The crossover to finish all the arrowhead crossovers is imminent. Next week, the CW will broadcast the first half of its adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths and bring all its heroes together to save the multiverse. There are six shows here, some of them more involved than others. Here’s what you need to know to get into the crisis!
How to observe the crisis on infinite earths
Like Arrowverse’s previous Crossovers, Crisis on Infinite Earths airs over several nights in The CW, with the first three being aired in the same week. Supergirl’s episode will be the first part of the crossover on Sunday, 8th December at 8pm. Parts two and three will air on Monday, December 9, at 8pm as episodes of Batwoman. and The Flash on Tuesday, December 10th at 8pm.
Parts 4 and 5 of Crisis, episodes of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, will air on January 14th. If you do not have a cable, do not be afraid – you can watch every crisis-specific episode on their respective shows the day after they air, if you have the CW app.
Can I get a summary of the pre-crisis on infinite Earths?
For Crisis, the two shows you know best are the ones that created this universe: Arrow and The Flash. Both shows have laid the foundation for everything this season.
During last year’s transition to Elseworlds, a cosmic unit called Monitor came to Earth-1 to prepare their heroes for an impending crisis. To save Flash and Supergirl’s life, Oliver Queen has completed a deal with the Monitor that would help save the Multiverse when it is summoned. But then, as always, the Scarlet Speedster played around with time and complicated things for everyone else.
The very first episode of The Flash in 2014 ended with a joke that would make Barry Allen disappear during the April 2024 crisis. In his fifth season, Nora Allen, Barry’s adult daughter from the year 2040, came to this day to spend time her father. In doing so, she changed the timeline, deleting herself accidentally and accelerating the original date of the crisis. It would now take place in December 2019, with Earth-1 (the primary earth for the Arrowverse shows) becoming the final battlefield. And as Barry later learned, the only way for all to survive was to sacrifice his life.
The monitor has become a recurrent character in the eighth and final season of Arrow. Not long after the finale of the final season, not long after the birth of Oliver Queens daughter Mia, the cosmos arrived at the vigilante’s house to win him a fight to save the multiverse. Like Barry, Oliver is expected to die in the upcoming battle, but he agreed to maintain his end to the deal. Ever since, Oliver has been collecting items for the monitor together with John Diggle and the Earth 2 version of Laurel Lance to help with the impending crisis. Later, as the Cosmos carried adults, 2040 versions of Oliver’s children Mia and William and Diggle’s adoptive son Connor Hawke were brought into the present so Oliver could spend time with his family before his death was imminent.
The monitor also appeared in the last season finals of Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl. As he appeared in the crazy legends to eat circus spur and watch the traveling heroes turn themselves into idiots, his time with Supergirl was more serious. He found Lex Luthor’s body to revive him until the day of the crisis. He claimed that the universe needed Lex’s mind.
Everything is there and everyone knows what’s coming.
Katie Yu / The CW
What happens after the crisis on infinite earths?
The crisis will certainly leave its mark on the arrow side, but no one in the CW has commented on it. So far, it has only been made clear that Barry will be dead and The Flash will continue without him, although you can imagine that it will not be long before he comes back. And there are a few concrete facts about the rest of the Arrowverse.
After this crossover at least two new shows are born. The penultimate episode of Arrow and her first episode of Crisis will be a backdoor pilot for a spin-off called Green Arrow & the Canaries, which focuses on Oliver’s daughter Mia. Another planned spin-off is Superman & Lois with the Supergirl versions of Lois Lane and Man of Steel.
If the Arrowverse version of Crisis on Infinite Earths remains true to the source material, all shows from here will be held in a single universe. So far, Supergirl and Black Lightning have been the runaways in this regard – the earlier series plays on Earth-38 because of their origins as a CBS show. In contrast, Black Lightning has never definitely stated which earth it is on. It is possible that Black Lightning will remain in its own pocket world, but it is likely that Supergirl will become another part of Earth-1, making it easier to describe the frequent transitions of the series.
Of course, we will not know for sure until the crisis begins on the infinite earth!
