The 25 Best Arrowverse Episodes Ranked

During its brief and troubled run, "Batwoman" managed a few standout episodes, and the best of the bunch is the series' contribution to "Crisis on Infinite Earths," a multi-part story that spans five series in the franchise and beyond. A loose adaptation of the landmark company-wide crossover from 1985, the story does more than just bring together "Arrow," "The Flash," "Batwoman," "Supergirl," and "Legends of Tomorrow" – it also incorporates older movies and TV shows based on DC Comics.

The action picks up as the heroes are mourning the loss of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) but determined to end the threat posed by the cosmic despot called the Anti-Monitor (LaMonica Garrett). Now it's up to the remaining heroes to traverse the multiverse and track down the Paragons — seven legendary heroes said to be able to save all of reality. This means that we not only get Tom Welling returning as Clark Kent from "Smallville," but Kevin Conroy makes his first ever live-action appearance as Bruce Wayne after voicing him in animation for decades. Brandon Routh, meanwhile, pulled double duty as Ray Palmer, aka the Atom, and got the chance to reprise his role as the Man of Steel from 2006's "Superman Returns," squaring off against his successor, Tyler Hoechlin.

Full of jaw-dropping twists and turns, the episode is less an episode of "Batwoman" than it is an event story all its own and remains one of the best that the "Arrowverse" ever produced.

When the DCEU was still in its earliest stages on the big screen and the crossover epic "Justice League" was still years away, the Arrowverse was making superhero team-ups a reality on television. In 2014, "Arrow" and "The Flash" crossed over for the first highly promoted two-part story. Part 1 of the crossover began on "The Flash," and the story's conclusion is the "Arrow" episode "The Brave and the Bold," named after the long-running DC Comics team-up title.

Though they'd met before when Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) was just a forensics expert with the Central City Police Department, the episode marks the first true team-up between Barry and Oliver Queen in their superhero identities. It begins with Oliver and allies Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and John Diggle (David Ramsey) in pursuit of a mysterious villain. Pretty soon, they get unexpected help from the Scarlet Speedster himself, The Flash. Despite technically being the second part of a single story, "The Brave and the Bold" largely works as its own standalone episode and does well to keep the focus on Team Arrow. 

Excitingly, the episode features a guest appearance from Cynthia Addai-Robinson as shadowy government agent Amanda Waller, and one of the best early Arrowverse villains, Captain Boomerang (Nick E. Tarabay). It's a thrilling installment that demonstrated the appeal of a shared TV universe before the Arrowverse had fully taken shape.

The Arrowverse has done more than just pay homage to stories from classic DC Comics, but it's also tipped its hat to the long history of DC heroes on the screen. Early in the franchise's run, this meant bringing back John Wesley Shipp — the star of 1990's "The Flash" – as Barry Allen's father, Henry. And in the Season 1 episode "Tricksters," Shipp is reunited with one of his old TV nemeses.

The episode sees a new villain emerge calling himself The Trickster (Devon Graye), who takes his name from a master criminal who's been sitting in prison for 20 years. To stop this new threat who has been detonating bombs across the city, The Flash visits with the incarcerated former Trickster, "Silence of the Lambs"-style. But things go terribly wrong when the original Trickster is set loose and allies himself with his successor. Together, the two arch criminals kidnap Barry's father in a fiendish plot to destroy Central City.

Beyond just a simple nod to an old series, "Tricksters" sees the return of guest star Mark Hamill, who played the Trickster on the 1990 run of "The Flash." With its nostalgic casting and a few genuine surprises, it's one of the best episodes of the inaugural season of "The Flash." 

In the Arrowverse, not every episode that crosses into a parallel reality involves meeting heroes from another TV series. "Escape from Earth-2" is a Season 2 episode and the second half of a two-part story in which Barry Allen travels to Earth-2 on a mission to rescue Jesse (Violett Beane), the daughter of Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh). Barry takes on the role of his alternate reality counterpart and discovers that some of those he calls friends on his world are his enemies on this one. 

We also get an appearance from Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears), the Flash of that world, who teams up with Barry to stop the villain known as Zoom, an evil super speedster himself. The episode begins with Barry, having failed his mission, taken prisoner by Zoom alongside Jesse. But to escape and stop the villain's diabolical plans, Barry will need the help of those on Earth-2, including his own double who has lost his speed powers. Stuck in Zoom's prison alongside Barry and Jesse, there's a mysterious man in an iron mask who can offer only a strange and cryptic message. Who is he, and could he hold the key to defeating Zoom?

Tying together multiple storylines across two worlds, "Escape from Earth-2" is part of the larger multiverse tapestry that makes the Arrowverse such a groundbreaking serialized tale. Take a deep breath before watching, though, because your jaw will be on the floor by the closing credits.

