Crisis on Infinite Earths

***Crisis on Infinite Earths*** is the name of the sixth annual Arrowverse crossover event between between Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash (The CW)​​​​​, Arrow, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow. Additionally, events in the Black Lightning episode "The Book of Resistance: Chapter Four: Earth Crisis" , and a two-issue comic, , tie into the crossover. It began over three nights in December 2019 from December 8 to December 10 and concluded on January 14, 2020.

## Synopsis

The "Crisis" event brings together the heroes from multiple Earths to battle against the Anti-Monitor, a godlike villain who threatens to destroy all reality.

## Cast

* Tiahra Allen as Sara Diggle
* Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow/Spectre and Oliver Queen/Green Arrow
* Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels/Harbinger
* Brec Bassinger as Stargirl
* Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson (archive footage)
* Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers/Supergirl
* T.J.Williams as Conner West/Ghost boy and Michael Pierce/Black Superman
* April Bowlby as Rita Farr
* Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance
* Tom Cavanagh as Dr. Harrison Nash Wells/Pariah
* Osric Chau as Dr. Ryan Choi
* Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
* Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor
* Erica Durance as Alura Zor-El and Lois Lane
* Tom Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar
* LaMonica Garrett as Mar Novu/The Monitor and Mobius/Anti-Monitor
* Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog
* Marcello Guedes as John Diggle, Jr.
* Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane
* Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash
* Reina Hardesty as Joslyn Jackam/Weather Witch
* David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter
* Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake/Black Canary
* Raul Herrera as Sargon the Sorcerer
* Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent/Superman and Superman (John Deegan)
* Benjamin and Elias Hogewoning as Jonathan Kent
* Camrus Johnson as Luke
* Pam Kearns as Doris
* Katrina Law as Nyssa al Ghul(archive fotage)}}
* Chyler Leigh as Dr. Alex Danvers
* Stephen Lobo as Jim Corrigan
* Caity Lotz as Captain Sara Lance/White Canary
* Jes Macallan as Ava Sharpe
* Nicole Maines as Nia Nal/Dreamer
* Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk (archive footage)
* Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor
* Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak/Blackstar
* Derek Mears as Earth-19 entity
* Melanie Merkosky as Xneen
* Dina Meyer as Oracle (voice)
* Ezra Miller as Barry Allen
* Wentworth Miller as Leonard (voice)
* Matt Nable as Ra's al Ghul (archive footage)
* Griffin Newman as Trivia host
* Danielle Panabaker as Dr. Caitlin Snow/Frost
* Candice Patton as Iris West-Allen
* Amanda Pays as Dr. Tina McGee(archive footage)
* Eileen Pedde as President of the United States
* Dominic Purcell as Mick Rory and Mick Rory/Heat Wave
* David Ramsey as John Diggle/Spartan
* Jesse Rath as Querl Dox/Brainiac 5
* Alan Ritchson as Hawk
* Ruby Rose as Kate Kane/Batwoman and Kate Kane
* Brandon Routh as Dr. Ray Palmer/The Atom and Clark Kent/Superman
* Matt Ryan as John Constantine
* Hartley Sawyer as Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man
* Johnathon Schaech as Hex
* Ashley Scott as Huntress
* John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen/The Flash
* Azie Tesfai as Kelly Olsen
* Russell Tovey as The Ray
* Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane and Lois Lane's Earth-75 doppelgänger
* Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon/Vibe
* Joivan Wade as Victor Stone
* Curran Walters as Jason Todd/Robin
* Burt Ward as Dick Grayson
* Tom Welling as Clark Kent
* Wil Wheaton as Earth-38 doomsday protestor
* Cress Williams as Black Lightning
* Marv Wolfman as Marv
* Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox
* Nick Zano as Dr. Nate Heywood

## Plot

Ten thousand years ago on the planet Maltus, Mar Novu experiments with time travel to witness the birth of the universe. Instead, Novu is transported to the netherverse at the dawn of time, leading to the creation of the Anti-Monitor.

In the present, having already destroyed multiple Earths, the Anti-Monitor sends an antimatter wave to Earth-38. There, Querl Dox detects a wave approaching Argo City prompting Kara Danvers to warn her mother Alura Zor-El, her cousin Clark Kent and his wife Lois Lane. Clark and Lois safely send their son Jonathan to Earth just before the wave erases Argo. Lyla Michaels, now a Harbinger, recruits Oliver Queen, Mia Smoak, Barry Allen, Kate Kane, Sara Lance, Ray Palmer and the Kents to the D.E.O. on a briefing of the current status of the Crisis as Novu raises a Quantum tower to impede the wave. Meanwhile, Alex Danvers reluctantly works with Lena Luthor to figure out a way to evacuate the Earth's inhabitants to Earth-1. Brainy locates Jonathan's pod on Earth-16, so he, Lois and Sara head to retrieve him while the other heroes fend off the Anti-Monitor's Shadow demon army at the tower. Novu teleports the heroes back to Earth-1 but Oliver refuses to leave so he temporarily nullifies Novu's powers. Eventually, a shadow demon injures Oliver and Novu brings back a dying Oliver to Earth-1 where Sara and Barry say goodbye. Harrison Nash Wells, now a "Pariah" for releasing the Anti-Monitor from his chamber beneath Central City, warns everyone that events have changed and that they are all doomed.

