YMMV / Elseworlds (2018)

• Awesome Music: Batwoman's leitmotif is a thing of beauty. The eerie buildup, the electronic-feeling beat, crescendoing in a memorable melody complete with a choir.
• Catharsis Factor: The showrunners are probably aware by now how unpopular Marc Guggenheim is to the fandom, especially the comicbook community whom Guggenheim disrespected a number of times in the past. The crossover special made a character named after him imprisoned in Arkham Asylum along with DC Comics' famous criminals (specifically Batman's Rogues Gallery).
• Contested Sequel: Some fans believe Elseworlds to be an Even Better Sequel to Crisis on Earth-X due to criticism's of the latter's Romantic Plot Tumor, particularly from Olicity, and the use of Earth-X as its setting; feeling that the former had a well-paced, brisk plot. Others feel that it did not have as much emotional weight or scale as last year's crossover, with other criticisms including plotholes, the absence of the Legends cast sans a cameo from Gary, and The Earth-90 Flash having very little screentime.
• Epileptic Trees: After comments by Earth-90 Barry Allen, Diggle being named John Stewart on Earth-90 and being a Green Lantern there became a very popular theory.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Les Yay vibes between Kara and Kate did not escape the fans. It helps that the latter is a lesbian in canon.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The aforementioned Earth-90 Diggle quickly became popular fanfic material.
  • The reason for Earth-1 Bruce Wayne's disappearance and his current whereabouts also became popular fanfic fodder after the crossover special.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Oliver makes a Deal with the Devil with the Monitor, indicating he has paid a heavy price, in light of Arrow going into its final season.
• Just Here for Godzilla: The return of the 1990s Flash, the Arrowverse debut of both Batwoman and Lois Lane, Superman's first time involvement in a Crossover, and the Monitor are the Crossover special's biggest draws.
• Les Yay: Kara uses her x-ray vision to find out who Batwoman is...and sneaks a peek at the rest of her while she's at it ("You really have a lot of tattoos"). She's also the only one who Kate isn't completely abrasive and dismissive with, agreeing that they'd make the "world's finest" team. Notably, Batwoman doesn't react negatively when Supergirl admits to checking her out.
• Like You Would Really Do It: The crossover heavily intimates that Barry and Oliver might be stuck in each other's bodies permanently; Kara advises them to start acting like each other, they both start to take on aspects of each other's personalities, which worries Iris in particular. But the end of the crossover reestablishes the status quo, to no one's surprise. It's not like Grant Gustin and Stephen Amell were going to swap shows or anything.
• Magnificent Bastard: The Monitor, Mar Novu, is a cosmic entity who has spent centuries seeking a means of defeating the monstrous Anti-Monitor. Subjecting multiple Earths to destructive tests using the Book of Destiny, Novu seeks the heroes known as the Paragons to face his nemesis, allowing multiple Earths to be destroyed before the heroes of Earth-1 and Earth-38 pass his test. Subjecting these heroes to more trials to prepare them for the impending Crisis, Novu recruits Lyla Michaels, manipulates Oliver Queen, and releases Malefic J'onzz from the Phantom Zone, putting each of his champions in great danger to an ultimately benevolent end, showing compassion as well by allowing Oliver to meet his grown children and enabling J'onn and his brother to reconcile. When the Crisis begins, Novu allows the recently revived Lex Luthor to rampage across multiple Earths to find the Paragon of Hope, and manipulates Kate Kane into confronting a fallen doppelganger of her cousin Bruce Wayne to reveal her as the Paragon of Courage. Even when faced with death at the Anti-Monitor's hands, the Monitor instantly adjusts his plans, buying time for Pariah to save the Paragons and defiantly telling his nemesis that allowing his creation was Novu's only mistake. Novu's machinations ultimately lead to the Anti-Monitor's defeat, and in the aftermath of the Crisis, Novu keeps his promise of reuniting Oliver and his wife in the afterlife.
• Memetic Mutation: "My name is Oliver Queen and I am the fastest man alive." ^Explanation One of the poster photos showed that Oliver and Barry with the costume of each other. Barry gets to give Oliver's Opening Narration at the start of Part Two; sadly, Oliver doesn't give Barry's, so this quote didn't come to pass.
• Most Wonderful Sound: And most unexpected. When Barry and Oliver headed to Earth-38, no one expected the Smallville Kent farm...and a certain song not heard on the CW since 2011...Somebody saaaaaaaaaaave meeeeeeee...
