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** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille, [[ComicBook/WallyWest Wally]] receives his Kid Flash costume, Julian befriends the team, the West house is visited by merry carolers, Caitlin uses her powers to make it snow, and Barry and Iris get their own apartment together. In the ''Arrow'' episode, on the other hand, everybody is miserable: Diggle is arrested, [[ComicBook/MisterTerrific Curtis]]'s marriage falls apart, Billy is dead, Felicity is distraught over Billy being dead, and Oliver is distraught over the fact that Prometheus duped him into killing Billy. The only consolation is Laurel's apparent return, which the next episode reveals to be a YankTheDogsChain moment anyway.
to:
** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille, [[ComicBook/WallyWest Wally]] Wally receives his Kid Flash costume, Julian befriends the team, the West house is visited by merry carolers, Caitlin uses her powers to make it snow, and Barry and Iris get their own apartment together. In the ''Arrow'' episode, on the other hand, everybody is miserable: Diggle is arrested, [[ComicBook/MisterTerrific Curtis]]'s marriage falls apart, Billy is dead, Felicity is distraught over Billy being dead, and Oliver is distraught over the fact that Prometheus duped him into killing Billy. The only consolation is Laurel's apparent return, which the next episode reveals to be a YankTheDogsChain moment anyway.
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!!''Series/{{Arrowverse}}''
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* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': To ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', the last TV show to air on Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to ''Film/BatmanBegins''.
** And to the original comics. No "Boxing Glove Arrow" here (until a ShoutOut improvised use of a glove-on-an-arrow in S3's "Guilty")! To be specific, Oliver starts out as a cold-blooded killer in the series; generally the show seems to take influence from Mike Grell's run, which itself was notable for its DarkerAndEdgier and no-spandex or superpowers approach to the DCU.
** And to the original comics. No "Boxing Glove Arrow" here (until a ShoutOut improvised use of a glove-on-an-arrow in S3's "Guilty")! To be specific, Oliver starts out as a cold-blooded killer in the series; generally the show seems to take influence from Mike Grell's run, which itself was notable for its DarkerAndEdgier and no-spandex or superpowers approach to the DCU.
to:
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': To ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** The entire series is this to ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', the last TV show to air on Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to''Film/BatmanBegins''.
Creator/ChristopherNolan's Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy. In fact, the many RoguesGalleryTransplant and Oliver's own AdaptationalPersonalityChange (as noted below) have invited discussions that the show's ComicBook/GreenArrow is ''meant'' to be a Franchise/{{Batman}} stand-in.
**And The series is also this to the original comics. No "Boxing Glove Arrow" here (until a ShoutOut improvised use of a glove-on-an-arrow in S3's "Guilty")! To be specific, Oliver starts out as a cold-blooded killer in the series; generally the show seems to take influence from Mike Grell's run, which itself was notable for its DarkerAndEdgier and no-spandex or superpowers approach to the DCU.
** The entire series is this to ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', the last TV show to air on Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to
**
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** Ollie is MUCH darker than his comics counterpart. For one, Comics!Ollie might be more than willing to hurt bad guys, but he doesn't break ThouShaltNotKill as blatantly as Arrow!Ollie does. Comics Ollie might have around maybe half a dozen kills in his entire existence as a character. By contrast, Arrow!Ollie might kill a dozen people ''an episode''. Also, his idealism is less politically-motivated and more based on revenge for his father's murder (though he does soften up as the show goes along and graduates into heroism for its own sake on the side of his main mission).
** It's deconstructed in comparison to ''Series/TheFlash2014''. When their characters cross over in "Brave and the Bold," they mention that they have the luxury of calling their bad guys metahumans. It helps them keep it from getting too real and serious, while Starling City is filled with much more real and darker threats.
** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille, Wally receives his Kid Flash costume, Julian befriends the team, the West house is visited by merry carolers, Caitlin uses her powers to make it snow, and Barry and Iris get their own apartment together. In the ''Arrow'' episode, on the other hand, everybody is miserable: Diggle is arrested, Curtis's marriage falls apart, Billy is dead, Felicity is distraught over Billy being dead, and Oliver is distraught over the fact that Prometheus duped him into killing Billy. At least Laurel's apparent return from the dead lightens the mood a little bit.
** The fifth season is this to the rest of the series, featuring a SlasherMovie-influenced main antagonist and having Oliver return to killing after three seasons of abstaining from it. That last point does not go well.
** The eighth season drives home the bleak and apocalyptic nature of the upcoming Crisis. While the premiere is altogether a much lighter take on Season 1, with Oliver quickly learning to trust his allies (Diggle, Laurel and Earth-2 Adrian) and talking down Tommy from going through with the Earth-2 Undertaking, Earth-2 gets erased from existence in the closing moments of the episode by the Anti-Monitor, making everyone in that universe Deader Than Dead and all of Oliver's efforts to redeem Tommy ultimately pointless. Oliver also spends the entire season saddled with the knowledge that he dies in the Crisis, which considerably darkens his story arc.
* Season 2 of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' is this to Season 1. Barry starts out the season more jaded than ever. We have a [[BigBad Zoom]] who is a total scumbag, [[KnightofCerebus darkening every scene with him in it]] and antagonizing Barry. And the season ends with Barry losing his father.
** It got worse in Season 3 (the second half anyway) in which Barry accidently ran into the future to see Iris murdered by [[BigBad Savitar]] and Team Flash failing at every turn to prevent it until [[spoiler: HR sacrficed himself in her place via chameleon tech.]] It made even worse when Savitar's true identity was [[spoiler: a future version of Barry, created by the abuse of time remnants in an attempt to defeat Savitar, and wanted to kill Iris to secure his own existence]]. The StableTimeLoop was eventually broken by [[spoiler: HR's sarcrifice and Iris fatally shooting him.]]
** It's deconstructed in comparison to ''Series/TheFlash2014''. When their characters cross over in "Brave and the Bold," they mention that they have the luxury of calling their bad guys metahumans. It helps them keep it from getting too real and serious, while Starling City is filled with much more real and darker threats.
** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille, Wally receives his Kid Flash costume, Julian befriends the team, the West house is visited by merry carolers, Caitlin uses her powers to make it snow, and Barry and Iris get their own apartment together. In the ''Arrow'' episode, on the other hand, everybody is miserable: Diggle is arrested, Curtis's marriage falls apart, Billy is dead, Felicity is distraught over Billy being dead, and Oliver is distraught over the fact that Prometheus duped him into killing Billy. At least Laurel's apparent return from the dead lightens the mood a little bit.
** The fifth season is this to the rest of the series, featuring a SlasherMovie-influenced main antagonist and having Oliver return to killing after three seasons of abstaining from it. That last point does not go well.
** The eighth season drives home the bleak and apocalyptic nature of the upcoming Crisis. While the premiere is altogether a much lighter take on Season 1, with Oliver quickly learning to trust his allies (Diggle, Laurel and Earth-2 Adrian) and talking down Tommy from going through with the Earth-2 Undertaking, Earth-2 gets erased from existence in the closing moments of the episode by the Anti-Monitor, making everyone in that universe Deader Than Dead and all of Oliver's efforts to redeem Tommy ultimately pointless. Oliver also spends the entire season saddled with the knowledge that he dies in the Crisis, which considerably darkens his story arc.
* Season 2 of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' is this to Season 1. Barry starts out the season more jaded than ever. We have a [[BigBad Zoom]] who is a total scumbag, [[KnightofCerebus darkening every scene with him in it]] and antagonizing Barry. And the season ends with Barry losing his father.
