CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths will be complicated - and deadly

The CW has been accelerating its DC universe at a steady pace since it expanded from just the Arrow to include The Flash in 2014. But this fall, the network put the pedal to the metal when it ended its Elseworlds crossover by announcing the next crossover. Crisis on Infinite Earths, a truly legendary story in the DC universe, is coming to television next fall. We don't know much about it, and the CW is going to want to keep it that way for a while, but CW boss Mark Pedowitz gave us a couple morsels as sustenance during the Television Critics Association winter event this week.

The crossover will still air in late fall, and it's been hinted that the preceding episodes will lay the groundwork for it. And that's because this stuff is complex. Pedowitz has previewed the upcoming crossover plans and says it will be the "biggest and most complicated" one the Arrowverse shows have attempted so far.

After last year's Crisis on Earth-X, which involved Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow, it's hard to imagine something more complex. Elseworlds was complex, but it was less about complexity and more about ambition - delivering on the idea of a multiverse with re-writeable realities that exist as more than a reason to let Supergirl and the Flash visit each other for ice cream socials.

Gallery

Speaking to reporters after the event, Pedowitz added that it's likely the crossover will feature a character death that THR says "may be a remix of its comic-book source material."

Crisis on Earth-X was punctuated by the death of Martin Stein, the elder half of Firestorm, but Pedowitz seems to be implying that the death will be a bigger one, which lines up with some of the events from Elseworlds, including Oliver Queen's off-screen conversation with the timeless being known as the Monitor.

With at least nine months to go, we're going to be snatching up every hint that people like Pedowitz and executive producer Greg Berlanti leave us.

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39 comments

NinjaGamer13

February 1, 2019

This is such a shame that this is happening.

No way a CW show will do it justice.

This is the storyline that should be used to do a soft-reset on the DCEU, it's so freaking perfect.

I have to get to work and setup a site to petition for it. Can't hurt and on the chance it helps it could be amazing.

Hunter Zolomon
February 1, 2019
Good luck with that as its going to do jackshit and change nothing.
1. NinjaGamer13
  February 1, 2019
  Might get me some advertising $$$ if nothing else.
  1. Tydeus
    February 19, 2019
    Thats really the only reason behind doing something like that. Like when streamers do those charity streams, if it gets too much attention though the streamers have to give the money to the charity they're raising for lol otherwise nobody will watch them again.
Nahuel Benvenuto
February 1, 2019
If they would have done that in the movies everybody would be complaining about how they are rushing it
Mike 201
February 1, 2019
You know, you are right!! Crisis would have been a great way to reset the DCU on the big screen. Perfect for s reboot!!
AmiRami
February 6, 2019
The DCEU needs a flashpoint reboot rather than a Crisis one, considering WW and Aquaman are now their 2 most popular characters.

Hunter Zolomon

February 1, 2019

Can't wait for this. Its going to be interesting to see who dies, the big deaths were Barry and Kara in the comic but i just can't see that happening in the show, maybe 90's Flash dies and maybe Ollie will die with S8 being a shorter final season.