With an impressive number of heroes from the DC Comics making their way to the Arrowverse during its decade on the air, it might be hard to pick the best one. But when it comes to villains, there are a few that stand out above the rest, and the finest might be Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson, the merciless assassin known as Deathstroke. He's first introduced early in the series as a quasi-mentor to Oliver Queen, and we learn through extensive flashbacks that Wilson was marooned on an island with Oliver and trained him in the skills he'd eventually use as the Green Arrow.

Later, Oliver saves Slade's life by giving him a serum that enhances his abilities, and it's in "Deathstroke" — Season 2's 18th entry — that we see the culmination of his transformation into his costumed comic book counterpart. Having been a thorn in the side of Team Arrow for some time, he's now ready to put a final plan in motion that could wipe out Oliver and his friends for good. 

Stringing together multiple ongoing plotlines that have been running through the series for a while, the episode also sees Moira (Susanna Thompson) continuing her run for mayor, and a major revelation for Thea (Willa Holland) regarding the truth about her father. But the real highlight of the episode is Bennett as the master criminal who arms up and adopts his Deathstroke identity for the first time.

Sure, the multiverse event episodes remain some of the most celebrated entries in the Arrowverse, but a story doesn't have to be a crossover extravaganza to be great. And the "Arrow" episode "What We Leave Behind" demonstrates that a character-focused episode punctuated by plenty of action can be just as good or better than a crossover. This one's a Season 5 mid-season finale, and forces Team Arrow into an impossible situation against a deadly foe whose origins are tied to a story from all the way back in Season 1.

First, complicated vigilante Artemis (Madison McLaughlin) teams with longtime enemy Prometheus (Michael Dorn), providing valuable intel on Oliver Queen and his associates. Just as the gang is preparing for some holiday fun and stumbling over some awkward romantic entanglements at the same time, the villains put their plan into motion. Before the heroes realize what's happened, they learn that their secret identities have been compromised.

But that's not all: "What We Leave Behind" also reveals that Arrow's own past may have inadvertently created one of his worst enemies, and Oliver must grapple with the fallout. It's another example of how the show expertly weaved in regular flashbacks to Oliver's past that tie into current events, a narrative device that helped set the series apart (even if they borrowed it from "Lost"). 

Following up on events from previous episodes, Dr. Harrison Wells from Earth-2 has been successful in stealing some of the Flash's powers. But Wells isn't the real villain this time, because he's been blackmailed by the villainous time-jumping speedster Zoom who has taken Wells' daughter Jesse captive in his home reality. Now in "Welcome to Earth-2," Barry has agreed to help Harrison go back to the parallel Earth and help him save his daughter. But in his first visit to this alternate world, Barry must deal with shocking twists of fate that throw him for a loop.

Arriving on Earth-2 with Wells, Barry becomes trapped there when the last breach at S.T.A.R. Labs is destabilized. Thankfully, Zoom is stuck on the other side, giving them time to save Jesse. In the meantime, Barry learns more about this alternate reality, and is gobsmacked to discover that Iris West isn't just a skilled detective, but also his counterpart's wife. But the real shocker is when he finds out that his friends Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) are not his friends on this world, but enemies known as Killer Frost and Deathstorm, and they're working for Zoom.

A weird and wild alternate world episode that shakes up the show's status quo, "Welcome to Earth-2" sets up an even better finale that shows up later on this list. But more than that, the story also forces Barry to re-evaluate his own friendships by coming face to face with what could be.

Great TV shows often save the best for last, and the Arrowverse is no different, as the Season 2 finale "Unthinkable" nabs a spot on the franchise's best episodes. "Unthinkable" sees recurring friend-turned-foe Slade Wilson — who will one day become the masked mercenary Deathstroke — enact his plan to destroy everything that Oliver Queen holds dear. The story picks up with sidekick Roy Harper having almost entirely lost his sanity due to the effects of a serum that granted him extra-human abilities.

With a cure administered, though, Roy awakens, seemingly back to his old self and able to aid Arrow in defending against an attack from Slade and his foot soldiers. But when Oliver's on-again-off-again lover Laurel (Katie Cassidy) is taken prisoner, Arrow goes over the edge in his battle against Slade and risks crossing the line between good and evil.

In a stunning final showing for the series' second year, flashbacks continue to shed light on Oliver's origins, including his first meeting with the enigmatic government agent Amanda Waller.  At the same time, while Roy is finally healed, he faces new problems including a bout of amnesia, and struggles to understand what has happened to him.

Prior to the Arrowverse, superheroes on TV didn't usually rock the boat with unpredictable stories from season to season. With a few notable exceptions, superhero TV preferred a more traditional adventure-of-the-week format. But "Arrow" bucked tradition and went the serialized route, and nowhere is the show's willingness to upset the apple cart more visible than in its Season 7, in which the Green Arrow publicly reveals his secret identity and serves time in Slabside Penitentiary for his crimes as a masked vigilante. "The Slabside Redemption" is the best episode of this milestone storyline.

