The Arrowverse is doing a smaller crossover for the 2021 TV season between Batwoman and Superman & Lois, following the game-changing Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline. But the news of Kate Kane doing a 2-parter with the Man of Steel came as a surprise for Batwoman and Supergirl fans. With Kara Zor-El being the Kryptonian hero to have bonded more with Gotham’s new Bat-vigilante, it seemed more natural for any Bat/Super crossover to be between Supergirl and Batwoman, as they became the Arrowverse’s World’s Finest-dynamic. Despite that, The CW is instead pairing Superman & Lois up as the other half of next year’s crossover.
While details are still being worked out, The CW president Mark Pedowitz is aiming to schedule the crossover for Q1 or Q2 of 2021. Even though it’ll only be 2 hours, other Arrowverse characters are expected to show up. But with the Coronavirus pandemic complicating production, the crossover might strictly just involve Batwoman and Superman & Lois characters. Warner Bros. TV is still figuring out how to begin filming of the new seasons in a safe manner, and that could play a big part in how the crossover is executed.
With Batwoman and Superman & Lois being the shows to lead next season’s annual event, the question still remains about why Supergirl isn’t the other half of the crossover. As their friendship has been further fleshed out, both during and post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, their shows seemed like the more organic pair-up. However, there are a couple of reasons why The CW isn’t doing a Batwoman/Supergirl crossover for the upcoming season.
Batwoman & Superman Are The Arrowverse’s Latest Arrivals
Crisis on Infinite Earths, while celebrating all things related to DC’s live-action history, emphasized Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl. As this became Oliver Queen’s final act before sacrificing himself to reboot the Multiverse, characters like Batwoman and Superman acted more as supporting players. Crisis completed a phase for the Arrowverse as the franchise begins its next chapter with newer shows like Batwoman and Superman & Lois. Given that they represent two of the biggest mythologies in DC Comics, having these two shows be given the bigger spotlight makes sense, especially as The CW tries to do more intimate crossovers.
Even in the Elseworlds crossover when Batwoman first made her Arrowverse debut, Kate had a very small role to play. Despite announcing her addition to the crossover as being one of the biggest storylines, Kate had less than 10 minutes of screentime by the end of it. In the case of Superman, Elseworlds was his first time taking part in a crossover, and while he had a slightly bigger role than Kate did, the focus was more on the established shows. The 2021 event allows Kate and Clark, as well as characters from their shows, to be given more than supporting roles. Even if other Earth-Prime characters like The Flash, White Canary, or Black Lightning were to partake, this 2-part event wouldn’t have to service a big storyline like Crisis on Infinite Earths, which had been built up to since The Flash pilot.
Supergirl Season 6 Won’t Premiere Until Later In 2021
Kara and Kate have quickly grown their friendship since Elseworlds; thus, Supergirl not being the other Arrowverse show to lead the event has more to do with The CW’s 2021 plans than plot. When the network announced that all of their renewed and upcoming shows would be pushed until 2021, it included all of the DC TV shows. Even though Batwoman and Superman & Lois are currently set to air in January 2021, Supergirl season 6 wasn’t on the schedule. Supergirl, like Batwoman, had to conclude their seasons earlier than expected due to COVID-19, preventing the productions to finish up their remaining episodes.
Legends of Tomorrow, together with Supergirl, will begin their new season presumably during late spring/early summer, when the other shows finish their seasons. Supergirl season 6 being pushed back likely has to do with series lead Melissa Benoist being pregnant. Benoist and her Supergirl co-star/husband Chris Wood announced the pregnancy back in March, only a week before production was suspended. With Benoist’s pregnancy, it will definitely prevent production from starting up any time soon, even after the other Arrowverse shows start filming — whenever that might be.
If production starts even later once Benoist returns from maternity leave, that forces Supergirl season 6 to have to air later in the year. The CW is aiming to do its crossover within Q1/Q2, which makes it challenging for the Girl of Steel to lead a crossover with Gotham’s Bat-vigilante. While it’s not fully determined yet if Kara is appearing in the Batwoman/Superman & Lois crossover, the onscreen dynamic between her and Kate would be in for a change regardless as Benoist would be working with whoever is taking over for Ruby Rose.
Both Shows Will Be The Only Arrowverse Shows To Stream On HBO Max After Season Completion
Prior to Batwoman premiering in October 2019, it had been announced that the series wouldn’t be joining the other Arrowverse shows on Netflix after airing its entire season. With WarnerMedia’s new streaming service HBO Max, it was revealed that Batwoman, as well as Katy Keene, would become available on the new platform. It’s still undetermined when the other Arrowverse shows will pop-up on HBO Max, but assumingly they will once Warner Bros. TV’s deal with Netflix is up.
In the case of Superman & Lois, HBO Max has confirmed to Screen Rant that the upcoming Arrowverse spinoff is currently not licensed. Given that all of The CW’s new shows this past season went to HBO Max right away, the new platform will possibly acquire Superman & Lois after it starts to air. But for the purpose of the crossover, having The CW put Batwoman and Superman & Lois together to lead the annual event makes binge-watching the 2-parter easier.
The conundrum that The CW faced this season with Crisis on Infinite Earths is that viewers who subscribe to Netflix would only be able to see 4 out of the 5 parts. Since Batwoman served as part 2 of the crossover, the second hour is missing on Netflix, which makes binge-watching Crisis on Infinite Earths complicated, as viewers have to watch the second hour on another streaming service. With this strategy, the Arrowverse crossover is guaranteed to have an easier binge-viewing experience with Superman & Lois presumably joining Batwoman on HBO Max after the season is over.
