Crisis on Infinite Earths is coming to the Arrowverse this season and it is one of the biggest crossovers in the history of television.
The title Crisis on Infinite Earths stems from one of the biggest comicbook crossovers and one that still has an impact on comics to this day.
Crisis on Infinite Earths – the comic
Back in the 1980s , the DC universe was a bit of a mess. So much backstory for a lot of characters and nobody knew exactly what belonged where. Like Superman was supposed to be the last survivor of Krypton but we got a Supergirl, Superboy and Krypto the superdog. DC attempted to fix all of this by creating the DC Multiverse during the Silver Age of comics. So one Superman was superstrong while the other one could only leap very far and not fly. And they were all set in their own universe. So Earth One / Earth Two and so forth.
And that solution worked for a while. That is until DC figured out that it didn’t. There were so many universes with so many backstories and so much history that for a new reader, it became almost impossible to understand all of it.
So DC went back to the drawing table, trying to make sense of 47 years (at the time) of DC Comicbook history. Their solution was Crisis on Infinite Earths. The plan was to get ALL of the characters from all universes within the DC Multiverse and make it one single dimension with one character history. And DC got to pick what characters would live or die.
The result is pretty well done. I have read the comic and it is well worth reading. Sure, the writing style doesn’t exactly hold up for today’s standards but it is still a good read.
The Arrowverse take on Crisis
Over the past few seasons we have seen plenty of hints and references to what was coming. Most notably in The Flash tv show with the newspaper headling referring to the crisis. But also the codename Harbinger from Diggle’s wife Layla. Harbinger was the Monitor’s assistant in the comics.
Last season Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, cut a deal with the Monitor to be his assistant to help gather and unite the universe for the crisis that is looming and coming to the Arrowverse.
The idea behind the Arrowverse version of Crisis on Infinite Earths is simple but effective. Throughout decades of television, The Arrowverse has split up in several TV multiverses and they are going to be gathered and united to fight the big threat that has been teased for so long now.
DC TV – The Gathering
So I have been reading so much about all the actors and actresses that will show up in the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths that my jaw just dropped to the floor a few times.
I will name a few here:
Burt Ward a.k.a. Robin from the 1966 Batman Television show. We also got Erica Durance and Tom Welling who played Lois Lane and Clark Kent / Superman on Smallville.
And then we got Brandon Routh to play Superman from a different universe as well, but essentially reprising his role from the 2006 Superman movie.
Add to that, we got the Birds of Prey Helena Kyle a.k.a. Huntress coming to join them the small screen too. The Birds of Prey was a short lived TV show on the WB and it featured a Batgirl, Huntress and Black Canary. Ofcourse we have seen a Huntress in the Arrowverse but this makes it so much more amazing.
And let’s not forget the the cast of Black Lightning will also join the Crisis.
But not everyone wanted to show up to the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths. Michael Rosenbaum refused to appear.
On Twitter he explains why:
“Friends, many of you have tweeted and asked me about joining the Infinite crossover,” he tweeted. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I’ll just be straight up about this. WB called my agents Friday afternoon when I was in Florida visiting my grandfather in a nursing home. Their offer: No script. No idea what I’m doing. No idea when I’m shooting. Basically no money. And the real kick in the ass: ‘We have to know now.’ My simple answer was ‘Pass.’ I think you can understand why. I hope this answers all of your questions.”
Crisis on Infinite Earths, will be a five-part event divided between Supergirl (Dec. 8 at 8 pm), Batwoman (Dec. 9 at 8 pm), The Flash (Dec. 10 at 8 pm), Arrow (Jan. 14 at 8 pm) and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (Jan. 14 at 9 pm).
Lois Lane and Clark Kent meet for the first time on Smallville:
