Right now, it’s getting hard to decide what’s the most appealing thing about the upcoming Arrowverse crossover, “Elseworlds.” For some, it may be seeing Ruby Rose suiting up as the first live action iteration of Batwoman, though others might dig Grant Gustin and Stephen Amell trading places as the Flash and Green Arrow.
Right now, we’re going to talk about the body swap heard ’round the world, as two of the lead actors starring in the monumental event have discussed just that with Entertainment Weekly. In fact, Gustin, whom we know to be the Scarlet Speedster on most occasions, had this to say about the specifics of his Freaky Friday-esque scenario:
“You’re not going to see me playing Oliver Queen’s mannerisms, or Stephen playing Barry’s mannerisms. It’s more being aware that for some reason we’ve switched lives and destinies. It’s more the fun of the situational comedy that we keep finding ourselves in, and less us having a complete role reversal. We get to see Stephen do some of the more goofy speed stuff I have to do on a regular basis, and I get some actual combat as Green Arrow. So, we just see different colors for each of us.”
Cool as that sounds, I was hoping to see a world where Oliver gained speedster powers and Barry had spent five years on Lian Yu, but I’ll take what I can get. Like I’ve said before, the producers may not have wanted to tinker with the concept of alternate universes so soon after “Crisis on Earth-X,” so it makes sense for the mysterious John Deegan (Doctor Destiny?) to rewrite reality.
Getting back to the stars themselves, here’s what Amell had to say about walking (or running) in Barry’s shoes:
“Having superpowers is crazy! Wearing the Flash suit is crazy! The idea is that in order to be the best version of Barry Allen, which I have to be because we face a threat, there are elements of his personality I have to embrace, and there are elements of my personality that he has to embrace.”
This fall’s Arrowverse crossover begins on Sunday, December 9 with The Flash, continues on Monday, December 10 with Arrow, and wraps up on Tuesday, December 11 with Supergirl.