Surprisingly, none of the eight Arrowverse actors confirmed for The Flash’s “Armageddon” event are from Superman & Lois. It appears that Superman & Lois is the only Arrowverse show that won’t get representation when Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen and Team Flash team up with their fellow DC heroes.
It was announced a while back that in contrast to the Arrowverse’s traditional, wide-scale crossover approach, The CW will be delivering five, significantly smaller crossover episodes at the beginning of The Flash season 8. Just recently, it was revealed that the event, titled “Armageddon”, will involve a battle against an alien threat. Over the course of the five-part story, Barry and Team Flash will cross paths with various Arrowverse characters from outside The Flash, including Ryan Choi (Osric Chau), Atom (Brandon Routh), Black Lightning (Cress Williams), Batwoman (Javicia Leslie), Mia Queen (Katherine McNamara), Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough), and Sentinel (Chyler Leigh).
Noticeably missing from “Armageddon” are characters from Superman & Lois. It seems a bit odd that The Flash is incorporating characters from canceled shows like Supergirl, Black Lightning, and Arrow, but isn’t making room for the most popular show in The CW’s Arrowverse lineup. As things stand, Superman & Lois has higher ratings than all other shows set in the Arrowverse. With that in mind, featuring a character from Superman & Lois like Superman (Tyler Hoechlin), Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch), or Steel (Wolé Parks) would have been an excellent opportunity for The Flash to build hype for the upcoming event. Plus, their experiences with alien adversaries would have made them good fits. As for why it’s not going in that direction, the answer could be related primarily to actor availability and scheduling issues.
It’s worth noting that out of all the Arrowverse actors confirmed to make appearances, only one – Batwoman’s Javicia Leslie – is still an active series regular. The rest have either departed the Arrowverse or were in shows that are now canceled. For this reason, getting most of them onboard naturally would have been easier than it would be with Hoechlin or Tulloch, especially since filming for Superman & Lois season 2 is set to begin in September.
Unfortunately, not involving Superman & Lois is a continuation of an issue that viewers have had with the shoe ever since it kicked off in February. Though it takes place on Earth-Prime with all the other shows, it’s always felt disconnected from the rest of the Arrowverse. Talk about the Crisis and John Diggle’s cameo were among the rare moments where Superman & Lois reminded audiences that it shares the same world as Barry, Kara, and all the other heroes. One of the benefits of “Crisis” was that its ending enabled more cohesion to exist between the shows, but the Arrowverse doesn’t often take advantage of that, or at least not with Superman. The character or any of his allies popping up in The Flash’s “Armageddon” event would have been a step toward properly demonstrating the connection between Superman & Lois and the wider Arrowverse.