The CW's crossover event is reaching out to the live-action TV and film adaptations of
the past and present to weave as many characters as possible into Crisis' rich tapestry.
Heroes and villains are falling and rising, worlds are dying, and the cameos flow freely.
From here on in, be prepared for spoilers.
Crisis on Infinite Earths doesn't waste any time before it pays fan service to popular
DC superhero adaptations of old.
Part One of the crossover opens with cameos from across classic comic book films and TV,
beginning with Robert Wuhl reprising his role as ambitious investigative reporter Alexander
Knox on Earth-89.
Wuhl played Knox the only reporter in Gotham who believed Batman was real and was determined
to find out who he was in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie.
"This is Pulitzer Prize stuff, guys"
We never learn if Knox's coverage of the Dark Knight wins him the acclaim he always wanted,
but judging by the paper he's reading, Batman coverage is at least a little more mainstream
these days.
Among the myriad of different worlds we're shown succumbing to the antimatter wave in
the opening minutes of Crisis on Infinite Earths is Earth-9.
We see only two young heroes' faces before the end comes, and if you're not familiar
with the DC Universe streaming service's original programming, you might not have any idea who
they are.
Both heroes hail from DC Universe's very first original series, Titans.
The hero in the red-and-white suit is Hawk and the younger hero in the domino mask is
Robin.
Specifically, this Robin is Jason Todd who, in the comics, is the second boy to take on
the name Robin, eventually dying violently at the hands of the Joker.
Their appearance in Crisis confirms that Titans' world exists within the same multiverse.
Or, at least, it used to exist in the same multiverse.
The final cameo from Crisis Part One's cold open is from one of DC Comics' earliest live-action
adaptations.
Burt Ward, who played Robin alongside Adam West in the '60s camp series Batman, is walking
his dog in Gotham City as the antimatter wave hits Earth-66.
While he doesn't appear to be crimefighting anymore, the neckline on Ward's shirt has
a black-yellow-green pattern reminiscent of Robin's old school costume.
And if that, along with the signature Batman theme song, aren't enough to let you know
exactly who this is, his single line of dialogue should do the trick.
"Holy crimson skies of death!"
One of the more fun surprises in Crisis is the return of Jon Cryer as Superman's arch-nemesis,
billionaire Lex Luthor.
By the end of Crisis Part Three he's stolen the Book of Destiny twice and tried to murder
multiple versions of Superman.
He eventually succeeds in murdering the Superman of Earth-96, replacing him as the Paragon
of Truth.
The return of Cryer's Lex Luthor is noteworthy for a number of reasons.
Not only is Cryer perfect in the role, but he's a DC adaptation alumnus.
Cryer plays Lex Luthor's annoying nephew Lenny in the 1987 bomb Superman IV: The Quest for
Peace.
In the Crisis Aftermath after-show following Crisis Part Three, Cryer told Kevin Smith
he saw his casting as Luthor as a chance to redeem that earlier flop.
"Yeah you're just an experiment, freako.
What is that?
Oh noooo."
The Monitor, played by LaMonica Garrett, is a character lifted directly from the original
DC Comics event Crisis on Infinite Earths.
When the multiverse was created, most universes were comprised of positive matter, but there
was one made of anti-matter.
The Monitor is a living, breathing avatar for the positive matter in the universe, while
the Anti-Monitor is his opposite in the anti-matter universe.
Each is instantly aware of the other, and they battle for millennia.
Just as it happens in the TV event, the comics crossover sees the Monitor recruit superheroes
to help, and just like the end of Part Three of CW's Crisis, in the comic it's a corrupted
version of Harbinger that kills the godlike being.
The character Harbinger is proof that the creative teams behind the Arrowverse
have had Crisis in the back of their minds for longer than you might realize.
Audrey Marie Anderson has played Lyla Michaels on Arrow since 2013.
She originally shows up as John Diggle's ex-wife, and she eventually replaces Amanda Waller
as the head of the clandestine group A.R.G.U.S.
John Diggle and Lyla reunite and have a son - well it was a daughter at first but then
Barry time traveled and their daughter became a son… it’s complicated, and with the
coming of Crisis, Lyla is transformed into the Monitor's protege Harbinger.
Fans of the comics have probably expected something like this was coming for a while.
In the main Crisis story, Lyla Michaels becomes Harbinger just about immediately, and works
with the godlike being to prepare for the Crisis.
Just as it happens in the CW event, in the comics Harbinger is corrupted by the Anti-Monitor
and used to kill the Monitor.
After Lex Luthor gets his hands on the Book of Destiny in Crisis Part Two, he decides
to wipe out every Superman in every reality.
The vengeful quest brings him to man chopping wood at a farm who has no S on his chest and
little patience for Lex.
In case you couldn't tell by the flannel, the man is Clark Kent, played by Tom Welling,
from the hit series Smallville.
In Crisis, Part Two, we learn that since the conclusion of Smallville Clark has given up
his powers and settled in to a simpler life.
When Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor travels to Earth-167 to deal with Kent, the revelation that this
Superman gave up his powers makes him furious with confusion and disbelief.
"You gave up your powers?”
“Can't say I’ve missed these chats."
As soon as images began emerging of Brandon Routh as the Superman of Earth-96 in Crisis,
it was clear this take on Superman was heavily inspired by the 1996 comic Kingdom Come.
Routh's Superman outfit, particularly the black included in the Superman insignia, is
very reminiscent of that version.
But of course this isn't just a call back to a comic.
Brandon Routh was tapped to play Superman even though he already has an Arrowverse role
— as Earth-1's Atom on Legends of Tomorrow — because the actor stepped into Supes'
red boots in 2006's Superman Returns.
In Part 2 of CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, Batwoman and Supergirl travel to
Earth-99 to recruit who they believe is the multiverse's Paragon of Courage: that Earth's
version of Batman.
