The Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover was packed full of surprises for fans. One of the biggest was when Oliver Queen, the once and future Green Arrow, inherited the mantle of the Spectre.
During the Fake Nerd podcast, Crisis showrunner Marc Guggenheim talked about the decision to make Oliver into the Spectre and how it paid homage to the original Crisis comic.
He said, "The Spectre came about really the same way the decision to kill off Oliver in Arrow 1 came about, which is I realized that the end of Elseworlds and certainly the end of Arrow Season 7 spoiled the fact that Oliver was going to die in 'Crisis.'" He added, "So all of this was driven by the very simple math of 'It's not a surprise that Oliver died, so the only way there's a surprise is the time and matter in which he dies.' "
He also confirmed that Oliver/Spectre's final fight was meant to homage Crisis On Infinite Earths #10, which saw the two cosmic beings battle for the fate of the Multiverse. "You take that, you combine it with the fact that hour four was always meant to be an homage to the end of issue #10 of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Spectre loomed so largely in that. Once you connect hour four up with issue #10 -- the Spectre is right there on the cover!"
When it came to a discussion on whether Oliver still had his powers as the Spectre, Guggenheim demurred, saying that "there are some things that you leave for the audience to debate and there are some things you leave for future stories. By providing the entire story all at once, you foreclose different narrative opportunities."
The end of "Crisis On Infinite Earths" saw Oliver give his life to defeat the Anti-Monitor and rebirth the multiverse. All of his allies, including the Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, Black Lightning, and the Legends of Tomorrow, now reside on Earth-Prime.