Anybody need a hero?
New seasons of Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash, and newcomer Batwoman are all about to premiere on the CW, and they're all leading up to one of the biggest crossover events in TV history: Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Batwoman makes her debut first, followed by Supergirl, with a friendship on the brink of collapse over a secret. The Flash returns for season six with a family in mourning over the loss of their future daughter, and Arrow's on its way back for a final season that's unlike any season that has come before.
We've already been warned of multiple potential deaths this fall as everyone gears up for the total destruction of the multiverse. No big deal, or anything.
In case you're behind or you've just forgotten, we've got the scoop on the returns of all the Arrowverse shows over the next couple of weeks.
Batwoman
Batwoman is the first CW show to premiere this season, re-introducing us to Kate Kane, the cousin of Bruce Wayne who becomes Batwoman to protect the city after Batman's long absence. We first met her in last year's Arrowverse crossover, but Ruby Rose says this show will unravel the mystery of the woman we met a year ago.
"I feel like the crossover was just kind of...she was still a mystery to everyone," Rose tells us. "It was in Gotham, so the good thing is that you got to see a little bit of where she works out of, a little bit of what she looks like in the suit, but you have no idea how she got there, why she's wearing the suit, why she's in Wayne Towers, like her whole backstory."
The show, Rose explains, will fill us in on Kate's entire life, basically from the moment she was born.
"Kate Kane is...I mean, she's a really really good person, but she's been through everything. She's been through unimaginable things," Rose says. "On top of that, on top of family things she's been through, and on top of choosing a direction in life and being really good at it in the military, and then losing that as well, and then losing the person she thought she was going to be with forever, it's just been this uphill battle for her entire life."
Rachel Skarsten stars as Alice, Batwoman's greatest foe, while Dougray Scott plays Jacob Kane, Kate's father. Meagan Tandy plays Sophie, Kate's ex, while Camrus Johnson plays Luke Fox, Batwoman's semi-sidekick.
Elizabeth Anweis plays Catherine Hamilton-Kane, Kate's rich stepmother, while Nicole Kang plays Mary, Kate's stepsister.
Supergirl
Last season of Supergirl ended with a major, major bombshell: Lena found out that Kara and Supergirl were one and the same, and it shook her to her very core, just moments after she shot her brother Lex to what appeared to be death. This betrayal is what showrunners Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller tell us is at the very center of season five.
"Season Five is our Black Mirror season—we will be exploring how technology is changing the fabric of human life as people hide behind their devices and escape into virtual worlds rather than facing issues head on. We're very excited to introduce two new characters who will shake up CATCO and be foils for Kara —Andrea Rojas played by Julie Gonzalo and William Day played by Staz Nair," they told us. "The true heart of the season will be the fractured relationship between Kara and Lena in the wake of Lena discovering Kara's true identity. The journey of whether their friendship can recover will be compelling and deeply emotional."
If you've seen Melissa Benoist's excited Instagram posts of her riding dinosaurs, then you also might have an idea of one little thing happening in the premiere. You can also bet that the Lena/Kara of it all will be prevalent, and let's just say Lena's not so thrilled about her best friend keeping secrets from her.
The Flash
Tuesday, October 8
Season five ended in complete emotional devastation for the West-Allen family with the loss/erasure of Barry and Iris' future daughter Nora.
"The new season picks up mere seconds after last year's finale. So Barry and Iris will have to deal with a new disaster, while also coping with memories of Nora's passing that are still very fresh, very raw. And as Season Six continues, this leads into an even larger dilemma for Barry. Because he'll also have the threat of the approaching Crisis (on Infinite Earths) looming over him while he attempts to take down this year's big villain, a dark foe who is his most terrifying adversary yet."
Nora's loss is felt hard in the premiere, especially by Iris, but there's still plenty of things going on for Team Flash to worry about...including another visit from the Monitor.
Arrow
Tuesday, October 15
It's the final season! Arrow is saying goodbye in early 2020, but as Stephen Amell tells us, the show as we know it is sort of already over. Each of the 10 episodes of season eight, he says, are kind of an event in and of themselves.
"It feels less serialized," he says.
This year's crossover is a major part of Arrow's final season. David Ramsey says that it feels like every episode is gearing up for that crossover.
