoman, Black Lightning, Constantine, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow may spend their days and nights fighting criminals, tackling super-powered metahumans, and traveling through space and time to correct historical anomalies, but they still celebrate Christmas like the rest of us.
Of course, more often than not their festive celebrations are interrupted by crises and catastrophes, but that just makes it all the more enjoyable when the bad guys have been despatched and the superheroes can hang up their capes for a few hours and party like the rest of us!
DC's Legends of Tomorrow - Turncoat 7.8
In Turncoat, the time-traveling Legends were sent back to the era of the American Revolution to try and save George Washington from an untimely death, and they just happened to land on Christmas Day 1776. After prevailing over former Legend Rip Hunter who has been tricked into working with Arrowverse villains Eobard Thawne, Damien Darhk, and Malcom Merlyn aka the Legion of Doom, the Legends undo the aberration and restore the timeline before heading back to the Waverider lounge where they finally celebrate Christmas Day for themselves.
Arrow - Year's End 8.4
Arrow has always been the darkest of the Arrowverse series, so the idea of a brooding Oliver Queen kicking back at a Christmas party does seem sort of incongruous. However, Oliver Queen wasn’t always the Arrow; he also used to be a partying playboy, and in Year’s End he is determined to restart the Queen family tradition of holding a festive party – once he has dealt with a fearsome adversary in the shape of The Dark Archer, who is revealed in this episode to be Malcolm Merlyn, the father of Oliver’s best friend, Tommy.
DC's Legends of Tomorrow - Beebo God of War 8.4
The Legends job is to fix the timeline and protect history from aberrations, but in one of the show’s most memorable episodes, they come up against tough opposition, in the shape of a 21st century stuffed toy called Beebo.
The team discovers that a group of Vikings are worshipping Beebo as a god after they captured a youthful Martin Stein who had just bought the toy as a Hannukah gift for his daughter. Later Jax decides that the time has come for him to leave the Legends, but not before the Waverider crew has surprised him with a Christmas party!
Supergirl - Reign 8.5
It seems that Christmas is even celebrated on alternate Earths (a concept that you will soon get used to if you are a fan of the Arrowverse). Kara Zor-El, better known as Supergirl, is from Earth-38 and she gets her very own Christmas-themed episode in Reign, which is the first time that Kara has to take on the alter ego of Samantha Harris, who launches an attack at Edge’s Christmas party, before Supergirl and Regin battle while Deck the Halls plays merrily in the background.
The Flash - Running to Stand Still 8.6
Out of all the Arrowverse shows, The Flash is the series that most tries to embrace the festive spirit; hardly surprising given that it has always delivered its action sequences with a dollop of comic book humor. In Running to Stand Still from season 2, Christmas is interrupted by an alliance between the Weather Wizard, Captain Cold, and The Trickster, a scene-stealing guest appearance from Mark Hamill, who are trying to take down the Flash. The Trickster even dresses as Santa Claus to broadcast a festive threat but help from an unexpected source helps Barry to clean up Central City in time for Christmas.
The Flash - Don't Run 8.6
The Flash episode Don’t Run was the midseason finale of the show’s fourth season, which saw both Caitlin/Killer Frost and Barry/Flash being held prisoner by different adversaries, giving the team a tough choice as to who to save first.
The episode starts with Team Flash getting ready for the festive season and Cisco goes on to embrace the Christmas theme through his choice of insults; both Harry and Ralph get called “humbugs”, a reference to A Christmas Carol, while Harry is also compared to that well-known Christmas grump, The Grinch.
Arrow - Dark Waters 8.8
In season 4 of Arrow, Oliver Queen isn’t just a hooded vigilante, but he is also the mayor of Star City. His nemesis, for this particular season at least, Damien Darhk, turns up at the Mayor’s Christmas party ready to create havoc. He kidnaps Thea, Diggle, and Felicity, leaving Oliver with a race against time to get them back safely. After a successful rescue, Oliver and Felicity celebrate their own Christmas with a tree lighting at which Oliver finally proposes – but it is not going to be the happily ever after that everyone is looking forward to.
The Flash - The Present 8.8
Another favorite festive Arrowverse episode is The Present from season 3 of The Flash when Barry is facing a double threat from Alchemy and Savitar. This pivotal episode is when Barry is thrown forward in time and sees that Savitar is going to kill Iris, which shapes the plot for the rest of the season. On his return to the present, Barry asks Iris to move in with him, and Wally is given his Kid Flash costume as a Christmas gift after Team Flash discovers that he has been honing his speed skills in secret.
Arrow - Three Ghosts 9.3
Two Arrowverse Christmas episodes stand out from the crowd, at least according to the rankings on IMDb. The first of these is the Arrow episode Three Ghosts from season 2. The name is a reference to the three ghosts who visited Ebeneezer Scrooge in the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol to try and convince the old miser to change his ways, but in the Arrowverse version, it is Oliver Queen who is forced to confront his past and his present and what that means for his future.
The Flash - The Man in the Yellow Suit 9.4
And the most popular Arrowverse festive episode, with an impressive score of 9.4 out of 10, is The Man in the Yellow Suit, the midseason finale from the first season of The Flash, in which Barry finally comes face to face with his mysterious yellow nemesis, the Reverse-Flash. While Team Flash temporarily sees off their adversary and enjoys their festive celebrations, the twist in the tale sees the real identity of the Reverse-Flash revealed to the audience as one of the most shocking Arrowverse moments ever.