SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for tonight's episode of "Arrow," "Legends of Yesterday," which has not aired on the west coast at the time of publication.
The second-annual crossover between "The Flash" and "Arrow" just wrapped on the east coast, once again providing plenty of fun moments between the casts of the two DC Comics-based shows, but also helping to set the stage for the January-debuting "DC's Legends of Tomorrow," the third series in The CW's Arrowverse.
With a staggering number of superheroes on screen at one time -- including the newly debuted Hawkman (Falk Hentschel) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) -- taking on Vandal Savage (Casper Crump), there was plenty to be excited about from tonight's "Arrow" half of the crossover -- and here's a look, along with insight from the shows' executive producers, who addressed the press during a screening earlier this week at The CW's Burbank headquarters.
The Flash time jumps -- again!
Much like in "The Flash" season one, Barry's running catches up with him -- literally -- resulting in a jump back in time. And like last time, it looks like it'll have consequences, but right now the word is "wait and see."
"I think you're going to have to watch upcoming episodes -- or, in the alternative, just watch the New Zealand promos," "Arrow" and "Legends of Tomorrow" executive producer Marc Guggenheim said, joking about a New Zealand promo that contained a "Flash"/"Arrow" crossover spoiler.
This episode: everybody dies (temporarily)!
It's a good thing Flash did make that time jump, because otherwise, the main casts of both "Flash" and "Arrow" got wiped out during the initial version of the fight with Vandal Savage. But how do you make death "matter" in a world of time travel and multiple other means of resurrection?
"The key is the consequences," "Flash," "Arrow" and "Legends" executive producer Andrew Kreisberg said. "When Sara was brought back, when Thea was brought back, last year when Barry changed the timeline, this year when Barry changes the timeline -- any of these things that feel like the right thing to do, there's always, always a price to be paid, Whether or not that price gets paid immediately, or whether that price gets paid later on in ways you don't first see, it always comes back to haunt you."
Malcolm retrieves Vandal Savage's ashes
Speaking of death and resurrection -- at the very end of this week's "Arrow," Malcolm Merlyn retrieves Vandal Savage's ashes, and of course, we already know the immortal villains coming back to serve as primary antagonist on "Legends of Tomorrow."
"We've saved it for 'Legends,'" "Flash," "Arrow" and "Legends" executive producer Greg Berlanti said of the continuation of that story thread. "Once Legends is born in January, there's really no intersection on the other shows. 'Legends' is kind of its own wacky, crazy kind of thing that allows for all sorts of fun surprises in terms of who may visit and how, because they're just flying through the timeline."
Oliver finds out his kid is, indeed, his
A paternity test proves it -- William is indeed his son. But why is his son named William and not Connor, matching up with Oliver Queen's comic book son, Connor Hawke?
"We didn't want to be tied-in to a character like Connor not being able to be part of the show if we made him so young," Kreisberg said. "To give us the leeway to still have Connor Hawke be part of the universe -- that was the biggest reason we made that decision."
Predictably, it looks like Oliver's decision to keep William's existence from Felicity will be a bad move. "If there's a secret somewhere, it's going to come out, and it's going to have some serious consequences," "Arrow" executive producer Wendy Mericle said. "It's really going to raise the stakes, and throw some wrenches into the works of their relationship, which so far this season has been pretty smooth sailing."
Hawkgirl in costume for the first time
While Kendra started to remember her warrior priestess past last night on "The Flash," on "Arrow" she continued her thousands-year-old destiny by putting on the Hawkgirl costume for the first time.
"They experience a kind of awakening at some moment in that lifetime," Berlanti said of the reincarnation experience for Hawkman and Hawkgirl. "Which is consistent with the comics," DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns added.
Kendra breaks up with Cisco
While one era starts for Kendra, another ends, as she breaks up with Cisco at the end of the episode to explore her winged superhero-ing future (and past) with Hawkman. But Cisco's future looks to remain eventful.
"The two interesting things that happen for Cisco are a further exploration of his abilities as Vibe, what he can do and what he's capable of; the other thing that starts to happen is his relationship with this new Wells," Kriesberg said.