‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’: Take a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the CW’s Superhero Crossover Event

‘Crisis’ Management

Now it’s TV’s turn. In the comics, over the decades DC writers had postulated a multitude of parallel Earths with characters similar to but different in some ways from “ours” on Earth-1. It had all become overwhelming, so the idea was to manufacture a “crisis” that would bring those Earths together, with heroes being lost along the way. Most of the so-called “Arrowverse” shows take place on Earth-1, though events of Supergirl take place on Earth-38. The television version of Crisis will bring those two worlds together, while involving characters from different Earths as well.

Blame the Anti-Monitor

The premise of the story is that the Anti-Monitor is a cosmic being who, having been exposed to antimatter, is going around the galaxy destroying different realities so that he can absorb them and expand his own empire. Going up against him is the Monitor, who is trying to protect the remaining realities, and is choosing champions to help him do so. In the comic book version, he and the heroes succeeded, but there were casualties, among them Supergirl and the Flash. While there’s a question of which heroes will make it out of the event alive, it seems that the TV version is promising some pretty radical changes as well.

The ‘Arrow’ POV

“I’m just incredibly grateful that we get a chance to do it,” says Stephen Amell, who plays Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. “I mean, it’s the gold standard of DC tales, you know what I mean? And the fact that we get to do it, and the fact that it coincides with us wrapping up our part of the journey … come on! It’s amazing. I never could have imagined it, but I’m eternally grateful we’re doing it.”

As executive producer Marc Guggenheim points out, “I would say for Arrow, Crisis is very impactful. I think for all the shows it’s very impactful. We’re obviously dealing this year with some really cosmic, big stuff and the conversations that myself and all of the showrunners have had is that this crossover provides us with the opportunity to do something pretty radical with all the shows. I never like to make these sorts of promises, but specifically in the case of Arrow, the ramifications are pretty big. Since we know we only have two episodes left after the crossover finishes up, we have a luxury that the other shows don’t have.”

‘Flash’-Point of the Crisis

Flash executive producer Eric Wallace doesn’t seem too concerned about the crossover’s overall impact. “I think Crisis happening when it’s happening has turned out to be the biggest blessing for this show possible,” he says. “We have something that has to be dealt with in the middle of our season. We knew when Crisis would be airing, so we had to drive towards that. As a result, it gave us a season that broke very neatly into three sections. The first is pre-Crisis, building up to the dread that’s hanging over them.”

That dread comes from a couple of places. Notably on The Flash there’s been a promise from a future newspaper headline that Barry Allan would disappear in 2024, but at the end of last season something happened to the timeline and the date shifted to 2019. Additionally, at the end of last year’s crossover, Elseworlds, Oliver Queen made some sort of deal with the Monitor to save Supergirl and the Flash’s lives so that they could, in turn, save the world. What price will he have to pay? We’re likely to find out.

Many Questions, Few Answers … Yet

“So where’s the Monitor and what’s going to happen to Oliver?” Wallace asks rhetorically. “And then there’s Crisis itself that we’ll be dealing with, which is its own self-contained kind of miniseries. And what does the post-Crisis Flash even look like? We’ve been waiting for five and a half years with this newspaper holographic thing hanging over us and now it reads 2019. Once we get past that, it’s a whole new game, a new world. I’m a very comic book geeky guy, so let the comic book geeky games begin starting post-Crisis. On The Flash, you’re going to see in season six a little bit more of a comic book feel, while also deepening the character emotions.”

Shifting to ‘Batwoman’

Although the character of Batwoman (Kate Kane as played by Ruby Rose) was introduced on last year’s crossover, Elseworlds, her own show is only got underway this fall. For executive producer Caroline Dries, Crisis presents some interesting challenges, largely because like Arrow, especially early on, this is intended to be a down and dirty, gritty series. “What was really important to me as we were breaking the crossover is that I wanted to really keep the tone of our show in Gotham and very grounded,” she explains. “We are just starting out, and for our characters it’s not normal for them to interact with aliens and travel to different universes and stuff like that. So that is the first thing I brought up to the writers.” Over at BatwomanTV.com, she elaborates, “Kate obviously has already met Kara, so the cat’s out of the bag in terms of the aliens existing. But at the same time, our characters are going through such intimate personal drama that I’m going to try to keep it so that they’re not also dealing with, like, ‘Wait, the universe is ending? Wait, there are other forms of people in different universes?’ All this stuff that I, as Caroline, was learning about when I sat down to be briefed on Crisis on Infinite Earths. It’s just a fine line of not overwhelming them with this huge otherworldly scope.”

