There’s Bad News For Arrowverse Fans In International Markets

Black Lightning has been a fan favorite on streaming for a while now, but that era might be over sooner than fans expected, and this is just the beginning of the end for one of the DC universe’s most well-loved franchises.

While DC tried to compete with the MCU on the big screen, the brand arguably saw a lot more success competing with Marvel on TV. While Netflix has its Marvel slate featuring the likes of Daredevil and his Defenders teammates, The CW built up a larger and more expansive interconnected universe of DC heroes, aptly named the Arrowverse in honor of its first project. While Arrow was quickly followed by The Flash and other projects, one that really stood out was Black Lightning, which didn’t quite play into the interconnectivity of it all but still managed to tell some really compelling stories. All good things come to an end, and Black Lightning would get the chop after just four seasons on the CW.

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While it was a pretty popular opinion that Black Lightning was easily the best show in the Arrowverse, the show has been unfortunately singled out to be the first on yet another chopping block for the franchise. According to What’s On Netflix, Black Lightning is slated to leave the streamer in February across international markets, marking the first departure for an Arrowverse show for the franchise. This is only the first domino in the line, as all the Arrowverse shows will gradually leave the streamer in international markets across 2025 and 2026, with US subscribers getting a little more time with them before they’re inevitably taken off the platform for them as well.

While streaming licenses expire all the time, this really does feel like witnessing the end of an era twice in the span of a year. Superman & Lois’s finale recently officially closed out the Arrowverse, and many fans have found it difficult to say goodbye to the franchise for good, even with the shows still available to stream easily. The gradual removal of the franchise’s shows from Netflix, one of the streaming platforms with a real international presence, will only make this even harder for fans who lose access to these gems. While American audiences aren’t quite in that spot yet, the removals will still arrive, with Black Lightning specifically already scheduled to leave the platform for US users late next year, with Arrow not far behind. As of now, its unknown what the plan is for the shows going forward. The CW has made a conscious decision to pivot towards different kinds of content since the Arrowverse days, and might not be keen on hosting so much of its past content strategy on its platform. Even if it did, that wouldn’t do much for international fans.

Only time will tell what the fate of the Arrowverse shows will be, but fans should take the lesson to enjoy things while they’re there. While it’s certainly too late for renewal or revival as the franchise is gone, Black Lightning could and should live on for fans to enjoy on streaming, especially in international markets that might not have gotten to experience the series when it actually aired. The quality of the show’s writing and characterization made it a standout experience for many, even with the excess of superhero material that was in circulation at the time. If any other streamers are willing to pick it up or Netflix is willing to renew the license, that would truly be electrifying news.

Black Lightning is available to stream on Netflix in the US.

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Source: What’s On Netflix