When Arrow debuted on The CW in 2012, no one predicted the superhero phenomenon that would follow. Oliver Queen took to the streets of Starling City as Smallville drew to a close after 10 seasons. While Arrow only made it eight years, its legacy continued on. Developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Andrew Kreisberg, Arrow took a different approach to superhero origins than Smallville’s slow-build prequel and passed that on to multiple spin-offs that drew on 80 years of DC Comic history.
Over a decade after Arrow’s premiere, the multiple series it spawned went on to span over 700 episodes and 42 seasons. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe was growing in movie theaters, DC’s Arrowverse took over The CW to become the most consistent interconnected universe the brand has produced to this day.
While it enjoyed great success in its formative years, the ending to the Arrowverse was rather anticlimactic. Some shows like The Flash and Supergirl were given a chance to bow out on their own terms, but others were not so lucky. Black Lightning, Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman were all cut short before they could see their stories through as Superman & Lois decided to go its own way and depart from the Arrowverse’s main continuity. In 2023, the conclusion of The Flash effectively laid the last nail in the television universe’s coffin, leaving a bittersweet taste in every fan’s mouth.
Here are the Arrowverse series in order of release:
- Arrow (2012-2020)
- The Flash (2014-2023)
- Supergirl (2015-2021)
- Vixen (web series, 2015-2016)
- DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (2016-2022)
- Freedom Fighters: The Ray (web series, 2017-2018)
- Black Lightning (2018-2021)
- Batwoman (2019-2022)
- Superman and Lois (2021-present)
How to watch the Arrowverse in order of continuity
If you’re after the full Arrowverse experience, you’ll need to approach it strategically. Buckle up: this viewing order won’t just take you forwards and backwards in time, but across multiple universes. Arrowverse series often ran parallel on The CW, with several crossovers acting as season highlights and pilots for forthcoming spin-offs. That means the shows are best watched in a particular rotation of episodes for the optimum viewing experience.
Some sites have produced detailed breakdowns of the 700+ episodes that allow you to watch them in a precise, if slightly exhausting way, such as Arrowversetracker. Below is the simplest way to watch the Arrowverse from the start without getting your timelines in a twist.
Year 1
- Arrow season 1
Year 2
- Arrow season 2
Year 3
- The Flash season 1
- Arrow season 3
- Constantine season 1
Start with the first episode of the first season of The Flash, then the first episode of the third season of Arrow, and continue alternating episodes. Here we’ve added in Constantine. Broadcast on NBC in 2014, it’s not part of the Arrowverse, but watching its 13 episodes at this point will give you the background you need for Matt Ryan’s Liverpudlian mage when he jumps into Arrow’s fourth season.
Essential crossover viewing:
- The Flash 1.08, “Flash vs. Arrow”
- Arrow 3.08, “The Brave and the Bold”
Year 4
- Supergirl season 1
- The Flash season 2
- Arrow season 4
- Legends of Tomorrow season 1
Start with the first episode of the second season of The Flash 2.01 and the first episode of the fourth season of Arrow, and alternate for three episodes. Supergirl was remote from the Arrowverse for its first year and broadcast on CBS. As that would change a year later, it’s best to add it into rotation at this point. Watch Supergirl 1.01, The Flash 2.04, Arrow 4.04, and alternate until you reach episode 10 of each, ready for the Legends crossover.
Legends of Tomorrow arrived mid-season and should be added into the rotation just after the crossover. Watch Supergirl 1.11, The Flash 2.11, Arrow 4.11, then Legends of Tomorrow 1.01 until the end of each season.
Essential crossover viewing:
- The Flash 2.08, “Legends of Yesterday”
- Arrow 4.08, “Legends of Today”
- Supergirl 1.18 “World’s Finest”
Year 5
- Supergirl season 2
- The Flash season 3
- Legends of Tomorrow season 2
- Arrow season 5
Essential crossover viewing:
- The Flash 3.08, “Invasion! Part 1”
- Arrow 5.08, “Invasion! Part 2”
- Legends of Tomorrow 2.07, “Invasion! Part 3”
This year is arguably the peak of Arrowverse. Although there were no new additions to the lineup, The CW was dominated by Arrowverse shows for most of the year. Regular viewers were rewarded with the most ambitious crossover yet: Invasion!
To set the year up, watch The Flash 3.01 and Arrow 5.01 first, and then get ready to resume the rotation. Watch Supergirl 2.01, The Flash 3.02, Arrow 5.02, and Legends of Tomorrow 2.01 until the Invasion! crossover, when you’ll need to move Supergirl out of sequence.
With Invasion! out the way, resume the rotation to the end of each season, starting with The Flash 3.09, Arrow 5.09, Legends of Tomorrow 2.08, and Supergirl 2.09. The second season of Legends of Tomorrow will drop off after its shorter season of 17 episodes concludes in Aruba.
