Crisis on Infinite Earths (Arrowverse)

"Crisis on Infinite Earths" is the sixth Arrowverse crossover event, featuring episodes of Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow on The CW. The Supergirl, Batwoman, and The Flash episodes aired in December 2019 while the Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow episodes aired in January 2020. The events of the Black Lightning episode "The Book of Resistance: Chapter Four: Earth Crisis" (which aired between Batwoman and The Flash) and a two-issue comic book with characters and concepts unused in the live-action episodes also tied into the event.

"Crisis on Infinite Earths", inspired by the comic of the same name, continues plotlines established in the previous crossover, "Elseworlds". The preceding episodes of Arrow season eight and much of The Flash season six serve as a prelude to the crossover. In "Crisis", the Monitor gathers Green Arrow, the Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, Sara Lance, Ray Palmer, and several others from throughout the multiverse to stop the Anti-Monitor from destroying reality. The crossover's events result in some aspects of the Arrowverse being rebooted, affecting all of the series.

Initial references to the crossover began in 2014 with The Flash's pilot episode. The adaptation began in earnest during the development of "Elseworlds", and the crossover's title was revealed at the end of "Elseworlds" in December 2018. Casting was announced in mid-2019 and included actors who previously portrayed DC characters in other media, such as Burt Ward and Kevin Conroy. Cress Williams from Black Lightning crossed over with the Arrowverse for the first time, and other actors reprised their roles from various DC films and television series. The event was filmed from the end of September to the beginning of November 2019.

"Crisis on Infinite Earths" was met with positive reviews from critics, with praise for its scope, ambition, and cameos, though the fate of Oliver Queen had a mixed reception. The crossover proved popular, as each episode gave season-high ratings to its corresponding series. A two-episode aftershow, Crisis Aftermath hosted by Kevin Smith, aired after parts one and three to explore the crossover's events. "Crisis on Infinite Earths" was intended to be followed by a crossover between Batwoman and Superman & Lois in 2021, but this did not occur because of the COVID-19 pandemic, being replaced informally by David Ramsey appearing as John Diggle on multiple Arrowverse series. The next crossover, "Armageddon", occurs over the first five episodes of the eighth season of The Flash in November and December 2021.

Synopsis

Prelude

To prepare for the coming crisis, the Monitor recruits Oliver Queen and Martian Manhunter and sends the former on missions to collect a variety of items, while he retrieves the body of Lex Luthor and revives him. Meanwhile, Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen learn that the crisis date has moved up to December 2019 and that the Flash must die to save billions of lives. Barry travels to Earth-3 to see Jay Garrick and Joan Williams, who have been tracking antimatter signatures across the multiverse, to learn more about what happens to him. They send Barry's mind forward in time, making him see billions of timelines where the multiverse is destroyed and one where he dies saving it.

While on a mission, Oliver witnesses the destruction of Earth-2 from an antimatter wave. In Star City, William Clayton, Connor Hawke, and Mia Smoak time-travel from 2040 to the present, while Oliver and John Diggle learn that Lyla Michaels has been working with the Monitor. Moments before the crisis begins, Nash Wells is pulled into a chamber under Central City after he is promised a new life. As the crisis starts, the sky over Central City and Lian Yu turns red. Lyla, now a "harbinger of things to come", collects Oliver and Mia on Lian Yu.

On an unspecified Earth, the sky also turns red over Freeland and adversely reacts to Jennifer Pierce's powers, tearing her between her Earth and those of two of her doppelgängers. As the Pierce family and Peter Gambi try to bring her back, the antimatter wave overtakes them while Jefferson Pierce is transported away.

Plot

Having already destroyed countless parallel universes, the antimatter wave makes its way to Earth-38. Brainiac 5 detects the wave approaching Argo City, prompting Kara Danvers to warn her mother Alura Zor-El, her cousin Clark Kent, and his wife Lois Lane. Clark and Lois send their son, Jonathan, off in an escape pod just before the wave hits. Harbinger brings Oliver, Mia, Barry, Kate Kane, Sara Lance, and Ray Palmer to Earth-38 and rescues the Kents from Argo. As Harbinger briefs the heroes on the situation, the Monitor raises a tower to impede the wave while the DEO and Lena Luthor evacuate Earth-38's inhabitants. Brainy finds Jonathan's pod on Earth-16, so he, Lois, and Sara leave to retrieve him while the others fight the Anti-Monitor's forces. Preparing to die, Oliver passes the Green Arrow mantle to Mia. When he learns that Barry is fated to die, however, he argues with the Monitor about their deal. The heroes fight an army of Shadow Demons until the Monitor breaches them off-world. Refusing to leave, Oliver nullifies the Monitor and stays behind to protect the exodus. Lois' team returns to Earth-1 with Jonathan just as the Monitor brings a dying Oliver to say goodbye. Nash, now a "Pariah" for releasing the Anti-Monitor, announces that events have changed and all is lost.

