This December, the Arrowverse is assembling its biggest and craziest crossover episodes yet. These have become something to look out for in superhero TV, with all of the franchise’s shows converging to tell epic stories that go way beyond what you’d expect from a TV series. Last year’s “Crisis on Earth-X,” for instance, found the characters doing battle with their counterparts from a universe where the Nazis won World War II and featured a variety of interesting ‘evil’ versions of our heroes.
This year, though, things are going to get even crazier. Not only will we finally meet Ruby Rose’s Batwoman, but we’ll also see Superman himself returning alongside Lois Lane. That’s not all, though, as That Hashtag Show has now revealed two casting calls from The CW which hint at some exciting things to come.
The first is for a character named Dr. Elias Kern, who’s described as so:
Male, 30s, open ethnicity. A psychiatrist with his own mental health problems, Dr. Kern is a brutal sociopath who appears to be starting to lose his grip on reality. This recurring guest star will be present in all three episodes of the crossover.
That’s interesting in and of itself, but it’s the next character that’s really got us scratching our heads. He’s named Lon-El and is described as follows:
Male, 40s (with the potential to play older than their actual age), open ethnicity. A mysterious visitor who is from another planet and is both ambiguous, inscrutable and has the power that is teased as nearly infinite. Potential to appear for post-crossover episodes of Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl as well as Legends of Tomorrow, some as just a small cameo.
Now, you don’t have to be a DC Comics anorak to know that a character with the surname El from another planet with nearly infinite powers is going to be a Kryptonian of some kind. But having scoured the web, I can’t find any mention of anyone by this name.
Some are theorizing that this could be a way of casting Superman’s dad, Jor-El, without spoiling his arrival, but something about the way they describe him doesn’t add up. Plus, would they really cast for open ethnicity if they’re searching for someone to play Superman’s father? Plus, SyFy’s already using Jor-El on Krypton.
Right now, this character’s a big mystery, but hopefully we’ll learn more about him as the next Arrowverse crossover draws closer.