Katie Yu/The CW
You’d think this much leather could beat anything. But “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is proving a challenge for (top row, from left) Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), The Atom (Brandon Routh), Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), (Batwoman) Ruby Rose, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh), The Flash (Grant Gustin), Martian Manhunter (David Harewood), Brainiac 5 (Jesse Rath), (bottom row, from left) Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson), Mia Smoak (Katherine McNamara), White Canary (Caity Lotz), Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Bitsie Tulloch)
By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
Dec. 12, 2019 — The first three episodes of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” have arrived on The CW, part of the five-episode crossover featuring characters from Arrow, Batwoman, Black Lightning, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl. It has lived up to its promise as the biggest TV crossover ever done — in characters, scale and ambition — but also as a cornucopia of Easter eggs for fans of DC comics, TV shows, cartoons and films.
Of course, the entire premise is one gigantic ham-and-cheese omelet of an Easter egg. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is based on the 12-issue, comic book maxiseries of the same name that transformed the DC superhero multiverse into a single universe in 1986. The TV show appears poised to do much the same, and lifts all its significant elements from the comics: Pariah, Harbinger, Monitor, Quantum Towers, red skies, Anti-Monitor, Shadow Demons, anti-matter waves, the lot.
Which doesn’t necessarily mean we know where this is going. For one thing, the comic book “Crisis” killed off the Earth-1 Supergirl and Flash, which is unlikely to happen on TV. For another, a great many elements crucial to the 1980s comic book story are unavailable for the TV show, like literally hundreds of super-powered characters who haven’t yet shown cape or cowl in the Arrowverse.
But let’s not speculate on what’s to come, when there’s so much to discuss from what’s already on our plate. See how many of these Easter eggs you caught:
ALEXANDER KNOX: Robert Wuhl appears on Earth-89 (for 1989, when Batman debuted) as the reporter he played in Tim Burton’s movie. He is seen reading the Gotham City Gazette, the newspaper for which Knox (and Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale) worked. Danny Elfman’s theme from the movie plays in the scene, and Anton Furst’s set design of Gotham City can be seen in the background.
BIRDS OF PREY: Ashley Scott cameos as Helena “Huntress” Bertinelli, the character she played on The WB’s Birds of Prey. The series ran 2002-03, which is probably why her planet is named Earth-203.
DOOMSDAY PROTESTER: A guy holds a sign at the beginning of “Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 1” that reads “PREPARE TO MEET THY DOOM/THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH.” The character is played by nerd royalty Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation). That’s not the Easter egg, though. That would be the sign, which is the same one held by a doomsday protester in Superman II (1980).
Katie Yu/The CW
Black Lightning (Cress Williams , right) finally joins the Arrowverse proper, and is welcomed by The Flash of Earth-90. (John Wesley Shipp).
FLASH-90: As loyal Flash fans know, John Wesley Shipp not only plays the father of Earth-1’s Flash (Grant Gustin) and Jay “another Flash” Garrick of Earth-3, but lately he’s been reprising his role as the Scarlet Speedster from the 1990 Flash TV show — which the current show has established as occurring on, naturally, Earth-90. Last year we saw that Earth-90 was completely depopulated except for Barry Allen-90 (as played by Shipp) and he plays an important role in “Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 3.” Fans had to pull out the tissues, though, during a Flash-back scene from 29 years ago, showing Allen-90 and wife Tina McGee (Amanda Pays) when they were young, single and in love. Bonus points if you know Pays plays another version of McGee on Earth-1.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS: The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) refers to the Tome of the Guardians, which is likely a subtle reference to The Book of Oa, which contains the history of the Guardians and the GLC.
JIM CORRIGAN:] Corrigan (Stephen Lobo) shows up in Purgatory in “Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 3” and tells Oliver Queen he’s a former police officer who is now The Spectre, and he knows a better path for Ollie’s spirit than returning with his friends to his resuscitated body. In the comics Spectre is virtually omnipotent — he’s God’s angel of vengeance — but he needs a human host. Hmm. Are there any soulless bodies wandering around “Crisis” at the moment?
JONAH HEX: Johnathon Schaech has appeared a couple of times on Legends of Tomorrow as the scarred gunslinger of the Old West. He appears here on Earth-18 (for 1800s?) without the scar, which is promptly supplied by Sara “White Canary” Lance (Caity Lotz).
JONATHAN KENT: Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois (Bitsie Tulloch) of Earth-38 (for 1938, the year Superman debuted) name their baby Jonathan, which is the name of the couple’s super-son in current comics.
JOR-EL: Superman’s pops doesn’t actually appear, but the scene where he and Lara rocket baby Kal-El from the doomed planet Krypton is re-enacted by Kal-El and Lois on Argo City when they must do the same for baby Jonathan. They even repeat some of Marlon Brando’s dialogue from Superman: The Movie (1978). Bonus points if you know that baby Alexander Luthor Jr. was rocketed away from the doomed planet Earth-3, where Luthor Sr. was a superhero, in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” #1.
LUCIFER: It was a fascinating scene when John Constantine (Matt Ryan) literally had to deal with the devil (Tom Ellis) on Earth-666 (of course). Arrowverse fans could be forgiven if they’ve never seen Lucifer Morningstar before, because Lucy’s never been on The CW before — his show ran three seasons on Fox before moving to Netflix. But he’s an important DC Comics character who arose from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, and he and Constantine have a long history in print.
LUTHOR: Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) calls Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) a “poisonous snake” in “Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 2,” echoing the same line by the Man of Steel in Superman II.
THE RAY: Russell Tovey appears in cameo as Ray “The Ray” Terrill, whom we met in “Crisis on Earth-X,” the 2017 Arrowverse crossover.
