The Flash and Arrow Epic Crossover Is Here: Everything You Need to Know

The two night event begins Tuesday at 8 p.m. and concludes Wednesday at 8 p.m. on the CW

It's heeeeere!

December is quickly becoming our favorite month of the year, and it's all because of the now annual Flash and Arrow crossover episodes, and definitely not because of any food-filled holidays or anything. The crossover, which begins tonight with an episode of The Flash and concludes with tomorrow night's episode of Arrow, serves as the introduction to two of Legends of Tomorrow's biggest characters, Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) and Hawkman (Falk Henstchel). Even though there's major focus on the upcoming spin-off, there are still plenty of shining moments for nearly everyone on both The Flash and Arrow. 

This year's two-part event is even bigger, better, and funnier than last year's outing, and by bigger, we mean in pretty much every way possible. Last year, we got two separate episodes with their own storylines that happened to feature characters from both shows. This year, it's like one big two hour movie, and you definitely need to watch both halves. 

Not that you'd stop at just one—it'd be like getting a Reese's peanut butter cup and only eating the chocolate from the sides, which is super weird. Why would you do that? Arrow and The Flash: Two tastes that taste great together. For those of you who are, in fact, super weird and only watch one of the shows, we've got you covered with everything you need to know. For those of you who only eat the chocolate off of Reese's peanut butter cups, there is no no help for you. Sorry. 

The Flash
You don't watch The Flash? First of all, let us say how dare you, and also what's wrong with you? Now that we've insulted you and your taste in TV, let us explain that The Flash is generally about a guy (Barry) who can run incredibly fast, thanks to an exploded particle accelerator. Last season was all about Barry harnessing his powers, and now that they're all harnessed (including lightning throwing and time travel!), the show has gotten a little more complicated. 

Put simply: There are parallel Earths, and everyone has a doppelganger on Earth 2. Some of said doppelgangers have crossed over to Earth 1, and some of them have turned out to be pretty helpful, including an apparently non-evil version of last season's villain, Harrison Wells. 

Lately, the usually unlucky-in-love Cisco has gotten both superpowers (he can see random visions of the future) and a girlfriend (Kendra, who's actually Hawkgirl). Meanwhile, Earth 2's Harrison Wells has been attempting to make Barry faster in order to defeat the latest (very, very scary) big bad, Zoom.

Arrow
Arrow's been on for four seasons now, so we don't know why you're not watching it yet, but here ya go: rich playboy Oliver Queen once got stuck on an island for five years. Everyone thought he was dead, but he was actually busy trying not to die while learning to be incredibly badass. For a while, he was a dangerous vigilante with a bow and arrow, but now, he's running for mayor and in a serious relationship with IT girl-turned tech company CEO, Felicity. 

Currently, team Arrow is regularly battling a jolly man in a fancy suit named Damien Darhk, who seems to have learned the power of The Force, or some other sort of mystical power that allows him to perform some pretty dark and awful magic. You won't see too much of him in tonight's crossover, but unsurprisingly, what you will see of him is definitely memorable. 

Now that you're all caught up, here are a few other things you can expect from the crossover: 

Humor
Cisco's not the only one with jokes, y'all. The sense of humor we see consistently each Tuesday on The Flash translates to the whole two hours. There's none of the sadness that sometimes permeates Arrow (OK, there's a little bit of sadness). Plus, the crossover is probably also a little lighter than last year's outing because Barry and Oliver are teaming up to fight evil, and not trying to kill each other. That always helps.

Stephen Amell's best work
We've already gotten to know a new, happier side of Oliver this season, and this crossover brings out a whole lot of emotion we've rarely seen from him. It's a little more real than the fantastical situations we've seen Oliver deal with before, and it's kind of refreshing and heartbreaking at the same time.

Mindy Kaling is a star in this world, too
Just FYI. A character is spotted reading a magazine profile of The Mindy Project star and bestselling author, in case you were wondering if hilarious female comedy stars exist in Central and Star Cities. Wonder if they're excited about Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's Sisters, too?

The oldest flashbacks yet
Oliver's flashback wigs have nothing on the costumes in this week's flashbacks, which go all the way back to Ancient Egypt as we learn about the origins of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

Fancy knife-throwing
New big bad Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) has got some serious skills.  

Felicity wearing practical outfits
We've never quite understood why she feels the need to don heels and a cocktail dress for late night crime fighting, but this week, there are scenes in which Felicity wears regular clothing that actually makes sense for fighting evil. We almost applauded.

The crossover begins with The Flash tonight at 8 p.m. and continues with Arrow tomorrow night at 8 p.m. on the CW.