Ravager
February 1, 2019
I think Barry and Kara will die, Oliver dying seems way too predictable, and unlike the Flash, Arrow isn't usually obvious with its "twists". I can't guarantee that Barry and Kara won't get brought back right away though. I can see it now:
Fans: "No way they'll kill off Flash and Supergirl, they make too much money!"
CW Execs: "I bet they don't think we have the balls to be comic-accurate and kill these characters off, wait until they see this..."
1. Tydeus
  February 19, 2019
  Arrow has always had predictable "twists" tbh, thinking about the Crisis though, you have to go through all of the Crisis like scenes throughout Flash and Supergirl and you have to think to yourself that they wont do them again because reusing things like that is a bit tacky, so they're going to go for a different direction.
  Supergirl Season 2 (?) had Superman hold an unconscious Supergirl mirroring the cover art on issue 7. They even made a poster specific to that episode to actually resemble the Crisis death. A remix, as they say in the article, of this death would be Supergirl holding Superman, but to be fair it wouldnt exactly matter if Supergirl dies because they could then get out that Superman TV series they've apparently wanted.
  During Season 2 (?)'s finale, Zoom wanted to destroy the multiverse and remnant-Barry ran to death (his death in the comics). (I forget the rest of the Flash's Crisis references).
  They'll probably have 90's Flash die like Hunter said, perhaps Nora even sacrifices herself to save Barry. I dont see Ollie dying though but if only one person dies it's probably going to be him since he basically started the universe so his death to "reset" the universe seems like a nice circle. Instead of him dying though, they'll do some soppy "happily ever after" crap with Felicity leaving Arrow to the sidekick characters.Restructure the show somewhat giving us Connor Hawke in present day, and turn Diggle into a Green Lantern lol. Diggle's wife is Harbinger btw, I tend to forget about that.
  The deal with the Monitor wouldn't work anyway.. a life for a life, Ollie giving up his life would only be for one of them and not both, and the fact Ollie is willing to give his life away for theirs will probably give the opposite effect of what he was aiming for, it's probably a trope. You show you're willing to die for others, so you're suddenly the greatest hero who is actually the one who needs to survive.
  1. Ravager
    February 20, 2019
    Predictable twists like having the guy who was supposed to be Vigilante be the main villain of the season, or the one were he was "definitely" ending up with Black Canary? Arrow's twists are anything but predictable. As for the "reusing things", both those examples are mere snippets of the true story. Everyone watching the Flash season 2 finale could tell what they were paying homage to, but they didn't exactly really do it. I really would not be surprised if they executed the story to its full glory.
    1. Tydeus
      February 21, 2019
      Wait, are you saying you didnt see that coming? The only thing I didnt predict is Ollie getting with Felicity, but I saw Laurel as the one who'd die way back when. Stephen Amell said "Maybe vigilante could be a woman" so to me that completely had me thinking Prometheus was anyone but him Adrian Chase. Unless by predictable you mean "This happened in the comics". Which is like the first rule.. dont base movies or tv shows on the comics with the same name.
      Crisis isnt going to be as spectacular and wide scale as the comics, it'll be the Civil War movie equivalent, still fantastic but not exactly the same. I can't wait! I was kinda hoping it'd be an entire season temporarily suspending the other shows while they focus on a huge crisis season. I also hope they get to throw in a lot of the older TV shows for the crossover too:
      Lois and Clark
      Wonder Woman
      Flash (again)
      Smallville
      Perhaps Human Target?
      Supergirl (movie)
      Superman Returns
      Also technically Constantine is a completely different version from his NBC counterpart so you could bring over those guys, he could flirt with himself lol. I was also thinking about the Adam West Batman, they wont be able to use Batman but you could make a Batwoman crossover in the same sort of 1960s look with Batwoman in some silly looking costume that has eyebrows painted on lol.
    2. Ravager
      February 22, 2019
      Most people didn't see the Vigilante thing coming, since for instance, Eobard Thawne was still RF, Hunter Zolomon was Zoom etc.
    3. Tydeus
      February 23, 2019
      Arrow has had to change a lot of their characters.. well not had to they just did lol. They were going to have Onomatopoeia but Kevin Smith said it wouldnt work for live action so they went with a character called Mr Blank played by J. August Richards.
      I tend to ignore the comics when watching the shows, using them as a "cheat sheet" never works, and I suppose if you do use them you will be surprised, because they're always completely different lol.
    4. Ravager
      February 24, 2019
      Fair enough, and that Onomatopoeia thing is strange, because Smith recently did a 180 about it, wishing that he could see the character in live action.
    5. Tydeus
      March 2, 2019
      Yeah, he found a way how it could work, and he's yet to direct an episode of Arrow.
    6. Ravager
      March 3, 2019
      I heard it's because an Arrow showrunner really doesn't like him or something.

rodo

February 1, 2019

I love that discreet Easter egg of the Nolan's Bane.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Tydeus
February 19, 2019
It was the most noticable easter egg from the episode tbh. The Shakespeare Bustfrom the 1966's Batman TV show makes a more discreet easter egg, if you remember, the show used to use that as a way to get into the batcave. Or there's also, in this scene, Penguin’s umbrella, Hugo Strange’s sunglasses and the Riddler’s cane.
1. rodo
  February 19, 2019
  I remember that I noticed the Riddler's cane... I know about how noticeable the Bane's mask is, I was just being sarcastic.
  1. Tydeus
    February 21, 2019
    Me too! :P

wrestlilng70

February 1, 2019

It's hilarious how the CW is handling DC properties much better than the DCEU.

