Arrowverse trivia: 115 amazing facts about the CW/ DC universe!

Arrowverse is a TV universe made up from TV series based on DC comics. It is called Arrowverse due to having its start with the TV series Arrow!

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this TV shared universe!

1. The Arrowverse is an American media franchise and shared fictional multiverse
2. It is centered on various television series
3. Primarily airing on The CW and web series airing on CW Seed
4. The series were developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Ali Adler, Phil Klemmer, and Geoff Johns
5. It is based on characters appearing in publications by DC Comics
6. The shared universe, much like the DC Universe and DC Multiverse in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters that span across five live-action television series and two animated series
7. The franchise began with Arrow
8. It is based on the character Green Arrow
9. It debuted in October 2012
10. It was followed by The Flash in 2014
11. And the animated web-series Vixen in 2015
12. The franchise was further expanded in 2016
13. When in January of that year a new series titled Legends of Tomorrow debuted
14. Starring characters that originally appeared on both Arrow and The Flash
15. Later that year, the CBS series Supergirl, having already crossed-over with The Flash
16. Supergirl was moved to The CW for its second season
17. Where it has remained since
18. A fifth TV series, Batwoman, will premiere in 2019
19. A second animated web-series, Freedom Fighters: The Ray, was released in 2017
20. It followed Ray Terrill / The Ray, who would make a live-action appearance during that year’s crossover event “Crisis on Earth-X”
21. In addition to the live-action and web-based series, the franchise has spawned three promotional tie-in live-action web series
22. They are Blood Rush, Chronicles of Cisco, and The Flash: Stretched Scenes
23. And they are released in 2013, 2016, and 2017 respectively
24. Since 2014, there has been a yearly crossover event involving many of the live-action series of the Arrowverse
25. Additionally, Matt Ryan has reprised his role as John Constantine from the NBC series Constantine
26. Initially in guest appearances in episodes of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow
27. Before becoming a series regular for the latter
28. In addition to continuing storylines from the former series
29. The 1990 CBS series The Flash was retroactively added to the franchise when John Wesley Shipp reprised his titular role in crossover event “Elseworlds”
30. The franchise has been successful
31. Creating a large fandom around the world and has received positive reviews
32. Where critics praised the themes, action sequences, direction and character development
33. In January 2012, The CW ordered a pilot for Arrow, revolving around the character Green Arrow
34. It was developed by Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti, and Marc Guggenheim
35. Stephen Amell was cast in the titular role
36. When developing the series, Guggenheim said that the creative team wanted to “chart [their] own course, [their] own destiny”
37. And avoid any direct connections to the series Smallville, which featured its own Green Arrow (Justin Hartley)
38. In July 2013, it was announced that Berlanti, Kreisberg, and Geoff Johns would be creating a spin-off television series based on The Flash
39. The character, played by Grant Gustin, was set to appear in three episodes of Arrow’s second season
40. The third episode was supposed to act as a backdoor pilot for the new series
41. But a traditional pilot was eventually ordered instead
42. In November 2014, Berlanti expressed interest in making his CBS series Supergirl exist in the same universe as Arrow and The Flash
43. And in January 2015, The CW president Mark Pedowitz revealed that he was also open to a crossover among the series and networks
44. However, CBS president Nina Tassler stated that month that, “those two shows are on a different network. So I think we’ll keep Supergirl to ourselves for awhile”
45. In August 2015, Tassler revealed that while there were no plans at the time to do story crossovers
46. The three series would have crossover promotions
47. In January 2015, the CW announced that an animated web-series featuring the DC heroine Vixen would debut on CW Seed in late 2015
48. And be set in the same universe as both Arrow and The Flash
49. Amell and Gustin would reprise their respective roles in the series
50. And the character of Vixen was expected to make a live-action appearance on The Flash and/or Arrow as well
51. The next month, it was reported that another spin-off series, described as a superhero team-up show, was being discussed by The CW for a possible 2015–16 midseason release
52. Berlanti, Kreisberg, Guggenheim and Sarah Schechter would be executive producers of the potential series
53. Which would be headlined by several recurring characters from both Arrow and The Flash
54. That May, the CW officially confirmed DC’s Legends of Tomorrow for a January 2016 premiere
55. Pedowitz later stated, “There is no intention, at this point, to spin anything else off” to add to the universe
56. Though after Vixen was renewed for a second season he said, “Hopefully, that character could actually spin itself out, if not, maybe join as one of the Legends” in Legends of Tomorrow
57. In August 2015, in a video about the production of Vixen’s first season, Guggenheim referred to the series’ shared universe as the “Arrowverse”
58. Kreisberg confirmed that this was the name the producers used for it
59. The universe has also been referred to by the media as the “Flarrowverse”, “Berlanti-verse” and “DC TV-verse”
60. In October, additional Arrow showrunner Wendy Mericle revealed that the producers had begun having someone track all the characters and plots used by each series, in order to make sure everything lines up
