How Green Arrow’s story will end in Crisis on Infinite Earths is currently one of the Arrowverse’s biggest mysteries, but his ending may not actually be that hard to predict. Superman’s arc in the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic may actually explain how the Arrowverse plans to write Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) out of the Arrowverse.
It was confirmed at the end of Arrow season 7 that the original Arrowverse protagonist would die in Crisis on Infinite Earths. According to the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), Oliver Queen was fated to die saving the multiverse from the Crisis, and that there was no avoiding his impending death. The first seven episodes of Arrow season 8 have been building up to Oliver’s big sacrifice, and there were of course numerous questions from fans regarding how Oliver’s story would be concluded in the Arrowverse. Arrow had made it clear that he would die, but there was still some doubt over whether or not the series would actually go through with it.
All along, the Arrowverse has been promising the deaths of not one but two of its most important heroes. Crisis on Infinite Earths appeared to find a way around killing Barry by sacrificing Earth-90’s Flash (John Wesley Shipp) instead, but will The CW be able to do the same with Green Arrow? The comics indicate that a way out does indeed exist for Oliver.
Oliver Queen In Crisis on Infinite Earths
Since the Arrowverse had already created the expectation that Oliver Queen would die in Crisis on Infinite Earths, the event shocked fans by killing him off in the first hour, rather than waiting until the end. In Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 1, Green Arrow and the heroes were trying to save Earth-38 from the Anti-Monitor’s shadow demons, when the Monitor ordered their retreat. Green Arrow defiantly fought on, and though his decision saved billions of lives, it also cost him his own.
In Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 2, Mia (Katherine McNamara), White Canary (Caity Lotz), and Barry (Grant Gustin) teamed up with Constantine (Matt Ryan) to bring Oliver back to life with a Lazarus Pit on a different Earth. Their plan was a success, but unfortunately Constantine was unable to restore Oliver’s soul. With the help of Lucifer (Tom Ellis), the group headed to Purgatory to complete the resurrection process.
Oliver declined an opportunity to be resurrected when a mysterious character named Jim Corrigan (Stephen Lobo) told him that he needed to become “something else” if he wanted to end the Crisis. After agreeing to Corrigan’s offer, Oliver was transformed into the Spectre, one of the most powerful heroes in DC Comics, and a character who was integral to beating the Anti-Monitor in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” miniseries. As the Spectre, Oliver has a new look and a new role to fill, which could involve being the one who ultimately stops the Anti-Monitor.
Oliver Can Take Superman’s Crisis on Infinite Earths Ending
Looking at Green Arrow’s story in the Crisis on Infinite Earths comics won’t help solve the mystery of what happens next, but the arc of a completely different character could be what Crisis on Infinite Earths is drawing from: Earth-2’s Superman, Kal-L. After several Earths merged, Kal-L found himself in a world where no one remembered him, and his version of Lois Lane was gone. Though distraught by everything he had lost, Kal-L joined the other heroes to travel to the Anti-Matter Universe for the final battle with the Anti-Monitor. When the heroes began to escape, Kal-L determined that since he no longer had anything left to live for, that he would stay behind and make sure the Anti-Monitor was destroyed for good. After successfully killing the Anti-Monitor, the threat to the world was ended, but Superman and Superboy were trapped outside of the universe, and unable to return.
When it seemed that all hope was lost for them, Earth-3’s Lex Luthor appeared and transported them to a pocket dimension where they would be safe from the antimatter waves. This place was considered a “paradise”. Lex also reunited Kal-L with Earth-2’s Lois Lane, who he saved shortly before the rebirth of the universe. This served as a happy ending for Kal-L, but the downside was that they weren’t able to return to their own world again. This could be what happens to Oliver in the Arrowverse. Perhaps since Oliver chose to be the Spectre over having his soul restored, he can never again exist in the mortal world. If this is the case, Oliver could be forced to live out the rest of his years in a pocket dimension that exists outside of reality.
What This Means For Arrow Season 8 (& The Flashforwards)
The problem with all the theories about Oliver dying is that they don’t quite line up with what’s shown in the flashforwards in Arrow season 7. In the future, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) is told by the Monitor that she can be with Oliver again by going with him to an unspecified place, but once there, she can no longer go back. Unless the Monitor is taking Felicity to the afterlife, this scene doesn’t make sense if Oliver dies in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
However, the idea that Crisis on Infinite Earths is giving Kal-L’s story to Oliver could explain the scene between the Monitor and Felicity. It could be that Jim Corrigan or some other character takes the place of Earth-3’s Lex Luthor by sending Oliver to the same pocket dimension that Kal-L was taken to in the comics. This ending would allow the Arrowverse to keep Oliver alive and end his story in a satisfying way.
How would this ending impact what’s left of Arrow season 8? Regardless of what happens to Oliver, he may not have an important role in the penultimate episode, since it is serving as the backdoor pilot for Green Arrow and the Canaries, but the series finale is another matter entirely. If Oliver dies in Crisis on Infinite Earths, it’s not clear how the series finale would work, but if he was transported to the pocket dimension, the finale could show viewers Oliver’s life in paradise, and his long-awaited reunion with Felicity, who will finally get to join him in 2038.
More: Crisis On Infinite Earths: All 7 Paragons Explained