Nahuel Benvenuto
February 1, 2019
nop, they both have been mishandled
1. Mike 201
  February 1, 2019
  Not like Nolan’s version was taken off the pages of the comics. Don’t get me wrong, liked his version, but it wasn’t a perfect adaptation. DC/WB doesn’t know how to do that.
  1. Ravager
    February 1, 2019
    Not even Marvel can do a perfect adaptation. The reason is, they don't want to rehash stories beat-for-beat that already happened, I can understand that.
  2. Hunter Zolomon
    February 2, 2019
    Nolan's versions were pretty accurate and the changes what were made were still true to the comics.
    1. Tydeus
      February 19, 2019
      Other than the fact Batman doesnt kill but Bale's Batman does? Honestly those movies were kinda bad, but it's the tone Arrow was trying to go for in season 1 before introducing the world to metahumans.
    2. Hunter Zolomon
      February 19, 2019
      The Nolan movies were kinda bad? Yeah ok haha
    3. Tydeus
      February 21, 2019
      Glad you agree.
    4. Hunter Zolomon
      February 21, 2019
      Yeah i was being sarcastic. Saying the Nolan is trilogy is bad is like saying Citizen Kane is bad or The Lord of the Rings films or Jaws or Empire Strikes Back.
    5. Tydeus
      February 23, 2019
      lol I know that was sarcasm, but I tried to pass it off in my favour.
      The thing is though, people like different things, some like coffee, some like tea etc, and besides I dont like Lord of the Rings either. :)
2. J.K.2019
  February 2, 2019
  Other than Arrow and Supergirl, CW is doing a good job so far.
3. AmiRami
  February 6, 2019
  The arrow-verse has heart. The DCEU does not

Nahuel Benvenuto

February 1, 2019

Make a decent trailer and i *might* consider watching it just out of curiosity

Mike 201

February 1, 2019

Don’t know how they are going to do this if they plan on sticking to the original comic material, seeing Batman played s big part and we don’t have Batman, Both The Flash (Barry) and Supergirl died in Crisis, that can be a very big problem here since they both lead their own shows. Seeing how their version of “Flashpoint” was really their own spin, they may have to do that here to. The only way out is to “kill off” Barry for one or two episodes only and bring him back stronger, yes as a much better fighter. As much as I love this show, I do not like how The Flash just can’t seem to hold his own!!

Ravager
February 1, 2019
If they do that however, Flash will be literally rehashing what happened at the start of Season 4. Man, that show is really rough around the edges right now. It's basically mandatory for the 3rd and 4th seasons of a CW show to be bad, but the Flash is going on three bad seasons in a row. While Arrow Season 5 is arguably it's best. Hell, even Smallville dug itself out of it's rut in season 5.
1. AquamanIsCool
  February 1, 2019
  Season 5 of Arrow was so fucking good.
Tydeus
February 19, 2019
Green Arrow is the Batman of this universe, like he was in the Smallville universe so we've already got that covered. I dont think he'll die but he's more than likely going to leave. It kinda seems silly having a Green Arrow show and a Batwoman show, clearly Batwoman is there to replace Batman like how Supergirl replaces Superman, so it kinda points towards Ollie leaving at some point soon.
The Flash can be replaced too but seeing as how they've been building up the Crisis and him vanishing during it this entire season, I dont see it happening, besides we've already had his Crisis death at the end of season 2 while saving the multiverse. I kinda see Nora dying in the place of Barry, and with Barry surviving they'll probably end up with the Tornado Twins Don and Dawn Allen (Reverse Flash calls Nora "Dawn"). Plus if you think about it, since the Crisis happens in 2019, if the Flash was to die/vanish then Nora is never born, her screwing with the timeline is what brought it to 2019 so in theory, she caused herself to not be born. Knowing she screwed up, she's going to fight Reverse Flash and sacrifice herself with the little life she has left.
Supergirl can be replaced by Superman but the show is too much of a feminist icon or whatever so a lot of people will be upset if the show gets replaced by a male version. Can you imagine the uproar? lol. I like Supergirl but I cant help but think that Superman would make a better show, especially if he hangs around with J'onn J'onzz.