Harbinger recruits Earth-74's Mick Rory so the heroes can use his Waverider as their headquarters. Following Oliver's death, the Monitor consults the Book of Destiny and learns about four of seven Paragons: Hope (Kara); Destiny (Sara); Truth (a Superman who has suffered "more than any mortal man"); and Courage (the "Bat of the Future"). Clark, Lois, and Iris locate the second Superman on Earth-96, where Lex uses the Book of Destiny to brainwash that Earth's Clark until Lois knocks Lex out. Kara and Kate travel to Earth-99, but fail to recruit its Batman after discovering he murdered his world's Superman while Sara, Barry, Mia, and John Constantine take Oliver to a Lazarus Pit on Earth-18 in an attempt to resurrect him, only to learn his soul is missing. On the Waverider, the Monitor has Ray build a "Paragon Detector", which identifies Kate as the Paragon of Courage. Elsewhere, Harbinger is secretly contacted by the Anti-Monitor.

The Paragon detector identifies Barry as the Paragon of Love, J'onn J'onzz as the Paragon of Honor, and Ivy Town scientist Ryan Choi as the Paragon of Humanity; Iris, Ray, and Ralph Dibny leave to recruit Choi. After the Monitor restores Cisco Ramon's powers, he, Barry, and Caitlin Snow meet Pariah in the Anti-Monitor's chamber and find an anti-matter cannon powered by Earth-90's Flash. When Cisco frees Barry-90, the cannon goes critical, so Pariah recruits Jefferson from his recently destroyed Earth to contain its energy. Barry-1 volunteers to destroy it, but Barry-90 stops him, saying that the Monitor did not specify which Flash would die, and sacrifices himself in his place. Meanwhile, Constantine, Mia, and Diggle visit Lucifer on Earth-666 for help entering purgatory and retrieving Oliver's soul. Before they can leave, a Spectre named Jim Corrigan appears and beckons Oliver to come with him, forcing Constantine's team to return to the Waverider without him. Suddenly, the Anti-Monitor sends a brainwashed Harbinger to kill the Monitor so he can absorb his power and finish destroying the multiverse. Before he is killed, Pariah sends the Paragons to the Vanishing Point, where they witness Lex replace Superman-96 with himself using a Book of Destiny page.

On the planet Maltus 10,000 years earlier, Mar Novu attempts to see the birth of the universe, only to end up in the antimatter universe and reveal the multiverse's existence to the Anti-Monitor. Back in the present, following the multiverse's destruction, the Paragons struggle to survive at the Vanishing Point. Once Corrigan teaches him to how use the Spectre's power, Oliver goes to the Vanishing Point to rescue the Paragons and strengthen Barry. Barry drops off Kara, Choi, and Lex on Maltus, but temporarily loses everyone else in the Speed Force after an encounter with the Anti-Monitor. Kara and Choi convince Novu not to implement his plans before Barry takes them and the other Paragons to the dawn of time. There, they learn that the Anti-Monitor will always learn about the multiverse's existence because they only stopped one version of Novu. The Paragons battle the Anti-Monitor and his Shadow Demons until Oliver uses the Spectre's power to restore the multiverse while the Paragons provide help via Lex's page. Despite succeeding, Oliver dies once more, with Barry and Sara at his side.

In the recreated universe, the Paragons discover only they remember the crisis and that Earth-1, Earth-38, and Jefferson's Earth were merged into Earth-Prime, and the multiverse is reborn. J'onn uses his psionic powers to restore their allies' memories while Sara tries to find Oliver. When the Paragons are attacked by Shadow Demons, a restored Nash discovers that the Anti-Monitor is still alive and plans to resume destroying the multiverse. The heroes find the Anti-Monitor and engage him in battle, buying time for Nash, Ray, Barry, and Choi to develop a bomb that shrinks the Anti-Monitor, banishing him to the microverse. Barry, Kara, Sara, Kate, Clark, J'onn, and Jefferson hold a memorial service for Oliver and agree to protect their new world in his memory.