Arrowverse Crossover: Everything You Need To Know About Elseworlds

5. The Meaning Behind Elseworlds

This year's crossover is subtitled Elseworlds. Now, if you're a DC Comics fan, then there's a good chance that you already know what that means, but for anyone unaware: Elseworlds was the title given to certain comics produced by DC that took place outside the DC Universe canon, and it often featured superheroes (or supervillains) taken from their usual environment and placed in a different time or universe.

The iconic 1989 Batman arc Gotham By Gaslight, which reimagined The Dark Knight as a Victorian protector of Gotham City, is considered the first Elseworlds story. Since then, there have been countless titles published under the Elseworlds banner, including Superman: Red Son and the Gothic trilogy of tales revolving around Batman's bloody battle with Dracula.

The full explanation behind the Arrowverse crossover's Elseworlds title has yet to be revealed, but given the recent poster that portrays Barry Allen as Green Arrow and Oliver Queen as The Flash, it's looking likely that some of the TV event will not take place on Earth-1. As the Arrowverse introduced the multiverse a few years back, the costume-swapping versions of Barry and Oliver could very well be from a parallel dimension - an Elseworld, if you will.