After a setup in The Flash, the Arrowverse has the perfect opportunity to do DC Comics' Red Death very accurately, as part of a crossover with Batwoman. Throughout the earlier seasons of The Flash, the DC drama has incorporated multiple speedsters from the hero's mythology. From heroes like Wally West, Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, to iconic villains like Reverse-Flash, Zoom, and Savitar, the Arrowverse has never been short on speedsters. At this point, The Flash has brought in most of Barry Allen's extended family as well as Rogues into The CW's DC TV universe. The Flash season 7 will also see the true Godspeed this year, adding yet another popular villain from the fastest man alive's comic mythology.
But another villainous speedster that has been mentioned in the Arrowverse is Red Death - a relatively new character in the DC Universe since September 2017. But the character's creation led to a following, and it didn't take long before The Flash had dropped an Easter egg, confirming he exists in some form of the future. However, it was always slightly complicated if they could ever use Red Death, due to the villain being an alternative version of Batman. However, Batwoman may have made it become a reality as the Arrowverse has sort of gotten access to Bruce Wayne.
Even though the Arrowverse can't do a crossover currently due to the global pandemic still affecting production, it won't always be like that. At some point, once everyone has been vaccinated and it is deemed safe to have production crews of each show be on the same set, crossovers will happen again. While The Flash season 8 is already a go, only time will tell how much longer the series will go on. But with the way that they have set up Red Death and some of the core pieces being in place, the Arrowverse has the potential to do a fairly accurate Red Death, but have him as a big crossover villain between The Flash and Batwoman in the future.
DC Comics' Red Death Bruce Wayne Origin Explained
In September 2017, a new iteration of Batman debuted in DC Comics, in Dark Days: The Casting #1, by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, as part of the Dark Nights: Metal event. The story follows Earth -52's (a negative Earth in the Dark Multiverse) Bruce Wayne, who is on a quest to take the Speed Force from this world's Flash. After having lost multiple allies during his time as Batman, it began to break Bruce as he was willing to go to new extreme measures to become a better crime fighter. At some point, Batman had taken out The Rogues and stolen their weapons so he could go after The Flash, who refused to give Bruce access to the Speed Force.
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But eventually, Batman manages to knock Flash out and chains him to the front of the Batmobile. But it wasn't just a regular vehicle anymore as Bruce had combined the Batmobile with the Cosmic Treadmill, so they could together go into the Speed Force. Against his will, The Flash merges with Batman, who succeeds in getting Barry's powers, and becomes the new murderous figure known as Batman: The Red Death. As the Red Death, Bruce murders several of his own villains, while Flash's consciousness tries to convince Batman not to go down this dark path. In Dark Nights: Metal, Red Death joins the other Dark Knights as their Dark Multiverse was dying, leading them to invade the main Multiverse.
How Batwoman Season 1 Introduced Bruce Wayne To The Arrowverse
When Batwoman got introduced in the Arrowverse during the Elseworlds crossover, it also established what Bruce's status was on Earth-1. In Batwoman season 1, the other characters make it clear that no one has been able to track Bruce down ever since he left Gotham City. In Elseworlds, Oliver Queen explained that no one knew why Bruce had abandoned Gotham a few years back. During Batwoman season 1, the biggest clue that comes to light is that at some point, Batman killed The Joker in this universe. Whether or not that is what drove Bruce away from Gotham has yet to be confirmed, but it's a significant deal for Batman to break his biggest rule.
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But it's in the Batwoman season 1 finale where the Arrowverse took a big step forward regarding Bruce's existence in the franchise. Alice had promised Tommy Elliott a new face, since he had to remove his face to stage a suicide. Alice makes Hush a new face during the final moments of the finale, but not just any face. Thanks to Alice's skills, she made him look like Bruce Wayne, who is played by Warren Christie in this universe. Despite hoping to keep the disguise for longer, the Batwoman season 2 premiere quickly ended Tommy's impersonation. While the real Bruce is still out there, Christie is now The CW's official face for what Batman looks like in the Arrowverse.