• Narm:
  • Apparently the crew was really paranoid about people not watching all the episodes leading into the crossover, so the prior week's episodes of Supergirl (2015), Arrow, and The Flash (2014) all end with the exact same scene. It's especially frustrating if you'd gotten your hopes up after the first one that it would be a three part stinger. And then it's played again at the start of the crossover itself, meaning you've now potentially seen it four times, for absolutely no reason.
  • While it was fun to see the Barry Allen from The Flash (1990), it's just awkward watching John Wesley Shipp try to deliver dialogue around his false teeth.
• Narm Charm: A criminal gives an insanely over the top scream that the camera holds on for an awkwardly long time at Batwoman's entrance. But it still works well to establish that she has just as much an effect on the superstitious and cowardly lot as her cousin.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • What happened to the Flash of Earth-90's world: all his superhero allies slaughtered by the Monitor, having apparently failed the Monitor's test.
  • The deal that Oliver made with the Monitor; we wouldn't find out what it was until the next crossover, and the implication was it would end with Oliver's funeral.
  • The Psycho-Pirate is participating in a conspiracy to destroy alternate Earths.
• Shocking Moments: The Sequel Hook for next year's Crossover, which will be an adaptation of the iconic Crisis on Infinite Earths. Those who know what the latter will entail are already guessing which of the many Earths in The Multiverse are up for the chopping block, including which of their inhabitants.
• Special Effect Failure: Amazo is mocked by fans due to his video-game like 3D Model, which is very poor compared to the other 3D Models in the Arrowverse like Savitar and Mallus.
• Tainted by the Preview: While this Crossover is hotly anticipated, there is one thing about it that irks the fans - part of it is written by the infamous and widely hated Marc Guggenheim. Subverted since his episode wasn't negatively received.
• Take That, Scrappy!: In the Arrow part, when Felicity learns that Iris could realize who Barry actually was while Felicity couldn't tell, Cisco states that it was "lovers' intuition", which is Innocently Insensitive towards her.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The 1990 Flash was heavily anticipated by fans. But he only shows up in the final quarter of "Hour Two" and then he's quickly sent away by the Monitor during his confrontation.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • A lot of fans were disappointed when the end of "Hour One" confirmed that Batwoman was from Earth-1, as that would mean that her show would become the fourth show set on that Earth. It would have been the perfect opportunity to give Earth-38 some more development and focus, especially since Kate and Kara ended up liking each other.
    • By extrapolation, if there is a Batwoman on Earth-1, there must have been a Batman; this one, however, did not have a frenemy relationship with Superman, which means he would have been rougher around the edges than Earth-38's.
  • Some were disappointed that with all the villains in Arkham the writers decided to have Barry and Oliver gassed with Scarecrow's fear toxin...only to see Malcolm Merlyn and Reverse Flash.
• Unexpected Character:
  • While the announcement of Lois Lane wasn't a total surprise, since both her sister and boyfriend had already appeared on Supergirl by that point, the reveal of Batwoman was rather surprising. And that's saying nothing of Nora Fries —better known as the frozen wife of Mr. Freeze— or the Monitor being involved in the story as well.
  • After 28 years, who thought that Barry Allen from the 1990's Flash show would come back!?
  • Nobody had reason to think Amazo would appear, but he serves as a sort of Starter Villain before the heroes pursue Deegan and the Monitor.
  • The Psycho Pirate appearing was something few ever expected when the crossover was announced.
  • When Oliver and Barry are dosed with Scarecrow's fear gas, many were surprised to see Malcolm Merlyn appear; thusly, they immediately figured out Eobard Thawne wouldn't be that far behind.
  • Earth-1's Alex Danvers and James Olsen, who weren’t known to even exist before their appearance here. It's also implied that Winn is around with Alex having a date with "a guy from IT."
  • Despite the Legends of Tomorrow sitting this one out, Gary puts in an appearance.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • The casting of Elizabeth Tulloch, who was in her late thirties (born in 1981), as Lois Lane after several concerns that a younger actress will be cast for the role, especially after the character description released of Lois being in her "early thirties" despite it being very contradictory to the show's timeline, not to mention (or especially, rather) being yet another example of Hollywood Ageism against actresses that was thankfully averted.
  • The Reveal of Ruby Rose in-costume as Batwoman was met with very positive reception, largely thanks to it being very faithful to the comics while on a TV budget. Even those who don't think it's that great are at least happy that they kept the details other shows would have omitted, namely the character's bright red wig and lipstick. Another big plus for fans is the costume largely eschews using leather materials across the majority of its construction, which is something that a number of "street-level" Arrowverse costumes have been criticised over in the past.
  • The leaked photo of John Wesley Shipp in the crossover as 90s Flash.