The highly anticipated Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths, kicked off last night with its premiere episode and it gave viewers a glimpse of just how big and complicated it is. The 5-episode multi-series crossover is based on one of DC’s most iconic comic books of the same name. The CW version, however, will be mainly uniting the casts of Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow but will feature cameos from Black Lightning and, finally confirming rumors, Titans.
While not a direct translation of the comic, Crisis on Infinite Earths adapts the same storyline that has the Anti-Monitor as the villain who wants to wipe out the entire multiverse. The original story is very complex and practically redesigned the DC multiverse, something that might just happen as well on screen.
Warning, spoilers for the first episode of Crisis on Infinite Earth will follow. Continue on your own will.
The first episode of Crisis on Infinite Earths shocked viewers with its intensity and gravity. It opened with a montage of various Earths being destroyed by the wave of anti-matter caused by Anti-Monitor. To fans’ surprise, one of the Earths, Earth-6 to be exact, showed Robin and Hawk from the DC Universe show Titans. There are have been long-time rumors about whether or not the Titans universe would merge with the Arrowverse’s multiverse, but now it has been confirmed. With Titans already renewed for a third season, viewers can safely assume that, despite their Earth being wiped out by the anti-matter, there is a lot more to look forward to.
DC Universe shows have been known to be less interconnected than those from The CW but in addition to Titans, the upcoming live-action Stargirl series will also be heavily involved in Crisis on Infinite Earth. Notably, the cameos and callbacks on Crisis are not at all limited to presently airing shows.
Consulting Producer, Marc Guggenheim, says on a DC Comics blog post,
“You’ll see that there are elements from the comic that we’re tipping our hats to,” he continues, “Like the quantum towers (which show up in the Crisis premiere) are from the first couple of issues of the comic. We wanted to nod to those. The scene where Lois and Kal-El put Jonathan in the pod is a nod not just to the origin of Supergirl and Superman, but the moment in Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 where Alexander Luthor is placed in a pod and rocketed off to safety. And then there’s a pretty big nod to the comics in the third hour.”
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a five-part crossover event that started with Supergirl yesterday and continues tonight with Batwoman on December 9th, The Flash on December 10th, and Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on January 14th of next year.