How The Flash Season 5 Set Up Red Death
While Red Death hasn't physically appeared in the Arrowverse, The Flash season 5 confirmed that he will exist at some point in time. During the twelfth episode, "Memorabilia," Barry and Iris West-Allen goes into Nora West-Allen's mind, as XS had gotten stuck inside Grace Gibbons' mind. As they use the machine to go into their daughter's mind, it gives Iris and Barry a glimpse of Nora's timeline, which will be their future. They discover that STAR Labs has become the Flash Museum, which contains information about various Flash villains. They see a young Nora listening to the curator Dexter Myles talking about Cicada's murderous track record.
Iris and Barry then see a news clip of Captain Singh talking about how The Flash did everything he could to stop Cicada. Singh then references that Cicada had murdered more people than Hunter Zolomon, a.k.a. Zoom, and the Red Death. Besides being known to be a future serial killer, the Arrowverse hasn't offered more clues about the character ever since The Flash season 5. Since Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted Earth-Prime's continuity, Red Death may have different outcomes in the new timeline, especially after Batwoman season 1.
Why Red Death Is Perfect For A Flash & Batwoman Crossover
While the Red Death would obviously have to be retooled a bit for the Arrowverse, The CW could still maintain the concept of Bruce being the man behind the mask. Since Warner Bros. are tricky with letting Batman be used on the small screen, the Red Death would be a gateway to utilize Christie as a different Bruce in the Arrowverse. One approach would be to explore the idea that before the Crisis happened, Batwoman's Batman disappeared years ago because he began exploring alternative Earths to discover ways to improve himself as the Dark Knight. Since this Batman never had a relationship with Earth-1's Flash, perhaps Bruce explored the Multiverse to get access to the Speed Force differently. Like Red Death in the comics, Bruce could have managed to merge with a Flash, but one from another universe.
If that were the case, it would be a big storyline that The Flash and Batwoman could tackle together as a crossover. Not only could this cover saving Earth-Prime's Bruce, but it would also end the long-lived mystery of where Batman has been for all these years. At some point, the Arrowverse has to answer where Bruce actually is, as it would be a massive plot hole if they never explained why Batman was MIA for multiple years. Since Javicia Leslie's Ryan Wilder hasn't gotten to engage with the rest of the Arrowverse yet, a Batwoman/The Flash crossover would allow her to get more incorporated into the franchise. Given that Batwoman has recast Kate Kane with Wallis Day, it would present an opportunity to have Bruce's cousin get involved after she is no longer Black Mask's prisoner.
If the Arrowverse couldn't do that to Earth-Prime's Bruce, then they could still make it a Batman from one of the new Earths in the Multiverse. Not only would this option maintain Earth-Prime's Batman having never become a villain, but it allows the Arrowverse to re-discover the New Multiverse post-Crisis. At this point, Earth-Prime doesn't know that Oliver rebooted the Multiverse as the Spectre.
The great thing with Red Death is that he is a complicated villain, as Bruce only stole Barry's powers because he wanted to save Gotham City more efficiently. Now that the Arrowverse has Christie, they can have him play multiple iterations of Bruce from other realities, including for something like a The Flash/Batwoman crossover. It becomes the ultimate grey area for the Arrowverse, as they have an iteration of Bruce that is Batman, but not in the traditional sense. Red Death also seems like the perfect final evil speedster for The Flash to do after Godspeed before they eventually have Reverse-Flash return as Barry's ultimate nemesis. Before The Flash ends, it only feels right and inevitable that Eobard Thawne and Barry have one final storyline together, whatever that might look like before everything is said and done. But rather than doing Red Death as a villain for the first or second half of a future Flash season, they could execute him as the antagonist for an Arrowverse crossover between The Flash and Batwoman.