The CW just dropped a bunch of pretty big news for people who are following its many superhero shows at the Television Critics Association press tour, and though it’s a cliché to say this, there may actually be something for everyone across Arrow, The Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow, and Supergirl next year. First up is Arrow, which will finally be wrapping up its flashback storylines in the upcoming fifth season and (also finally) revealing how Oliver Queen made his connections with the Russian mob. Now we also know that he’ll be going up against a guy with a significant amount of experience playing an unstoppable Russian villain: Dolph Lundgren. Arrow star Stephen Amell apparently wasn’t even aware of that until today, and he made his excitement to get ripped in half by Ivan Drago pretty clear on Twitter:
Speaking of actors from beloved ’80s movies, Lance Henriksen will also be joining the CW-verse as Justice Society Of America member Obsidian on Legends Of Tomorrow. He’s a guy who traditionally has shadow-based powers in the comics, but it’s unclear how much proper superhero-ing he’ll be doing with the Legends—since he’s, you know, an older gentleman. Either way, he’ll be facing the Legion Of Doom, so he better stay on his toes. Also, for anyone still wondering if Legends is worth getting invested in, executive producer Greg Berlanti offered this dynamite pitch: “There’s a lot of time travel shows this year, but there’s only one time travel show where Victor Garber will be singing ‘Edelweiss’ to a bunch of Nazis.”
The most exciting new reveal, however, is that Supergirl and The Flash will actually be getting the musical crossover episode that fans have clamoring for ever since they realized that virtually ever cast member on both shows is a talented singer. This will be separate from the crazy four-show crossover that’s coming earlier in the season, as the musical extravaganza will reportedly be two full-on musical episodes across The Flash and Supergirl. The crossover will air in the back half of the year.
Additionally, a “significant character” on one of the four shows will be “exploring their sexuality and coming out,” though executive producer Andrew Kreisberg refused to reveal more than that. He says they don’t want it to be a big spoiler, they just want the viewers to see it happen naturally and not try to “be ahead of the storyline.” Also, that news is separate from the reveal of Freedom Fighters: The Ray, the new animated CW Seed show that will feature the first openly gay superhero to lead a TV series—though The Ray himself will reportedly show up in the live-action world at some point.
Finally, because we can’t talk about a Flash/Supergirl musical crossover without giving the stars a chance to show off their pipes, here are some people you might recognize singing the hell out of some songs:
[Additional reporting by Erik Adams]