At DC FanDome, Jim Lee, Walter Hamada and Greg Berlanti opened the doors to the Multiverse during the Multiverse 101 panel.
DC Chief Creative Officer/Publisher Jim Lee, Warner Bros. Pictures President of DC-Based Film Production Walter Hamada and Berlanti Productions founder/producer Greg Berlanti greeted viewers at DC FanDome who tuned in for the Multiverse 101 panel.
Flash of Two Worlds was brought up by host Tiffany Smith, given it’s the story credited with introducing the Multiverse into the DC Universe. Smith then formally introduced Lee, Hamada and Berlanti.
“When people think about superheroes, they know the names, the powers, the origins, but one of the things distinct to DC is we have this reality, but there are alternate realities beside us,” Lee said. “There’s this endless spectrum of characters you can create.”
“When we started out just with Arrow, it wasn’t our intention to replicate what everyone did so brilliantly in comics,” Berlanti added. He then discussed how introducing Barry Allen led to the Arroweverse as we know it. “I think just as an audience member, I wanna show up and not know who I might see here,” he added, noting how the actors love playing villainous versions of themselves.
Regarding “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” Berlanti said, “Marc Guggenheim is my personal encyclopedia for these types of things. We sort of kept building block by block. Truly in the last couple of years, it’s taken a whole new level. We never thought we’d be able to do “Crisis.” He then explained the “Crisis” teaser at the end of “Elseworlds,” explaining how it was more of a pipe dream at the time.
As far as what’s next, Berlanti said, “Because certain worlds have been combined, we’re mindful of that. In terms of our crossover next year, because of COVID, our aspirations aren’t quite as large.”
Hamada then dished on Ezra Miller’s “Crisis” cameo. “Before I could even finish the pitch, he was like, ‘I’m in.'” He immediately jumped on it and that point, Jim ran with it.”
Lee explained how the crossover had finished filming already but that it would be so meaningful to fans to have Miller appear in “Crisis.” “We had to track down the costume for Ezra, and luckily he still fit in it.”
“AND, the cool thing is, Ezra’s Flash was never named The Flash in the movies. He learned the name from The Flash.” The scene of the two Flashes meeting was then shown.
“I really do experience these shows as a fan first,” Berlanti said. “Whenever anyone is doing stuff in this business from that place, then the impossible becomes possible.”
“It became this really weird situation where… the fans just love these characters, so this really opens the door for us to do more crossovers, to really establish this idea that there can be a Flash on TV and a Flash in the movies,” Hamada added. “You don’t have to pick one or the other, you can love both. And they do both exist in this great Multiverse. I do think that moving forward, there’s more opportunities for us to do this sort of stuff.” He then explained how continuity isn’t as strict on the TV side in comparison to the film world. “On one Earth, you have Gal and Jason and Ezra, as this Justice League and you can continue telling these stories, while on another Earth, you can have a more grounded, real, Year Two Batman (a reference to Robert Pattinson’s Batman). There is that one Earth, that greater Earth with this existing Justice League and another that’s sort of happening with that Year Two Batman. And of course there’s outliers like Joker, that doesn’t exist on either Earth, but that’s OK. Matt Reeves can continue to build out his Gotham.”
During the Q&A, a fan asked if the Multiverse was gone.
“It’s not gone,” Berlanti said. “I think for the purposes of The CW, those worlds are one, but off network is like being off-planet.”
Another fan asked if there would be more Elseworlds movies, making specific reference to Red Son.
“The possibility is there. It really comes down to, our focus is great stories,” Hamada said. “And so, if we come across the right filmmaker with the right story, and it doesn’t work within our existing timeline, and it would work as an Elseworld, we can definitely explore it. I can say we’re not currently developing Red Son, that isn’t one of them. But that’s the beauty of Multiverses. We can explore it, we can go down the road and take a shot at it.”
The last question was how the panelists manage such a Multiverse.
Berlanti explained how it doesn’t confuse him watching animated and live-action Batmen, so it shouldn’t be an issue between different live-action versions.