Ruby Rose Stays Focused

Ruby Rose, who plays the dual role of Batwoman and Kate Kane, kind of felt overwhelmed last year when she interacted with Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl in the crossover. “I think it was easier for everyone else and quite difficult for myself,” she admits. “I definitely went in with very little information aside from what I read in the comics. We had an idea of where the Batwoman series was going to go, but there were a lot of question marks. So I had to kind of shut off the noise and go with what I knew and sort of just play it. When we got to the pilot, I was very thankful to fill in all of the blanks and all of the questions that I had. At the same time, I love seeing that iconic moment of Batwoman and Supergirl and just the cinematography of it all. It was just a really amazing moment, and I do believe that there will be more of that.”

This is a Job for Supermen

Many of the other actors may be overwhelmed by Crisis, but in a good way given the number of surprises that are apparently en route. One of the big ones was the announcement that not only would Tyler Hoechlin be reprising the role of Superman in Crisis (prior to production of the pilot for his own Superman & Lois TV series), but that Brandon Routh, who plays Ray Palmer/The Atom on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and who had played the Man of Steel in 2006’s Superman Returns, is getting the opportunity to don the red and blue costume again for a Superman from yet another Earth.

Return to the Cape

“I’m excited,” enthuses Routh, who has embraced the passion of fans that has followed him for all these years. “I will say it was a little strange when they asked me, to be honest. I’d hoped maybe there’d be an opportunity sometime, but didn’t really think that that actually would happen. So I kind of felt like a little kid: very shocked and excited and happy. If you imagine my collective experience as a patchwork quilt, Superman is half of the quilt almost. And the rest of everything that’s come in the last 13 years has continually been affected by the experience, both work-wise and then emotionally and personally. And with the people that I meet, it’s like a ripple. You throw a stone into the pond, the ripple effect continues and creates other ripple effects. Everyone who has an experience to share about Superman Returns is a part of that story, and it affects me in some way. I guess if I didn’t take it in, if I just had a wall up and said, ‘That happened 13 years ago, it’s not even a part of me anymore,’ then I wouldn’t be affected by it. Actually, I’d just be affected by it negatively. But I choose to take in that energy and shared experience that people have as an awesome continued participation in my life.”

Super Fan Grant Gustin

Grant Gustin, who has never made any secret of the fact that he is a massive Superman fan, enthuses, “Brandon actually texted me three or four days before the news was announced. He was, like, ‘I wanted to tell you first, ’cause I know that you’re going to be really excited about this.’ And he sent a mockup of the suit he’s wearing to me. So, yeah, I’m really excited. I think I was 16 when Brandon’s Superman movie came out. I mean, I’d just gotten my driver’s license and I remember it was the only midnight showing I’ve ever been to in my life. Like, I went to see that thing open on a summer vacation with my brother and a friend with the Superman emblem and stuff all over my car. We were stoked. And the whole Chris Reeve thing is really deep for me. Last year with Tyler Hoechlin on set was the most surreal thing I’ve experienced — well, next to being in the Fortress of Solitude — so I didn’t even know what what it was going to be like to see Brandon in the friggin’ Superman suit. I mean, it’s crazy!”

His mind must have exploded when, subsequent to this conversation, it was announced that Tom Welling was reprising his Clark Kent role from Smallville.

Bat-Wish

“For me, personally, I love Superman Returns,” says Amell. “I really hope that Oliver gets to interact with Brandon’s Superman — on top of working with Tyler again. I hope that Bruce Wayne would show up for some interaction.” He got that wish, as Kevin Conroy, who has voiced the character of the Dark Knight on and off since the debut of 1992’s Batman: The Animated Series, has indeed been signed to play an older Bruce Wayne.

Another Fan of Big Blue

Speaking of wishes, Cress Williams, who plays Jefferson Pierce and the title character on Black Lightning, offers, “I was always a big Superman fan, so I would love in the crossover to team up with Superman. That would be pretty amazing. From an acting standpoint, I personally would love to play a Green Lantern. If I could put Black Lightning down for just a minute and be a Green Lantern, that would be a blast.”

Final Thoughts on ‘Crisis’

Also having a blast is Marv Wolfman, who is actually contributing to the crossover as a part of the writers’ room. Reflecting on the original miniseries, he says, “George and I were trying to show the DC heroes in the best light possible, and I think considering how big the story was, that we succeeded. Proof of that is that the 12 issues of Crisis were originally published in the ‘80s, yet the book has not gone out of print for 34 years. Fans still think of Crisis as the best company-wide crossover ever done, which makes us feel great, because we worked so hard on it.

“Over my career,” he closes, “I’ve had many of my characters appear on TV, live action and animated, and also movies, videogames and more. But I truly never expected anything as large and cosmic as Crisis to ever be attempted for TV. Now the CW is doing just that and I for one cannot wait to see it. This is pretty amazing and completely humbling.”

Look for Crisis on Infinite Earths to air in five parts: Supergirl on Sunday December 8 at 8PM; Batwoman on Monday, December 9 at 8PM; The Flash on Tuesday December 10 at 8PM; Arrow on Tuesday January 14 at 8PM; and Legends of Tomorrow on Tuesday January 14 at 9PM.