Episode 7 of Season 7 is also the finale to the prison story, as Oliver has had to deal with violence and turmoil behind bars. Now, just as he is preparing to be released from his sentence, his family and friends on the outside come under threat from drug lord and fellow prisoner Diaz (Kirk Acevedo). When warnings to the authorities go unanswered, Oliver realizes his only option may be to break out of the slammer and save them himself. 

In Diaz's final attempt to stop him, though, he sparks a prison riot, and suddenly Oliver must fight to the death to save his friends without risking his impending freedom. A different kind of story that takes Oliver far out of his element, "The Slabside Redemption" turns "Arrow" into a tense prison drama.

It's not always the big revelatory episodes that prove to be the best — sometimes, it's the follow-ups that deal with their aftermath. Such is the case with "The Trap," from Season 1 of "The Flash," which deals with the ramifications of Team Flash's discoveries about the future. They've learned about the events in 2024 via a future newspaper article held within a secret vault located within S.T.A.R. Labs.

But not everyone is convinced that all of this is true, as many — including Eddie Thawne — continue to doubt the reality of time travel. Though the episode has some out-there moments — including Cisco's (Carlos Valdes) dreams turning out to be memories of an alternate reality — the episode is a clever, plot-twisting adventure that's as fun as any in the series. With plenty of answers to long-standing questions and some of the season's tensest moments, "The Trap" is one of the best entries in "The Flash" Season 1.

A season finale can often be the best story of the show's year, pulling together ongoing plots to make for an explosive, fan-pleasing climax. But the capper to Season 1 of "Arrow" goes for something different. A more intimate story than you might expect from the season finale of an action show, "Sacrifice" puts Oliver Queen in the crosshairs of the year's big bad, Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman). It also completely upends audience expectations and throws more than one curveball.

Held captive by Merlyn, Oliver is chained up and helpless while he's interrogated by a ruthless foe who always seems to have his number. Despite being on his own at the hands of Merlyn, though, Oliver is anything but alone, as the rest of Team Arrow works tirelessly to save him. But while a battle of wills between hero and villain plays out in Merlyn's lair, we get the meat of the action through flashbacks where Oliver and Shado (Celina Jade) are caught in a pitched final battle with the mercenary Fyers (Sebastian Dunn).

A dramatic finale, "Sacrifice" lays the groundwork for everything that will follow. And it's all capped off with a tragic death, a show-stopping revelation, and a confrontation that has been brewing all season long.

Another mid-season finale, "The Climb" is an unconventional episode of "Arrow" that utilizes both flashbacks and flash forwards as Oliver deals with the death of Sarah Lance, a member of the League of Assassins. Her killer remains unknown, and now their leader — Ra's al Ghul (Matt Nable) — demands that Oliver hunt down the person responsible. Given 48 hours to find Sarah's murderer, Ra's threatens to kill 50 innocent people in Starling City if Oliver fails.

As Oliver and Team Arrow race to find the truth, evidence begins to point to an unlikely suspect. Soon, though, Thea Queen enters the picture as another possible candidate to be the killer, and Team Arrow becomes increasingly frustrated that Oliver won't accept the evidence of her guilt. While some try to keep Sara's death a secret, new truths are revealed, including Thea's odd involvement with Malcolm Merlyn.

The first full appearance of Ra's al Ghul, a villain who has lurked in the background of the series for years, "The Climb" sees Arrow face down the leader of the League of Assassins for the first time. It's an emotional tour de force, revealing the heartbreaking identity of the mysterious Scarab, and a fight between Arrow and his sister. But the most powerful sequence is Oliver's arduous test of endurance.

The finest episode in the history of the Arrowverse, the champion of nearly 700 installments, "Lian Yu" is the season finale of Season 5 of "Arrow." It concludes what is perhaps the best season of the series — maybe even the best single season in the Arrowverse entirely — as the villainous Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) finally takes his vendetta against Green Arrow to its end. And their final fight takes place on Lian Yu — the same island nation where Oliver had been stranded for years, and where he'd taken his first steps towards becoming a hero. 

The episode opens with Oliver's friends trapped on the same island he once called home. To save them, he'll have to go toe to toe with the vengeful Adrian Chase, but he'll have the help of mentor-turned-villain Slade Wilson and Digger Harkness, aka Captain Boomerang, in an unlikely alliance. But if he's going to win the day, Oliver will have to do more than defeat his foe, but he also must find a way to come to terms with his own past.

An Earth-shattering installment in more ways than one, "Lian Yu" doesn't just wrap up Season 5, but turns over a new leaf for the entire series. It says goodbye to the flashbacks of Oliver's time on the island, leaving audiences with an entirely new path for the series to tread. A mouth-watering cliffhanger, it also leaves the fate of much of the main cast up in the air.