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Crisis on Infinite Earths

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For the in-universe event, see Anti-Monitor Crisis.
"In the beginning, there was only one. A single black infinitude. Then the infinitude found release, and, finally, the darkness broke, filling it with life. With the multiverse. Every existence multiplied by possibility. And spread out before space and time in infinite measure. Civilizations rose and fell. And rose again across reality's grasping expanse. Life. A precious gift persevering in the face of every obstacle, until, finally, the age of heroes was born. Chaos. The constant enemy of life; kept at bay by champions from across the multiverse... joining forces to fight on behalf of all creation. They found each other just in time, because now, the entire multiverse is about to come under attack. There is a malevolent force at work; one driven by a singular goal. The destruction of all there is. I have planned, there are those who say I have schemed, but the time for preparation has passed. The Crisis is now upon us all."
—Mar Novu/The Monitor[src]

Crisis on Infinite Earths is the sixth annual Arrowverse crossover event between Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash​​​​​, Arrow, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow. Additionally, events in the Black Lightning episode "The Book of Resistance: Chapter Four: Earth Crisis" and a two-issue comic, Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant, tie into the crossover. It began over three nights in December 2019 from December 8 to December 10 and concluded on January 14, 2020.

Synopsis

The "Crisis" event brings together the heroes from multiple Earths to battle against the Anti-Monitor, a godlike villain who threatens to destroy all reality.[src]

Cast

Main cast:

Special appearance by:

Special guest star:

Recurring cast:

Co-starring:

Uncredited:

Archive footage:

Plot

Ten thousand years ago on the planet Maltus, Mar Novu experiments with time travel to witness the birth of the universe. Instead, Novu is transported to the netherverse at the dawn of time, leading to the creation of the Anti-Monitor.

In the present, having already destroyed multiple Earths, the Anti-Monitor sends an antimatter wave to Earth-38. There, Querl Dox detects a wave approaching Argo City prompting Kara Danvers to warn her mother Alura Zor-El, her cousin Clark Kent and his wife Lois Lane. Clark and Lois safely send their son Jonathan to Earth just before the wave destroys Argo. Lyla Michaels, now a Harbinger, recruits Oliver Queen, Mia Smoak, Barry Allen, Kate Kane, Sara Lance, Ray Palmer and the Kents to the D.E.O. on a briefing of the current status of the Crisis as Novu raises a quantum tower to impede the wave. Meanwhile, Alex Danvers reluctantly works with Lena Luthor to figure out a way to evacuate the Earth's inhabitants to Earth-1. Brainy locates Jonathan's pod on Star City; Earth-16, so he, Lois and Sara head to retrieve him while the other heroes fend off the Anti-Monitor's shadow demon army at the tower. Novu teleports the heroes back to Earth-1 but Oliver refuses to leave so he temporarily nullifies Novu's powers. Eventually, the shadow demon/s injures Oliver and Novu brings back a dying Oliver to Earth-1 where Sara and Barry say goodbye. Harrison Nash Wells, now a "Pariah" for releasing the Anti-Monitor from his chamber beneath Central City, warns everyone that events have changed and that they are all doomed.

In the wake of Oliver's death, which cannot be undone due to the Anti-Monitor's growing power, Novu consults the Book of Destiny and learns of seven Paragons who can stop the Anti-Monitor. Novu reveals four known paragons that of Kara - the "Paragon of Hope", Sara - the "Paragon of Destiny", a second kryptonian who has suffered "more than any mortal man" - the "Paragon of Truth" and the "bat of the future" - the "Paragon of Courage". Clark, Lois and Iris West-Allen travel to Earth-96 where they recruit that Earth's Superman while Kate and Kara travel to Earth-99 where they find an elderly crippled Bruce Wayne, who Kara discovers he had killed this Earth's Superman leading to a confrontation between the two which results in Bruce-99's death. Meanwhile, Barry, Mia, and Sara get help from John Constantine to revive Oliver's soul. Constantine detects a working Lazarus Pit on Earth-18. There, they revive Oliver but not his soul as the antimatter is blocking the forces of magic from bringing it back. Later, unbeknownst to everyone, Harbinger is contacted by the Anti-Monitor.

With Cisco Ramon's help, Ray's Paragon detector detects Barry as the "Paragon of Love", Kate as the true "Paragon of Courage", J'onn J'onzz as the "Paragon of Honor" and Ryan Choi as the "Paragon of Humanity". Iris, Ray, and Ralph Dibny head to Ivy Town to recruit a reluctant Choi. Meanwhile, Constantine and Mia, who are joined by John Diggle, travel to Earth-666 to pick up a card from Lucifer Morningstar that takes them to Purgatory. When they find Oliver's soul, they are approached by Jim Corrigan, who passes on the Spectre's powers. After accepting this, Constantine, Mia, and Diggle are sent back to Earth-1. After the Monitor restores Cisco's powers, he, Barry, Caitlin Snow and Nash return to the chamber where they find an antimatter cannon powered by Earth-90 Flash. Cisco frees Barry-90 prompting the cannon to go critical. Nash recruits Jefferson Pierce, from another Earth, to maintain the cannon. Barry-1 volunteers to destroy the cannon but Barry-90 steps in to take his place, claiming that Novu didn't state which Flash would die in the Crisis. With the cannon destroyed, the heroes regroup at the Waverider, where a brainwashed Harbinger appears to send an antimatter wave to wipe out the remaining Earth and the timeship. Just before she can do so, Nash sends the Paragons to the Vanishing Point on Novu's orders.

