#arrowverse meta

Arrowverse Failed Them — The Multiverse Didn’t

I’m going to double down on my unpopular opinions.

If you’ve been here long enough, you already know: this blog does not do safe takes.

A few days ago I wrote about Overgirl — how her alternate version of Kara felt sharper, more layered, more emotionally compelling than canon Supergirl ever allowed her to be.

So today we’re taking it one step further.

Let’s talk about ships.

And yes — I am about to say something deeply controversial:

I was more emotionally invested in Dark Arrow and Overgirl than I ever was in Oliver’s or Kara’s canonical relationships.

Three episodes.

That’s all it took.

Kara’s Canon Love Life

I actually liked Kara and Mon-El. I did.

But looking back? Their ending didn’t elevate her character.

If the intention was to show that Kara doesn’t need a relationship to exist — that’s a strong narrative choice.

But then you have to give her growth in exchange.

Independence has to transform the character.

And it didn’t.

She remained fundamentally the same.

The breakup felt like sacrifice without narrative payoff.

And that’s frustrating.

Oliver’s Canon Love Life

Unpopular opinion number two: I never connected to Oliver and Felicity.

Not emotionally. Not structurally.

It always felt misaligned.

And in eight seasons of Arrow, it’s kind of astonishing that Oliver never had a relationship that felt both emotionally grounded and narratively inevitable.

Laurel didn’t fully work. Sara didn’t stabilize him. Nyssa was political. Felicity carried weight, yes — but for me, the chemistry never felt balanced.

Which makes what happened in the crossover even more baffling.

Three Episodes. That’s It.

Dark Arrow and Overgirl appear briefly.

They’re villains. They’re morally compromised. They belong to a nazist regime.

And yet — narratively — their dynamic works.

Why?

Because it’s built on emotional intensity.

He wages war across universes to save her. Not for conquest. Not for glory.

For her.

When she dies, he drops his guard. And he dies too.

It’s twisted. It’s dark. It’s dangerous.

But it’s emotionally coherent.

And the real shock?

Melissa Benoist and Stephen Amell had chemistry.

Not hypothetical chemistry.

Visible, on-screen, magnetic chemistry.

In three episodes, I felt more tension, more spark, more narrative charge than I did across years of separate canonical pairings.

And that’s not because I think Oliver and Kara would work in canon.

They wouldn’t.

They’re fundamentally incompatible in their original forms.

But that raises a bigger question:

Why did the alternate versions feel so emotionally effective, while eight and six seasons respectively struggled to give us relationships with that same spark?

The Arrowverse Comparison

In the Arrow–Flash–Supergirl trio, there was one couple that felt structurally solid:

Barry and Iris.

Iconic. Balanced. Aligned. Clark and Lois-level mythic energy.

You believed them.

Which proves the Arrowverse could build powerful relationships.

So why didn’t Oliver or Kara ever receive one that felt equally inevitable?

The Real Question

This isn’t about wanting Dark Arrow and Overgirl canonized.

It’s about narrative impact.

If a three-episode alternate-universe villain pairing can create more emotional resonance than years of main-character relationships…

That says something.

So I have to ask:

Did you truly love Oliver and Felicity? Were you fully invested in Kara and Mon-El?

Or did you ever, even for a second, look at Dark Arrow and Overgirl and think:

“…wait.”

And please — let’s leave Lena out of this one. That’s a different battlefield entirely.

Tell me honestly:

Yeah.  Oliver having a Kryptonite arrow is just Oliver being Oliver, and is more of a “How did you even find Kryptonite?” moment.  That other person... No.

Arrow is my black coffee.

The Flash is coffee with cream.

Supergirl is coffee with sugar.

(For the record, Legends is hot chocolate).

I have been thinking a lot about this 👀, and I think one of the main reasons why I don’t get upset about the details in the crossovers is that I constantly keep in mind that I’m not watching Arrow - I’m watching Arrow with a heavy dose of The Flash and Supergirl - which makes it, inevitably, a version of The Flash or Supergirl, and not actually Arrow at all.

Because it doesn’t matter how small an amount of cream or sugar you add to your coffee - as soon as a single drop of cream or a single grain of sugar goes into the cup, it’s no longer black coffee. 

If someone told me that from now on, any coffee I drank has to have cream and/or sugar, I’d be pissed!! (This is why I get angry over things like season 6...fucking instant coffee, yanno??? It may be black, but that shit AIN’T COFFEE.)

But if someone offers me a bit of coffee with cream and sugar after I’ve had my daily dose of the real deal, I’m not gonna get mad at them. I’m gonna either drink it and enjoy it for what it is, or I’m gonna say no thanks. I’m certainly not going to let it ruin my overall enjoyment of java.

