Crisis on Infinite Earths is the sixth annual Arrowverse crossover
event, and loosely based on the ambitious 80’s DC Comics mega-event of the same
name that was masterminded by Marv Wolfman.
It’s a five-part superhero TV special that span across episodes of Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow, in that order, and features the casts of those
aforementioned shows teaming up to stop a nigh-omnipotent cosmic being
called the Anti-Monitor from destroying all of the multiverse – a storyline
that was started in the previous Arrowverse crossover event, Elseworlds.
It also marks the first time that
Black Lightning takes part in an Arrowverse crossover, even though his show is
already on its third season in The CW (the network that produced all these
Arrowverse shows). Moreover, the cross-multiverse
nature of this adventure allows cameos from other DC shows, both current (e.g. Titans, Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing,
Lucifer, and the upcoming Green Lantern show for HBO Max) and old
(1960’s Batman, 1990’s The Flash, Batman: TAS via Kevin Conroy, Birds
of Prey, and Smallville), as well
as from films (e.g. Tim Burton’s Batman,
Superman Returns, and the DCEU).
Considering the reputation of its
source material and the way it was hyped, it’s understandable that I had big
expectations for Crisis on Infinite
Earths going in. Unfortunately, it
mostly failed in delivering gratifying payoffs.
I’m heavily disappointed of what Crisis on Infinite Earths turned out to
be. It had its moments, but it was
underwhelming and messy overall. It had
about a year of build up since, as what had been previously mentioned, it was
something already announced at the end of Elseworlds. Apparently, a year wasn’t enough time to
prepare for it as the final product looked like it lacked vision and budget. The writing was asinine, the execution was all
over the place, much of the dramatic dialogue was laughable (the comedic banters
were okay, though; and the line “You have failed this universe!” by Oliver
Queen/Spectre is so goofy that it’s glorious), the CGI was terrible even for TV
standards, and the set pieces were boring (except for the one with the giant Beebo).
At the very least, I was hoping that
I would finally see the Arrowverse-Smallville
crossover that I had been wishing for since the multiverse was established in
the Arrowverse. That didn’t happen. Instead, Tom Welling’s Clark Kent and Erica
Durance’s Lois Lance got one brief, inconsequential scene, which was not only
pathetic, but infuriatingly detrimental to their legacy (I now understand why Michael
Rosenbaum turned down reprising Lex Luthor).
Save for Brandon Routh’s Superman and maybe Tom Ellis’ Lucifer
Morningstar, none of the special guest characters played a meaningful part in
the plot.
The cameos were fun pieces of fan
service as they happen. But they had no lasting
or cumulative delight. What would I have
wanted to see was Flash, Green Arrow, and Supergirl raising and leading an army
consisting of their regular allies and other heroes from across the DC
multiverse for a climactic final battle a la Avengers: Endgame or at least a la TeenTitans Go! vs. Teen Titans. What we
got instead is a “climactic” battle that was so dull, it never felt climactic.
The Speed Force meeting between
Grant Gustin’s Arrowverse Barry Allen/Flash and Ezra Miller’s DCEU Barry
Allen/Flash was awesome, though. It was
pure comic book-ery, and I appreciate that they were able to keep it a secret
until it happened. Nevertheless, incredible
their interaction might have been, the excitement it incited was fleeting – just
like the other cameos. It would have
been a different case if it had been a proper teamup. Grant Gustin and Ezra Miller showed that they
have tremendous nerdy chemistry, and I really wish they’ll get to share a legit
adventure in the future (Please, please, oh pretty please, DC/Warner Bros./The CW?).
Crisis on Infinite Earths was also an opportunity for me to
encounter Supergirl and Batwoman again (I’ve only been watching and enjoying Arrow and The Flash this current season, and I will also follow Legends of Tomorrow once it gets on with
its run this season). I stopped watching
Supergirl last season, and I only
watched Batwoman’s first two episodes
before I gave up – as both shows are SJW garbage. They are, fortunately, less obnoxious than I
remembered them (to be fair, I never thought Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl was obnoxious,
just her show). However, it was my first
time to see Supergirl’s new pants-ed costume, and it was dreadful to look
at. Meanwhile, Batwoman simply has no
charisma, and yet, her whole characterization is all about being superior to
Batman, which is simply utterly ridiculous.
It was one of my main problems when I checked out her show, and she
brought this to this crossover event.
And thus, at the very best, she didn’t really add anything to whatever
small enjoyment I have of Crisis on
Infinite Earths. At the very worst,
she sucked the life out of most scenes she was in.
In the end, Crisis on Infinite Earths felt like something that was sloppily drawn
up primarily for simplifying the Arrowverse moving forward, as it ended up combining
the settings of the Arrowverse shows into just one – Earth-Prime. Moreover, it established the Justice League
(although, still unnamed as such) in the Arrowverse, and even hinted of
introducing Superfriends’ Gleek and
the Wonder Twins to it in the future.
Now, those are cool and all, but they won’t make up for this event being
a total bummer.
Crisis on Infinite Earths is my least favorite Arrowverse crossover
event so far. And I probably need to
rewatch the Arrowverse’s best crossovers – especially Crisis on Earth-X and the Flash/Supergirl team-ups – to wash off the
bitter feelings it left me.
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