The Arrowverse has been surprising us for some time. No one had the slightest inkling that we’d be seeing Hank Henshaw (typically of the Cyborg Superman variety) reveal himself as the Martian Manhunter. Characters like Ra’s Al Ghul seemed completely off the table for shows like Arrow, right up until he wasn’t. Hellraisers thought Constantine was gone for good, until the character saw his revival on a completely new network with the Legends of Tomorrow. Even the casting of Ruby Rose as Batwoman seemed completely out of the realm of possibility. Still, the surprises keep on coming.

The teams behind the CW Network’s DC lineup announced Crisis On Infinite Earths early for good reason. Each year they manage to top their annual crossover event, but something’s special about the upcoming Crisis. As the network prepares to see Arrow off into the sunset, it feels appropriate that things close out with a bang.

The surprises for Crisis started cropping up during last year’s crossover when we were introduced to characters like The Monitor, and got confirmation that on a parallel earth, John Diggle really is a Green Lantern. As it turns out, last year we only saw the tip of the iceberg. So far, additional news has including things like Black Lightning joining his CW brothers and sisters in his first crossover event, and the legendary Kevin Conroy finally playing Bruce Wayne on screen for the first time.

Never in a million years did I think I would get to type that last sentence. Kevin Conroy coming on-screen to play an elderly version of Batman seemed so utterly farfetched just weeks ago. And yet, here we are! With this insane news in mind, it felt appropriate to talk about some hopes and dreams for the Crisis event. Some of those dreams are pretty reasonable. Others? Others are reach-for-the-sky balls-to-the-wall bonkers. Probably impossible. But hey, at least I warned you ahead of time.

It Means Hope

Here’s the thing about Tom Welling: he’s said over and over again that he doesn’t want to return to the Smallville universe. He loves it, he respects everything that it and the fans have done for him, but he’s just done with Clark Kent. That’s a totally respectable answer for any actor.

I’m also pretty convinced that he is one-hundred-percent going to be involved in Crisis in some capacity. He’s buds with Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), it’s been a long time, and Amell’s voiced strong interest in Welling’s involvement in the crossover. Will his involvement be as Clark Kent? Who knows! But I’ll bet a vintage copy of The Daily Planet on his participation.

He is the Bat Man

Obviously, we already know about Conroy’s involvement. The Batman coming into play in his later years opens up countless doors, but the one I’m currently hoping for is Batman Beyond flavored. We’ve got Conroy as an elderly (and likely one-time) Bruce. Give us David Mazouz (our Bats from Gotham) as Gotham City’s second Caped Crusader, Terry McGinnis.

It’s ultimately unlikely that we meet the Batman of the current timeline, with Batwoman’s plot occurring as a direct result of his absence. However, playing with the infinite earths means that even if we don’t see Terry, we could see something equally exciting like Dick Grayson’s Batman. Or even just Nightwing. I’m not picky!

“Oracle was taken”

Speaking of the Bat Family, it is high time we got some Barbara Gordon up in here. The Arrowverse has already acknowledged her existence. Back when Felicity Smoak receives her codename of Overwatch, Oliver notes that “Oracle was taken”. These three words resulted in me having to pause the episode and run around my house flipping out, because this girl’s presence in any DC live-action property is incredibly overdue. (I love you, Alicia Silverstone. Yours doesn’t count.)

Supes+Manhunter=BFF!

This is one of the smaller, more reasonable wishes on our little wish list. We know that Earth Prime’s Martian Manhunter and Superman have had a relationship in the past, but I want to see these sweeties working together! It’s reasonable that we’ve never seen it go down on Supergirl proper, as that would drive all of the focus over to Clark, but Crisis on Infinite Earths seems like the perfect time to give these two a moment!

Honestly, with Mehcad Brooks exiting the show, I wouldn’t be mad if we saw a moment between all three of them. Really I just want to see pure characters being pure together!

Crisis on Infinite Lex Luthors

No one was more surprised than me that Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor didn’t just work, but was actually incredibly solid. We already know he’s going to be returning at one point or another, so why not get that situation out of the way during the Crisis event?

This one’s a bit of a twofer. I don’t just want Cryer’s Lex to return during the event, I want to see Michael Rosenbaum come out to play again, too. Then I want them to meet. Why? No real reason other than the fact that I think it would be incredibly funny. Besides, bringing Rosenbaum in to play in the Arrowverse means that we could get a moment with him and The Flash. One that could give a nod to one of the funniest animated moments in DC’s history.

Our Zari Rises

Here’s another little one! Mostly because I want it to be known that I can be reasonable before we get to the final item on this list.

Last season, we said goodbye to Zari Tomaz as we know her. Honestly, I’m just not ok enough with it to let it alone. Her situation is a little bit different from the Amaya/Charlie situation. Maisie Richardson-Sellers returned as a completely new character with the same face after Amaya elected to return to her time. Tala Ashe’s Zari is still the same Zari, her past’s just been fixed.

Thankfully, Crisis offers a way to give us the same spunky character back without retconning the emotional moment of last season. Earth Prime’s dark future remains bettered, but our donut loving, hairball having, totem bearing snark queen returns.

Holy Multiverse Batman!

Alright. We’re here. The big finale. The craziest of crazies! Please do remember that I did warn you.

Since the introduction of the DCEU, DC has struggled. Man of Steel was ultimately ok (with a couple of huge misfire moments), and we don’t really need to talk on the disasters that were Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad. Then we had Justice League that was a hair better than the others, but still overall a big miss for the studio. Their haste to keep up with the MCU, along with hiring a director to helm their efforts who clearly had zero understanding of the characters he was to adapt has resulted in a lot of woes. But they’re learning! Wonder Woman and Aquaman were both lovely! You can see them start to learn from their past mistakes and to see what their audience is really hoping for.

Recently, Marc Guggenheim was asked about Lynda Carter’s possible return as Wonder Woman. Guggenheim sadly noted that it likely wouldn’t happen, but never said that Carter wouldn’t be involved in another role (she already plays a character on Supergirl). This note, along with Conroy’s involvement as a future Bruce Wayne, signals that it’s no longer the Caped Crusader that the studio see’s off limits. With her success, it’s now Wonder Woman who’s off the table for any television properties while she continues to experience success on the silver screen.

Or is it?

My hope (wish? Dream? Theory?) is that Carter’s inability to return as our on-screen Wonder Woman has nothing to do with the character now being the one who’s off limits. Instead, I want Crisis on Infinite Earths to be the moment where DC finally breaks down its stupid wall between its film and television properties, and finally brings them all into one shared universe.

Fact of the matter is, DC’s never going to catch up with the momentum that the MCU has created after over a decade of build-up. This isn’t about competitions, just about the monetary success that the studio craves. They can’t automatically catch up to the momentum, but they can pull from a highly successful model that’s been right in front of their faces from the start. “It’s all connected” payed dividends for Marvel, even with the struggles between Ike Perlmutter and Kevin Feige.

Get that shared universe on, DC! Bring in Gal Gadot for a five-minute appearance ala Sam Jackson’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. moment. Or have Jason Mamoa drop by for a few one-liners! Get your folks on the same page and start taking over the world as you should be! Your characters are exceptional. The fandoms are there! We’re ready to throw our money at you.

DC tried to fabricate its own Avengers moment with an unearned Justice League. But Crisis on Infinite Earths has that build up. It has the years of history behind the characters, and rapport with the audience. If there was ever a moment to throw their ridiculous rules out the window, it’s now!

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