** It got worse in Season 3 (the second half anyway) in which Barry accidently ran into the future to see Iris murdered by [[BigBad Savitar]] and Team Flash failing at every turn to prevent it until [[spoiler: HR sacrficed himself in her place via chameleon tech.]] It made even worse when Savitar's true identity was [[spoiler: a future version of Barry, created by the abuse of time remnants in an attempt to defeat Savitar, and wanted to kill Iris to secure his own existence]]. The StableTimeLoop was eventually broken by [[spoiler: HR's sarcrifice and Iris fatally shooting him.]]
to:
** Ollie is MUCH darker than his comics counterpart.counterpart, at least in the earlier seasons. For one, Comics!Ollie might be more than willing to hurt bad guys, but he doesn't break ThouShaltNotKill as blatantly as Arrow!Ollie does. Comics Ollie might have around maybe half a dozen kills in his entire existence as a character. By contrast, Arrow!Ollie might kill a dozen people ''an episode''. Also, his idealism is less politically-motivated and more based on revenge for his father's murder. This is gradually downplayed as the series goes on, however, as Oliver's willingness to brutally torture and murder (though he does soften up as people has been called out many times by his friends and allies, resulting in him adopting a ThouShallNotKill stance in the show goes along and graduates into heroism for its own sake on second season (and his previous experiences as a killer being the side source of his main mission).
endless {{Angst}}).
** It's deconstructed in comparison to''Series/TheFlash2014''.''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}''. When their characters cross over in "Brave and the Bold," they mention that they have the luxury of calling their bad guys metahumans. It helps them keep it from getting too real and serious, while Starling City is filled with much more real and darker threats.
** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille,Wally [[ComicBook/WallyWest Wally]] receives his Kid Flash costume, Julian befriends the team, the West house is visited by merry carolers, Caitlin uses her powers to make it snow, and Barry and Iris get their own apartment together. In the ''Arrow'' episode, on the other hand, everybody is miserable: Diggle is arrested, Curtis's [[ComicBook/MisterTerrific Curtis]]'s marriage falls apart, Billy is dead, Felicity is distraught over Billy being dead, and Oliver is distraught over the fact that Prometheus duped him into killing Billy. At least The only consolation is Laurel's apparent return from return, which the dead lightens the mood next episode reveals to be a little bit.
YankTheDogsChain moment anyway.
** The fifth season is this to the rest of the series, featuring a SlasherMovie-influenced main antagonist and having Oliver return to killing after three seasons of abstaining fromit. That it (that last point does ''not'' go well). The 17th episode, "Kapiushon", is probably the darkest episode, not go well.
only in the season but also the entire series, as Oliver is [[ColdBloodedTorture physically and psychologically tortured]] by the villains after having been separated from his friends, leaving him an even broken man than before, which is saying something.
** The eighth season drives home the bleak and apocalyptic nature of theupcoming Crisis.[[Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019 Crisis]]. While the premiere is altogether a much lighter take on Season 1, with Oliver quickly learning to trust his allies (Diggle, Laurel and Earth-2 Adrian) and talking down Tommy from going through with the Earth-2 Undertaking, Earth-2 gets erased from existence in the closing moments of the episode by the Anti-Monitor, making everyone in that universe Deader Than Dead and all of Oliver's efforts to redeem Tommy ultimately pointless. Oliver also spends the entire season saddled with the knowledge that he dies in the Crisis, which considerably darkens his story arc.
* ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'':
** Season 2of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' is this to Season 1. Barry starts out the season more jaded than ever. We have a [[BigBad Zoom]] who is a total scumbag, [[KnightofCerebus darkening every scene with him in it]] and antagonizing Barry. And the season ends with Barry losing his father.
** Itgot gets worse in Season 3 (the second half anyway) in which Barry accidently ran accidentally runs into the future to see Iris murdered by [[BigBad Savitar]] and Team Flash failing at every turn to prevent it until [[spoiler: HR sacrficed sacrifices himself in her place via chameleon tech.]] tech. It made makes even worse when Savitar's true identity was [[spoiler: is a future version of Barry, created by the abuse of time remnants in an attempt to defeat Savitar, and wanted wants to kill Iris to secure his own existence]]. existence. The StableTimeLoop was is eventually broken by [[spoiler: HR's sarcrifice sacrifice and Iris fatally shooting him.]]him. To top it off, the season ends with Barry being forced to enter the Speed Force, separating him from Iris right before they are about to marry.
