The DC Multiverse Exists!

While the announcement that The CW’s The Flash will cross over with CBS’ Supergirl was exciting news in and of itself, the implications of that team-up could mean even bigger things for DC Entertainment. That’s because it seems we now have proof that a Multiverse exists for the DC characters on TV and in film!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Multiverse is already in place in the world of The Flash (and Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, of course, all of which already coexist on The CW as the Arrowverse). Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen and friends can zip between the worlds of Earth One and Earth Two, two separate and distinct realities that have duplicates of at least some of the same characters -- an Earth Two character might be the same person as an Earth One hero or villain, but their life may have played out differently so that they’re not super-anythings, for example.

But now, with the Supergirl/Flash crossover, we’re seeing what might be our first connection between other DC worlds beyond the Arrowverse. Supergirl simply can’t share the same reality as the Flash because in her world, not only does she exist publicly but so has Superman for years. In the world of the Flash and Arrow, it has been made clear that superpowers are a relatively recent thing. And if there’d been a guy flying around in a red cape, we’d probably have heard about it by now.

So it seems clear that in the upcoming episode -- called "Worlds Finest" by the way (note the lack of an apostrophe) -- Barry Allen will traverse the Multiverse in order to land in Kara Danvers’ world. In addition to his prior experience dealing with multiple realities, Barry will also be able to pull off this trip to National City because of the fact that executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg are the driving force between both shows (despite them being on different networks).

When DC first started planting all these different superhero shows on TV, it drove fans crazy because there was no continuity between them. Arrow and The Flash were on The CW, Gotham was on Fox, Constantine was on NBC, a Teen Titans show was in the works at TNT (and would wind up not going forward there but is said to still be in the works), and so on. But none of these characters beyond the Arrowverse coexisted, and this despite the immense success of the shared universe model that Marvel has followed (and everyone else in Hollywood has tried to duplicate). Even the modern DC movies, which will share a universe and exist collectively as the DC Extended Universe, have not been connected to the TV series. That’s why Ezra Miller can be cast to play Barry Allen as the big-screen Flash, despite the existence (and popularity) of Gustin’s version of the character on TV.

(Interestingly, after the NBC Constantine was cancelled, its star Matt Ryan appeared on Arrow in a guest spot, though in that case it’s unclear if the character jumped universes or if this was just the Arrowverse version of him.)

But now that Supergirl and The Flash are meeting up, there’s really no reason why any of these other characters can’t connect at some point as well, despite their disparate origins on different networks or in different mediums. Well, no reason beyond the interests and needs of the creators of the shows/movies and of the networks and Warner Bros. Every current DC show and movie is owned and produced by Warner Bros., but the different networks do get to say what is done with their shows while they’re still in production on new episodes. On the movie side, it would be up to the studio to decide whether or not it made sense to link to the TV characters, which probably isn’t high on their to-do list right now as they’re still just launching their own slate. (Although recent chatter has indicated that the bigwigs within the studio have at least considered this Multiverse notion themselves.)

Also, let’s not forget that one of DC Comics’ most memorable storylines was Crisis on Infinite Earths, which brought together a half-century’s worth of discontinuity in an attempt to make sense of it all. Who’s to say that we can’t eventually have a big-screen Crisis on Infinite Earths that brings together everybody in an Infinity War-style romp?

And I mean everybody. Obviously, the upcoming Justice League movie roster would be in on such an endeavor, which means Ben Affleck’s Batman. But why not also bring back Christian Bale’s Dark Knight at some point? Bring in freaking Michael Keaton’s Batman as a true Dark Knight Returns style old, grizzled Bat. Gustin’s Flash could meet Miller’s. Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow could join the big-screen Justice League. There are several live-action Supermen from just the past 15 years to choose from, but why can’t the Christopher Reeve Man of Steel somehow be revived digitally? The Adam West Batman? George Reeves’ Superman? Tom Welling? Lois and Clark?! I could go on.

Would any of this be a good idea creatively? Maybe. Maybe not. It’s not something that would happen anytime soon, that much is certain, but the Flash/Supergirl connection could be the first step in this direction. And even if Barry and Kara’s hanging together turns out to be just a one-off thing and no other shows or movies ever cross over again, at least the diehard fanboys among us can now quietly remind ourselves that yes, there is a Multiverse. And we’re living it.

Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, on IGN at scottcollura and on Facebook.