J.K.2019

February 2, 2019

Looking forward to it.

NinjaGamer13
February 1, 2019
This is such a shame that this is happening.
No way a CW show will do it justice.
This is the storyline that should be used to do a soft-reset on the DCEU, it's so freaking perfect.
I have to get to work and setup a site to petition for it. Can't hurt and on the chance it helps it could be amazing.
1. Hunter Zolomon
  February 1, 2019
  Good luck with that as its going to do jackshit and change nothing.
  1. NinjaGamer13
    February 1, 2019
    Might get me some advertising $$$ if nothing else.
    1. Tydeus
      February 19, 2019
      Thats really the only reason behind doing something like that. Like when streamers do those charity streams, if it gets too much attention though the streamers have to give the money to the charity they're raising for lol otherwise nobody will watch them again.
2. Nahuel Benvenuto
  February 1, 2019
  If they would have done that in the movies everybody would be complaining about how they are rushing it
3. Mike 201
  February 1, 2019
  You know, you are right!! Crisis would have been a great way to reset the DCU on the big screen. Perfect for s reboot!!
4. AmiRami
  February 6, 2019
  The DCEU needs a flashpoint reboot rather than a Crisis one, considering WW and Aquaman are now their 2 most popular characters.
Hunter Zolomon
February 1, 2019
Can't wait for this. Its going to be interesting to see who dies, the big deaths were Barry and Kara in the comic but i just can't see that happening in the show, maybe 90's Flash dies and maybe Ollie will die with S8 being a shorter final season.
1. Ravager
  February 1, 2019
  I think Barry and Kara will die, Oliver dying seems way too predictable, and unlike the Flash, Arrow isn't usually obvious with its "twists". I can't guarantee that Barry and Kara won't get brought back right away though. I can see it now:
  Fans: "No way they'll kill off Flash and Supergirl, they make too much money!"
  CW Execs: "I bet they don't think we have the balls to be comic-accurate and kill these characters off, wait until they see this..."
  1. Tydeus
    February 19, 2019
    Arrow has always had predictable "twists" tbh, thinking about the Crisis though, you have to go through all of the Crisis like scenes throughout Flash and Supergirl and you have to think to yourself that they wont do them again because reusing things like that is a bit tacky, so they're going to go for a different direction.
    Supergirl Season 2 (?) had Superman hold an unconscious Supergirl mirroring the cover art on issue 7. They even made a poster specific to that episode to actually resemble the Crisis death. A remix, as they say in the article, of this death would be Supergirl holding Superman, but to be fair it wouldnt exactly matter if Supergirl dies because they could then get out that Superman TV series they've apparently wanted.
    During Season 2 (?)'s finale, Zoom wanted to destroy the multiverse and remnant-Barry ran to death (his death in the comics). (I forget the rest of the Flash's Crisis references).
    They'll probably have 90's Flash die like Hunter said, perhaps Nora even sacrifices herself to save Barry. I dont see Ollie dying though but if only one person dies it's probably going to be him since he basically started the universe so his death to "reset" the universe seems like a nice circle. Instead of him dying though, they'll do some soppy "happily ever after" crap with Felicity leaving Arrow to the sidekick characters.Restructure the show somewhat giving us Connor Hawke in present day, and turn Diggle into a Green Lantern lol. Diggle's wife is Harbinger btw, I tend to forget about that.
    The deal with the Monitor wouldn't work anyway.. a life for a life, Ollie giving up his life would only be for one of them and not both, and the fact Ollie is willing to give his life away for theirs will probably give the opposite effect of what he was aiming for, it's probably a trope. You show you're willing to die for others, so you're suddenly the greatest hero who is actually the one who needs to survive.
    1. Ravager
      February 20, 2019