In the wake of Oliver's death, which cannot be undone due to the Anti-Monitor's growing power, Novu consults the Book of Destiny and learns of seven Paragons who can stop the Anti-Monitor. Novu reveals four known paragons that of Kara - the "Paragon of Hope", Sara - the "Paragon of Destiny", a second kryptonian who has suffered "more than any mortal man" - the "Paragon of Truth" and the "bat of the future" - the "Paragon of Courage". Clark, Lois and Iris West-Allen travel to Earth-96 where they recruit that Earth's Superman while Kate and Kara travel to Earth-99 where they find an elderly crippled Bruce Wayne, who Kara discovers he had killed this Earth's Superman leading to a confrontation between the two which results in Bruce-99's death. Meanwhile, Barry, Mia, and Sara get help from John Constantine to revive Oliver's soul. Constantine detects a working Lazarus Pit on Earth-18. There, they revive Oliver but not his soul as the antimatter is blocking them from bringing it back. Later, unbeknownst to everyone, Harbinger is contacted by the Anti-Monitor.

With Cisco Ramon's help, Ray's Paragon detector detects Barry as the "Paragon of Love", Kate as the true "Paragon of Courage", J'onn J'onzz as the "Paragon of Honor" and Ryan Choi as the "Paragon of Humanity". Iris, Ray, and Ralph Dibny head to Ivy Town to recruit a reluctant Choi. Meanwhile, Constantine and Mia, who are joined by John Diggle, travel to Earth-666 to pick up a card from Lucifer Morningstar that takes them to Purgatory. When they find Oliver's soul, they are approached by Jim Corrigan, who passes on the Spectre's powers. After accepting this, Constantine, Mia, and Diggle are sent back to Earth-1. After the Monitor restores Cisco's powers, he, Barry, Caitlin Snow and Nash return to the chamber where they find an antimatter cannon powered by Earth-90 Flash. Cisco frees Barry-90 prompting the canon to go critical. Nash recruits Jefferson Pierce, from another Earth, to maintain the canon. Barry-1 volunteers to destroy the cannon but Barry-90 steps in to take his place, claiming that Novu didn't state which Flash would die in the Crisis. With the cannon destroyed, the heroes regroup at the *Waverider*, where a brainwashed Harbinger appears to wipe out the remaining Earth. Just before she can do so, Nash sends the Paragons to the Vanishing Point on Novu's orders.

Months after the multiverse was destroyed, the Paragons struggle to survive at the Point. Back in Purgatory, Corrigan continues to train Oliver to master the Spectre's power. Oliver then contacts the Paragons and unlocks Barry's full potential. With his strengthened speed, Barry takes Kara, Choi, and Lex to Moltus in the past but loses the Paragons in the Speed Force after the Anti-Monitor attacks them. On Maltus, Kara, Choi, and Lex convince Novu not to go forward with his plan as Barry rescues the other Paragons. The Paragons then battle the Anti-Monitor at the dawn of time until Oliver uses the Spectre's power to defeat the Anti-Monitor and reset the universe by sacrificing himself a second time.

Waking up in a newly restored universe, the Paragons discover they are the only ones who can remember the events of the Crisis. They also learn that Earth-1 has merged with Earth-38 and Jefferson's Earth, later designated as Earth-Prime. J'onn restores their allies' pre-Crisis memories while Sara believes Oliver is still alive but is indeed dead. Later that night, the shadow demons attack the Paragons. A restored and remorseful Nash discovers the Anti-Monitor is still alive so he, Ray, and Ryan create a device that would eternally shrink the Anti-Monitor. During a final battle against the Anti-Monitor, Kara throws the device at him, sending him to the microverse. In memory of Oliver, Barry, Kara, Sara, Kate, Clark, J'onn and Jefferson hold a memorial service as Barry reveals a new base of operations for the team.

