Make way, Arrowverse! Ryan Choi has arrived!
In new photos from "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 3," the Atom-to-be hangs back in a group photo. He stands beside Black Lightning, while Flash, Elongated Man and Kingdom Come Superman frown at something in the foreground. Unlike everyone else, he doesn't have a costume; he sports a button-up, cardigan, jeans and boots instead.
Supernatural alum Osric Chau will play Choi in the upcoming crossover event. In the casting announcement, Choi is described as "a physics professor at Ivy Town University" who "is just a normal guy who comes to learn that he has a pivotal role to play in the coming crisis." He is destined to become the new Atom, which leaves Ray Palmer's fate up in the air.
Created by Grant Morrison, Gail Simone and John Byrne, Choi is an Asian-American physics professor at Ivy University who follows in Ray Palmer's footsteps. He has been a member of both the Justice League of American and the Lighter Than Air Society.
Though he hasn't year appeared in the Arrowverse, Choi has been namedropped before. For instance, in The Flash Season 5 premiere, Barry and Iris' daughter Nora revealed Ryan Choi developed a future version of the Scarlet Speeder's suit.
According to The CW's official synopsis for "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three,"
BLACK LIGHTNING JOINS THE ARROWVERSE IN THE THIRD CHAPTER OF THE CROSSOVER – Pariah (Tom Cavanagh) enlists Black Lightning (guest star Cress Williams) to help stop the Anti-Monitor (guest star LaMonica Garrett) after Flash-90 (guest star John Wesley Shipp) shares what he learned from his battle in ‘Elseworlds.’ With the help of Black Lightning, Barry (Grant Gustin), Cisco (Carlos Valdes) and Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) come up with a plan that could save them all. Meanwhile, Iris (Candice Patton) has a heart-to-heart with Ryan Choi (guest star Osric Chau), while Oliver (guest star Stephen Amell) and Diggle (guest star David Ramsey) return to an old familiar stomping ground. David McWhirter directed the episode with story by Eric Wallace and teleplay by Lauren Certo & Sterling Gates (#609). Original airdate 12/10/2019.
"Crisis on Infinite Earths" begins Sunday, Dec. 8 on Supergirl, then continues in Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9, and then picks up in The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10. After a winter hiatus, the crossover concludes on Tuesday, Jan. 14 on both Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow.