Fans of the CW’s Arrowverse will soon be able to enjoy their favorite characters off-screen with an upcoming audiobook series. The Arrowverse, which spans five shows starting this fall, debuted in 2012 with the premiere of Arrow. That was followed by The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman, which premieres this October. The Arrowverse does consistently well for The CW, as evidenced by the recent announcement that the network is looking to add a new series to its superhero lineup in 2020. Some are speculating that series will be an Arrow spinoff featuring Oliver Queen’s children in the year 2040, though that hasn’t been confirmed.
The Arrowverse already has a big season ahead of it in 2019. For the first time ever, one of its shows, flagship series Arrow, will end. The series finale will air early next year after eight seasons, the last of which will have 10 episodes. Before that, though, Arrow will share the stage with the other DC shows, including Black Lightning, for a massive crossover that will last five episodes and air in both December and January. Titled Crisis on Infinite Earths, it will mark the first time Black Lightning has joined the Arrowverse and feature LaMonica Garrett as both the Monitor and villainous Anti-Monitor. Garrett first appeared in last season’s Elseworlds crossover, when the Monitor made a deal with Oliver to save the Flash and Supergirl.
The upcoming audiobook series will launch this fall on Serial Box, a platform that applies the episodic TV format to audio and ebooks. The series will be based on The Flash, but feature Supergirl and the Green Arrow as well. However, instead of showing the three as the heroes they are on The CW, this series will focus on their adventures as supervillains, after notorious bad guy Lex Luthor creates an alternate reality. Luckily, the series, which will span eight episodes, also features Barry, Oliver, and Kara’s friends, who remember the heroes they once were and work to remind them of that. Similar to the Arrowverse shows themselves, episodes of this series will debut weekly.
The series’ plot is reminiscent of past Arrowverse crossovers. Elseworlds saw Barry and Oliver trading powers, with Kara and Batwoman helping them navigate it. However, it sounds most like 2017’s Crisis on Earth-X. That crossover showed another Earth where the Allies lost WWII. Though the Arrowverse heroes remained themselves, they did tangle with their Earth-X counterparts, some of whom turned evil. Supergirl fans also got a taste of the upcoming series’ villain Lex Luthor this past season when Jon Cryer took on the role for several episodes. True to his villainous ways, that arc ended when Lex told his sister Lena about her best friend Kara’s identity as Supergirl.
Though the new audiobook series won’t tread completely new ground for the Arrowverse, it will be interesting to explore evil versions of the Barry, Kara, and Oliver that fans know rather than another Earth’s take on them. It means that there will be higher stakes for the characters than there were in Elseworlds or Crisis on Earth-X. The audiobook format is a neat way to do it, because it will allow the story to continue on for longer than a usual crossover event. The popularity of the Arrowerse proves that fans love these characters and will likely be excited to see their stories play out in any format.
Next: Predicting What 2020’s New Arrowverse Show Will Be
Source: Serial Box
