When Arrow debuted on The CW in 2012, few would have imagined that the series would kick off a whole universe, but within a few years the Arrowverwse dominated superhero television with the addition of series such as The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and eventually Batwoman and Black Lightning, too. The growth of the Arrowverse not only brought a wide range of DC heroes to the small screen but gave fans something a little extra: the Arrowverse crossover. Each season, the heroes of the Arrowverse would come together across the different series to save the world from threats that included everything from time travel, aliens, to Nazis from another reality. Sometimes, the crossovers were huge events spanning multiple episodes while others, they were smaller and more contained — a meaningful appearance of one hero on another series — but however the team ups went down, one thing was consistent: they were and remain some of fans’ favorites.
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Now, with the Arrowverse in the history books — the last “official” Arrowverse series, The Flash, ended in 2023 while the Arrowverse-adjacent Superman & Lois concluded last year — we’re taking a look back at those beloved crossovers and ranking them. While we’ve done this once before, there were a few more crossovers to add in and it may come as a surprise, but they shook up the rankings just a bit. But before we jump into our rankings, a few notes. This list is largely limited to official crossover events such as “Elseworlds” and “Crisis on Earth-X” but we also expanded it to include episodes that featured significant appearances by characters from different shows, particularly in terms of The Flash’s final season. On to the rankings!
15) All Star Team Up
The 18th episode of The Flash’s first season, “All Star Team Up” kicks off our list and saw Arrow’s Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) and Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) head to Central City to see Team Flash for some help with Ray’s suit. The timing turned out to be good for Team Flash as they were dealing with Brie Larvan (Emily Kinney) who unleashed robotic bees against her former co-workers — meaning that Team Flash could use some help.
In the grand scheme of crossovers, “All Star Team Up” was a little on the lackluster side. Team Flash absolutely could have handled Brie themselves and the episode also featured what might have been the most awkward dinner in the entire Arrowverse run with Barry, Felicity, Ray, Iris (Candice Patton) and Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett) all sitting down together for an uncomfortable semi-double date. Fortunately, future crossovers improve.
14) Heroes Join Forces
“Heroes Join Forces” was the Arrowverse’s second official crossover and it was a significant one. The crossover set the stage for the then-in development DC’s Legends of Tomorrow series. The episode saw The Flash (Grant Gustin) and Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) team up to take on the villain Vandal Savage who was on the hunt for Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renee) and Carter Hall (Falk Hentschel), two people who just so happen to be the reincarnation of the heroes Hawkgirl and Hawkman.
The crossover did what it needed to do: it set up for Legends as a series and gave them their first real foe in Vandal Savage. But for many fans, the setup for Legends was a little problematic. Considering that Hawkman and Hawkgirl ended up not being very long for the Arrowverse anyway, “Heroes Join Forces” still ranks near the bottom.
13) Armageddon
“Armageddon” was the last official crossover event for the Arrowverse, with the five-episode special event kicking off The Flash’s eighth season. The crossover saw an alien threat (Despero) arrive on Earth. It featured an erased future where Barry destroyed the Earth in an effort to undo an alternative timeline that had been created by Eobard Thawne — Reverse-Flashpoint. The crossover featured appearances by various characters from the other Arrowverse shows, but most notable was Black Lightning, who Barry initially asked to take away his powers.
12) Girls Night Out
The fifth episodes of The Flash’s fourth season gave the ladies their chance to shine. “Girls Night Out” had plenty of potential as Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker), Cecile (Danielle Nicolet), and Felicity joined Iris (Candice Patton) for a bachelorette evening out. However, the festivities were thrown off with the arrival of Amunet Black (Katee Sackhoff).
The episode was fun. The ladies got to be hero and fans were treated to a very drunk Barry gushing about his love of chicken wings. The real drawback to the episode, however, was while it was an episode centered on the ladies, it was the men who had the best scenes.
11) King Shark
King Shark coming to the Arrowverse was definitely a high point, and the second season The Flash episode featuring the character makes for a fun, if not middle-of-the-pack crossover. With King Shark having escaped his A.R.G.U.S. holding tank, Arrow’s Diggle (David Ramsey) and Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) make their way to Central City to give Team Flash the heads up.
Unfortunately, while King Shark is always great, the episode was a bit dry. King Shark tracks Barry to his house, the team tries to trick him into a trap, it all goes sideways and things are tidied up with the use of an electrified underwater cyclone. That’s it.
10) Invasion!
When it arrived, “Invasion!” was the biggest Arrowverse crossover of its time. The third official one, “Invasion!” brought the Legends and Supergirl in on the action alongside Team Flash and Team Arrow as it served not only as a loose adaptation of the 1989 comic book series of the same name but also the landmark 100th episode of Arrow. That episode in particular may have been the best of the whole crossover with a story that saw Team Arrow abducted by Dominators and shown a glimpse of what their lives could have been (thanks to mind control). The event also saw Brandon Routh acknowledge his time as Superman — the actor starred in Superman Returns — and that along endears the event to fans even now.
9) It’s My Party and I’ll Die if I Want To
The last unofficial Arrowverse crossover, “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To” was the ninth episode of The Flash’s ninth and final season. In it, Barry’s birthday party is interrupted by the return of Ramsey Rosso/Bloodwork. Explaining the episode is kind of hard, but the nuts and bolts is that Rosso is planning to break Wally West/Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale) and use him to access the multiverse so that he can conquer them. Barry ends up dead where he encounters Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). He ends up coming back — with Oliver as Green Arrow to help defeat Rosso and save the multiverse.
