Should Flash Crossover With Gotham?

The question really isn’t if the worlds of Flash & Gotham can cross paths, but if they should…

Flash is crossing over with Supergirl. That’s monumental. Two shows from two different networks are having a  crossover episode. Crossover episodes aren’t uncommon, but usually they are limited to shows on the same network. There are a couple of exceptions (The Practice & Ally McBeal, Buffy & Angel), but it’s incredibly rare. At this point in fact, there is only one DC show the Arrowverse has not crossed over with in some form, the dark world of Gotham. Sure it’s a DC show and conceptually it might be a cool idea, but could it really work as an episode?

First let’s figure out the how. It’s actually not that hard conceptually. Flash has introduced the idea of not only time travel, but alternate earths. Obviously either of these (especially alternate earth) would work well for Gotham. Another Earth seems to be what they are going with for the Supergirl/Flash crossover based on what we know. So conceptually, could totally work.

The biggest hurdles a Gotham/Flash crossover would  face is that there are things Flash and Supergirl share that Gotham does not. Arguably the biggest is that they share the same super producer team of Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kriesberg, who have no involvement in Gotham whatsoever. The second being that while CW & CBS are separate networks, CBS along with Warner Bros. owns CW, so these are already companies that have a good working relationship, making a cross-network crossover episode all the more of possibility. While Fox obviously is on good terms with Warner Bros. (because otherwise Gotham and to a lesser extent Lucifer, which is also a DC property, would not be shows on Fox), it’s obviously not on the same level as CBS/CW with shows that share a lot of the same crew. It’s certainly not impossible, but there just are more inherent barriers.

Next: Batgirl Should Come To Supergirl

But of course that leaves the question of if a Flash/Gotham crossover SHOULD happen. You can’t just have Flash show up and assist with forensics for an episode (although that would be funny trolling). Even if you can mesh the disparate styles of the two shows somehow, Flash has to show up and do something impactful. You can’t have him go go up against Penguin or Riddler, that’s not an efficient challenge for his powers. It would need to be something Gordon is incapable of handling on his own (and of course Bruce Wayne is still years away from being Batman)

To that end however there are possibilities. I would love to see Flash take on Mr. Freeze and joke about how similar he is to Captain Cold. Clayface, who is also supposed to be introduced this season, could prevent a formidable enough challenge that it would require teamwork between James Gordon. And who knows what villains we’ll see with what abilities in future seasons? Hell a super powered cyborg Fish Mooney could show up, and then you would definitely need a superhero.

So ultimately, a Flash/Gotham crossover could certainly work, but you need a good reason and a story that works. You can’t just have them crossover because the idea itself might be cool without thinking it through. When you do that, you get crossovers like Bones/Sleepy Hollow, which just seemed to not mesh well and had little purpose to it. So yes, do a crossover, but not just because you can, be sure to have a compelling reason if you do.