** Season 3 is the culmination of this darker trend, as the next season goes for the LighterAndSofter route, featuring more camp and humor than even the first season, and ends on a much happier note than the previous three seasons combined.
** It's deconstructed in comparison to
** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille,
** The fifth season is this to the rest of the series, featuring a SlasherMovie-influenced main antagonist and having Oliver return to killing after three seasons of abstaining from
** The eighth season drives home the bleak and apocalyptic nature of the
* ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'':
** Season 2
** It
** Season 3 is the culmination of this darker trend, as the next season goes for the LighterAndSofter route, featuring more camp and humor than even the first season, and ends on a much happier note than the previous three seasons combined.
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* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' is '''the darkest''' ''Arrowverse'' crossover by far. [[spoiler:We see entire worlds burn, ''even some we know and love'', which was actually much less of a thing in the original comic!]]
to:
* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' ''Series/{{Crisis on Infinite Earths|2019}}'' is '''the darkest''' ''Arrowverse'' crossover by far. [[spoiler:We We see entire worlds burn, ''even some we know and love'', which was actually much less of a thing in the original comic!]]comic!
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* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': To the Series/{{Smallville}}, the last TV show to air on Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to ''Film/BatmanBegins''.
to:
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': To the Series/{{Smallville}}, ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', the last TV show to air on Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to ''Film/BatmanBegins''.
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Changed line(s) 1 (click to see context) from:
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': To the [[Series/{{Smallville}} last TV show to air on]] Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to ''Film/BatmanBegins''.
to:
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': To the [[Series/{{Smallville}} Series/{{Smallville}}, the last TV show to air on]] on Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to ''Film/BatmanBegins''.
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* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' is '''the darkest''' ''Arrowverse'' crossover by far. [[spoiler:We see entire worlds burn, ''even some we know and love'', which was actually much less of a thing in the original comic!]]
* ''{{Series/Banshee}}'' The already dark TV show becomes more grim and more depressing as the series progress, the people who started out as good people become more corrupt and broken.
* ''{{Series/Banshee}}'' The already dark TV show becomes more grim and more depressing as the series progress, the people who started out as good people become more corrupt and broken.
to:
* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' is '''the darkest''' ''Arrowverse'' crossover by far. [[spoiler:We see entire worlds burn, ''even some we know and love'', which was actually much less of a thing in the original comic!]]
* ''{{Series/Banshee}}'' The already dark TV show becomes more grim and more depressing as the series progress, the people who started out as good people become more corrupt and broken.comic!]]
* ''{{Series/Banshee}}'' The already dark TV show becomes more grim and more depressing as the series progress, the people who started out as good people become more corrupt and broken.
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Added DiffLines:
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': To the [[Series/{{Smallville}} last TV show to air on]] Creator/TheCW which was based on a Creator/DCComics character. For a point of reference, it's commonly been compared to ''Film/BatmanBegins''.
** And to the original comics. No "Boxing Glove Arrow" here (until a ShoutOut improvised use of a glove-on-an-arrow in S3's "Guilty")! To be specific, Oliver starts out as a cold-blooded killer in the series; generally the show seems to take influence from Mike Grell's run, which itself was notable for its DarkerAndEdgier and no-spandex or superpowers approach to the DCU.
** Also applies to other superheroes featured in the series. ComicBook/BlackCanary, and in particular Comicbook/{{Huntress}}, both of whom are killers; Huntress, indeed, isn't a superhero in this version, but an outright villain. At best, the protagonists in this series qualify as examples of AntiHero.