The episode allowed a bit of closure for Arrow — which ended its run in connection to the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover — and also saw Diggle team up with Barry and Wally as well. It was nice to get some closure, but the episode was overly complicated and confusing and felt less like a crossover and more like a coda for Arrow.
8) Going Rogue
Early in The Flash’s run we got quite a few crossover moments and that includes our next item on the list, “Going Rogue”. The fourth episode of The Flash’s first season, “Going Rogue” saw Felicity visit Barry upon learning about his speedster abilities. There’s a bit of romantic sparks between the two characters — the episode sees Barry and Felicity kiss. Hey, Iris was still with Eddie and Felicity and Oliver weren’t a thing yet. It’s fine. However, what makes this crossover so great in retrospect is that it introduced Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and Mick Rory/Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) — both “villains” going on to be heroes on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
7) Star City 2046
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow also got in on the crossover action. In the first season episode “Star City 2046”, the Waverider malfunctions and crashes in a bleak Star City in the year 2046. The heroes find the city overrun by criminals as well as an old, bitter Oliver Queen. While the crossover aspect was pretty basic, but what ultimately elevates “Star City 2046” on the list is less the episode itself and the way that, in Arrow’s seventh season, we get more looks at a decimated future Star City that looks way too much like what 2046 had to offer.
6) World’s Finest
Supergirl also got in on the action — even before the show was on The CW. Supergirl’s first season saw The Flash jump not only from his Earth to that of Supergirl, but even networks when he crossed over (Supergirl’s first season aired on CBS.) While testing a tachyon device, Barry literally runs to Earth-38. There he meets Supergirl/Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) and the two heroes team up to defeat Livewire and Silver Banshee. We also get a race between the Kryptonian and the speedster that is comic book joy in the best possible way.
The episode is just pure fun but it is also more than that. “World’s Finest” brought Supergirl into the Arrowverse before the series even moved to The CW. That move wouldn’t come until Supergirl’s second season.
5) Duet
There really is no better duo than The Flash and Supergirl and that puts another crossover between the duo on the list. The Flash’s third season gave us “Duet”, a musical episode. Taking advantage of Gustin and Benoist’s musical work (they both appeared on Glee), the episode sees the heroes trapped in a coma that, because it’s the doing of Music Meister (Darren Criss) means they’re trapped in a musical.
The episode’s got singing, dancing, a gangster plot and both heroes working out their love lives as part of the deal. Turns out, Music Meister just wanted them to sort out their lives, he’s not a super bad guy! It’s an odd little episode, but it’s so much fun — and the music is very sing-along-with-able.
4) Flash Vs. Arrow
The crossover that started it all, “Flash Vs. Arrow” saw Team Flash and Team Arrow take on villains in both Central City and Starling (later Star) City. Pretty standard action there. The real brilliance of this crossover is that it ends up being less about the villains and more about Barry and Oliver starting to learn about each other, something that not only ends up making them great friends, but great partners as heroes when they need to team up in the future. It’s the starting point for all of the crossovers after it and it remains one of the best.
3) Elseworlds
In a sense, “Flash Vs. Arrow” helped set up “Elseworlds” which would happen years later. The fifth official crossover, “Elseworlds” introduces both Batwoman/Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) to the Arrowverse as well as Gotham City and sees Flash and Green Arrow end up with their powers — and lives — swapped thanks to Dr. John Deegan.
While “Elseworlds” on its own is solid (and gave us Oliver Queen as The Flash and Barry Allen as Green Arrow, albeit briefly), the crossover stands out for another major reason: it serves as the setup for “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, the biggest and most ambitious Arrowverse crossover of them all.
2) Crisis on Earth-X
You thought “Crisis on Infinite Earths” was next, didn’t you? No, as you can guess at this point that one takes the number one spot, but another Crisis is a very close second. The fourth official Arrowverse crossover was perhaps the most intense of them all on just about every level. On an alternate Earth, Earth-X, a Nazi regime rules with the Dark Arrow as leader of the New Reichsmen. After gaining control of a temporal gateway from the Freedom Fighters resistance, Dark Arrow, his Kryptonian wife Overgirl, and other Nazi versions of Arrowverse characters arrive on earth, interrupting Barry and Iris’ wedding.
It turns out that in addition to being evil Nazis, the Earth-X villains want to steal Supergirl’s heart — turns out she and Overgirl are doppelgangers and Overgirl is dying. Ultimately the heroes prevail — Overgirl dies and Oliver kills Dark Arrow — but not without a cost. Martin Stein (Victor Garber), who is half of firestorm, dies. Things do end on a happy note, however, with Barry and Iris getting married, though Oliver and Felicity also end up getting married at the same time, something that never quite sat right with fans.
1) Crisis on Infinite Earths
There is no easy way to summarize “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. Inspired by the iconic comic book story of the same name, “Crisis” destroyed the Arrowverse multiverse, only to give us a new, Earth Prime. It brought Supergirl onto the same reality as the other heroes, brought Black Lightning officially into the Arrowverse, and punched fans in the gut with the death of Oliver Queen. There were countless incredible cameos — we even got to see Tom Welling return as a version of Clark Kent and saw Brandon Routh suit up as Superman once more. The crossover ended up spinning out Superman & Lois, and even tied the Arrowverse to the DCEU. It was wildly ambitious — and it worked.
It would also end up being the last full scale Arrowverse crossover. Arrow was winding down as a series by that point and in a few short years the rest of the shows would take a bow. But “Crisis” took a comic that on the surface seemed like it would be impossible to take on and made it one of the most exciting weeks of television for superhero fans. There’s been nothing quite like it before or sense and it is without a doubt, the best of the Arrowverse crossovers.
What do you think? Do you agree with our ranking of the Arrowverse crossovers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
