Arrowverse

Arrowverse
Gallery
Aliases	CWverse[3], Berlantiverse[4]
Creators	Andrew Kreisberg · Marc Guggenheim
First Appearance	"Pilot" (October 10, 2012)

Arrowverse is a fan-originated term which refers to the television franchise created by the CW that is based on characters that appear in publications by DC Comics. The shared multiverse started with Arrow (2012), but later retroactively included Constantine and the 1990 series The Flash; it was eventually expanded to include worlds which were home to not only the DCEU and related modern film franchises, but virtually every licensed live-action adaptation of DC intellectual property when Arrow and its spin-offs staged a 5-hour televised adaptation of the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline.

History

Multiverse

This multiverse, which has both similarities and differences with the one from the comics, includes infinite universes (with at least 1938 known Earths). In the beginning there was only a single, black singularity; then, it broke and the Big Bang created the Multiverse, every existence multiplied by possibility with Earth-1 as its original center.

God created the Heaven for his Angels and, after the rebellion of his son Lucifer, the Hell as a place for the damned souls. God is known to be the Almighty ruler of the Multiverse: because of this, it can also be presumed that the Big Bang was caused by Him.

When Mar Novu, a Maltusian scientist, sought to see the creation of the Multiverse, he travelled back at the Dawn of Time but was overwhelmed by the radiations of the Temporal Zone, obtaining cosmic powers that later made him known as the Monitor. He was transported to the Antimatter Universe, where it was somehow generated his negative doppleganger, Mobius, later called the Anti-Monitor.

Every reality in the multiverse vibrate at its own frequency that separates one world from the other and they also feature counterparts to other worlds' characters, like Jay Garrick of Earth-3 and Barry Allen of Earth-90.

Metahumans who can manipulate vibrations, also called vibers, have the power to travel into other dimensions like the Collector Agency's members that chase through the realities anyone who disrespects Earth-19's ban on interdimensional travel, due to the invasion of this reality by a neighbour universe.

Crisis on Earth-X

During the wedding of The Flash and Iris West, Earth-1 was invaded by an evil army from Earth-X, a universe in which the Nazi won World War II.

Led by the new Fuhrer Oliver Queen, also known as Dark Arrow, and helped by Earth-1 Reverse Flash, the Nazi planned to use a light accelerator, the Prism, to artificially create red sunlight that would help them transplant Supergirl's heart to her Earth-X counterpart, Overgirl who was dying from sunlight overloading..

Some of Earth-1's heroes were abducted to Earth-X so Oliver Queen and other heroes travelled there and they were helped by the Freedom Fighters, a resistance team led by Captain Winn Schott and the Ray from Earth-1. Together, they saved the abducted group and discovered Earth-Xers' doomsday device, the Wellenreiter, a militarized timeship that was to be deployed on Earth-1.

When the Nazi attacked Central City, the united heroes confronted the enemies and defeated them as Overgirl died from her disease and Dark Arrow was killed by Green Arrow, while the Wellenreiter was destroyed by Harry Wells, forcing the evil army to retreat back on their Earth..

Elseworlds

At some point in 21th century, the Monitor journeyed through the Multiverse in search for potential heroes that could help him prevent an incoming Crisis. He tested some universes, entrusting some of their residents with the Book of Destiny; he then arrived on Earth-90, which failed to prove itself worthy to be saved so it was destroyed as the Flash became its only survivor, escaping into another universe..

In December 2018, he came to Earth-1 where he passed the Book of Destiny to John Deegan in order to challenge the heroes of this world. The scientist used the Book of Destiny to create a new reality in which the the identites of the Green Arrow and The Flash were swapped.

Helped by Earth-38 Supergirl and Superman, the Earth-1 heroes used their switched abilities to remove the threat of the android A.M.A.Z.O. who could replicate any power he scanned. Combining all of their abilities, the heroes banded together against the evil android and, in the end, destroyed it.

Later, thanks to Vibe, the heroes traced Deegan back to Gotham City where they retrived the Book but they had to quell a riot in Arkham Asylum with the help of the vigilante Batwoman. In the meantime, the Flash of Earth-90 also came to Earth-1 and warned them about the Monitor's intentions. The heroes confronted the multiversal God which got his Book back and ordered Deegan to "think bigger", altering again the reality, causing the Flash of Earth-1 and Green Arrow to become the infamous Trigger Twins.

Inspired by Superman of Earth-38, Deegan has become himself a black-suited doppleganger of Superman and has imprisoned Supergirl in the S.T.A.R. Labs's pipeline. The Trigger Twins convinced the alternate Cisco to take them to Earth-38 where they convinced Superman to help them again; with the help of the alternate Alex Danvers who freed Supergirl, the Book of Destiny was located and Flash, Green Arrow and Supergirl's identities were restored.

Superman/Deegan retrieved once again the Book of Destiny and planned to alter again the reality: the Flash and Supergirl blocked him, running at super-speed around the Earth. As the two were nearly torn apart, Oliver Queen made a deal with the Monitor, which consisted in himself becoming Monitor's enforcer in the future Crisis in order to save them.

