Warning: spoilers for the series “Superman and Lois”, season 2, episode 15.
The season 2 finale of “Superman and Lois” explains the biggest missed opportunity of season 8 of “The Flash” with its crossover event “Armageddon”. The Arrowverse offered a groundbreaking opening in Superman & Lois when it was confirmed that the series’ characters occupy their own Land. Apparently, the state of things in the Arrowverse is not at all what it was originally thought after the “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.
After the crisis, Superman helped form the Justice League with Martian Hunter, Supergirl, Flash and others. The way this story ended gave the impression that now that all these characters can coexist in one reality, more teams and crossovers will be possible in the future. However, Superman and Lois have been quite rare in connections to the Arrow Universe to the point that there have been huge questions about why Barry and Kara are never mentioned. Now the answer is clear. Despite the aftermath of the crossover ending, Superman doesn’t actually live on Earth-Prime. Clark lives in a world where he is the only superhero the planet can rely on.
What Superman and Lois revealed in the season two finale clarified many aspects of the show, as well as clarified the issue regarding the Armageddon Flash event. When The Flash organized a five-part event filled with special guest stars of The Arrow Universe, it didn’t go unnoticed that the only series completely excluded from the excitement was Superman and Lois. Choosing Flash to include characters from his cancelled shows and ignoring the most popular Arrowverse spin-off was a dizzying move at the time, especially given the potential that would naturally arise with the right team of Flash and Superman. But given that Barry and Clark aren’t on the same Earth, the absence of Superman in the first five episodes of Season 8 of The Flash now finally makes sense.
How Flash, Superman and Lois can cross Paths now
It should be noted that the Superman & Lois Arrowverse retcon made potential Flash crossovers unlikely, but not entirely impossible. Similar to how Barry met Kara in the second season of Supergirl, the intersection of universes is the only way that the characters of the Flash and Superman Team and Lois can interact with each other. If that happened, the two shows could theoretically launch a two-part event, not unlike what Flash and Arrow did when they were the only two Arrowverse shows on the air. Now that The CW has returned to this situation—albeit with “The Flash” and “Superman and Lois,” moving in this direction may be the best future the Arrowverse has to offer in terms of crossovers.
An alternative solution to this idea would be to use the Superman Flash of Earth-Prime. Regardless of what Superman and Lois have confirmed about their connection to the Arrow universe, we should not forget that Superman (played by Tyler Hacklin) lives on Earth Prime. Technically, Flash could use this version of the character in “Armageddon” and be able to do it again in season 9. However, the big problem is that this would lead to some unnecessary confusion in continuity. In the end, The Flash will have to ignore any events related to Superman and Lois, as they will not be canonical with the Earth-Prime timeline. For this reason, one or both Arrowverse actors crossing universes is arguably the best way to cross.