      Predictable twists like having the guy who was supposed to be Vigilante be the main villain of the season, or the one were he was "definitely" ending up with Black Canary? Arrow's twists are anything but predictable. As for the "reusing things", both those examples are mere snippets of the true story. Everyone watching the Flash season 2 finale could tell what they were paying homage to, but they didn't exactly really do it. I really would not be surprised if they executed the story to its full glory.
      1. Tydeus
        February 21, 2019
        Wait, are you saying you didnt see that coming? The only thing I didnt predict is Ollie getting with Felicity, but I saw Laurel as the one who'd die way back when. Stephen Amell said "Maybe vigilante could be a woman" so to me that completely had me thinking Prometheus was anyone but him Adrian Chase. Unless by predictable you mean "This happened in the comics". Which is like the first rule.. dont base movies or tv shows on the comics with the same name.
        Crisis isnt going to be as spectacular and wide scale as the comics, it'll be the Civil War movie equivalent, still fantastic but not exactly the same. I can't wait! I was kinda hoping it'd be an entire season temporarily suspending the other shows while they focus on a huge crisis season. I also hope they get to throw in a lot of the older TV shows for the crossover too:
        Lois and Clark
        Wonder Woman
        Flash (again)
        Smallville
        Perhaps Human Target?
        Supergirl (movie)
        Superman Returns
        Also technically Constantine is a completely different version from his NBC counterpart so you could bring over those guys, he could flirt with himself lol. I was also thinking about the Adam West Batman, they wont be able to use Batman but you could make a Batwoman crossover in the same sort of 1960s look with Batwoman in some silly looking costume that has eyebrows painted on lol.
      2. Ravager
        February 22, 2019
        Most people didn't see the Vigilante thing coming, since for instance, Eobard Thawne was still RF, Hunter Zolomon was Zoom etc.
      3. Tydeus
        February 23, 2019
        Arrow has had to change a lot of their characters.. well not had to they just did lol. They were going to have Onomatopoeia but Kevin Smith said it wouldnt work for live action so they went with a character called Mr Blank played by J. August Richards.
        I tend to ignore the comics when watching the shows, using them as a "cheat sheet" never works, and I suppose if you do use them you will be surprised, because they're always completely different lol.
      4. Ravager
        February 24, 2019
        Fair enough, and that Onomatopoeia thing is strange, because Smith recently did a 180 about it, wishing that he could see the character in live action.
      5. Tydeus
        March 2, 2019
        Yeah, he found a way how it could work, and he's yet to direct an episode of Arrow.
      6. Ravager
        March 3, 2019
        I heard it's because an Arrow showrunner really doesn't like him or something.
rodo
February 1, 2019
I love that discreet Easter egg of the Nolan's Bane.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
1. Tydeus
  February 19, 2019
  It was the most noticable easter egg from the episode tbh. The Shakespeare Bustfrom the 1966's Batman TV show makes a more discreet easter egg, if you remember, the show used to use that as a way to get into the batcave. Or there's also, in this scene, Penguin’s umbrella, Hugo Strange’s sunglasses and the Riddler’s cane.
  1. rodo
    February 19, 2019
    I remember that I noticed the Riddler's cane... I know about how noticeable the Bane's mask is, I was just being sarcastic.
    1. Tydeus
      February 21, 2019
      Me too! :P
wrestlilng70
February 1, 2019
It's hilarious how the CW is handling DC properties much better than the DCEU.
1. Nahuel Benvenuto
  February 1, 2019
  nop, they both have been mishandled
  1. Mike 201
    February 1, 2019
    Not like Nolan’s version was taken off the pages of the comics. Don’t get me wrong, liked his version, but it wasn’t a perfect adaptation. DC/WB doesn’t know how to do that.
    1. Ravager
      February 1, 2019
      Not even Marvel can do a perfect adaptation. The reason is, they don't want to rehash stories beat-for-beat that already happened, I can understand that.
