Arrowverse's 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' Is an Overhyped Mess

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.