THE MONITOR: Just for the record, The Monitor’s monologue at the beginning of “Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 1” is lifted largely from the first page of Crisis on Infinite Earths #1.
Dean Buscher/The CW
Superman and Batman co-stars and best friends for decades in a comic book titled “World’s Finest Comics,” and now Batwoman (Ruby Rose, left) and Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) are establishing a similar vibe.
OLD MAN BATMAN: This one’s sort of a mish-mash. Supergirl and Batwoman (Ruby Rose) go to Earth-99 (for 1999, the year Batman Beyond debuted), and meet an old, bitter Bruce Wayne who is no longer Batman. That’s similar to Batman Beyond, which featured a cranky, retired Bruce Wayne who was even older. But Wayne is played by Kevin Conroy, who first started voicing the Dark Knight in Batman: The Animated Series — the cartoon’s theme song can be heard — and has continued doing so for 27 years. Wayne even uses a line from a B:TAS episode when he quotes Nietzche. But this character is also similar to the Bruce Wayne in Kingdom Come, another famous DC Comics graphic novel, in that he wears an exoskeleton due to decades of injuries. Further, this Wayne’s bloodthirstiness (He killed Superman! And Joker! And Mr. Freeze! And Riddler! And maybe Poison Ivy!) is much more in line with the brutal, 60-year-old Bruce Wayne of Frank Miller’s Batman: Dark Knight Returns, who is blamed for the death of The Joker and battles Superman. He even lifts a few quotes from B:DKR to prove the point (“Clark always said yes to anyone with a badge or a flag.” “Life only makes sense if you force it to.”) And just to show he’s gone full bad guy, he calls kryptonite “a souvenir from the old hometown,” a Luthor quote from Superman: The Movie.
OLD MAN GREEN ARROW: The Legends once traveled to Star City 2046 and met a half-crazed, aging Green Arrow (Stephen Amell). "Crisis” has retroactively set this Legends adventure on Earth-16, likely because it occurred in Season 1, episode 6.
ROBIN THE BOY WONDER: Burt Ward reprises his role as Dick “Robin” Grayson on Earth-66 (for 1966, the year the Batman TV show premiered). The Batman show's theme song plays during the scene. Grayson wears a red, yellow and green sweater (Robin colors), walks a German shepherd (Ace the Bat-Hound) and says “Holy crimson skies of death!” If you’ve never seen the Batman TV show (and why have you not?), take our word for it that this is very much a thing the TV character would say.
STRANGE VISITORS: When Sara and Ray are at a bar’s trivia night, the opposing team is named “Strange Visitors,” a reference to the introduction from the Adventures of Superman radio and TV shows. Old Man Batman actually quotes the whole line: “Strange visitor from another planet, with powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men.” Bonus points if you recognized the quizmaster as Griffin Newman, who played Arthur on Amazon Prime’s The Tick (2017-19).
SUPERMAN-75: Clark and Lois see a dead Superman on the news on Earth-75, named for Superman #75, the 1992 issue in which Superman was killed by Doomsday. The comic’s cover image of Superman’s torn cape billowing like a flag is loosely re-created on the TV.
SUPERMAN-96: Another mish-mash. Brandon Routh played the Man of Tomorrow in Superman Returns in 1996, and returns to the role here on a planet dutifully named Earth-96. That Man of Steel also has a son named Jason, as in the movie. But this Superman wears the Super-suit from Kingdom Come, and The Joker has murdered the Daily Planet staff, again like Kingdom Come. So there’s that. Plus, the Superman: The Movie music plays occasionally, and he says “this is the second time I’ve gone nuts and fought myself” — the first time presumably being in Superman III (1983). Which Superman is he, anyway?
SUPERMAN-167: Tom Welling and Erica Durance reprise their Smallville roles on Earth-167, named for the birth year of writer/co-showrunner Al Gough (1967). Yes, we hear the Smallville theme and see the Kent farm, plus one of the framed Daily Planet front pages (“Superman Saves the Day”) is from the show. But two of them (“Caped Wonder Stuns City,” “I Spent the Night with Superman”) are from Superman: The Movie. This Superman has given up his super-powers, like the Silver Age Superman (1958-85), who did the same in Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? So smh.
TITANS: Jason “Robin II” Todd (Curran Walters) and Hank “Hawk” Hall (Alan Ritchson) of DCUniverse.com’s streaming show Titans appear on Earth-9. Bonus points if you know Ritchson played Aquaman on Smallville.
That’s enough eggs for this month. We’ve got to work them off before “Crisis” returns Jan. 14!
Find Captain Comics by email (capncomics@aol.com), on his website (captaincomics.ning.com), on Facebook (Andrew Alan Smith) or on Twitter (@CaptainComics).
Replies
...I've often thought that the death of Don Hall, Hawk I, has been the only effect of CRISIS that has: (1) remained unchanged, and refered to by DC characters, and (2) unchanged!!!!!!!!!!!
H&D '68 were admittedly pretty minor characters, and certainly very of their time. That said, I have felt that the still-livu g Hank Hall should be characterized as an older person in a young person's body - still 29usg 59 years later, if not consiously realizing it, somewhat confused at being a 60s Young American for Freedom type still running around in a younger person's body, even though he doesn't exactly uo-fri t realize it.
Aw, c'mon. Ten-Eyed Man is still dead too.
.. Oh. Alright then. Nevermind!!!!!
The Alan Brennert B&B Hawk and Dove story did play with that idea: Hank and Don have aged in real time but their politics haven't changed at all — after all (each brother figures) the voice wouldn't have given him his powers if he wasn't the right side! And it plays well with them being creations of a specific time.