‘Arrowverse’ “Crisis On Infinite Earths” Flash Meet-Up Opened Door For DC Film & TV Crossovers, But Pandemic Is Impacting That
So how does this whole crossover between DC’s TV and film world work?
Greg Berlanti’s Arrowverse took the whole notion of superhero crossovers to another level earlier this year when TV’s Flash (Grant Gustin) met film Flash (Ezra Miller) during the Arrow hour of the five-part event that also spanned Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. It was a monumental moment, for prior to that, DC always kept their film and TV universes completely separate, never would they intertwine.
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But as awesome as that was for fans, don’t expect any more crossovers like that, at least in the immediate future.
“In terms of what our next crossover event will be next year, I think truly because of COVID right now and the pandemic, our aspirations aren’t quite as large,” The Flash co-creator Berlanti. “We’d just like to start shooting again.”
CW network president Mark Pedowitz told reporters back at a May press conference for their 2020/2021 schedule that the next crossover could be between Batwoman and Superman & Lois.
However, that “Crisis on Infinite Earths” moment between The Flashes, opened the door for more go-betweens in the DC universe, especially film. So much so, that both the Michael Keaton 1980s Batman and the more recent Justice League Ben Affleck Batman will appear in the upcoming Flash movie starring Miller.
“It became this really weird situation where the fans love the characters, they just want to see the characters,” said Warner Bros. Pictures President of DC Based films Walter Hamada. “This sort of opens the door for us to do more crossovers, to really lean into this idea of [the multiverse] and acknowledge the fact there can be a Flash on TV and one in the movies, and you don’t have to pick one or the other, and they both exist in this multiverse. I do think moving forward there are more opportunities to do things like this.”
They’ll be some careful judgement weighed when crossing over in the Multiverse, Hamada saying that such opportunities are strictly reserved for top-notch stories and filmmakers; they won’t be dispensable events.
“The focus is on great stories… I can say we’re not currently developing Superman: Red Son so that isn’t one of them. It really comes down to the right filmmakers or the right idea to come together. That’s the beauty of the Multiverse,” said Hamada.
“You don’t want an elseworld movie every year like clockwork. We really want them to be great. We don’t want eight volumes of different versions of these characters,” added the executive.
Expounding, Hamada explained that DC’s cinematic multiverse will include an “Earth Prime” which includes superheroes like Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s Flash. Additionally, this multiverse will include other DC worlds, i.e. the one which Matt Reeves is laying groundwork for in The Batman, which the executive referred to as “Year Two Batman.”
“And of course there’s outliers like Joker, that doesn’t exist on either Earth, but that’s OK. Matt Reeves can continue to build out his Gotham,” added Hamada.
DC Chief Creative Officer/Publisher Jim Lee also joined Berlanti and Hamada, saying that in the DC Multiverse “You see this endless spectrum of character you can create so this allows us to create different versions and lean upon that canon as we change up the mythology to better reflect the true diversity that our audience wants and lives in.”
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