Later in the season, make sure you catch Supergirl 2.16, “Star-Crossed,” and The Flash 3.17, “Duet,” in that order.
Year 6
- Supergirl season 3
- The Flash season 4
- Arrow season 6
- Legends of Tomorrow season 3
Just when you’re feeling comfortable, this is where Black Lightning enters the continuity. Although it stayed distanced from other series, we’ll add it to the chronology.
Watch the series in rotation until you need to readjust slightly during the four-part crossover that begins with Supergirl’s eighth episode. After the crossover, introduce Black Lightning 1.01 in between The Flash 4.10 and Arrow 6.10, continuing to rotate until the end of each series.
Essential crossover viewing:
- Supergirl 3.08, “Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1”
- Arrow 6.08, “Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2”
- The Flash 4.08, “Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3”
- Legends of Tomorrow 3.08, “Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4”
Year 7
- The Flash season 5
- Black Lightning season 2
- Supergirl season 4
- Legends of Tomorrow season 4
- Arrow season 7
This year almost feels like a break. There’s a slight shift in the order of shows to rotate. Just follow the order above, although starting Legends after Arrow 7.02, then power through to the year’s big crossover event and the introduction of Batwoman.
Essential crossover viewing:
- The Flash 5.09, “Elseworlds Part 1”
- Arrow 7.09, “Elseworlds Part 2”
- Supergirl 4.09, “Elseworlds Part 3”
Year 8
- Batwoman season 1
- Supergirl season 5
- Black Lightning season 3
- The Flash season 6
- Arrow season 8
- Legends of Tomorrow season 5
This was the year that Arrow ended, although its legacy continued with Batwoman’s full-series debut and the full arrival of Black Lightning into continuity. Oliver Queen bowed out with the most incredible crossover in the Arrowverse. That crisis would have ramifications for the rest of the universe in the spirit of significant DC Comic crisis events. Another unforeseen crisis that shortened several seasons was the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the six-part crossover begins with the ninth episode of Supergirl, you should rotate Batwoman, Supergirl, Black Lightning, and The Flash up to their eighth episodes, introducing Arrow after two episodes of the other series. To make it slightly easier, Legends of Tomorrow only kicks off at the end of the crossover, when you can add it into the rotation after Arrow.
Essential crossover viewing:
- Supergirl 5.09, “Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 1”
- Batwoman 1.09, “Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 2”
- Black Lightning 3.09, “The Book of Resistance: Chapter Four: Earth Crisis”
- The Flash 6.09, “Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 3”
- Arrow 8.08, “Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 4”
- Legends of Tomorrow 5.08, “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 5”
Year 9
- Batwoman season 2
- Black Lightning season 4
- Superman & Lois season 1
- The Flash season 7
- Supergirl season 6
- Legends of Tomorrow season 6
After the epic events of the previous year, things settle down in the Arrowverse’s ninth year. While The Flash remained strong, Supergirl and Black Lightning finished in 2021. A new addition was the Supergirl spin-off Superman & Lois, but while the show’s first season keeps the question of its relationship to the larger Arrowverse ambiguous, in its second season it is confirmed Superman is the only superhero on Earth, thus confirming his is another iteration of the Clark Kent we had met in Supergirl, and making Superman & Lois a non-Arrowverse show.
There’s no traditional crossover to think about, although there are plenty of cameos, particularly in the first five episodes of season seven of The Flash, as set out below.
Essential crossover viewing:
- The Flash 7.01, “Armageddon, Part 1”
- The Flash 7.02, “Armageddon, Part 2”
- The Flash 7.03, “Armageddon, Part 3”
- The Flash 7.04, “Armageddon, Part 4”
- The Flash 7.05, “Armageddon, Part 5”
Year 10
- Legends of Tomorrow season 7
- Batwoman season 3
- The Flash season 8
In 2022, as the Arrowverse reached its tenth anniversary, it also prepared to say goodbye. Internal business decisions regarding the rights to DC property and The CW’s content strategy changes, meant it was time to move on and, sadly, Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman became the biggest victims of this situation. Both were canceled without the chance to conclude their storylines in a final season, and while seven seasons is a good run for Legends, Batwoman‘s three chapters felt frustratingly short.
From this point on, Superman & Lois also became optional viewing after decidedly breaking off from the rest of the continuity. The show was renewed for a second, third, and fourth season, which will be its last. Like its fellow DCTV shows it was also subjected to cost-cutting measures like letting go of seven series regulars and decreasing its episode count from seasons one, two, and three’s 13 episodes to season four’s ten.
Year 11
- The Flash season 9
After eleven years of high-stakes crossovers and ambitious new projects, the Arrowverse finished as it started: with one show left. Only this time, it was up to Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen to take the best DC universe yet to the finish line, just as Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen had kicked it all off over a decade earlier. 2023 and the ninth season of The Flash mark the ending of the Arrowverse.
