Every Arrowverse Show Has Ended Badly, Will ‘The Flash’ Be Any Different?

The Flash’s abridged ninth season, where it seemed like the cast had to be dragged back for one last installment, will be the last season of the show. And as such, it will also be the last season of the Arrowverse as a whole, at least in any meaningful capacity. All future DC shows do not seem to be based in the Arrowverse, and even ones that started there seem to be divorcing themselves from it purposefully (Superman and Lois).

Over the past decade, the Arrowverse represents the most hours of a singular superhero universe in existence. Yes, more than the MCU, far more, given the number of shows and how many episodes they ran. And yet it’s also a prime cautionary tale of what happens when you A) let things go for too long and B) don’t bother with proper endings.

I cannot think of a single Arrowverse show that actually ended well, and I very much have my doubts that The Flash is going to be the lone exception. What was so bad?

Arrow – The show spent years elevating Felicity as a character only to have her ghost almost the entire final season. The show was also very determined to set up Oliver’s daughter as the next Green Arrow with a dual Black Canary spin-off, except that fell flat and never came to pass, nor did hints about John Diggle becoming Green Lantern.

Supergirl – While it had a chance at an actual ending, I don’t think any Supergirl fan will ever forgive the CW for teasing what could have been one of the best couples in DC history, Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor, and then refusing to actually pull the trigger on the coupling with even a shared kiss by the finale. Their connection overwhelmed pretty much everything else in the show and to end with it unrealized was just absurd.

Legends of Tomorrow – A casualty of the “CW cancels a million shows during WB’s corporate merger” era, that meant that after all those years, and probably being the best overall series in terms of ongoing quality and cast chemistry, Legends was not even gifted the dignity of a series finale, forced to end on yet another season-ending cliffhanger because no one thought it was going to be their last outing.

Batwoman – Same thing happened here. Batwoman was not around as long as Legends, but once it had sorted out its lead problems, it was starting to amass a fanbase, only to have it killed off without a resolution in the grand CW culling.

As for The Flash? I have very, very little faith it will be able to stick its landing. It’s hard to believe The Flash actually made it to season 9, as I don’t think any other CW show has seen such a sharp drop in quality over the years. Most fans would agree The Flash peaked by the end of season 3, and never recovered. While I will always like Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, he has not been given a show worthy of his character for years at this point. Frankly, I would have loved to see them multiverse-him into a new series with a tone and budget more similar to Superman and Lois, but clearly that’s not happening.

The Arrowverse is responsible for a lot of early, fun superhero memories outside the now massive DCEU and MCU universes. But eventually it became bloated beyond saving and most of its shows lost their creative spark after a couple of years, yet shambled on regardless. The death of the Arrowverse has been painful to watch, and I’m just not really expecting the final season of The Flash is going to change that.

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