- "December 10, 2019. On that day he will answer the call and make the ultimate sacrifice. Soon, this world will fight for the fate of all the known universes."
- —Mar Novu warning Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen the Crisis is near[src]
The Crisis of 2019, formerly known as the Crisis of 2024, is a future event and battle that will happen sometime during 2019. It is in that event in which the Flash and his nemesis Reverse-Flash will travel back in time to March 18, 2000, that the aftermath will be the creation of the current timeline, continuing the temporal loop. This event will happen in every timeline, pre-Flashpoint and post-Flashpoint, except the Flashpoint timeline.
In the original timeline, the crisis was supposed to take place on the night of April 25, 2024; however, due to the changes in the timeline that occurred when Team Flash destroyed Cicada's dagger in 2019, the crisis occurred much earlier, on December 10, 2019.[3]
History
Original timeline
Pre-Crisis
After several encounters, Eobard planned to kill Barry as a child.
After several encounters with his former idol, Eobard Thawne learned that the Flash's real name was Bartholomew Henry Allen, better known as Barry Allen. Eobard began to study Barry's life, acquiring knowledge of his parents and loved ones; Nora Allen, Henry Allen, Iris West-Allen and his daughter Nora West-Allen (in which Eobard thought that was named Dawn). When he gained knowledge about everything from Barry's life, Eobard decided the best way to defeat Flash was to murder Barry as a child. However, before he did this, he wanted to have a last encounter with his arch-enemy.
The event
The Reverse-Flash traveled to April 25, 2024 and tried to gain Flash's attention. He gained the attention of the Flash and also from his allies, who were the Green Arrow, Hawkgirl, and The Atom. They started fighting on the streets of Central City causing the most destruction the city had ever seen. The fight also somehow caused the sky to turn a deep crimson color.[4]
At some point during the battle, while Green Arrow yelled in the background, The Flash recorded a message for his daughter Nora to see in the future, knowing he had little time left.[5]
The battle caused several trucks to start leaking their contents onto the streets and caused power outages spread over 20 blocks throughout the city. The Atom left the fight and aided the Central City Police Department in evacuating all the nearby buildings during the power outage. The speedsters then started battling over two overturned tanker trucks, and the lightning emitted from them caused the oil from one of them to ignite. While surrounded by smoke both speedsters had a very heated conversation on an unknown matter, and then the two sped off leaving Green Arrow, the Atom, and Hawkgirl behind. The two then continued their fight up and down an unknown avenue before they vanished in a flash of light.[4]
Aftermath
Both speedsters fighting each other.
Unknown to everyone, during the explosion, the Reverse-Flash traveled back in time to March 18, 2000 to kill his nemesis as a child (like he planned before).[6] However, the Flash followed his nemesis back through time. The two fought inside the Allen house around Nora Allen, each landing solid hits on the other, but their skills were fairly equal. Eventually, the future Flash proved to be the better of the two.[7] When the 11-year-old Barry came into the room, Nora was in the center of it, surrounded by streaks of yellow and red lightning and caught a brief glimpse of the Reverse Flash's face.[8]
The Flash's disappearance as reported in the media.
During the fight, the Flash saw his younger self from 2015 during his first trip into the past and signaled him not to interfere, because of what would happen to the timeline if he did. As the Reverse-Flash moved in for the kill, the future Flash intervened and transported his younger self to safety 20 blocks away, much to the Reverse Flash's outrage. However, Reverse-Flash quickly theorized another way to achieve his goal: to kill Nora and frame Henry Allen for the crime in the hopes that such a tragedy would traumatize Barry enough that he would never achieve his destiny, and Eobard would be free to return to a future without the Flash, so he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Nora in the heart and fled the scene to return to his own time which he hoped would now be one without the Flash.[9]
Post-Crisis
Originally, a newspaper from the Central City Citizen was published and written by its founder Iris West-Allen,[4] which Eobard later used as the basis to see if the future remained intact.[10]
The name of Iris written in the article.
