Don’t expect Batman to appear on Arrow any time soon

Despite a Batman reference on Arrow, don’t expect the Caped Crusader to appear in the Arrowverse at all.

Fans have been looking forward to seeing the Justice League appear in the Arrowverse for years. For a while, that seemed like a distant dream. Then, something interesting happened. In 2017, the TV franchise featured two direct references to Batman and Wonder Woman. Oliver Queen name-dropped Bruce Wayne and the Legends of Tomorrow traveled to Themyscira (Diana Prince’s home).

Given DC’s strict character restrictions over the Arrowverse, such overt nods seemed to finally open the door for the Justice League to pop up on the small screen. Unfortunately, as we’ve just learned, that’s not happening. At least for now.

Marc Guggenheim sat down for an interview with Comicbook.com. During the chat, the topic of the aforementioned Easter Eggs and their relevance in the Arrowverse came up. Surprisingly, Guggenheim shut down the possibility of any Justice Leaguers making their presence felt in the shows:

"“No, I love a good Easter egg, and I love doing the occasional name drop. [We] name dropped Hal Jordan at the beginning of Season 3, but it’s really just fun for us. I think in the Arrowverse we have our own Justice League and the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Batman […] These are all characters that are either spoken for on the movie side and/or other shows. There’s a Bruce Wayne on ‘Gotham.'”"

Guggenheim elaborated, explaining that at the end of the day, the references we’ve gotten to other characters throughout the years are just fun nods, not meant to be taken seriously: “Over here on The CW, we’re sort of a mischievous lot, and we enjoy the occasional Easter egg. [Our] partners at DC are very tolerant of our mischief. But that’s really all it is. Just good nature, good fanboy mischief.”

Knowing heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman aren’t joining the Arrowverse any time soon is disappointing. However, we shouldn’t rule out the chance of seeing them alongside The Flash or Green Arrow in the future. During a conversation with Comicbook.com, Stephen Amell stated that Bruce Wayne’s mention opened the door to a slew of possibilities:

"“I was at the DC Comics party at Comic Con […] I ended up in a four-way conversation with Peter Roth, Diane Nelson, and Kevin Tsujihara all at the same time. I was like, ‘Guys! I have an idea. I think it would be fun, I think it would open the door to a lot of possibilities.‘ I’ve always thought that Bruce Wayne would be an interesting ally on the show, and an even more interesting villain to Oliver.”"

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At this point, all we can do is wait to see how things develop for the Arrowverse. Who knows? Perhaps one day we’ll get to see Batman fighting alongside the likes of The Flash, Supergirl and Green Arrow.