This past January brought the series finale of Arrow, with the show wrapping up after eight seasons. The episode, titled “Fadeout,” was a moving affair set around Oliver Queen’s funeral that examined his legacy and celebrated everything he did to save his city. There were many cool cameos, too, including ones from the Flash and Supergirl, but one early concept for the finale would have gone even further and tied the Emerald Archer into the origins of one of DC’s biggest icons.
While speaking on the Fake Nerd Podcast, Arrow EP Marc Guggenheim opened up about “a fantasy” he had about how the finale could introduce Batman into the Arrowverse, with the writer/producer imagining a scene which implied that, in this universe, the Dark Knight was inspired by the actions of Star City’s savior.
“I kind of had a little bit of a fantasy that Oliver would die, and you’d end with some sort of news broadcast talking about his legacy and that would sort of become voice over, and then you would go to this rooftop in a whole other city and on the cuts a thug or some bad guy would come crashing through the frame, having been punched off screen. And this pair of black boots would come down right in front of him, and there’d be a flutter of a scalloped cape, and the voice over would say something along the lines of ‘Oliver Queen inspired a whole new generation of vigilantes.’ The implication of course being that he inspired Batman.”
This would have been a fantastic little touch, and a real punch-the-air moment for fans who’d been waiting to see Batman turn up in the Arrowverse for years. Presumably the reason it didn’t happen is because of Batwoman, who was introduced into the franchise a year or so before Arrow ended, with it made clear in 2018’s “Elseworlds” that the Caped Crusader has been missing for five years. We also got Kevin Conroy as Bruce in the flesh – albeit as an alternate, evil version – in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
It might not have featured Batman’s origins, but the Arrow finale still did heavily hint at the beginnings of another major Justice League member instead. After years of fan theories, John Diggle was all but confirmed to have found a Power Ring, teasing his transformation into a Green Lantern off-screen. Or maybe in Superman & Lois or Green Arrow and the Canaries (which we hope will go ahead).
