Arrowverse producer Marc Guggenheim revealed why Psycho-Pirate didn't make an appearance in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The massive crossover event made headlines for reshaping the Arrowverse and featuring numerous DC universe cameos. The CW will re-air the event next week.
Crisis on Infinite Earths concluded back in January, and the aftermath is still being felt. Oliver Queen gave his life in the battle as the new Spectre. The event featured a number of cameos and guest appearances. Kevin Conroy actually got to star as Bruce Wayne in a live-action project for the first time, and Brandon Routh donned the cape for the first time since Superman Returns. Of course, nothing surprised fans more than an appearance from Ezra Miller's Flash, something that was somehow kept secret. However, some fans were disappointed with one thing. The Reverse-Flash did not make any kind of appearance, despite being teased. Guggenheim explained why Eobard Thawne didn't appear. Another character presumed to appear but didn't was Psycho-Pirate. This character had a notable role in the comic book and even appeared in Elseworlds. Despite all that, he was nowhere to be seen in Crisis.
In an interview with Fake Nerd Podcast, Arrowverse producer Marc Guggenheim explained why Psycho-Pirate was absent from Crisis on Infinite Earths. According to the producer, the team had him in it but felt his appearance was forced. Interestingly, the team had managed to "work in a cameo," but the producer states this was part of a bigger story that was ultimately dropped due to story and time constraints.
"I wish I could say he made it to the draft stage. Well! That's not true. He did make it to the draft stage. For the most part, he ended up -- like, he could just never make it off the whiteboard. We had stories and moments and scenes and everything in between with him in it. But honestly, every single time we talked about him, it felt forced. It felt like we were doing this only because he's in the comic. That can't be the reason we included anybody, and that's what it felt like.
We managed to work in a cameo for him that felt pretty legitimate. Like, it felt like, 'Okay, this is good. This works. This is satisfying.' But it was part of a larger story beat and that story beat ended up going away for a variety of different lengths and production reasons and a whole host of things. Basically, that story beat was us going down a certain rabbit hole that we just didn't have the story time or screen time to go down. So unfortunately, that had to go."
In the comic book, Psycho-Pirate helps the Anti-Monitor. Psycho-Pirate would cause trouble for the heroes, especially Barry Allen. Psycho-Pirate is also featured on the last few panels of the event, where he states he remembers things pre-Crisis. Although many fans would probably agree with Guggenheim's reasoning on Psycho-Pirate's absence, it's still a shame the character wasn't incorporated.
Psycho-Pirate was played by Bob Frazer in Elseworlds and featured his iconic Medusa Mask. He even recites the classic Crisis tagline at the end of Elseworlds. It's easy to understand why fans would be frustrated at his lack of appearing; the character's role and emotion-manipulating abilities would have been exciting to see. Hopefully, the Arrowverse will be able to use him again at some point. Interestingly, the next Arrowverse crossover is already planned, though fans shouldn't expect it to be as big as Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Source: Fake Nerd Podcast