Months after the multiverse was destroyed, the Paragons struggle to survive at the Point. Back in Purgatory, Corrigan continues to train Oliver to master the Spectre's power. Oliver then contacts the Paragons and unlocks Barry's full potential. With his strengthened speed, Barry takes Kara, Choi, and Lex to Moltus in the past but loses the Paragons in the Speed Force after the Anti-Monitor attacks them. On Maltus, Kara, Choi, and Lex convince Novu not to go forward with his plan as Barry rescues the other Paragons. The Paragons then battle the Anti-Monitor at the dawn of time until Oliver uses the Spectre's power to defeat the Anti-Monitor and reset the universe by sacrificing himself a second time.

Waking up in a newly restored universe, the Paragons discover they are the only ones who can remember the events of the Crisis. They also learn that Earth-1 has merged with Earth-38 and Jefferson's Earth, later designated as Earth-Prime. J'onn restores their allies' pre-Crisis memories while Sara believes Oliver is still alive but is indeed dead. Later that night, the shadow demons attack the Paragons. A restored and remorseful Nash discovers the Anti-Monitor is still alive so he, Ray, and Ryan create a device that would eternally shrink the Anti-Monitor. During a final battle against the Anti-Monitor, Kara throws the device at him, sending him to the microverse. In memory of Oliver, Barry, Kara, Sara, Kate, Clark, J'onn and Jefferson hold a memorial service as Barry reveals a new base of operations for the team.

Gallery

Title cards

Concept artwork

Promotional images


Videos


Trivia

  • The title of this crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths, is also the title of a limited series published by DC Comics from 1985 to 1986.
  • Following "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three", The CW aired a set of TV specials to promote the crossover and reveal behind the scenes details titled Crisis Aftermath.
  • This was the first crossover:
    • Where the title of the crossover was revealed at the end of the previous crossover (Elseworlds​​​​​).
    • To consist of five episodes.
    • To not feature Emily Bett Richards (Felicity Smoak) in any capacity. Although she was mention in "Crisis on Infinite Earth: Part 2".
    • To have a one-month break between some of the episodes.
      • The break was accounted for within the crossover.[1]
    • To have major tie-ins with episodes of The Flash and Arrow that aired before the crossover.
    • To included Black Lighting (CW).
    • To have a tie-in comic book series. The series is titled Crisis on Infinite Earths Giant.[2] It was four issues long and each issue contained "an in-canon story that ties directly into the crossover narrative" and "characters and concepts that couldn’t be included in the crossover."[3]
    • To have an aftershow. The aftershow was titled Crisis Aftermath.
  • Brandon Routh reprises his role as Superman, having previously portrayed the character in the 2006 film Superman Returns. The iteration of Superman that Routh portrayed was the same character but was now based on the Kingdom Come storyline.
  • In addition to the hype behind the various cast of characters to appear in the crossover event, Greg Berlanti talks about Crisis on Infinite Earths being "epic" and the "biggest one yet" saying there are many great cameos. Berlanti also teased that in one scene there would be "three Supermen onscreen at one time".[4] However, in all five parts, there was not one scene with three Supermen in one scene, but rather in one episode with two appearing in a scene at most.
  • All currently airing Arrowverse television series dealt with the fallout from this crossover in the remainder of their current seasons.[5][6]
  • Kevin Conroy, who previously voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in various DC animated and video game projects, also reprises his role for the crossover in what turned out to be his final on-screen acting role before his death on November 10, 2022. Part 2 marked his only appearance as the live-action version of the character.

Behind the scenes

References

  1. ↑ Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) - Twitter
  2. ↑ "How The CW's 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' Is Jumping to Comics" - The Hollywood Reporter
  3. ↑ "WALMART CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS 100-PAGE GIANT REVEALS MORE DETAILS BEHIND THE CW'S BLOCKBUSTER TV CROSSOVER!" - DC Comics
  4. ↑ Greg Berlanti Teases 'Incredibly Epic' Arrowverse ‘Crisis’ Crossover | ExtraTV.com
  5. ↑ "Crisis on Infinite Earths” EPs Break Down Part 2 and How the Crossover Impacts the Individual Shows" - Collider
  6. ↑ "Black Lightning's China Anne McClain Flirts with Destruction" - DC
  7. ↑ Joseph David-Jones (@josephdjones) - Instagram
  8. ↑ "'Crisis on Infinite Earths' Burning Qs Answered!" - TVLine
  9. ↑ Michael Rosenbaum (@michaelrosenbum) - Twitter
  10. ↑ "Alan Ritchson on ‘Titans’ Season 2, ‘Smallville’, and Why He’s Not in 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'" - Collider
  11. ↑ Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) - Twitter
  12. ↑ "KRYPTON Star Cameron Cuffe's Unfilmed CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS Cameo Has Finally Been Revealed" - ComicBookMovie
  13. ↑ "‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’: Showrunner Marc Guggenheim on Plotting The CW’s Six-Show Crossover Event" - IndieWire
  14. ↑ "'Crisis on Infinite Earths' boss answers burning questions about Earth-Prime, Ezra Miller, and more" - Entertainment Weeky
  15. ↑ "How ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ Pulled Off Its Ezra Miller Cameo" - Variety
  16. ↑ "CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS Almost Included A Constantine/Swamp-Thing Team-Up" - ComicBookMovie


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