## Trivia

* The title of this crossover, *Crisis on Infinite Earths*, is also the title of a limited series published by DC Comics from 1985 to 1986.
* Following Template:Ep and Template:Ep, The CW aired a set of TV specials to promote the crossover and reveal behind the scenes details titled Template:Web.
* This was the first crossover:
	+ Where the title of the crossover was revealed at the end of the previous crossover (Template:Cross​​​​​).
	+ To consist of five episodes.
	+ To have a one-month break between some of the episodes.
		- The break was accounted for within the crossover.
	+ To have major tie-ins with episodes of Template:S and Template:S that aired before the crossover.
	+ To have a tie-in comic book series. The series is titled Template:S. It was two issues long and both issues contained *"an in-canon story that ties directly into the crossover narrative"* and *"characters and concepts that couldn’t be included in the crossover."*
	+ To have an aftershow. The aftershow was titled *Crisis Aftermath*.
* Brandon Routh reprised his role as Superman, having previously portrayed the character in the 2006 film *Superman Returns*. The iteration of Superman that Routh portrayed was the same character but was now based on the *Kingdom Come* storyline.
* All currently airing Arrowverse television series dealt with the fallout from this crossover in the remainder of their current seasons.

## Behind the scenes

* So far, this crossover had the most series regulars absent as there were 16 series regulars who were absent. The series regulars who didn't appear in the crossover were:
	+ Template:S - Template:F, Template:F, and Template:F.
	+ Template:S - Template:F, Template:F, Template:F, and Template:F
		- While Template:F did not make a physical appearance in the crossover, she did portray Beth Kane of Earth-99 in a photo.
	+ Template:S - Template:F and Template:F
	+ Template:S - Template:F and Template:F
	+ Template:S - Template:F, Template:F, Template:F, Template:F, and Template:F.
* Despite Eobard Thawne playing a huge role in Crisis in the original timeline, he did not appear in this crossover. Regarding his absence, Marc Guggenheim said: *"I guess what it really comes down to is not being beholden to a headline from six years ago that was not written by any of the showrunners involved in the crossover. A lot of things drive our stories, and a lot of things determine what choices we make. To me, tracking toward a headline written six years ago is literally the definition of ‘the cart driving the horse.’ We’ve had Reverse-Flash so prominent in the Arrowverse over the years, including in last year's crossover and the crossover before that. I love the character and I love Tom [Cavanagh] as a person, and I certainly love Matt Letscher's version, but you have to make choices."*
* Both Michael Rosenbaum and Alan Ritchson were offered the chance to reprise their roles as Lex Luthor and Aquaman respectively from the television series *Smallville* in this crossover. However, Rosenbaum declined and Ritchson had to decline due to scheduling issues.
	+ Similarly, Cameron Cuffe was offered the chance to reprise his role as Seg-El from the television series *Krypton*. However, like Ritchson, he had to decline due to scheduling issues. He would have portrayed a Kryptonian elder on Argo and appeared in Template:Ep.
	+ Nicolas Cage was also reached out to, presumably to portray a version of Superman, a role he was set to portray in the canceled film *Superman Lives*.
	+ Ritchson did ultimately appear in the crossover, albeit in an uncredited cameo as Hank Hall via archival footage from the television series *Titans*.
* Originally, there were plans to include Psycho Pirate and the Wonder Twins in this crossover. However, those plans were eventually scrapped.
* A team-up between John Constantine and Swamp Thing nearly occurred, but did not happen *"for a variety of different reasons"*.

## References

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pt-br:Crise nas Infinitas Terras

1. ↑ Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) - Twitter
2. ↑ "How The CW's 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' Is Jumping to Comics" - The Hollywood Reporter
3. ↑ "WALMART CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS 100-PAGE GIANT REVEALS MORE DETAILS BEHIND THE CW'S BLOCKBUSTER TV CROSSOVER!" - DC Comics
4. ↑ "Crisis on Infinite Earths” EPs Break Down Part 2 and How the Crossover Impacts the Individual Shows" - Collider
5. ↑ "Black Lightning's China Anne McClain Flirts with Destruction" - DC
6. ↑ "'Crisis on Infinite Earths' Burning Qs Answered!" - TVLine
7. ↑ Michael Rosenbaum (@michaelrosenbum) - Twitter
8. ↑ "Alan Ritchson on ‘Titans’ Season 2, ‘Smallville’, and Why He’s Not in 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'" - Collider
9. ↑ Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) - Twitter
10. ↑ "KRYPTON Star Cameron Cuffe's Unfilmed CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS Cameo Has Finally Been Revealed" - ComicBookMovie
11. ↑ "‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’: Showrunner Marc Guggenheim on Plotting The CW’s Six-Show Crossover Event" - IndieWire
12. ↑ "'Crisis on Infinite Earths' boss answers burning questions about Earth-Prime, Ezra Miller, and more" - Entertainment Weeky
13. ↑ "How ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ Pulled Off Its Ezra Miller Cameo" - Variety
14. ↑ "CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS Almost Included A Constantine/Swamp-Thing Team-Up" - ComicBookMovie