So the mother lode of all Television Crossovers has finally
come to pass. And what a treat for DC and ARROWVERSE fans, to finally get to
see all of their beloved live (and animated?) action DC Universe TV (and
Movies?) superheroes together in a Five hour epic on the small screen worthy
for a big screen release. While I have
to admit that I never really faithfully followed all of the Arrowverse TV
series, I never missed any of the annual crossover events since Invasion. And
CRISIS on Infinite Earths is definitely one that I wouldn’t miss. CRISIS on
Infinite Earths (COIE) was the ARROWVERSE’s producers’ attempt to adapt a
highly successful Comic Book mega event that totally reshaped the world of DC
Comics for the Modern Age of comics. And I could say it was indeed a very
ambitious attempt to do that given that the producers will have to work around
on a limited budget that is fit for the small screen. But despite what limited
budget that they have, I could fairly say that their attempt was not bad at
all. In fact, it totally exceeded my expectations for a TV crossover event.
Though I wouldn’t exactly say it was perfect (because I feel as a Superman fan,
Brandon Routh’s Superman was underused), but it was pretty damned near perfect
especially when that cameo in episode four happened. So I will be breaking down
my thoughts below on a per episode basis, and will cap it off with my final
thoughts as a Superman fan.
Episode 1: Supergirl
The first episode of the crossover packed so many Easter
Eggs as the producers quickly caught the attention of longtime DC Superheroes
TV and movie fans by referencing multiple Earths destroyed by the Anti-Matter
wave as inhabited by the 1989 Michael Keaton Batman, the campy Batman and Robin
Earth of Adam West and Burt Ward, the Earth of the recently released Titans TV
series, the Earth X of the Nazi Supergirl the Arrowverse crossover from two
years ago, plus the Earth of Supergirl (which is a different Earth from that of
Arrow and the Flash). And since this is a Supergirl episode, we get to have
Superman and Lois plus their baby having prominent roles in this episode. Lois
even had to team up with Canary and Brainiac to visit an alternate future where
the Green Arrow operated by his lonesome. This episode established the heroes’
futile attempt to save Supergirl’s Earth, and at the cost of the Green Arrow’s
life. For me, Episode 1 felt like your traditional annual Arrowverse crossover
but packed in one Episode. It was an epic moment to see the Superheroes making
their last stand on Supergirl’s Earth. The episode succeeded in making us fans
ask for more as we are treated to an opening bang of an episode filled with
great action and character moments. The Death of Green Arrow in just the first
episode of the crossover was shocking.
Episode 2: Batwoman
The funny thing about episode two is that while this is a
Batwoman episode, Superman was being prominently featured in this episode. I
actually thought that Brandon Routh’s Kingdom Come Superman and Tom Welling’s
Smallville would be featured in the Supergirl episode, but both of these come
backing Supermen were the highlight of this episode. Even the scene stealing
Kevin Conroy (the voice of the Batman animated series) as a depressed,
hopeless, and a dark take of Bruce Wayne could not totally shift the focus of
this episode in favor of the Batman family because Conroy’s Batman eventually
became the villain in the decades old Batman v.s. Superman debate by killing
his Earth’s Superman. The epic Superman v.s. Superman showdown of Tyler
Hoechlin and Brandon Routh’s Supermen is probably the best sequence in this
entire crossover for Superman fans like me. And if you are a longtime Smallville
fan, then the poignant Tom Welling’s depowered Clark Kent smacking an annoying
Lex Luthor of Supergirl’s Earth with a single depowered punch should serve as a
very satisfying ending to a version of Superman who for all his existence
yearned to be just being normal. And that Brandon Routh Clark Kent and Brandon
Routh Ray Palmer meeting? That was just so priceless. The episode also revealed
to us four of the Paragons, namely, Supergirl the Paragon of Hope, Superman the
Paragon of Truth, White Canary the Paragon of Destiny, and Batwoman (in lieu of
Batman) the Paragon of Courage, who shall serve as the best chance in stopping
the Anti-Monitor’s plan to erase all of existence. And oh, the Anti-Monitor is
finally shown in all its full glory when he revealed himself to Harbinger. I
personally pick Episode 2 as the best of all the episodes, and it is quite
obvious why. The only thing that’s keeping me from giving it a perfect score is
the absence of Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. They would have been the perfect
choice for that Earth-75 Newsflash where Lex manages to kill that Earth’s
Superman, and recreating a panel from the comic book where Lois is crying over
a dead Superman.
Episode 3: The Flash
Too much awesome scenes in the previous two episodes that I
easily forgot Oliver Queen A.K.A The Green Arrow. Amidst all of those universe
shattering, Oliver Queen is resurrected via the Lazarus Pit, this time with an
appearance of Jonah Hex as the Pit’s watchman. Though the body is resurrected,
Queen’s soul was nowhere to be found. Constantine, Mia, and Diggle seeks the
help of Lucifer in trying to find a way to regain Queen’s soul. Which, they
could possibly find in the purgatory. But
this is a Flash episode so naturally this is going to give focus on the Flash.