Granted, I haven’t really liked since mid-s4, when Felicity broke it off with Oliver. I think they should have called it a day instead of the rushed hack job of a romance in s5&6. S5 they were clearly just working together until the writers threw in one flashback sex science of the two and one throwaway comment from Will’s mom. Then s6 their relationship was on a fast track that just didn’t really make sense to me??? I don’t know it just rubbed me to wrong way.

I also haven’t always been the biggest Felicity Fan either but s6 put me back on the neutral zone and s7 rocketed me straight back to strongly disliking her. I really don’t like her current character arc, because she’s becoming a more morally dubious person yet still holds herself on this higher ground of can do no wrong and failing to see how and why others would not approve of her actions.

This has cumulated in me hating Oliver and Felicity’s dynamic. I feel like Felicity is blaming Oliver for things that aren’t within his control, or blaming him for her turning down a dark path. The whole reason he went to prison was to protect her from Diaz, and to a degree it worked. Regardless of what Oliver had done Diaz would’ve still been a threat. He revealing himself to the FBI would’ve worked if Evil-Laurel hadn’t intervened. It’s not fair for Felicity to blame Oliver for actions that SHE took, despite everyone around her telling her not to. Moreover, it’s not fair for Felicity to demand that Oliver blindly accept “her new self”. Lastly I find it excessive the amount she says she lives him, especially when they preface her complaining about something he’s doing (ex: I love you so much, not just be ok with me trying to kill ), it’s manipulative and I don’t like it one bit.

Overgirl Was More Interesting Than Supergirl

ok.

i know this is unpopular.

but if you’ve been following me, you already know i don’t do safe opinions.

today’s meltdown? Overgirl.

yes. that Overgirl. the alternate-universe Kara we met during the big crossover events.

and i’m going to say it:

she fascinated me more than canon Kara ever did.

—

let’s start here.

i’ve watched every single episode of Supergirl. from pilot to finale. i didn’t skip. i stayed.

and yet, somewhere along the way, Kara started feeling… too perfect.

too polished. too morally untouchable. too politically careful.

and while optimism is beautiful, when a character is constantly written as right, pure, correct — they risk becoming flat.

and flat is the worst thing a superhero can be.

—

but the alternate versions?

the Red Daughter. and especially Overgirl.

suddenly the character had edges.

conflict. distortion. choice.

Overgirl isn’t just “evil Kara.” she’s Kara shaped by ideology, by environment, by radicalization.

and that creates tension.

because she isn’t soft. she isn’t endlessly forgiving. she isn’t there to be morally comforting.

she’s tragic.

—

and then there’s her relationship with Dark Arrow.

let’s be clear: the regime is monstrous. the ideology is abhorrent.

but narratively?

their love story is compelling.

because under all that darkness, what holds them together is love.

twisted. dangerous. obsessive.

but love.

he wages war across universes to save her.

not for power. not for domination.

for her.

and when she dies, he dies too — because the moment she falls, he drops his guard.

that’s emotional storytelling.

in three or four episodes, that dynamic felt more charged than seasons of canon romantic arcs.

and that’s not about shock value.

it’s about emotional stakes.

—

Overgirl allowed Melissa Benoist to show something sharper.

something harder.

a version of Kara who isn’t just light — but shadow.

and maybe that’s the point.

sometimes we connect more deeply with flawed, broken, morally compromised characters because they feel human in a way perfection never does.

Overgirl isn’t aspirational.

she’s layered.

and for me, layered always wins.

—

this is my main character meltdown.

not because she’s the hero.

but because, in those episodes, she felt more like one.

so tell me:

did Overgirl fascinate you too? or are you loyal to canon Kara until the end?

The Flash Characters Who Were Wasted (and the Ones Who Took Too Much Space)

Today’s entry in my They Deserved Better series takes us into the Arrowverse — specifically into The Flash.

Now, a quick disclaimer.

I’m actually much more of a Marvel person. If we’re talking comics, movies, or general universe preferences, Marvel has always been home for me.

But when it comes to television, the Arrowverse has always been the DC side I preferred over the cinematic universe.

And The Flash, especially in its early seasons, was one of the most compelling superhero shows on TV.

But somewhere along the way, something shifted.

Not exactly a writing failure — but definitely a character imbalance problem.

Some characters were given endless space without adding much to the story.

Others, who had incredible potential, were quietly pushed aside or written out far too quickly.

And that’s what this post is about.

When New Characters Don’t Actually Add Anything

Let me start with the controversial part.

Some of the newer Team Flash members never truly worked for me.

Specifically:

Allegra Garcia

Chester P. Runk

Now, this isn’t about disliking them as characters.