"We're all at a race in every episode up to that crossover," he says.
"The crossover officially starts in episode eight, officially, but as far as I'm concerned, for us, thematically, it starts in episode one. It started in 7x22, and it continues in 801," Amell explained.
He posted the above photo during crossover filming with the caption, "Crisis on Infinite Earths is going great!"
Oliver also had to say goodbye to his wife, Felicity, as he left with the Monitor, and that loss will be felt on the show, though Amell says they didn't want to spend 10 episodes "moping around."
"What I've done for my character is I've said to myself, OK, she looked at me, and she said whatever happens, wherever you go, I'll find you, and I believe her," he tells us. "That's the motivation for my character. That being said, it's incredibly sad."
He explains that while Oliver can't wear his wedding ring in the premiere, there is definitely a shot of Oliver putting the ring back on in episode two.
"She's certainly at the forefront of his mind," he says.
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Kicks off Sunday, Dec. 8 with Supergirl
This year's crossover will not only include episodes of Batwoman, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow (returning midseason), but it will also include characters from Black Lightning and even frickin' Smallville, with Tom Welling and Erica Durance reprising their roles as Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Brandon Routh will even reprise his version of Superman from Superman Returns.
By all accounts, it's bigger and more complicated than it has ever been before, and each of the Arrowverse shows gave us a hint of how they might be involved in the crossover in their season finales, thanks to a couple visits from the Monitor and one ominous date change.
On Arrow, the Monitor showed up to take Oliver up on a deal they had made during the last crossover to exchange his own life to save Barry and Kara, so he left with the Monitor. Decades later, Felicity also left with the Monitor in order to join her husband somewhere she could never return from.
On Supergirl, he gave an alien pal permission to go after his brother and enemy, J'onn J'onzz, and then appeared to be working some magic on a dying Lex Luthor.
He also appeared in a crowd, eating popcorn, on Legends of Tomorrow. The Flash gave us a hint of what was coming when we saw the date change on that future newspaper article about Barry going missing. Where it used to say 2024, it now says 2019, which is also the date listed on Oliver's tombstone.
So basically some s--t is going down in this five-part crossover.
Here's what we know. Crisis On Infinite Earths was originally a 12-issue limited series of comic books that ran from April 1985 to March 1986. The actual crisis was that the Anti-Monitor, the evil version of the Monitor, started destroying the various earths of the multiverse. The Monitor fought back by recruiting heroes from various earths, as he's been doing on the various shows.
The comic series resulted in the reboot of the entire DC franchise, and ended with the deaths of Barry Allen/The Flash and Kara Zor-El/Supergirl and the creation of a single DC Universe.
The crossover will feature at least three different versions of Superman, including Supergirl's Tyler Hoechlin, Smallville's Tom Welling, and Superman Returns' Brandon Routh. We'll also get two Lois Lanes, played by Smallville's Erica Durance and Supergirl's Bitsie Tulloch.
Bruce Wayne will also finally make an appearance, played in the future by Kevin Conroy, who voiced the character for Batman: The Animated Series. Other guests include Supernatural's Osric Chau, who will play Ryan Choi, a scientist, and Legends of Tomorrow's Johnathon Schaech returns as Jonah Hex.
Amell told us he's playing two characters again, so it seems likely that we'll be getting multiple alternate-universe versions of many characters.
That's definitely true for Tom Cavanagh's Harrison Wells, as it was announced that he'll be playing Pariah, a scientist whose experiments in the comics eventually led to the Anti-Monitor beginning his quest to destroy the earths.
Audrey Marie Anderson, who plays Arrow's Lyla Michaels, will be playing Harbinger, who, in the comics, is the Monitor's protégée and becomes possessed during the crisis.
Crisis will play out over five nights, with a major break before the final two parts.
Supergirl: Sunday, December 8, 8 p.m.
Batwoman: Monday, December 9, 8 p.m.
The Flash: Tuesday, December 10, 8 p.m.
Arrow: Tuesday, January 14, 8 p.m.
DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Tuesday, January 14, 8 p.m.
The superheroes begin their return this Sunday, October 6, so get ready, because it doesn't sound like everyone's getting out of their seasons alive.