This weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con has been a big one for the CW’s Arrowverse group of TV shows, with fans getting their first glimpse of what’s to come in the new seasons of shows like Arrow, Supergirl, and The Flash, plus a premiere event for the newest entry in the family, Batwoman. The Arrowverse shows brought a lot of casting—and alternate casting—news to SDCC, most of which is related to the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. With so much to keep track of, we thought we’d run down the highlights for those who might have missed them.

As previously reported, on Friday it was announced that Brandon Routh would be suiting up as Superman alongside Supergirl’s Tyler Hoechlin during Crisis on Infinite Earths. At the time I think it was assumed that he would be playing the same version of the Man of Steel that he played in 2006’s Superman Returns, but yesterday’s Arrow panel added a new wrinkle. Routh surprised everyone by appearing on stage during the panel. Opening his shirt he revealed a different Superman emblem: that of the Kingdom Come Superman.

Will this Superman be the same as the one he previously played, or an entirely different version? And why was he on the Arrow panel? The last season of the show ended with The Monitor taking Oliver so that he can fulfill the bargain that they made back during the “Elseworlds” crossover. Could Oliver and The Monitor be recruiting a team of heroes from across the multiverse for the coming battle, just as The Monitor and Harbinger did in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries?

Also on the Arrow panel, it was announced that Russian Doll actor Charlie Barnett had been cast as the adult version of John Diggle’s son, JJ Diggle. The actor will join the series as it goes into its final season.

The Supergirl panel was moderated by last season’s Lex Luthor, Jon Cryer. After a bit of teasing, it was confirmed on that panel that Cryer would return for the new season, even though Lex apparently died at the end of the previous year. Cryer did call into question exactly which version of Lex he would be playing, which seemed to indicate that we’ll see different iterations of Lex from across the multiverse. Could the superheroic Lex Luthor of what in the comics is Earth-3 be in the pipeline?

The Flash panel included actor Tom Cavanagh as it always does, and revealed that he would be playing a new version of Harrison Wells this season. Cavanagh has played a different Wells during each season of the show, so this is not entirely shocking news. More interestingly, though, it was also revealed that Cavanagh will play Pariah during Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the original miniseries, Pariah is a scientist who unwittingly unleashes the Anti-Monitor on the positive matter universe. It stands to reason that the Arrowverse version of Pariah will be yet another alternate Wells, who is a scientist himself, though this was not confirmed on the panel.

Additionally, after a tease at the panel, Arrow producer Marc Guggenheim officially announced on Twitter that actor La Monica Garrett, already cast as The Monitor in the Arrowverse, would also be portraying The Anti-Monitor during Crisis on Infinite Earths. Guggenheim shared concept art of what The Anti-Monitor will look like when he comes to television later this year.

And finally, it was revealed at the Batwoman panel that actor Burt Ward, who famously played Robin on the Adam West-starring Batman series in the late ‘60s, will also be making an appearance during Crisis on Infinite Earths. No details were given regarding what character he would be playing, but it’s pretty much a no-brainer to have Ward portray an older version of Robin.

Check back for full panel write-ups from the Supergirl and Flash panels, and keep following The Beat for all of your SDCC 2019 news.

6 COMMENTS

  1. But still no Lyla Michaels – AKA Harbinger (like in the comics, not the Arrowverse character that just share the same name).

Comments are closed.