“Elseworlds” is mostly about bringing the various heroes of the Arrowverse together, but the second part of the three-night crossover event also saw the return of various villains from the franchise’s past as well.
First off, as this was an Arrow episode, we opened on a fight between A.R.G.U.S. and Joe Wilson (Liam Hall), the son of Deathstroke last seen in season 6. As we jump into the middle of the action here, we’re not sure how he came to return to Star City with the intent of killing John Diggle and company. Notably though, he’s got hold of one of his dad’s suits this time around. However, it’s still not enough to best the Flash-powered Oliver Queen.
Later on in the episode, during an altercation amidst a break-out at Arkham Asylum in Gotham, Barry and Oliver are hit with a dose of Scarecrow’s fear gas. As a result, the pair hallucinate each other’s greatest foe due to the reality warp, which means we get a cameo from Tom Cavanagh as Reverse-Flash (last seen… er, last week on The Flash) and John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn. The former Dark Archer hasn’t been seen since he died in the season 5 finale, so it was certainly nice to have him appear again.
By the end of the episode, Dr. John Deegan, with the Monitor’s help, had shaken up reality once more. This time, Barry and Oliver became two wanted criminals known as the Trigger Twins. When they were found on the streets by the police, it was revealed that three of Ollie’s old enemies are cops in this reality. Namely, Merlyn and Wilson…as well as Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo).
Of these cameos, it was most interesting to have Barrowman back again, as he has such a history in the Arrowverse and we haven’t seen him for a couple of years. The actor had previously revealed that he was returning at some point in season 7, but we didn’t expect it to be in “Elseworlds” because of how much else was going on in the crossover.
It’s unclear if any other Arrowverse foes will be back for tonight’s final installment of the event, courtesy of Supergirl, but we’ll soon find out.