** Ollie is MUCH darker than his comics counterpart. For one, Comics!Ollie might be more than willing to hurt bad guys, but he doesn't break ThouShaltNotKill as blatantly as Arrow!Ollie does. Comics Ollie might have around maybe half a dozen kills in his entire existence as a character. By contrast, Arrow!Ollie might kill a dozen people ''an episode''. Also, his idealism is less politically-motivated and more based on revenge for his father's murder (though he does soften up as the show goes along and graduates into heroism for its own sake on the side of his main mission).
** It's deconstructed in comparison to ''Series/TheFlash2014''. When their characters cross over in "Brave and the Bold," they mention that they have the luxury of calling their bad guys metahumans. It helps them keep it from getting too real and serious, while Starling City is filled with much more real and darker threats.
** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille, Wally receives his Kid Flash costume, Julian befriends the team, the West house is visited by merry carolers, Caitlin uses her powers to make it snow, and Barry and Iris get their own apartment together. In the ''Arrow'' episode, on the other hand, everybody is miserable: Diggle is arrested, Curtis's marriage falls apart, Billy is dead, Felicity is distraught over Billy being dead, and Oliver is distraught over the fact that Prometheus duped him into killing Billy. At least Laurel's apparent return from the dead lightens the mood a little bit.
** The fifth season is this to the rest of the series, featuring a SlasherMovie-influenced main antagonist and having Oliver return to killing after three seasons of abstaining from it. That last point does not go well.
** The eighth season drives home the bleak and apocalyptic nature of the upcoming Crisis. While the premiere is altogether a much lighter take on Season 1, with Oliver quickly learning to trust his allies (Diggle, Laurel and Earth-2 Adrian) and talking down Tommy from going through with the Earth-2 Undertaking, Earth-2 gets erased from existence in the closing moments of the episode by the Anti-Monitor, making everyone in that universe Deader Than Dead and all of Oliver's efforts to redeem Tommy ultimately pointless. Oliver also spends the entire season saddled with the knowledge that he dies in the Crisis, which considerably darkens his story arc.
* Season 2 of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' is this to Season 1. Barry starts out the season more jaded than ever. We have a [[BigBad Zoom]] who is a total scumbag, [[KnightofCerebus darkening every scene with him in it]] and antagonizing Barry. And the season ends with Barry losing his father.
** It got worse in Season 3 (the second half anyway) in which Barry accidently ran into the future to see Iris murdered by [[BigBad Savitar]] and Team Flash failing at every turn to prevent it until [[spoiler: HR sacrficed himself in her place via chameleon tech.]] It made even worse when Savitar's true identity was [[spoiler: a future version of Barry, created by the abuse of time remnants in an attempt to defeat Savitar, and wanted to kill Iris to secure his own existence]]. The StableTimeLoop was eventually broken by [[spoiler: HR's sarcrifice and Iris fatally shooting him.]]
* ''Series/BlackLightning'': Darker than most of the other CW series, with its themes of racism, gang violence and corruption in the police. Tone-wise it's closest to ''Series/{{Arrow}},'' but even that series has more comic relief. Outside the BloodierAndGorier streaming-only offerings, this is as dark as the DC universe gets on TV.
* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' is '''the darkest''' ''Arrowverse'' crossover by far. [[spoiler:We see entire worlds burn, ''even some we know and love'', which was actually much less of a thing in the original comic!]]
* ''{{Series/Banshee}}'' The already dark TV show becomes more grim and more depressing as the series progress, the people who started out as good people become more corrupt and broken.
** And to the original comics. No "Boxing Glove Arrow" here (until a ShoutOut improvised use of a glove-on-an-arrow in S3's "Guilty")! To be specific, Oliver starts out as a cold-blooded killer in the series; generally the show seems to take influence from Mike Grell's run, which itself was notable for its DarkerAndEdgier and no-spandex or superpowers approach to the DCU.
** Also applies to other superheroes featured in the series. ComicBook/BlackCanary, and in particular Comicbook/{{Huntress}}, both of whom are killers; Huntress, indeed, isn't a superhero in this version, but an outright villain. At best, the protagonists in this series qualify as examples of AntiHero.