Deegan and his forces were defeated by the group of superheroes and the scientist became an husk after his connection with the Book of Destiny faded away as it was hit by a Monitor-powered arrow of Oliver Queen. The reality changed back to how originally was and Deegan was imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, friending with an inmate, Roger Hayden who warned him that "worlds will live, worlds will die, and the universe will never be the same".

Crisis on Infinite Earths

After the defeat of the Ninth Circle in 2019, the Monitor called Oliver Queen to his duties, preparing him for the incoming Crisis. Not long after Oliver's recruiting, Lyla Michaels also became Monitor's enforcer as the super-powered Harbinger.

In order to prove Monitor's non-existence, Nash Wells freed the Monitor's Netherverse counterpart, the self-called Anti-Monitor who planned to destroy every Earth in the Multiverse with an anti-matter. Finding the Flash of Earth-90 in the Netherverse, he forced him to run in order to power its anti-matter cannon that obliterated Earth-2 for testing.

When the Crisis erupted, the Anti-Monitor began its destruction, sending an anti-matter wave into the Multiverse, erasing every reality and rampaging himself through them, heralded by his Shadow Demons..

When Earth-38 was about to be destroyed by the wave, the Monitor's gathered heroes banded together to save this reality's residents, but was attacked by Anti-Monitor's forces: in the climax of the battle, Oliver Queen bravely died to save more people he could. As the wave hit this world, the heroes retreated back on Earth-1 and used a recovered Waverider of Earth-74 as their base.

It was revealed by the Book of Destiny that they exist seven individuals, called Paragons, that could save the multiverse from annihilation. Thanks to the help of the Green Lantern Corps and Ganthet of Earth-12 that let Felicity Smoak read the Book of Oa, Sara Lance and Kara Zor-El were discovered as Paragons; at the same time, the Council of Luthors battled the Supermen of the Multiverse through the remaining Earths but was defeated by them.

As Barry Allen, Martian Manhunter, Batwoman, the Superman of Earth-96 and the professor Ryan Choi were identified as the remaining Paragons, Constantine, Mia Queen and Diggle resurrected Oliver Queen but he lacked his soul; with the help of the Devil himself, Lucifer, they entered the Purgatory where they retrieved Oliver's soul but the Spectre, Jim Corrigan, convinced the Emerald Archer to became himself the new avatar of the entity.

Nash Wells, reborn as Pariah, saved Black Lightning from the destruction of the world while, with the help of Cisco's powers, that were previously restored by the Monitor, the heroes arrived to the Anti-Monitor's chamber, blocking the Flash of Earth-90 from powering the anti-matter cannon. Because of this, the cannon went critical, forcing Black Lightning to use his power to contain its energy and Earth-1 Barry Allen to sacrifice himself to destroy it as it was prophetized since he had become the Flash; however, the older Flash tricked him into taking his place, reminding that the prophecy never said which Flash had to die, fulfilling his lifetime as a hero, saving the remaining Earths.

Believing to have won the conflict, the heroes were surprised as a brainwashed Harbinger killed the Monitor and finished to destroy the rest of the Multiverse.

The Paragons were hidden by Pariah in Vanishing Point to escape total annihilation where they discovered that Lex Luthor had replaced Superman as a Paragon.

After spending a month out of time, with the energy of the newly-born Spectre Oliver Queen, the Flash reached a slowly dying Speed Force where he met another speedster that made him discover that the Multiverse could be restored so he used his Spectre-empowered speed to run with the Paragons back to the Dawn of Time where the Spectre engaged one last battle with the Anti-Monitor.

As the Paragons stood by Oliver's side as he won the battle but ultimately died again, they gathered his energy and used it along the the last page of the Book of Destiny to reboot the Multiverse, restoring every reality that ever were.

On the newly-born Earth-Prime, the heroes discovered that their Earths were merged and banded together one last time to finally defeat the Anti-Monitor, banishing him in the Microverse.

In the new multiverse, some realities were recreated with some differences from the original ones, like Earth-2, while others were totally new, like Earth-Prime, who replaced Earth-1 as the new center of the Multiverse. After the Crisis, howevere, these universes are not separated anymore by vibrational frequencies so it is currently impossibile to move from a reality to another one.

Some refugees of the old Multiverse saved themselves from annihilation, felling through the worlds into the newly-born Earth-Prime; it was also revealed that two or more counterparts cannot exist on the same Earth for a large amount of time.

