Fandom among TV superheroes has ups and downs across both Marvel and DC; the former sharing continuity, but never screentime with its cinematic brethren, while DC’s lot keep explicitly separate from the Batman v. Superman world, and its Justice League. Now, DC’s Diane Nelson opens up as to why Arrow or The Flash will never join the Man of Steel, lest they “hinder the ability” of creatives to tell good stories.

As reported by Variety, Nelson addressed the state of DC’s union at Variety’s Entertainment and Technology Summit, clarifying that while a shared cinematic universe “has worked beautifully” for Marvel, their goals lie more in telling singular stories with some vast tonal differences. The idea of incorporating successes like Arrow and The Flash into the cinematic world might:

… end up handcuffing our creators into trying to work with the same storyline or force them to hold back characters or introduce certain characters. Ultimately it hinders the ability for someone like (showrunner) Bruno Heller to come in and create ‘Gotham.’

And what a terrible tragedy that might have been. Nelson also noted that vast tonal differences between the likes of Gotham and CBS’ more sunny Supergirl wouldn’t add up as a shared universe anyway, while the company makes no push for its various DC series to incorporate any more crossover than they already have.

Nelson’s words ring with just a note of falsehood, considering the TV branches have repeatedly been denied use of certain DC characters, even taking existing figures like the Suicide Squad off the table in preparation for David Ayer’s 2016 film. Marvel’s approach certainly has its TV hangups as well, but does the separation of DC universes make for stronger stories overall?

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