James Gunn is building a new DC Universe, and there is a lot the franchise can learn from the Smallville, the Stephen Amell-led show ended up becoming the first entry in a DC TV franchise that has existed for more than a decade now. Arrow’s success redefined what superheroes TV shows could achieve, with the show’s legacy influencing not only the DC CW shows but also other DC and Marvel productions. Now, as James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios crafts a new DCU, the Arrowverse’s lessons cannot be ignored.
The Arrowverse shows, despite the budget and structure limitations, translated the DC comic book universe to screen in a way that had not been done in live-action previously. Granted, the Arrowverse shows could not use some of DC’s most important characters, including WandaVision, but still, the Arrowverse continued to work for over a decade and can serve as an inspiration for James Gunn’s new DCU.
Arrow’s Initial Realism Shows That Reeves’ Batman Could Work In Gunn’s DCU
Arrow season 1 and the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event could not be more distant in of tone, which only shows how organic Arrow’s evolution into a fantastical world was. The first two Arrow seasons were heavily inspired by Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, which is not surprising given how successful The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises had been. Arrow season 1 was very reminiscent of Batman Begins and borrowed a lot from grounded comic book stories like Frank Miller’s Daredevil, yet ended up being the beginning of a comic-accurate DC-shared universe. Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe could now do something similar.
James Gunn and Matt Reeves debunked the report that Robert Pattinson’s Batman would be brought into Gunn’s DCU, although Variety stood by the original story that this option was considered. James Gunn has yet to reveal who will be Batman in the new DCU, meaning that a scenario in which Robert Pattinson becomes the DCU’s Batman still cannot be ruled out entirely. If this is a case of semantics and The Batman does become the first entry in a larger DC Universe, then Arrow is the best example of how to do it. Arrow’s Batman-like realism made it appear as though a DC Universe centered around the show would never work, and yet it did.
Gunn’s DCU Must Be Built With Patience (Like The Arrowverse)
One of the original DCEU’s biggest mistakes was trying to catch up with the MCU’s Avengers right away. Marvel had been crafting its universe since 2008 whereas DC went from a Superman origin story in Man of Steel right into a Justice League-level event with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. There was never a feeling that the DCEU was building toward something, as the second movie in this universe was already a massive crossover event featuring Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman as well as cameos from the remaining Justice League characters. The Arrowverse, on the other hand, was built with patience.
There are differences in how a TV franchise is created compared to how a movie franchise is created. Still, the Arrowverse’s patience in building a universe helped the DC TV franchise in the long run. For example, The Flash only came to be because Arrow was working. Instead of a traditional pilot, The Flash’s first test was in Arrow season 2, with Grant Gustin playing Barry Allen for the first time in “The Scientist.” Legends of Tomorrow, the third entry into the Arrowverse, only happened when Arrow was already in its fourth season. Gunn’s DCU should follow a similar strategy rather than jumping into another Justice League film too soon.
Gunn’s DCU Needs The Arrowverse’s Level Of Interconnectivity
Though the DCEU started an interconnected universe, with moments like Ben Affleck’s Batman appearing in Suicide Squad after Batman v Superman, the franchise lost that level of interconnectivity after Justice League. Understandably, the DCEU wanted to distance itself from Justice League, which had been a box office failure, but it lost what makes a shared universe interesting as a result. For example, Shazam! featured the infamous headless Superman cameo, whereas Birds of Prey only showed the Joker from behind. Wonder Woman 1984 was a prequel with no ties to the present-day DCEU timeline, and The Suicide Squad only name-dropped Superman. Gunn’s DCU needs interconnectivity, which the Arrowverse had.
From "Flash vs. Arrow" to "Armageddon," the Arrowverse became known for its crossover events involving two to six shows at the same time. However, what truly made the Arrowverse feel like a consistent DC-shared universe were the small-scale crossovers. For example, the Flash would sometimes show up to help Green Arrow with a simple yet important mission. Likewise, Oliver Queen would sometimes hang out with the Legends of Tomorrow, while Superman was often jumping from one Earth to another to help Team Flash. Even before “Crisis on Infinite Earths” merged all the DC CW Earths into one, the Arrowverse shows were already intrinsically interconnected.
Gunns’s DCU Must Have A Strong Foundation (Like The Arrowverse Had)
The Arrowverse was initially led by Green Arrow and Flash, the first two superheroes in the DC CW franchise. While the Arrowverse never had an actual Justice League, Green Arrow and Flash were usually the leaders in the many crossover events they were part of. The Arrowverse revolved around Arrow and The Flash, with those two shows often working as the starting point for new series. For example, Legends of Tomorrow initially consisted of characters that had been introduced in either Arrow or The Flash. In James Gunn’s DCU, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman could be the pillars of the new franchise in a similar way.
The Arrowverse’s Tone Suited The DC Characters (& Can Work In The Movies)
While the DC Universe can be a bit more serious and darker than the Marvel Universe in the comics, not all DC characters work with the same tone as Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, for example. The DCEU was built on the Dark Knight trilogy’s success, as Man of Steel was very much a Batman Begins for Superman, which offered some great moments but also limited the universe. The Arrowverse, perhaps thanks to its smaller scale, was not afraid of exploring the different tones of the DC Universe, which includes characters, storylines, and costumes. That is something James Gunn’s new DCU should try to replicate.
Moments like Deathstroke killing Oliver Queen’s mother in front of him were part of the same universe where The Atom and Firestorm traveled back in time to make sure that George Lucas would make Star Wars. From Oliver Queen’s vigilante crusade to Barry Allen and Kara Zor-El performing songs in a musical episode, the Arrowverse never limited itself to a specific tone. There was no character that could not fit into the Arrowverse, which is perhaps the franchise’s most important legacy. James Gunn’s DCU has to nail the next Justice League movie, as there is a much wider DC Universe waiting to be brought to the big screen.