The multiverse also includes various extra-dimensional planes and spiritual realms which are common to every reality:

• Ancestral Plane: also referred to as the World between worlds, it's the dimension inside the Totems of Zambesi which functions as their power source. The original Zari Tomaz now resides in this plane of existence as her timeline was erased after Heyworld.
• Antimatter Universe: also known as Netherverse or Antiverse, the anti-matter reality where the Anti-Monitor was born. Here, it took place the final battle between the Spectre and the Anti-Monitor that led to the rebirth of the Multiverse.
• Fifth Dimension: the home dimension of the Imps like Mister Mxyzptlk. It is a realm where the common rules of the Multiverse don't apply as it was untouched by the Crisis and its residents have immense powers that make them gods in the other realities.
• Heaven: also known as Afterlife, it is the spiritual realm where God and the Angels reside. It is also the place where the noble souls go after their deaths, appearing to them as their happiest memories.
• Hell: the interdimensional realm where the damned souls and the Demons reside. Previously, it was ruled by the Devil Lucifer Morningstar but, after he retired to Earth-666, the First of the Fallen, head of the Triumvirate of Hell took charge.
• Juru: a dark dimension where the Kryptonian witches created the Worldkillers and it is the source of their powers.
• Microverse: a nanoscopic dimension that was discovered by Ray Palmer when he shrunk for the first time. During the Crisis, he and professor Ryan Choi created a device that could eternally shrink the the Anti-Monitor, stucking him in this reality.
• Mirrorverse: a mirror dimension, accesible through every mirrors in the Multiverse. It became the home of Eva McCulloch who was stuck here during the first S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion until her release on Earth-Prime.
• Negative Speed Force: an artifical source of energy, created by Eobard Thawne aka Reverse Flash when he replicated the Flash's powers; it led him to be free of Speed Force limitations as he became a living paradox, capable to travel through time without being discovered and never really be able to die.
• Purgatory: also known as Limbo, it is the realm where souls became trapped in their own hell: it can appear differently to whoever resides in it. During the Crisis, The Spectre came to Purgatory to convice Oliver Queen to become the new avatar of the Spectre.
• Speed Force: the extradimensional source of energy that gives the speedsters the ability to move at super-speed and travel through space and time.
  • After the rebirth of the Multiverse, it was destroyed as a side-effect of being corrupted by dark energy when The Spectre powered the Flash to make him run into it, causing every speedster to gradually lose their powers.
• Spirit World: a dark realm where Mallus was banished along with other magical creatures. When the time demon was freed, the door to this world was left open so the other prisoners were also unleashed into both space and time.
• Temporal Zone: also known as Timestream, it is the birthplace of creation, the space which non-speedsters, like the Legends, uses to travel through time; it can be also used to move through the Multiverse.
• Vanishing Point: a realm outside space and time where the Time Masters resided and the place from where they controlled every possibilities using the Oculus. After their defeat, it became the lair of the Legion of Doom and, years later, the last place in existence, along with the Netherverse, when the Anti-Monitor destroyed the Multiverse.

In the scope of a larger Multiverse, they also exist other pocket dimensions, alternate realities and possible futures. Theoretically, everyone's choices lead to the creation of parallel worlds where things could be different.. Alternate realities can also be produced as the result of alterations of events by using time travel or reality-warping powers, like Mister Mxyzptlk's, or objects such as the Spear of Destiny or the Loom of Fate. Time is not set so there could be infinite possible futures which are not necessarily the real futures of a universe.

Media

Television Series

• Arrowverse series
  • Arrow
  • Batwoman
  • Black Lightning
  • Constantine
  • DC's Legends of Tomorrow
  • The Flash (2014)
  • Supergirl
  • Superman and Lois (upcoming)
• Batman (1966)
• Birds of Prey
• Doom Patrol
• The Flash (1990)
• Lucifer
• Smallville
• Stargirl
• Super Friends animated series
• Swamp Thing (2019)
• Titans
• Wonder Woman

Movies

• Arrowverse movies
  • Vixen: The Movie
• Tim Burton's Batman movie series
• DC Extended Universe movies series
• Fleischer's Superman animated movie series
• Richard Donner's Superman movie series
• Superman Returns

Web Series

• Vixen
• Freedom Fighters: The Ray
• Blood Rush
• John Con Noir
• Chronicles of Cisco
• Stretched Scene

Comics

• The Flash TV Special #1
• Arrow (Volume 1)
• Arrow: Special Edition (Volume 1 1)
• Arrow: Season 2.5 (Volume 1)
• The Flash: Season Zero (Volume 1)
• Arrow: The Dark Archer (Volume 1)
• Adventures of Supergirl (Volume 1)
• Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant (Volume 1)

Novels

• Arrow: Vengeance
• The Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen
• Arrow: A Generation of Vipers
• The Flash: Hocus Pocus
• Supergirl: Age of Atlantis
• Arrow: Fatal Legacies
• The Flash: Johnny Quick
• Supergirl: Curse of the Ancients
• The Flash: Climate Changeling
• The Flash: The Tornado Twins
• Supergirl: Master of Illusion
• The Flash: Green Arrow's Perfect Shot
• The Flash: Supergirl's Sacrifice
  
  

Residents

• Too many to list

See Also

• Characters from Arrowverse
• Other things related to Arrowverse
• Arrowverse's Comic Appearances
• Reality Gallery: Arrowverse

Links and References

• Arrowverse Wiki