The Arrow-verse generally gets pretty bonkers every year when the giant multi-show crossover rolls around, and the 2018 event could be the wildest yet despite the absence of one of the series. "Elseworlds" promises to turn the Arrow-verse upside down and swap Barry and Oliver's identities while bringing in Gotham City's current protector and more than one new villain. New images from the event should get fans more excited than ever.
Casting news earlier this year confirmed that none other than Mr. Freeze exists in the Arrow-verse, as does his wife. Now, we have our first look at Nora Fries in the "Elseworlds" crossover:
Yes, that is Cassandra Amell playing Nora Fries, and it's already clear that we're not getting a Batman: The Animated Series or Batman & Robin version of the character. In those (and other) tellings of Nora Fries' life, she's frozen by her husband in order to stop the progression of a terrible disease, and she's innocent of his wrongdoings when he ultimately goes full Mr. Freeze. Based on this photo, Nora Fries may be as much of a villain as her icy hubby.
It's not clear where Nora is in this photo, but she seems to have opened an evidence box or perhaps weapon container of some sort that contains what can only be Mr. Freeze's ice gun. The box is labeled "FRIES, V." Nora also looks like she's wearing a suit of some kind herself, so we should definitely count on a kind of Nora we haven't seen before.
Whether this is because of the "Elseworlds" craziness or because the Arrow-verse just decided to give their adaptation of Nora a twist remains to be seen. There are a few possibilities I can think of as to Nora's location. If Mr. Freeze is locked up in Arkham Asylum with the mad doctor, it would stand to reason that his ice gun would have been confiscated by the police or a vigilante.
Nora could have broken into the Gotham City Police Department (which is hopefully shot up less often than the GCPD on Gotham) or even Arkham to get her hands on it. We can probably rule out her breaking into the Batcave, not least because Batman won't be the Bat in the mix. Alternately, perhaps Nora is simply in her husband's lab or lair to get her hands on the gun, although I'm not sure why he would label his own gun "FRIES, V."
Wherever she is, the expression on her face gives the impression that she is not somebody that Batwoman and any visiting heroes would want running around Gotham with an icy weapon. Only time will tell. Nora is slated to appear in the Arrow leg of the crossover that airs on Monday, December 10.
Another character with an unexpected crossover twist will be Malcolm Merlyn, who we've known for a while is coming back despite his death back in Season 5. Take a look at him in the "Elseworlds" event:
Yes, that right there is Malcolm Merlyn as a police officer in Central City, and that... is something few of us could have predicted. This isn't the first time that Malcolm has turned up in a bizarro reality, and it's possible that the "Elseworlds" twist to his character will be less weird than what the Flash/Supergirl musical episode did with him. Still, seeing him dressed as a cop on the streets of Central City is just strange, especially since everybody's favorite CCPD detective has been out of commission!
Eagle-eyed fans will noticed that Malcolm Merlyn isn't the only Arrow baddie dressed up as law enforcement in this image. On the far right, we have Ricardo Diaz the police officer. Whatever happens thanks to Dr. John Deegan and Monitor, it will mix up Ricardo Diaz as well as many other characters.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more what you can expect from the "Elseworlds" crossover, which Stephen Amell has indicated is a whole lot of fun. LaMonica Garrett, who plays Monitor, dropped some interesting info about what to expect with the three-night event, which kicks off with an episode of The Flash on Sunday, December 9 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