"So, the Paragon of Courage is apparently afraid of yard work.”
“Better let me do the talking."
Instead of a Paragon, the pair find a bitter, angry Bruce Wayne who is a dark fusion of
different versions of the Dark Knight.
Kevin Conroy, best known as the Batman of The Animated Series, has given his voice to
Gotham's protector in numerous animated TV, film, and video game projects for the past
27 years.
In Crisis Part Two, he physically portrays the Dark Knight for the first time, although
it isn't the version we expected.
We learn that this version of Wayne would eventually resort to murder to achieve his
goals, including killing his world's Superman.
Before his death, Wayne tells Supergirl something interesting:
"My parents taught me a very different lesson.
Life only makes sense if you force it to."
The line comes almost word for word from the 1986 comic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,
from Batman's narration as he fights Superman, though even that darker realization of Bruce
Wayne doesn't seek to kill Clark.
Ever since Tom Cavanagh's original Flash character Harrison Wells bit the dust, it seems we've
gotten new alternate Earth versions of Wells every season.
This season of Flash begins with a version of the character named Nash Wells, who has
a bit of an Indiana Jones flare, but that changes when he unintentionally frees the
Anti-Monitor and causes the Crisis.
As punishment, Wells is made into Pariah and is forced to witness tragedy as it unfolds.
Things work a bit differently in the comics.
In the Crisis comics Pariah's real name is Kell Mossa.
Kells conducts experiments allowing him to see the birth of the universe, but in doing
so attracts the attention of the Anti-Monitor, who destroys Mossa's Earth.
The Monitor saves Pariah's life and gives him the ability to travel from Earth to Earth,
witnessing as each is destroyed.
Crisis Part Three opens in New Gotham on Earth-203 with a hero running from the antimatter wave.
Unlike many of the multiverse cameos we've seen in Crisis, this time we actually get
to see as the wave hits the hero, killing her.
The hero is Huntress, played by Ashley Scott, from the 2002-03 TV series Birds of Prey.
"Who the hell are you?”
“I'm the Huntress, and you're the prey."
Huntress wasn't the only hero on the show.
Over her coms we hear the voice of Oracle, formerly known as Batgirl, who becomes the
intelligence arm of the Birds of Prey after she's paralyzed by a bullet from the Joker.
In Crisis Part Three, Team Flash's Cisco Ramon joins the efforts to find the multiverse's
Paragons, and his efforts lead them to a scientist named Ryan Choi, the Paragon of Humanity.
He's unique among the Paragons in that he isn't a superhero or supervillain, though
if the source material is any gauge, that won't stay true for too long.
In DC Comics, Ryan Choi first fills Ray Palmer's place by taking his job at Ivy University
and later by taking on his abilities as the new version of the shrinking hero Atom.
Choi's solo series All New Atom folded after 25 issues, though he remains Atom in the comics.
He's eventually murdered by Deathstroke, but after DC's line-wide New 52 reboot and the
subsequent event Convergence, Choi returns to the narrative.
He appeared in the most recent Justice League of America series as the Atom, alongside an
eccentric line-up that included Batman, Lobo, and Killer Frost.
Perhaps no one should have been shocked that Crisis Part Three features a cameo by Tom
Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar, the lead of Netflix's Lucifer and, yes, the devil himself.
After all, the world that John Constantine, John Diggle, and Mia Smoak travel to is Earth-666.
Netflix, DC Comics, and the CW largely have Neil Gaiman to thank for this version of Lucifer.
The character first appears in Gaiman's classic Sandman series as an adversary to its hero,
and later got a solo comic series Lucifer which was then adapted into a TV series for
Fox.
Lucifer was canceled by Fox after its third season, but the series was picked up by Netflix.
In June 2019 we learned that Lucifer had been renewed for a fifth and final season on the
streaming service.
Crisis Part Three sees the return and sacrifice of the Flash of Earth-90.
Last year's CW crossover, Elseworlds, opened with this version of the Flash being the sole
surviving hero on Earth-90.
He soon joined the Arrowverse heroes to face the Monitor, but disappeared early in the
crossover without a trace.
We now know where he was as a prisoner of the Anti-Monitor, Earth-90 Flash was forced
to run a treadmill that powered the antimatter wave.
Toward the end of Crisis Part Three, he sacrifices himself to stop the wave and save Earth-1.
This isn't just another alternate universe Flash.
Played by John Wesley Shipp, this Flash is the same hero who was the lead for the short-lived
The Flash series from 1990 to '91.
"Thanks, Flash.
At least someone around here knows how to rescue a kid."
CW's The Flash has never been lazy about paying tribute to its predecessor.
Shipp has played multiple roles on The Flash, including versions of the hero from other
worlds.
Ever since Oliver Queen's death at the end of Crisis Part One, the heroes have been searching
for a way to bring him back to life.
In Part Two they bring his body to a Lazarus Pit on an alternate Earth, where they manage
to revive Green Arrow's body, but not his soul.
John Constantine does his best to bring back Queen's soul, but in Part Three they're forced
to travel to Purgatory to retrieve it directly.
After a tearful reunion it seems that Oliver will return to the land of the living... until
a mysterious man named Jim Corrigan appears.
If you're a DC Comics fan, then that name means a lot.
Jim Corrigan is a former police detective who takes on the role of the Spectre, a powerful
entity who in some incarnations is meant to be the literal Wrath of God.
In the comics, Corrigan was eventually replaced as the host for the Spectre by the Green Lantern
Hal Jordan, who had died in the 1996 event Final Night.
The fact that Corrigan appears when he does and stops Oliver Queen from crossing over
back to the land of the living suggests that it may now be Oliver Queen who is called upon
to be the host of the Spectre.
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