The Lead-Up to The CW's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" - Biggest surprises

General Discussion Movies & TV
#1

I understand that not everyone is a fan of The CW superhero shows, and I can understand that. While I enjoy the shows, they do have their faults. BUT, I think it is safe to say that despite that, most people are looking forward to their biggest event yet - CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, based on the comic story of the same name. While we are still a ways away from it, we have gotten a lot of surprises about what we can expect.

-BLACK LIGHTNING: While we have always suspected that this show was a part of the Arrowverse, it was never fact until it was announced that the show and some of the characters will appear during the 5 part event. Hopefully this means that along with Supergirl’s Earth, the Earth of Black Lightning will merge with the main Earth.

-BRANDON ROUTH: Back in 2006, he took on the Superman mantle for the film “Superman Returns”. While it made for a couple of nice inside jokes in the shows, no one expected him to take on the mantle again. BUT, he isn’t playing the same version. This time, he is playing the older Superman from the “Kingdom Come” story. Fans have been wanting any kind of K.C. adaptation for a while. And now, it seems we will finally get something.

-BURT WARD: The actor that played Robin from the 1960s Batman show is returning for this event. But it is unclear if he will be reprising the same role or a different one all together. Still, it is an awesome tribute/call-out to the show.

-KEVIN CONROY: The voice that has defined the Batman for a lot of people, the famous voice actor is appearing in live action as Bruce Wayne. This brings up a lot of questions about whether if any of the animated shows/movies he acted in is a part of the multiverse, but the fact this is happening at all has got everyone cheering.

-TOM WELLING: Fans have been begging for some sort of crossover with the show “Smallville” for years, despite the fact the show has been off the air for a long time. Well, the producers must have heard them loud and clear because Tom Welling, the actor who played Clark in the long running show, is coming back. And this time, he will be in the actual Superman suit. Erica Durance is also coming back to play her character, Lois Lane.

-ASHLEY SCOTT: You remember the early 2000s show, “Birds of Prey”? It got cancelled after one season. Anyway, the actress Ashley Scott, who played Huntress on the show, is coming back as her old character.

Now, there are a bunch of other stuff that has come up. Lynda Carter MAY come back as Wonder Woman, they casted the second Atom, etc. It seems like everyone from DC’s long past is coming back for this special event. I understand why people may not like The CW shows. But even though I admit their flaws and groan sometimes, I like them more often than not. I really do genuinely enjoy these shows. But with this event becoming a tribute to DC’s long TV past, everyone is now paying attention.

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#2

I was very afraid about this. CW is not known to be the most canonically minded. COIE are some of my favorite stories of all time.

I’m glad that a certain homage is being paid to pet-CWVERSE shows. But, a list of actors does not make a show.

I have less trepidation since they said Marv Wolfman was joining the project.

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#3

I’m torn on merging all of the Earths. Sure, it would make things less complicated (basically the reasoning behind the original Crisis miniseries). But the producers of Supergirl and Black Lightning have done a good job of establishing their own worlds, and I’m not sure how easily they’ll fit into the rest of the Arrowverse. Supergirl’s Earth is home to many aliens who live openly among humans. So does Central City suddenly become a place where everyone knows about aliens, or do all of those aliens suddenly disappear post-Crisis? Black Lightning’s metahumans seem to be pretty rare and are (mostly) the result of government experiments. In the Arrowverse proper metas were initially created by the particle accelerator explosion (although later seasons of Flash have come up with more and more incidents that spark the metagene). So does Black Lightning become just another meta, and does the unique story the show is telling work as well when superpowers become more common?

I’m not saying I’m against the idea, and it still hasn’t been confirmed it’s even happening, but combining all of the Earths into one could pose some challenges for the writers and producers of shows outside of Flash and Legends and I worry it will hurt their quality.

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#4

I’m excited. The shows have really lost my interest for the most part. I really only watch arrow now and will only watch the other shows if I hear something happens in an episode that intrigues me. I do enjoy the crossovers, and love that this is being set up as their “Endgame” if you will.

I didn’t know it was confirmed that Welling will be in the Superman suit since he is returning as Clark Kent. If he’s in the suit that’s great.

So many of my hopes have already been confirmed. We will get Batman. We’ll get Welling. My big wish that isn’t confirmed yet is that John puts on the green ring. Just do it already!!! This crossover and Arrow coming to a close is the perfect set up for him to join the GL Corps and head into space.

#5

@mrmiracle

While the concept of meta-humans is different in The Flash and Black Lightning, the actual execution of it isn’t that different. On both worlds, metas are the result of science experimentation. On The Flash, most of it is accidental due to the particle accelerator. On Black Lightning, it was on purpose and done so with no regards to civil/human rights. I don’t really see an issue regarding meta humans as of right now.