They’re not bad.

But they never brought anything new to the narrative that wasn’t already there.

It often felt like the writers were trying to recreate the fresh, chaotic chemistry of the original Team Flash — the energy Barry had with Cisco and Caitlin in the early seasons.

But instead of feeling organic, it sometimes felt forced.

Even the romance between Allegra and Chester felt like an attempt to recreate that early-series charm.

Unfortunately, it never quite landed.

The Caitlin Problem: Too Many Identities, Not Enough Direction

One of the most complicated arcs in the entire series belongs to Caitlin Snow.

Her journey moves through multiple identities:

Caitlin

Killer Frost/Frost

Khione

And while each stage had interesting ideas behind it, the execution eventually became confusing.

At some point, it felt like the original Caitlin — the emotional core of the character — got lost in the process.

After Ronnie’s death, Caitlin’s emotional journey could have explored grief, rebuilding, and rediscovering herself.

Instead, the character became wrapped in increasingly complex mythology that sometimes overshadowed her humanity.

Ironically, there were moments when Frost seemed more central to the story than Caitlin herself.

And Caitlin deserved better than that.

Wally West: One of the Most Wasted Heroes

Another character that always felt underused was Wally West.

I loved Wally on The Flash.

His arc as Kid Flash had real emotional potential, and his development into a hero felt meaningful.

When he appeared in Legends of Tomorrow, it seemed like the character would finally expand into something bigger.

But instead, his storyline quietly faded away.

His eventual exit — framed almost like a spiritual retreat — felt abrupt and strangely disconnected from everything that had been built before.

Wally didn’t just disappear.

He slowly dissolved from the narrative.

Ralph Dibny: The Disappearance That Made No Sense

One of the most frustrating cases is Ralph Dibny.

Ralph started as comic relief but gradually evolved into one of the most lovable characters on the show.

Then the writers introduced Sue Dearbon — a character deeply tied to Ralph in the comics.

Their story began slowly, carefully, and with clear potential.

And then…

It was rushed.

Suddenly accelerated.

And eventually the two characters vanished from the narrative almost entirely.

A storyline that had been patiently built was suddenly cut short, leaving their arc feeling unfinished.

The Character Who Deserved More: Julian Albert

Another character who disappeared far too quickly was Julian Albert, played by Tom Felton.

Julian started as a rival to Barry at the CCPD.

Cold, skeptical, and often antagonistic.

But slowly he became part of the team, revealing depth and vulnerability.

His dynamic with Caitlin was particularly interesting.

And just when the character began to feel integrated into Team Flash…

He disappeared.

No proper continuation.

No meaningful conclusion.

Just another character fading into the background.

Villains Who Could Have Been So Much More

It wasn’t just heroes who suffered from underdevelopment.

Some villains were also wasted.

One of the most fascinating was Marlize DeVoe.

Initially loyal to her husband, she eventually realizes that he has become dangerously obsessed with his plan.

Her moral awakening — standing against the man she once supported — was powerful.

She was brilliant, strategic, and emotionally complex.

Imagine Marlize joining Team Flash after DeVoe’s defeat.

Her intellect alone could have transformed the dynamic of the team.

Instead, her story ended far too quickly.

Villains Who Took Too Much Time

On the other hand, some antagonists were given far more time than their story justified.

For me, the biggest examples were:

Godspeed

Cicada

Both arcs stretched across multiple episodes but often felt repetitive and empty.

Cicada in particular became confusing when the timeline changed and a second version of the character appeared.

Meanwhile, other villains who were far more compelling — like Hunter Zolomon or Savitar — could have easily carried longer, deeper arcs.

Savitar especially remains, in my opinion, one of the most powerful villains the show ever created.

The Characters Who Grounded the Show

Another pair that quietly brought emotional balance to the show were:

Joe West

Cecile Horton

Their presence added something incredibly important: normality.

Joe as a police detective.

Cecile as a legal mind and empath.

They connected the superhero chaos to the real world.

But as the series progressed — especially after Barry and Iris built their own family — their presence slowly faded.

And the show lost some of its grounding.

Who Truly Deserved Better?

The Flash introduced an enormous number of characters over its run.

Some became legends.

Others vanished before reaching their potential.

For me, the ones who truly deserved better include:

Caitlin Snow

Wally West

Ralph Dibny

Julian Albert

Marlize DeVoe

Each of them had storylines that could have gone much further.

Instead, they were overshadowed by newer characters who never quite filled the space they were given.

Your Turn

The Flash gave us an incredible world of heroes, villains, and time paradoxes.

But with so many characters passing through Central City, some inevitably slipped through the cracks.

So now I’m curious.

Which characters do you think deserved better?