REVIEW: ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ Part One

Worlds will live, worlds will die, and the Arrowverse will never be the same. That’s right, the annual Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths, has officially begun. For those who aren’t familiar with the original Crisis on Infinite Earths story, it was a miniseries created by Marv Wolfman and Geroge Pérez. It served as a way to clean up DC Comics’ continuity and have all their heroes be on one earth rather than exist throughout multiple earths. The story saw heroes from all over the multiverse teaming up with The Monitor. They try to save the entire multiverse from being destroyed by the Anti-Monitor.

With this year’s crossover being a continuation from last year’s crossover, Elseworlds, fans of the Arrowverse shows have been waiting a long time fo this moment. The numerous trailers and tv spots only increased my excitement for this monumental crossover. Much like the plot of the comic miniseries, heroes from Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and other universes will team up with The Monitor to stop the Anti-Monitor from destroying the Multiverse. This crossover is broken up into five parts. The Supergirl episode just aired, while the Batwoman and Flash episodes will air this week. The remaining episodes will air in January.

Spoilers begin below

The episode opens with The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) narrating how the multiverse was created and recaps the events that have been leading up to this moment. We’re then taken through several earths that are being destroyed by the anti-matter wave. On Earth 38, Kara (Melissa Benoist) saves the city from Spike, the dragon that she fought earlier this season. Suddenly, the sky starts turning red and the earth begins to shake. Back at the DEO, J’onn (David Harewood) informs Kara, Brainy (Jesse Rath) and Alex (Chyler Leigh) about The Monitor’s warning he got in last week’s episode. They then witness the destruction of Argo City, the planet where Clark (Tyler Hoechlin), Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch), and Kara’s mom (Erica Durance) live.

They’re soon joined by Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson), who has been recruiting heroes to deal with the incoming crisis. She brings Barry (Grant Gustin), Kate (Ruby Rose), Ray (Brandon Routh), Oliver (Stephen Amell), Mia (Katherine McNamara), Sarah (Caity Lotz), Clark, and Lois. The team comes up with a plan to stop the anti-matter wave that’s heading straight for Earth 38 with the help of The Monitor’s quantum towers. Lois, along with Brainy and Sarah, travels to the year 2046 on Earth 16 to rescue her baby that was sent in a pod before Argo was destroyed. However, the team will soon realize just how high the stakes are in what can only be described as the toughest challenge that any of them have faced.

Though immense odds are stacked against them, the heroes came together in quick succession. Most of them already knew each other, which helps in a situation like this, but Kate and Mia were complete outsiders. I would’ve figured that their transition into working with so many heroes would’ve been difficult, but they fit quite well into the team dynamic. With this crossover already being stacked, it wouldn’t have made much sense to add another plot point about their inability to work with the others. Saving the multiverse is their main priority, which leaves little room for those kinds of scenes. I’m interested in seeing how further events affect them both.

With this being Arrow‘s final season, I was worried that Sarah and Oliver wouldn’t get some sort of moment to say goodbye. The affair that they had on the Queen’s Gambit is what started all of these events back during Arrow‘s first season. Had they not gone away and been lost at sea, none of this would’ve happened. They had such a heartwarming and emotional scene that I wasn’t expecting but I’m glad it happened. It showed just how far they’ve come not only as heroes but as human beings. Though the way their conversation plays out is a bit odd, it still carries an overall tone of sentimentality.

With every crossover event they do, I can see the natural progression of the fight scenes they include. Before today, my favorite fight scene was during the final battle in Elseworlds. However, the battle between the heroes and the Anti-Monitor’s shadow demons was incredible. Seeing them work together in such a short amount of time was fantastic. Ray and Kate, who have never met each other, worked together well in one of my favorite moments from this episode. It’s a brief scene, but I was impressed with how it was handled. It felt like watching the version of the Justice League that we were meant to get from the DCEU films, which gives me hope that the rest of the episodes in this crossover will be just as great.

Many guest stars were announced to be a part of this year’s crossover. One of those stars was Burt Ward, who made his appearance in this episode. He was shown on Earth 66 and reprised his role as Dick Grayson from the original Batman tv series. Earth 89 was also shown, with Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl), from Tim Burton’s Batman films, sitting on a bench hoping that Batman knows what’s going on. The Ray (Russell Tovey), from Earth X, also made a brief appearance. There was one final cameo, which I won’t go into too much detail about, that completely blew me away since I had no idea it was going to happen. It will surprise other viewers as well since it expands the Arrowverse even more.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching the first part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. With the odds stacked against them, and after the serious ramifications of this episode, it’ll be interesting to see how the team adapts. There were many callbacks to the original Crisis comic, which were great to see. I’m blown away with how they were able to kick off this once-in-a-lifetime event. I can’t see any other television property accomplish something like this.

The first part of the crossover is available to watch on the CW app. Supergirl is on its midseason break but will be back in January 2020. Crisis Part 2 airs on CW December 9th.