How To Watch The Arrowverse On Netflix In Chronological Order

At long last, fans of the Arrowverse can watch almost all of The CW’s superhero shows on Netflix, though for newcomers, the 5 series and their 548 episodes won’t be so easy to get through.

I mean, even if we disregard the sheer amount of content that you’ll have to take on, the interconnectivity of the overarching narrative will make things more difficult. Now that all seasons of Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and Black Lightning are available for streaming on Netflix, though (Batwoman, unfortunately, isn’t on there), and since we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, this might be the perfect time to get into the Arrowverse or relive it all over again.

For starters, you’ll need to watch the first two seasons of Arrow. Though not to worry, as you’ll breeze through the 46 episodes that are, surprisingly, some of the show’s best. In the second season of the green-hooded vigilante’s story, Starling City will introduce you to Barry Allen as well, who’ll go on to feature in his own series The Flash. But to go through year 3, which would be Arrow‘s third season and the Scarlet Speedster’s first run, you need to watch the two shows concurrently, as the eighth episode of both feature The CW’s first crossover event, Flash vs. Arrow.

Year 4 is where things will get really complicated, though, with the arrival of two new series, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow. Here, you’ll want to watch Arrow‘s fourth season and The Flash‘s sophomore outing first, as their second annual crossover will introduce you to the Legends.

If you’re already too confused, the list below, courtesy of What’s On Netflix, should help you out:

As you may have noticed, you don’t have to watch every episode of every show in between to be fine continuity-wise. The four major crossover events, “Invasion!,” “Crisis on Earth-X,” “Elseworlds,” and last but not least, “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” all take place in the eighth installment of each series’ respective season, so you only need to catch up with them before that point in any watching order that pleases you best.

Regardless, with Arrow coming to an end earlier this year with its eighth season and Supergirl concluding after next year’s sixth, the future of the Arrowverse and its prospects are ambiguous as of now, but we know that the network is working on several new series to replace the old ones, including Green Arrow and the Canaries and Superman & Lois.