After Flashpoint, Savitar killed Iris and continued the loop of his existence, causing Julie Greer to be hired and to replace Iris with writing the article.[11] However, thanks to the efforts of Team Flash that caused Savitar to be erased from existence, Iris's name was once again restored as the author of the article.[12]
According to an article from the Citizen in 2049 that Nora West-Allen presented to Barry, the Flash was still missing 25 years after the Crisis. Roger Hayden/Psycho-Pirate, said that during this crisis, entire worlds lived and died, implying that the Crisis was more than just a fight between the Reverse-Flash and the Flash.[13]
Current timeline
Pre-Crisis
Sometime before 2018, a cosmic entity called Mar Novu saw the future and found out about the crisis happening in 2024. He began testing different Earths throughout the multiverse by bestowing the Book of Destiny to an individual from the earth he was testing, and let him/her create his/her own Elseworlds.[14] One of the Earths he tested was Earth-90, which like many before it, failed.
However, in 2018, Novu tested Earth-1 by bestowing the book to John Deegan.[15] He was genuinely impressed when the heroes of that earth were able to steal the Book Of Destiny, something that had never happened before.[14] He started to respect Earth-1 even more when Oliver Queen came to confront him, in his realm, without any sign of fear, demanding him to change the destiny of Barry Allen and Kara Danvers. Impressed by the heroes of Earth-1, with Queen in particular, Novu gave him the means to save the two,[16] but in exchange for fulfilling whatever the multiverse requires.[1]
In mid-2019, Team Flash, with the help of Nora West-Allen from 2049 and the manipulation of Eobard Thawne, managed to destroy Cicada's lightning dagger. Those actions resulted in many changes to the timeline, including the change of the date of the crisis from 2024 to 2019.[3] This forced Novu to take action to prevent the crisis far sooner, causing him to pick up Oliver much faster than he initially told Oliver he would in order to have him complete missions to delay the crisis until his preparations are fully completed. Around that time, Novu looked into the future and found out Oliver will die during the crisis, which he told Oliver.[1] He also destroyed the plinth in the Time Vault to prevent Team Flash from learning about the much faster crisis so that when the time came, he could tell them personally.[2]
Novu also retrieved Lex Luthor's corpse[17] and brought him back to life so he would use his intellect in the crisis but confined him in his realm apparently to prevent him from trying anything malicious.[18]
Oliver's Mission
Novu first sent Oliver to Earth-2 to retrieve Dwarf star particles. Although he experienced problems doing so because of Tommy Merlyn's mission to destroy the Glades using the Dwarf star particles, he eventually succeeded. However, due to him interfering with the events of the alternate earth it was destroyed by a wave of Anti-Matter.[19]
Displeased but still tolerating Oliver's tendency to let his feelings get over him, Novu brought Oliver, Diggle, and Laurel to Hong Kong and tasked them to find Dr. Robert Wong. Although Wong was retrieved, Oliver defied Novu by sending him to A.R.G.U.S but as Lyla Michaels was Novu's ally, the Monitor simply contacted her and she gave him Wong straight away.[20]
Not concerned at all by Oliver's decision to defy and destroy him out a false belief that he was causing the crisis, Novu simply integrated Oliver's plans into his own and to reward Oliver's determination,[21] he brought his kids and Connor Hawke from 2040 to the present day.[22] Since Laurel was not supposed to have survived, Novu decided to test her next.[21] He approached her and offered to restore her Earth if she betrayed Oliver.[23] However, Laurel ultimately refused,[24] which was Novu's plan originally. To reward Laurel, Novu put her and Oliver in an alternate reality where Laurel could say goodbye to Quentin Lance. The alternate reality also served to teach Oliver that he could not alter his fate.[21]
Once both completed their tasks, Novu brought them to Lian Yu.[21] Their goal on the island was to create a device to power a weapon. The device, however, only responded to Lyla's DNA. When she touched it, she suddenly had an epiphany and realized she had to go.[25]
Team Flash's preparation
Around the same time, Novu went to S.T.A.R. Labs to inform Barry and Iris that Barry was now going to sacrifice his life on December 10, 2019.[2] Now knowing about his upcoming death, Barry decided to prepare Team Flash for protecting Central City without him.[26]
After preparing Killer Frost,[27] Barry put his focus on Cisco Ramon, who he decided is the perfect guy to replace him as team leader after he is gone. Although at the beginning Cisco refused to accept Barry's death, he eventually learned to do so.[28]
