While it's great to get excited about a crossover between The Flash and Arrow, what's even more wonderful about the DC television line-up is how unique each show is. You could look at each series and fashion your own idea of them living together in one world, but the shows also go beyond that and stand completely on their own. It's quite an achievement, especially when you consider that the Marvel films have begun to feel rather formulaic, coming off as part of a locked down system rather than individual works. Arrow and Flash clearly share a world, but each show also has its own unique markers that you can hang your hat on as being exclusive; Constantine's dark world of magic and the occult is wildly different from The Flash's world of science gone wrong, yet they compliment each other so well. There's a jovial spirit to The Flash that is contrasted beautifully by the stark portrait painted by Arrow, which is something that the MCU and Agents of SHIELD could take a cue from. Where the MCU feels like a machine pumping out the same film with a different coat of paint, the DC television universe feels like a collaboration between various artists who might sit down and have a chat together every so often.
