Where there’s a Monitor, there will always be an Anti-Monitor.
And with the Anti-Monitor comes a Crisis. A Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Ever since the pilot of The Flash, Eobard Thawne’s 2024 newspaper article teased the hero’s end in a crisis that involved a heroes-vs-villains battle and red skies. Over the past five years that Crisis has been teased most prominently in that series. One of the most epic examples was in the season 2 finale in which Barry Allen’s Time Remnant sacrificed himself in a manner that echoed his epic 1984 death in destroying the Anti-Monitor’s cannon. Even in the second season of Supergirl, Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) has a moment where he is holding his cousin in his arms in same manner as that epic George Perez cover over the issue that chronicled her demise. The very existence of the Multiverse was a large enough tease. And with the recent crossover Elseworlds event introducing familiar players – The Monitor (LaMonica Garett), Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin), Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), and Psycho Pirate (Bob Frazer), chief among them – the closing moments of the third part of Supergirl brought to fruition the culmination of a five-year wait.
For those who are unaware, Crisis on Infinite Earths, from a business perspective, was an effort on DC’s part in the 1980s to end the conflicting continuities their books propogated by creating an event that resulted in the destruction of the Multiverse and a unified Earth. Further, it’s an event that both saw the demise of Barry Allen, the rise of the Wally West Flash, and the complete wiping away of Supergirl’s existence. Both characters would not return until the early 2000’s. It’s a key moment in the Flash’s history and for the DC Universe in general. The Multiverse itself would not return until Geoff Johns’s 52 miniseries around that period.
In Elseworlds the interdimensional being known as The Monitor was performing natural selection on countless worlds in the search for heroes that could stand up to the looming, undescribed Crisis. Even the very climax echoed the final fates of Kara Zor-El and Barry Allen. And at the end of the third part, a defeated psychiatrist-turned-Arkham-inmate John Deegan (Jeremy Davies) was consoled through a wall by Psycho Pirate, assuring him “Everything as it should be. The stage is set. Worlds will live. Worlds will die. And the universe will never be the same.” A second later, the ten-second tease flashed on the screen:
COMING FALL 2019
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS
The very fact that the effects wizard chose to use the futuristic metallic font of the original comic makes it easy for longtime comics fans to both recognize and get chills. Given that several shows within the CW Arrowverse take place across different realities, the nature of this story could simplify the landscape and bring all series into the same, shared reality. It would certainly make the new World’s Finest team Supergirl and Batgirl easier to collaborate. However, given that both Supergirl and The Flash require Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist, it seems unlikely that the writers would follow that plot to its full adaptation. Given the questionable deal made between The Monitor and Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) could the Grim Reaper’s scythe be sharpened for the Emerald Archer? He did sacrifice himself in the early 90s only to be brought back to life by the then-Spectre Hal Jordan thanks to writer Keven Smith. Time will eventually tell.
