The Flash Season 8 kicked off with an epic five-part event christened “Armageddon” and showrunner Eric Wallace made it clear that this is not a typical Arrowverse crossover.
In an interview with CBR, Wallace laid out the main reasons for the distinction between a proper crossover event and what audiences will see with “Armageddon.” “I never used the word team up, mind you. Be very mindful of that. I said they’re in the same story; that’s two different things,” Wallace said. “I don’t want to give any spoilers away. What people should realize is, this is not a crossover. So a lot of times, we simply cannot.”
He continued, “Due to COVID protocols, we can’t have a whole bunch of heroes in the same scene together. So we had to find very clever ways of pairing and people talking to each other in different ways,” he said. “So you might not necessarily have a pairing of two characters, but they are part of the larger storyline… You’re never going to see a moment with 20 heroes and villains all fighting at once. We just can’t do it. It’s not safe. That’s why this is not a crossover.”
The CW has been home to legendary DC crossovers like “Invasion!,” “Elseworlds,” and “Crisis on Infinite Earths” which brought together the casts of Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and beyond to fight threats that no one hero could handle alone. While “Armageddon” may sound like one of those threats as well, Wallace emphasized that this is very much a Flash story.
“Every crossover that’s ever happened has always been Barry, Kara, and Oliver’s story. This is not about the trinity in the Arrowverse. This is just Barry’s emotional journey, his worst day, and therefore, we tell the story in a very different way,” Wallace said. “So it’s more, ‘Who is Barry teaming up with?’ rather than, ‘Who is teaming up together?’ I know it seems like a little bit of difference, but it created some very exciting combinations that we haven’t been able to do since ‘Flash vs Arrow’ all the way back in Season 1.”
While it won’t be like crossover events before it, “Armageddon” will see Barry Allen take on the powerful alien Despero with a little help from a few of his friends like Batwoman, Black Lightning, Green Arrow and more. Wallace also pointed to Cloverfield as their primary inspiration (aside from the DC comics) for this multi-episode arc, as Matt Reeves’ found footage monster film is a big story “told in a very intimate, small way.”
To see how this not-crossover unfolds, tune in to The Flash on Tuesdays at 8 pm ET/PT on The CW.
Source: CBR
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