10 Reasons Why The Flash Could Ruin Arrow

Ever since the premiere of The CW€™s Arrow in 2012, superheroes have been making their way back to primetime television in a big way. Banking on the wild success of Christopher Nolan€™s The Dark Knight film trilogy, the action series follows the story of vigilante Oliver Queen in his quest to retake his city from the criminal underworld using skills accumulated in a prolonged trial by fire. While the premise of a very human man in green leather terrorising the criminal elite of a major metropolitan area with a bow and arrow is somewhat far-fetched, Arrow has always been surprisingly grounded in reality. Headlined by hunky heavy-hitter Stephen Amell as Oliver, the show has carved itself a nice niche on network television. Also airing on The CW, The Flash follows young Barry Allen in the wake of a lightning strike that left him with superspeed. Despite being born of star Grant Gustin€™s guest appearance as Barry on the second season of Arrow, the two shows are fundamentally different. Arrow is dark and gritty; The Flash is bright and shiny. Starling City is dank; Central City is bright. Oliver Queen is serious and physical; Barry Allen is cheerful and superpowered. Despite their differences, both shows are perfectly entertaining fare for fans of the genre, and the fantastically fun crossover extravaganza of late 2014 was a huge success that guaranteed shared future ventures between them. As The Flash races toward the end of its first season and Arrow hurtles toward the finale of its third, however, the less fun effects of the crossover have begun to be felt. While the freshman Flash has been able to claim growing pains as it figures out its place in the DC television universe, Arrow has begun to suffer from comparisons to its sister show, bringing forth the idea that perhaps these two programs should not exist in the same universe. So, here are ten reasons why sharing a universe with The Flash could be ruining Arrow.