61. The Flash executive producer Aaron Helbing noted in April 2016 that “sometimes the schedules don’t line up exactly…and that stuff is out of our control”
62. Such as when Barry was shown using his abilities on Arrow, while not having them the same week on The Flash
63. In January 2016, Tassler’s successor Glenn Geller said “I have to be really careful what I say here” in regards to a potential Supergirl/Arrowverse crossover, so “Watch and wait and see what happens”
64. The following month, it was announced that Gustin would appear on the Supergirl episode “Worlds Finest”
65. Berlanti and Kreisberg, also Supergirl executive producers, thanked “the fans and journalists who have kept asking for this to happen. It is our pleasure and hope to create an episode worthy of everyone’s enthusiasm and support”
66. In “Worlds Finest”, Supergirl is established as being in an alternate universe where the Flash helps Kara fight the Silver Banshee and Livewire in exchange for her help in returning home
67. The events of the episode intersect with the events of the eighteenth episode of The Flash season two, “Versus Zoom”
68. The crossover required “a lot more logistical trickery” than the usual Arrowverse crossovers, due to Gustin filming The Flash in Vancouver alongside Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, while Supergirl was produced in Los Angeles
69. The producers chose to use the Flash as the character to crossover, due to his ability to travel between various Earths
70. And because it was “a little more fun at first to bring the veteran from that show to the chemistry of a new show”
71. Berlanti stated that “in a perfect world”, the crossover would have featured both Gustin and Amell’s Green Arrow, “but logistically that would have been a nightmare to try and do both shows. We had to facilitate one”
72. Gustin was optimistic that the crossover in 2016 would allow another crossover the following year with the rest of the Arrowverse shows
73. In May, it was announced that Supergirl would move from CBS to The CW for its second season
74. And that production would move from Los Angeles to Vancouver
75. Where the CW Arrowverse series film
76. The second season premiered on October 10, 2016
77. It was also announced that Supergirl would appear on Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow during the 2016–17 season crossover episodes
78. Though Guggenheim cautioned that “She is going to be coming over but we’re not going to do a full on Supergirl crossover”
79. Kreisberg also confirmed that, despite the series moving to The CW, the title character’s universe would not be integrated into Earth-1
80. The main universe of Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, and would continue to exist in a parallel universe
81. The Earth the Supergirl series inhabits is Earth-38 in the Arrowverse multiverse
82. And has been informally referred to as “Earth-CBS” by Guggenheim
83. Named for the network where Supergirl first aired
84. In August, the CW announced the animated web-series Freedom Fighters: The Ray for CW Seed
85. Intending that the actor cast as Raymond “Ray” Terrill would appear in the live-action series, much like Mari McCabe / Vixen
86. In July 2018, it was revealed that the CW was developing a script for a potential series centered on Batwoman
87. Intending to launch it after the character debuted in the “Elseworlds” crossover event
88. The series, if picked up, would be written by Caroline Dries, with plans to air in 2019
89. In August, Ruby Rose was cast as Kate Kane / Batwoman
90. In December, it was announced that Crisis on Infinite Earths would be the fifth annual crossover, following the Elseworlds crossover
91. Further details explained that “Crisis” would run for five hours
92. Marking the Arrowverse’s longest crossover
93. And that the five parts would not air on consecutive nights, as with previous crossovers
94. Instead, three episodes would air in December 2019 and two in January 2020
95. It would also include Batwoman and Legends
96. Which were not part of the “Elseworlds” crossover
97. In January 2019, Batwoman received a pilot pick-up from the CW
98. On January 31, 2019, the four series already running on The CW were confirmed for further seasons
99. Carrying them through the 2019–20 television season
100. On March 6, 2019, it was announced that the eighth season of Arrow would be the final season of the series
101. With an abbreviated ten-episode season
102. On May 7, The CW ordered Batwoman to series
103. In April 2015, to celebrate the season three finale of Arrow and season one finale of The Flash, The CW released a short promo titled “Superhero Fight Club”
104. The short features characters from Arrow and The Flash battling each other in a hero vs. villain showdown
105. Characters include The Arrow, Flash, Arsenal, Black Canary, Dark Archer, Reverse-Flash, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Firestorm, Ra’s al Ghul, and Atom in a cage match fight
106. With Black Canary and Arsenal vs. Dark Archer, Arrow vs. Ra’s al Ghul, Flash vs. Captain Cold and Heat Wave, which is interrupted by Reverse-Flash, until Firestorm intervenes and the Atom makes an appearance at the end
107. In September 2016, The CW released the promo “Superhero Fight Club 2.0” to promote the start of the 2016-17 season with the addition of Supergirl to their lineup
108. As well as their new mobile app
109. Where the promo could exclusively be viewed initially
110. The new Superhero Fight Club sees Green Arrow, Flash, Atom, Firestorm, White Canary and Supergirl go up against a new fight simulator created by Cisco Ramon and Felicity Smoak
111. While John Diggle and Martian Manhunter observe
112. After defeating the simulator, Cisco releases Gorilla Grodd into the arena for the heroes to face
113. In January, 2018, The CW released the promo “Suit Up”
114. Featuring the various heroes putting on their costumes in order to promote the return of Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl from their first mid-season break
115. As well as the premiere of Black Lightning