    2. Hunter Zolomon
      February 2, 2019
      Nolan's versions were pretty accurate and the changes what were made were still true to the comics.
      1. Tydeus
        February 19, 2019
        Other than the fact Batman doesnt kill but Bale's Batman does? Honestly those movies were kinda bad, but it's the tone Arrow was trying to go for in season 1 before introducing the world to metahumans.
      2. Hunter Zolomon
        February 19, 2019
        The Nolan movies were kinda bad? Yeah ok haha
      3. Tydeus
        February 21, 2019
        Glad you agree.
      4. Hunter Zolomon
        February 21, 2019
        Yeah i was being sarcastic. Saying the Nolan is trilogy is bad is like saying Citizen Kane is bad or The Lord of the Rings films or Jaws or Empire Strikes Back.
      5. Tydeus
        February 23, 2019
        lol I know that was sarcasm, but I tried to pass it off in my favour.
        The thing is though, people like different things, some like coffee, some like tea etc, and besides I dont like Lord of the Rings either. :)
  2. J.K.2019
    February 2, 2019
    Other than Arrow and Supergirl, CW is doing a good job so far.
  3. AmiRami
    February 6, 2019
    The arrow-verse has heart. The DCEU does not
Nahuel Benvenuto
February 1, 2019
Make a decent trailer and i *might* consider watching it just out of curiosity
Mike 201
February 1, 2019
Don’t know how they are going to do this if they plan on sticking to the original comic material, seeing Batman played s big part and we don’t have Batman, Both The Flash (Barry) and Supergirl died in Crisis, that can be a very big problem here since they both lead their own shows. Seeing how their version of “Flashpoint” was really their own spin, they may have to do that here to. The only way out is to “kill off” Barry for one or two episodes only and bring him back stronger, yes as a much better fighter. As much as I love this show, I do not like how The Flash just can’t seem to hold his own!!
1. Ravager
  February 1, 2019
  If they do that however, Flash will be literally rehashing what happened at the start of Season 4. Man, that show is really rough around the edges right now. It's basically mandatory for the 3rd and 4th seasons of a CW show to be bad, but the Flash is going on three bad seasons in a row. While Arrow Season 5 is arguably it's best. Hell, even Smallville dug itself out of it's rut in season 5.
  1. AquamanIsCool
    February 1, 2019
    Season 5 of Arrow was so fucking good.
2. Tydeus
  February 19, 2019
  Green Arrow is the Batman of this universe, like he was in the Smallville universe so we've already got that covered. I dont think he'll die but he's more than likely going to leave. It kinda seems silly having a Green Arrow show and a Batwoman show, clearly Batwoman is there to replace Batman like how Supergirl replaces Superman, so it kinda points towards Ollie leaving at some point soon.
  The Flash can be replaced too but seeing as how they've been building up the Crisis and him vanishing during it this entire season, I dont see it happening, besides we've already had his Crisis death at the end of season 2 while saving the multiverse. I kinda see Nora dying in the place of Barry, and with Barry surviving they'll probably end up with the Tornado Twins Don and Dawn Allen (Reverse Flash calls Nora "Dawn"). Plus if you think about it, since the Crisis happens in 2019, if the Flash was to die/vanish then Nora is never born, her screwing with the timeline is what brought it to 2019 so in theory, she caused herself to not be born. Knowing she screwed up, she's going to fight Reverse Flash and sacrifice herself with the little life she has left.
  Supergirl can be replaced by Superman but the show is too much of a feminist icon or whatever so a lot of people will be upset if the show gets replaced by a male version. Can you imagine the uproar? lol. I like Supergirl but I cant help but think that Superman would make a better show, especially if he hangs around with J'onn J'onzz.
J.K.2019
February 2, 2019
Looking forward to it.

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CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths will be complicated - and deadly

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