This episode finally wrapped up the adventures of the 90’s TV series Flash of
John Wesley Shipp in a short but sweet moment. Like in the comic books, a Flash
would die in this CRISIS, and it was long been prophesied since the first
episode of The Arrowverse Flash that he would die in a CRISIS. But the 90’s
Flash took his place, sacrificing his life to destroy the cosmic treadmill that
was powering the Anti-Matter cannon. This episode also formally brought Black
Lightning to the Arrowverse when his Earth was destroyed by the Anti-Matter
wave. We are also treated to a short inspiring speech by Brandon Routh’s
Superman, though the adventures done by him and the other heroes happened
off-screen. The opening scene of this Episode also brought back the short lived
2000s Birds of Prey T.V. series as headlined by Ashley Scott as the Huntress,
as one of the Earths destroyed. The final three Paragons are also revealed in
this episode namely, Martian Manhunter as the Paragon of Honor, Ryan Choi as
the Paragon of Humanity, and The Flash as the Paragon of Love. When Pariah
transported the seven Paragons to the Vanishing Point amidst the destruction of
their Earth and the entire heroes with it, I was giddy and excited that Brandon
Routh’s Superman would be a part of the Seven Paragons who would make the last
stand against the Anti-Monitor. But alas, not all good things would last as the
treacherous Lex Luthor erases Superman from existence and put himself in place
by putting his name on the book of destiny. I was left disappointed as the
Christmas Holiday break came. I was hoping Routh’s Superman would have a bigger
role to play in this crossover. But I was still hoping he’d come back by the
fourth and fifth episode come New Year 2020.
The long holiday break kind of slowed down the hype of this
crossover and slowly lost its luster. The cliffhanger for Episode 3 provided a
very intriguing ending, and Episode four finally told the tale of Mar Novu, The
Monitor, and how the Anti-Monitor came to existence. If it took us almost a
month to wait for the next episode to come, the heroes’ even took a longer
month to be stranded in the vanishing point. The fates would somehow change
however when Oliver Queen met Jim Corrigan in the Purgatory. Corrigan, the
former vessel of the spiritual being the Spectre, transfers his powers to
Oliver Queen, transforming him to become the new Spectre. Oliver with his new
powers saves the superheroes from the Vanishing Point, setting up the final
showdown with the Monitor at the dawn of time. I think the Episode was saved by
the surprise appearance of the DCEU’s Flash. Ezra Miller’s top secret appearance
proved to be the highlight of this whole crossover as the TV Universe finally
found a way to interact with Zack Snyder’s DCEU movie universe. I didn’t quite
enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed Episode 2 and 3. Maybe it’s because
Brandon Routh’s Superman never came back to reclaim his place as the Paragon of
Truth. And also, being just a T.V.
series, of course it is too much to ask for an Epic final battle that could
rival a big screen Superhero movie. But for its standard as a T.V. series
episode, the quality of the final battle is still epic in its own way
considering the monetary budget concerns.
Episode 5: DC Legends of Tomorrow
So while the heroes won their battle in the dawn of time, it
cost them the life of Oliver Queen. The sacrifice of Oliver Queen’s life to
restore what is left of the universe showed us the merging of the Arrowverse
worlds. Supergirl, The Flash, DC Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Black Lightning,
and Batwoman now shares the same universe. And though the heroes thought that
their fight is over, the Anti-Monitor struck again to make his final stand. But
the united heroes of Earth Prime were just too strong for the Anti-Monitor to
beat. And the aftermath of the battle would birth the Arrowverse’s version of
the Justice League (or is it the Superfriends?) in honor of The Green Arrow.
Superman, Supergirl, Flash, White Canary, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Martian
Manhunter, and Black Lightning is Arrowverse’s big seven. And as a final gift
to the DC Comics Live Action Universe fans, we are given a glimpse of the old
and new worlds that lived and restored by Oliver’s Death. Namely, the upcoming
adventures of Earth 2 Stargirl and the Justice Society of America, Earth 12 the
Green Lantern Universe, Earth 19 from the short lived Swamp Thing series, Earth
9 Titans which was restored after being wiped out by the Anti-Matter wave in
Episode 1, Earth 21 from the surprisingly successful Doom Patrol TV series, and
Earth 96 Brandon Routh Superman which paid homage to the Christopher Reeve
movies by reenacting its flying on the Earth’s orbit scene. This particular
scene means that Routh’s Superman has finally found his happy ending, with his
S Shield restored to its traditional colors in lieu of the Red Black Kingdom
Come S Shield. The Reeve/Routh Superman has finally bowed out from the
audiences. A fitting scene that reminds us of the Superman movie of both
actors.
Overall I think the COIE crossover was a success. It was
truly a great fan service to all the fans who love the various DC Universe
iterations in both live action and animated form. As a Superman fan, I found
the Superman scenes very good, too good in fact to leave me wanting for more.
Of course Dean Cain’s appearance would have made everything perfect, but it is not
that huge of an issue for me. Also in the midst of the crossover, it was
announced that CW has given a go signal for Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman to have
his own TV series. This is not a good sign for Henry Cavill fans as this
probably means that we won’t be getting any Superman in the big screen. Will
Hoechlin’s version do? Well I would have preferred if they instead gave the
show to Brandon Routh’s version of Superman. After all, Routh has not been
renewed as the Atom in the DC Legends of Tomorrow series. And with the kind of
ending his Superman was given in the crossover, for sure there definitely are
more stories to tell. But then again I guess one has to move on from a certain
iteration of the character if indeed as a fan we want these characters to
expand and be more relevant to the times. If I can’t move on from the
Brandon/Chris Reeve Superman, then I’m no different from those who didn’t like
Henry Cavill’s take on the Man of Steel. But will Hoechlin do? His Superman had
always taken a backseat to Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl because it is
Supergirl’s show. Now that he has been given his own series, will Hoechlin step
up to the plate? Only time will tell.
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