As for aliens, that will admittedly be trickier. While aliens do exist in the Arrow/Flash/Legends universe, they aren’t exactly seeking refuge/asylum like what is happening in Supergirl’s universe. I can’t really say what they can do, partly because we don’t even know if they really are going to merge all the universes together. But I’m sure it will be explored and addressed post-event

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#6

@EDT and @mrmiracle, maybe National City is just a hot spot for alien migration because Supergirl is there. I assume Metropolis would also be one. It’s also worth noting that, for the most part, metas have stayed away from Star City and really only play a major role in Central City, despite the fact that the two are shown to be just a few hours away. It’s not that weird to think that each phenomenon could be pretty isolated to each city. Things will change, with more alien enemies for Flash and more meta aliens for Supergirl, but overall, I don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal.

#7

I am looking forward to Crisis for sure. I am not sure of the execution and admit just having a bunch of guest stars doesn’t guarantee quality. Especially since we don’t know how any of them will be used. But it seems they are going all out, and really aside from Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers:Endgame nothing like this has ever really been done and never on TV. And given they are having characters and actors going back decades, not just the last 10 or so years in one specific franchise, this does feel like it will be something special.

Liking the guest stars too. Huntress from Birds of Prey was a nice surprise, as I was a fan of that show but while I personally think it turned out to be ahead of it’s time, it isn’t exactly a cult classic these days. Burt Ward is less shocking but still cool, and Kevin Conroy as Bruce is a treat for 90’s kids especially. Tom Welling seems obvious as Smallville did kind of show superhero shows can be big sucess and adapting more generously from the comics doesn’t mean non-comic fans can’t latch onto it.

Brandon Routh as the Kingdom Come Superman is less impressive. I mean it is cool they are adapting the CK Superman, and Brandon Routh donning a Superman costume again sounds fun. But he is a regular on legends, or was, so not exactly hard for them to get him. Doesn’t mean his role won’t be cool, just not placing it with the guest stars.

Incdentally having just finished watching Superboy on here, and seeing what Gerrard Christopher looks like now (or 5 years ago, the most recent picture), I kind of feel like he should have played the Kingdom Come Superman. But that is probably just the Superboy fan in me talking. Brandon Routh’s name definitely will get more mainstream press because of Superman Returns.

I also believe John Wesley Ship (that is how his name is right?) will reprise his role as Flash. Not shocking but still a welcome addition.

I have a feeling WB does have some surprises they are holding back also. Seems like they would keep at least one or two names secret if they could. Do wonder who (assuming they do) that would be. Someone from Titans making a cameo seems like a likely one, also could see maybe the DCEU Flash making an appearance, although anyone else don’t think they could either afford or pull off (AKA Cyborg for the latter).

Also would love to see the actor playing Billy Batson in the Shazam! series come back… and heck now that I think about it some of the Marvel Family members as their Shazam! selves… the actors might not be out of the question to cameo. Not Shazam himself but Mary Marvel or Captain Marvel Jr.'s transformed form making a cameo seems possible.

Also a long shot but seems not entirely unlikely they could film some kind of cameo of the actors from the Joker or Harley Quinn movie… maybe in a montage of the various earths looking at the red sky, they could have filmed a cameo during the movies filming… again a HUGE long shot (and don’t know with Sag rules how well that would even be possible) but fun to theorize.

Not sure who else they could get, doubt any of the movie Batman could be persuaded at the price they would demand unless they just wanted to do it. Nick Cage rumors are floating around, and doubt they could afford him either, but he is such a fan I could see him making an uncredited cameo to keep his salary down just to be able to say he was part of something like that.

Would also like to see some fun alternate earth takes of the Arrowverse characters, especially if this does turn out being the end of the multiverse like it’s comic counterpart. Rumor is Wally West will appear, given how little he shows up these days would love for them to make the most of it and have him don the Flash Suit for an alternate earth where he is The Flash. Would make this Wally West fan so happy.

The Detroit League’s entire roster has been adapted in the Arrowverse and Smallville. Would be a kick to have them play a parallel earth’s Justice League in a scene.

What I would really like to see is somewhere a montage of various heroes earth’s looking up at a red sky or fighting disposable enemies on their various earth’s simultaniously. And having a montage of as many familiar earths seen in the Arrowverse’s past and other DC movies/shows as they could work. Maybe they could do like Star Trek or Dr. Who and cut footage of the actors in the original show/movie and insert them into new footage. (Again. sure there are rights issues and the like that could prevent that, but if possible would be a fun somewhat fesable way to pay homage to as many past incarnations of DC heroes on the big and small screen as possible.)

#8

I think Supergirl and Black Lightning aren’t in much difficulty. So every once in a while Barry faces or helps an “alien”. Black Lightning is merely a different way to manifest the meta gene. For decades most heroes were perfectly capable of staying in their city. And their stories were localized to that. I can certainly see Black Lightning being “I’ll call you if I need help, and I’m not gonna call you and lose my number. My city is my turf.”

Heroes don’t always have to like each other. Certainly, Supergirl could get moved to Flash/Arrow/Legends land and all of a sudden is one of only a handful of aliens in the planet. An entire new set of survivor guilt to deal with. “First I lay Krypton and now I’ve lost my entire universe.” I can so see her saying that. I do think being able to use MM as a crossover with Black Lightning would be cool.