The backdoor pilot for Green Arrow and the Canaries reveals that Crisis on Infinite Earths reversed the death of a key Arrow character, Zoe Ramirez (Andrea Sixtos). In the present-day timeline, Zoe is the young daughter of Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez), but the season 7 flash-forwards introduced an adult version of Zoe who was a member of Dinah Drake’s Canaries. In Arrow season 8, Zoe was killed by John Diggle’s son, JJ (Charlie Barnett), shortly before Mia’s group was teleported to the present as a “gift” from the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett).
Arrow season 8, episode 9, “Green Arrow and the Canaries”, functions as a backdoor pilot for a potential series that would be set in the future and center on Mia (Katherine McNamara), Black Siren (Katie Cassidy), and Black Canary (Juliana Harkavy). The episode, which apparently takes place after the Arrow series finale, shows Mia and the Canaries in a post-Crisis 2040. Like all the other non-Paragons, Mia doesn’t remember her life before the rebirth of the multiverse until technology that copies Martian Manhunter’s powers restores her memories.
When Mia regains her memories, she sees how much has changed due to Crisis on Infinite Earths. One of the changes is that Zoe is now alive. Her resurrection needs no explanation, considering the circumstances behind her death. She was killed by JJ, but on Earth-Prime, JJ lives a completely different life and no longer appears to be Deathstroke. Also, the state of Star City is far different from what it was on Earth-1. Star City was a nearly post-apocalyptic world in the flash-forwards, but now it’s a supposedly crime-free city. Since nothing is as it was, it comes as no surprise that nearly all of the future characters are living totally different lives.
The first post-Crisis on Infinite Earths episodes of Supergirl and Arrow have given fans just a taste of how different the Arrowverse is now. Photos from the Arrow series finale hint that two more characters, Moira and Emiko Queen, may have been brought back as well, so there may be quite a few resurrections across all Arrowverse shows in the weeks to come.
It’s worth wondering how much the Crisis actually had to do with the new future. Earlier, Rene was devastated when he learned about the fate of Zoe, as was everyone else when they discovered what would befall their city. So did the rebirth of the multiverse really bring back Zoe, or did members of Team Arrow create this world through their own actions? They all vowed to make different decisions to ensure a better future, so it’s possible that this new direction may have played an integral role in helping Star City 2040 become a better place. If so, Team Arrow may have given Oliver (Stephen Amell) what he always wanted, and fulfilled his mission for him.