After that, Barry decided to promote Ralph Dibny to his successor as the official protector of Central City after his death, which he did after a mission to get more information on Sue Dearbon's dissapearance.[29]
J'onn J'onzz's test
Having witnessed J'onn J'onzz fight but knowing that he was plagued by his past,[18] Novu traveled to Earth-38 and released J'onn's brother, Malefic, from the Phantom Zone.[17] After multiple encounters between Malefic and the Superfriends, J'onn learned to make amends with both his past and brother, which eventually resulted in Malefic forgiving him.[30]
Novu then returned to Earth-38 once J'onn had completed his test, claiming that he was now ready for the Crisis.[18]
Harrison Nash Wells
On December 9 in Central City, Harrison Nash Wells, after having been attacked by a Blood Brother outside a door to the Monitor's realm, was saved when Allegra Garcia used her powers to spread a cure to the city. Wells, however, misattributed this to Novu himself.[31] At 11:58 pm, just as Nash Wells was about to open the portal to his realm, Novu noted on how he wished to know the truth and offered to reveal to him what he wanted to know in exchange for his help stopping the Crisis. Novu told him to stop his attempts to kill him and begin a new life. When Nash asked Novu to show him, he said that he already has "the knowledge" (probably to solve a code). After Wells solved the code in the cave, Novu opened the rock and pulled Nash inside it in a flash of light before slamming down the rock wall again.[18][25][31][32]
The event
Team Flash witnessing the beginning of The Crisis in Central City
The skies turn red above Lian Yu.
As the Crisis began on December 10, the skies above Lian Yu, Central City, and possibly the entire planet began storming and turned red. Presumably to Mar Novu's command, Harbinger arrived on Lian Yu to retrieve Oliver and Mia.[25] At midnight in Central City, Team Flash watches the skies turn red and prepare themselves for the upcoming battle.[31]
According to the current version of the newspaper that chronicled the Crisis, the event took place within Central City and included the likes of The Flash, Green Arrow, White Canary, Supergirl, Batwoman, and numerous other "legendary heroes" against The Reverse-Flash at midnight.[3]
During the Crisis, Oliver Queen will die by unknown means[1] and Barry Allen will make the ultimate sacrifice on December 10, 2019,[2] being declared missing soon after.[3]
Post-Crisis
In a possible future, after his death, Oliver Queen will be buried next to his father and his paternal half-sister, his tombstone will read that he was a "beloved husband, brother, father and son. Hero of Star City. The Green Arrow".[1]
Appearances
The Flash
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 5
Season 6
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Arrow
Season 7
Season 8
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Supergirl
Season 4
- "Elseworlds, Part 3" (mentioned)
Season 5
Batwoman
Season 1
Novels
- The Flash: The Tornado Twins (mentioned)
Trivia
- While it is well-documented that Eobard Thawne wasn't able to return to his time period after killing Nora Allen and thus had to spend the next 15 years of his life in the 21st century, the fate of the future Flash that followed him back from 2024 is still unclear after saving his younger self from Thawne.
- The photograph depicting the Flash on the newspaper article shows the Flash's suit in 2024, with a bright red suit with red earpieces and a white outline on the emblem. In an erased future of 2024, the Flash suit bears a closer resemblance to his fourth suit.[33] However, that future was erased when Team Flash erased Savitar from existence on May 24, 2017.[12]
- In the original time of the Crisis, Meta-humans like the Flash still operated in 2024, despite the Anti-Meta-human Act of 2021, which apparently makes it illegal to even be a meta-human.[34]
- Due to Oliver Queen and his team being deputized by the SCPD in 2018, it stands to reason that they and several of the other heroes present were working alongside local law enforcement and possibly even A.R.G.U.S. and were no longer consider "vigilantes".[35]
Behind the scenes
- Nora West-Allen traveled back to the present day and revealed more about this crisis event by bringing in a newspaper from 2049. This newspaper shows that this crisis event is similar to the comic book event Crisis on Infinite Earths. This is due to the appearance of characters such as Roger Hayden a.k.a Psycho-Pirate and shadow demons, both of which appeared and played a relatively important role in the DC comic book event.
References
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