‘Flash vs. Arrow’ Postmortem: The Cast, EP on the Big Reunion, a Return and More

[Warning: Spoilers ahead for the Arrow–The Flash crossover episode, “Flash vs. Arrow.”]

Team Arrow invaded Tuesday’s episode of The Flash, and with the crossover came a promised fight, an important reunion for Oliver (Stephen Amell), some advice for Barry (Grant Gustin) and the return of a presumed-dead character.

Here, the cast and executive producers respond to some of the biggest burning questions from the first part of the two-part crossover.

See more ‘The Flash’: Every Major DC Character on The CW Series

Will Barry heed Oliver’s love advice?

Oliver has made it very clear on Arrow that he can’t do his work as the Arrow and have a personal life. So, after Oliver saw the way Barry looked at Iris (Candice Patton), Oliver tried to stress the fact that because of what Barry was doing with his life, a relationship with Iris would never work. But while Barry has been open to listening to Oliver in the past, it’s not a given he’ll actually follow his advice this time.

“Barry doesn’t actually have love very high on his priority list right now, as much as he might think about Iris; making that happen isn’t necessarily the most important thing for him right now,” Gustin acknowledged during a recent Q&A. “He’ll always love her. … He’ll take [Oliver’s] advice, but maybe not follow through with it. But [she]’s the love of his life, and that’s not going to change.”

In fact, Gustin teased that his character will be making a move to be more open with Iris soon. “Barry’s going to be honest in the near future about some things,” he said. “I won’t say what that is exactly, but something pretty big.”

Ronnie is back … and he has metahuman powers.

The Flash viewers were introduced to Caitlin’s (Danielle Panabaker) presumed-dead fiance, Ronnie (Robbie Amell), earlier this season in “Things You Can’t Outrun,” as the show flashed back to the night when Barry got his powers and Ronnie “died.” But as “Flash vs. Arrow” revealed, Ronnie is actually alive: He’s living on the streets, and he has some pretty impressive fire powers. (In the DC universe, Ronnie is half of Firestorm. The other part of Firestorm, Dr. Martin Stein, will be played by former Alias star Victor Garber in upcoming episodes.)

As of now, the people who love Ronnie are unaware he’s alive, but Panabaker admitted that when the reunion happens, “[Caitlin] does not handle [his return] well. She’s spent the last year grieving the loss of Ronnie. And then she thinks maybe he’s back, or she lost her mind. Seeing him in a very different form is extremely challenging for her.”

Read more ‘Arrow,’ Flash’ Cast, Creators Preview Epic Crossover

Oliver ran into his ex/baby mama.

Arrow season two introduced (via flashbacks) a woman whom Oliver got pregnant before he was in the shipwreck/presumed dead. At the time, Oliver’s mother, Moira (Susanna Thompson), convinced the young woman to tell Oliver she’d lost the baby — though viewers knew that wasn’t the case.

Oliver still doesn’t know he has a child, but he did run into his ex and had an emotional reunion with her while he was in Central City — though it might be a while before Oliver finds out the full truth about what went down. “I would say, it’s not picked up in the Arrow episode [of the crossover],” Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim told THR. “It’s like the bomb underneath the table, and I think part of the fun is waiting to see when Oliver is going to learn what the audience learns on Flash.”

About that big fight …

The Flash delivered on the fight between Oliver and Barry, and Arrow star Stephen Amell noted that the duel “was a different experience because of the special effects element [on The Flash], but I think it turned out great.”

Gustin told THR that he was impressed by how Stephen Amell adapted to The Flash’s stunt work. “It was funny, because he had to do a lot of new things, because it was Flash stuff, essentially,” Gustin shared. “He had to incorporate Flash-time into his fighting, which I do on a weekly basis. Stephen does all practical fighting; he really does the fights. I don’t do stuff like that, it’s effects. I do some things, but it’s mostly camera tricks and special effects. So Stephen had to move in slow motion and do things by himself at times [while we were filming the fight]; I had to do things by myself. When I’m shooting in Flash-time, … it involves a lot of complicated things you have to do on the day [of filming], and Stephen had to learn.”

The second part of the Flash-Arrow crossover airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. on The CW.