Fans of the CW know that the network's two DC Comics shows have worked to develop separate identities. The Flash is the fun superhero show, filled with metahumans and geeky humor, while Arrow is the darker and more grounded superhero series. However, now that the two shows have combined forces for the upcoming Arrow and The Flash crossover episodes, Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim says the crossover helped him to change his mind about Arrow’s capacity to use metahumans on the series.
"What's fun about episode 8 for Arrow is it proved to me, as a writer and a producer, hey, you know what? You can do metahumans on Arrow without feeling like the show is changing its tone too much. "
While Arrow has included superpowered humans on the show in the past, once The Flash spun off into its own series and the Slade Wilson plotline ended its arc, Guggenheim notably spoke out to say he wanted no part in dealing with enhanced abilities during Season 3. Then, came news of the inevitable crossover, during which the two teams will come together to deal with Captain Boomerang and Ray Bivolo, the latter a metahuman who can actually control people’s emotions.
Guggenheim told Comic Book Resources that the crossover has affected the whole Arrow creative team, and that he officially takes back the comments he made at the beginning of the fall, when he seemed to be throwing out the word “grounded” in every other sentence.
"It's something that we all sort of collectively realized -- hey, the show can handle that. So that's kind of cool. I might have to amend my earlier comment from the beginning of the year, just because this kind of works."
In some ways it is kind-of amusing that Guggenheim only made it a couple of months into the season before he decided metahumans were a cool route to travel, once again. In other ways, that opens up the show to a whole slew of villains and plots it seemed were off limits due to the “grounded world” Guggenheim was originally adamant about portraying during Season 3. If superpowers do once again become an integral part of Arrow’s plot, it could still be a while before it happens, but in the meantime, the show is definitely changing things up during The Flash and Arrow crossover episodes.
The two episodes have already been shot and are expected to hit the schedule during The Flash and Arrow’s regular timeslots on December 2 and 3. The first, “Flash vs. Arrow,” will take the two casts to Central City while the second episode “The Brave and The Bold” will head to Starling City. Here’s everything we know about the crossover episodes so far.
