Through The Flash season 8’s Armageddon event, the Arrowverse is finally paying off the ending offered by Crisis on Infinite Earths. Barry Allen and others have dealt with the personal repercussions of what happened in the Crisis and some of the alterations that were made to the Arrowverse’s timeline, but the shows have yet to really explore the most important change that the crossover event made. However, The Flash season 8 looks set to move in a different direction.
In a break from the traditional crossover format, The Flash season 8 is doing a five-part story that will team Barry and his friends up with a mixed lineup of Arrowverse heroes and villains. This approach will encompass Arrowverse characters who are no longer active now that their respective shows aren’t on the air anymore. Against a DC Comics villain known as Despero (Tony Curran), Barry will have to work alongside heroes from Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Black Lightning, and Supergirl in order to prevail. Presumably, each of the five episodes will feature at least one or two of the eight confirmed Arrowverse Armageddon guest stars.
This sort of format may not sound as grand or perhaps as epic as Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it is exactly the sort of thing that the Arrowverse was laying the groundwork for when it told that story in the first place. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the ending of the Crisis is that it put all the Arrowverse shows (and Black Lightning) on the same world, Earth-Prime. That was a game-changing turn of events that promised a ton of storytelling potential, but none of the shows have properly capitalized on it – until now. Alliances with characters like Black Lightning (Cress Williams) and Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) are the kinds of team-ups that Crisis was essentially setting up, but the Arrowverse has thus far missed those opportunities.
Arrow’s John Diggle (David Ramsey) showing up on Superman & Lois and Supergirl being the most the Arrowverse has gotten out of the shows sharing the same Earth speaks to the lack of significance the ending has had in 2020 and 2021. After all, taking all of these characters who have been isolated from each other for so long and erasing that divide was a big part of the appeal and what made Crisis feel so important. For that reason, it only makes sense for the Arrowverse to really embrace what that concept offers these shows.
It’s a bit disappointing that none of the major characters from Superman & Lois will play a role in Armageddon, but even so, its plan for the event still comes across as a step in the right direction. Thanks to The Flash season 8 and the inclusion of Black Lightning and Supergirl characters, viewers will finally get a good taste of what the existence of Earth-Prime really means for the Arrowverse. It’ll be a well-earned experience to be sure, and will hopefully be followed by more like it in the near future.