** Ollie is MUCH darker than his comics counterpart. For one, Comics!Ollie might be more than willing to hurt bad guys, but he doesn't break ThouShaltNotKill as blatantly as Arrow!Ollie does. Comics Ollie might have around maybe half a dozen kills in his entire existence as a character. By contrast, Arrow!Ollie might kill a dozen people ''an episode''. Also, his idealism is less politically-motivated and more based on revenge for his father's murder (though he does soften up as the show goes along and graduates into heroism for its own sake on the side of his main mission).
** It's deconstructed in comparison to ''Series/TheFlash2014''. When their characters cross over in "Brave and the Bold," they mention that they have the luxury of calling their bad guys metahumans. It helps them keep it from getting too real and serious, while Starling City is filled with much more real and darker threats.
** ''Arrow's'' fifth midseason finale and ''The Flash's'' third midseason finale illustrate this. Despite both episodes' big climactic moments being pretty grim, they end with drastically different tones. The ''Flash'' episode ends with a celebratory Christmas sequence in which Joe finally hooks up with his coworker Cecille, Wally receives his Kid Flash costume, Julian befriends the team, the West house is visited by merry carolers, Caitlin uses her powers to make it snow, and Barry and Iris get their own apartment together. In the ''Arrow'' episode, on the other hand, everybody is miserable: Diggle is arrested, Curtis's marriage falls apart, Billy is dead, Felicity is distraught over Billy being dead, and Oliver is distraught over the fact that Prometheus duped him into killing Billy. At least Laurel's apparent return from the dead lightens the mood a little bit.
** The fifth season is this to the rest of the series, featuring a SlasherMovie-influenced main antagonist and having Oliver return to killing after three seasons of abstaining from it. That last point does not go well.
** The eighth season drives home the bleak and apocalyptic nature of the upcoming Crisis. While the premiere is altogether a much lighter take on Season 1, with Oliver quickly learning to trust his allies (Diggle, Laurel and Earth-2 Adrian) and talking down Tommy from going through with the Earth-2 Undertaking, Earth-2 gets erased from existence in the closing moments of the episode by the Anti-Monitor, making everyone in that universe Deader Than Dead and all of Oliver's efforts to redeem Tommy ultimately pointless. Oliver also spends the entire season saddled with the knowledge that he dies in the Crisis, which considerably darkens his story arc.
* Season 2 of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' is this to Season 1. Barry starts out the season more jaded than ever. We have a [[BigBad Zoom]] who is a total scumbag, [[KnightofCerebus darkening every scene with him in it]] and antagonizing Barry. And the season ends with Barry losing his father.
** It got worse in Season 3 (the second half anyway) in which Barry accidently ran into the future to see Iris murdered by [[BigBad Savitar]] and Team Flash failing at every turn to prevent it until [[spoiler: HR sacrficed himself in her place via chameleon tech.]] It made even worse when Savitar's true identity was [[spoiler: a future version of Barry, created by the abuse of time remnants in an attempt to defeat Savitar, and wanted to kill Iris to secure his own existence]]. The StableTimeLoop was eventually broken by [[spoiler: HR's sarcrifice and Iris fatally shooting him.]]
* ''Series/BlackLightning'': Darker than most of the other CW series, with its themes of racism, gang violence and corruption in the police. Tone-wise it's closest to ''Series/{{Arrow}},'' but even that series has more comic relief. Outside the BloodierAndGorier streaming-only offerings, this is as dark as the DC universe gets on TV.
* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' is '''the darkest''' ''Arrowverse'' crossover by far. [[spoiler:We see entire worlds burn, ''even some we know and love'', which was actually much less of a thing in the original comic!]]
* ''{{Series/Banshee}}'' The already dark TV show becomes more grim and more depressing as the series progress, the people who started out as good people become more corrupt and broken.
