Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5536445-20190520021531/@comment-5536445-20191019051525

Xandermcc wrote: Like saying all those Earths were pocket dimensions? Seems easier to just retcon the Crisis from Smallville canon altogether. No, no, not pocket dimensions...see, the way the DC Multiverse is...strange, both in how the same people can lead different lives, and how same events can overlap in two entirely separate continuities.

Just to mention something else for comparison, let's look at another brand. Who remembers Transformers? I sure do, and being a fan, I'll tell you its multiverse is really fascinating. See, because Transformers is a franchise, it has many different variations of one brand they are promoting. Because of this, the visions usually clash and are not compatible, like the original G1 cartoon and the G1 Marvel Comics; both are based on the same toys, but tell slightly different stories. Their fanbase has a way of organizing this mess, especially with the implementation of new brands like the movies or the Aligned Continuity. They call them UNIVERSAL STREAMS. It focuses on variations of what appear to be the same reality, and the differences go from subtle to very different. They have them for each of their brands; the movies have one stream for each of the movies, one for the tie-in comics, and even one for the stupid promotion in stupid online games for stupid prizes-I'm going off-track! Each of these brands are then categorized and referred to as MULTIVERSAL CLUSTERS. I know that DC and Transformers are two VERY different franchises, but you can't deny that this stuff makes a lot of sense without thinking about it a little. The Arrowverse calls itself Earth-1, even though we know that's not the case because there is another earth out there called Earth-1. There are so many of these earths, it can be confusing to categorize, but when you consider the 'Cluster' theory that accounts for different sets of Earths with somewhat similar properties but can't exist in the same space with Earth-0 due to great differences, you begin to see how it might work and how separate events can happen per multiverse. The Arrow and Smallville Multiverses are separate entities from the comics and exists in its own little bubble that takes some aspects from the main multiverse and leaves out some. Hence why it is separated from most of the DC canon, and why some events have been replicated across the omniverse in these multiversal clusters.

So to wrap it up, the theory of different streams being the ones that have different histories leads to one thing: Because the Arrow Multiverse is a multiversal cluster with different earths that have their own universal streams, it is separated from the rest of the DC canon. Some aspects from earths outside the Arrow's continuity have bled over into this cluster, like the existence of a Superman on Earth-38. But other elements have proven to not exist at all because of this separation, even though they can be found everywhere else. That's why Smallville can exist in its own multiverse and maintain its own Crisis without having to ignore it for this crossover. These are different universal streams, and the title is "infinite" earths, so they can go via that route.

I half-assed this response because AhsokaTanoJediKnight was confused about how the multiverse works, and I had to explain it to him using these same words.