10 Years Ago, the Arrowverse Truly Began With Grant Gustin’s Debut as Barry Allen

Yes, it has been suggested that the Arrowverse first took flight with Arrow‘s own October 2012 premiere. But truly, it was 14 months later, on Dec. 4, 2013 — when Barry Allen aka the would-be Flash first set foot in Starling City — that TV’s expanded DC universe started to take shape.

This is where I remind you that when The CW gave a series about Green Arrow a green light, the notion of eventually introducing other standalone hero series was but a gleam in anybody’s eye.

“Looking back on it, when we realized that [Arrow] was hit and the audience wasn’t going away, I think that’s when Greg [Berlanti] started to develop thoughts of not creating a universe, but expanding the show beyond Arrow into another superhero show,” Marc Guggenheim, an original executive producer on Arrow who’d go on to help oversee the larger Arrowverse, told TVLine in a 2019 interview.

Nine months after Arrow‘s highly successful debut, it was announced that a standalone series about The Flash would be launched out of a Season 2 episode of the Stephen Amell-led series.

Glee grad Grant Gustin was actually the first person to read for the role of Barry Allen, and following the fresh-faced actor’s chemistry read with Emily Bett Rickards aka Arrow‘s Felicity — “We wanted to make sure he didn’t seem like jailbait next to her,” EP Greg Berlanti quipped in 2013 — the gig was his.

Here we must note that, as with the casting of many an Arrowverse series lead (Amell and Supergirl‘s Melissa Benoist included), there were those opinions-filled armchair quarterbacks who criticized the choice.

“He is wrong for the part…anyone from Glee is a joke,” huffed one TVLine commenter. “The CW just makes these great characters into pretty boys. It’s sad.”

“First casting fail by the Arrow crew,” chimed in another reader. “Not feeling this guy as Flash.”

“Wow, I’m disappointed,” opined a third among others who’d wind up proven wrong. “He doesn’t have the look, the swag, etc;.“

Gustin’s Barry was first introduced in Arrow Season 2, Episodes 8, “The Scientist,” as an assistant forensics investigator working for the Central City police department who arrives in Starling City to look into a series of robberies that may have a connection to a tragedy in his past. A comic book fan boy, Barry was obsessed with Oliver’s crimefighting alter ego.

Watch Gustin’s Arrow debut below:

Initially, Gustin was due to also appear in Episode 20 of that Arrow season, in a formal backdoor pilot for a potential spin-off more focused on his character, but The CW instead went ahead and ordered The Flash to series.

“The Scientist” put up some Barry good numbers, giving Arrow its largest audience since February of that year — 3.24 million total viewers — and a season-high demo rating of 1.2. In a TVLine poll, 93% said they would absolutely or possibly tune in for a Flash series.

The Flash launched in October 2014, and a year later, Supergirl would make its debut (on CBS). In January 2016, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow made its bow, teaming up Caity Lotz’s resurrected Sara Lance (now White Canary) with other supporting Arrow and Flash characters, while also introducing the likes of Rip Hunter and Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

With the arrival of Legends and then Supergirl‘s move to The CW for Season 2, the stage was set for annual crossover events that were a dickens to plan/schedule/shoot, but often were a delight to experience. Said crossovers would go on to fold in characters from Black Lightning (which premiered in January 2018 but didn’t formally join the Arrowverse right away) and Batwoman (which debuted in October 2019), while the likes of The CW’s Superman & Lois and Max’s DC’s Stargirl, Titans and Doom Patrol have lived on the periphery of/other Earths within the larger DC TV universe.

Where stands the Arrowverse now, 10 years after its birth? Arrow let fly with a planned series finale in January 2020. Black Lightning and Supergirl aired their final episodes in May and November of 2021, both Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman ended their runs in spring 2022, and The Flash aired a planned series finale this past May.

As for the more “Arrowverse-adjacent” live-action series, Stargirl, Titans and Doom Patrol all ended in the past year, while Superman & Lois‘ planned swan song is awaiting a 2024 premiere date.