ISSUE NO. 65
Streaming Wars is a weekly opinion column by IGN’s Streaming Editor, Amelia Emberwing. Check out the last entry: Your Childhood Is Always for Sale (Have You Heard Sesame Street Is Looking for a New Home?)
We’ve got a long time to wait before James Gunn’s Superman hits theaters, which might feel like a bit of a bummer after such a moving trailer. But I have good news: Superman & Lois, Supergirl, and the entire Arrowverse is available to watch right now, and an impressive hunk of it shares the same “superheroes actually being heroes” vibe that it seems Superman (2025) is going to bring to the table.
For decades, WB and The CW (the former rebranded to the latter in 2006) were home to all of the teen and genre programming one could hope for. I still get warm fuzzies walking on to the Warner Bros. lot today just because of all the history I have with the studio, despite the fact that The CW has been gutted and Warner Bros. is run by someone who seems to hate it. (Don’t ask me how many times I’ve seen Supernatural from start to finish.)
Now the last vestige of the Arrowverse recently came to a close as Superman & Lois aired its final episode just earlier this month, but it’s all readily available to start from the beginning on Max. The series, alongside Supergirl, will definitely fill the “hopeful heroes who don’t know to how to do anything else but be kind” void. It may not be on the same scale as the movies, and there are definitely moments where the budget shows, but since I’ve always been a story-focused critic, the smaller scale doesn’t bother me so much.
Though I never really cared for either of the Kent children and their made-up problems, Tyler Hoechlin’s takes on both Superman and Clark Kent are inspired, and Bitsie Tulloch plays one of my favorite Lois Lanes of all time. The series has a fundamental understanding that without the small, the big doesn’t matter — particularly when it comes to Superman himself. In spirit of that, the story kicks off with Clark and Lois leaving Metropolis and returning to Smallville while their sons finish school.
Hoechlin’s Supes, like many other heroes of the Arrowverse, was introduced well before getting his own series. After appearing on Supergirl and in the eventual Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event, it became clear that Hoechlin had the super chops to take on the boy scout longterm. There was a point where the showrunners insisted that Superman & Lois was not part of the Arrowverse canon, but they had little luck putting that cat back in the bag.
As an aside, if you ever want a moment of joy and don’t feel like watching all 12 years of the Arrowverse series, you should look up Green Arrow and Superman’s introduction to each other. Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow (who was, for a long time, a stand-in for Batman for silly DC bureaucracy reasons) doesn’t take too kindly to being smaller than the Man of Steel. He puffs out his chest like a dork and gets caught. It’s extremely silly and cute.
The Arrowverse succeeded for as long as it did because for much of its run there was something for everyone. Arrow kept things dark, Supergirl was hopeful, The Flash was too (but in a more angsty way), while Legends of Tomorrow was constantly insane (complimentary) and Batwoman, though it suffered behind the scenes woes, gave us a new take on the Bat Family and the complications of a Batman-less Gotham. Superman & Lois came into the picture later in the run, which is how it ended up the last series standing, but it was just as worthwhile as all of its super siblings.
To the surprise of no one, I was more into Supergirl than I was Superman & Lois. But if you’re looking for a healthy dose of hope while you wait for Superman to come out in July, both shows will absolutely scratch this itch. Supergirl is available in its entirety on Netflix.
For my money, the Arrowverse never really received the accolades it deserved. The franchise set the blueprint for a successfully interconnected DC continuity while the DCEU tried and failed for years. It was the start of so many careers in Hollywood and in entertainment journalism — mine included — and told intricate, thoughtful, and meaningful stories across every single one of its shows. I miss it terribly, and I think perhaps I might follow my own advice and give some of the shows a rewatch.
Where to Watch Each Arrowverse Show (Right Now)
- Arrow: Netflix
- The Flash: Netflix
- Supergirl: Netflix
- Legends of Tomorrow: Netflix
- Batwoman: Max
- Superman & Lois: Max
- Black Lightning (not technically Arrowverse but that technicality is dumb): Netflix
