It wasn’t such a happy holiday season last December for DC fans, at least in terms of what they could stream on Netflix. The middle of the month saw the mass exodus of a handful of beloved The CW series, including all eight seasons of Arrow. The departure, while upsetting, wasn’t exactly a surprise; the various DC series on The CW have been on a timeline to depart the platform for some time, with Black Lightning having left in February of last year and shows like Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow expected to depart later this year and next year respectively. However, Arrow’s exit left fans in limbo as a new streaming home hadn’t been revealed — until now and this time, Oliver Queen is protecting his city for free.
Arrow is officially headed to Pluto TV on May 1st where fans will be able to stream the beloved DC series for free while new audiences will get a chance to experience it for the first time. Arrow will join several other iconic The CW series, including Hart of Dixie and The 100 as well as Everwood, which originally aired on The CW’s predecessor, The WB. The addition of the series, along with ABC’s My Wife and Kids, is intended so that they can “be rediscovered by longtime fans — and discovered for the first time by younger viewers who are increasingly embracing the era,” according to Pluto TV.
While superhero entertainment has always had a place and has had a history of being popular on television in particular — after all, Smallville had a decade-long run between The WB and The CW and remains a gold standard for Superman-related media — Arrow completely changed the game. By focusing on a significant and popular superhero who also happens to not be the regularly adapted Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, the series opened up a new corner of the overall DC universe while also offering a new look at Green Arrow/Oliver Queen, one different than versions we’d seen before. The biggest impact Arrow had, however, was how it created a larger, shared universe that ultimately expanded to multiple DC heroes, created the groundwork for huge and exciting crossovers, and proved that some of the most complicated comic book stories could make for great television even for audiences who had never read them before.
Arrow debuted in 2012 and, in 2014, The Flash spun out of it with that series following Barry Allen (played by Grant Gustin) on his own adventure becoming a metahuman superhero in Central City after his initial appearance on Arrow. The Flash, along with Arrow, in turn spun out DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, while other series such as Supergirl, Batwoman, and eventually Black Lightning, were all brought into the same shared universe creating the overall “Arrowverse” with characters from the various shows appearing across each other, particularly for the annual crossover events which brought major classic comics stories like “Crisis on Infinite Earths” to life confirming that you don’t need the biggest of screens or budgets to make a multiverse story come to life.
But while it’s been six years since Arrow ended, now is actually a perfect time to revisit the series. DC is in its renaissance when it comes to movies and television, with the success of James Gunn’s Superman last summer and the eagerly anticipated Supergirl coming to theaters this summer. HBO’s The Penguin was also a particularly exciting television offering for DC as was Peacemaker and Lanterns, which will offer a new take on Green Lantern, is coming up soon as well. While Arrow isn’t connected to these projects in anyway, there’s something important about looking at the projects that helped pave the way — and Arrow is definitely one of those projects.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
