The Marv Wolfman-George Perez 1986 tome “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is quite definitively a benchmark for how to conduct a line-wide crossover. It became so influential that it impacted both storytelling for DC and Marvel Comics for the foreseeable future in terms of line-wide reboots, soft reboots, etc. Still, it also became a staple for DC comics storytelling in other media as well.
Rise and Fall of the Tomorrowverse
The DC animated original movie universe that began with “Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox” and “Justice League: War” ended in 2020’s “Justice League: Apokolips War.” A massive event with scope befitting a live-action superhero extravaganza like “Avengers Endgame,” the movie ends with an eventual reboot. Like what set off “Flashpoint,” Barry Allen again runs faster than time and reboots the universe. This gives rise to the Tomorrowverse, starting with “Superman: Man of Tomorrow.” Four years and seven movies (six if you count the two-parter of “Batman: The Long Halloween” as a single film) later, The Tomorrowverse is set to end with the three-part animated adaptation of “Crisis of Infinite Earths,” the second adaptation of this tome after the Arrowverse attempted a 4-part live action crossover back in 2019.
A personal conspiracy theory that could also explain the rushed nature of most of these movies would suggest that the consolidation of DC Studios following the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-CEOs, with animated projects co-existing with live-action films and video games into a singular, unified continuity, led to the demise of the Tomorrowverse. This would also explain the need for a three-parter, but more importantly, the very scattershot structure of this installment of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
Constantine: House of Mystery
The 2022 animated short film “Constantine: House of Mystery” takes place after the events of 2020’s “Justice League: Apokolips War.” John Constantine had been responsible for convincing Flash to change reality and reboot it. The universe’s grand celestial beings, one of whom is the Spectre, decide to punish Constantine by banishing him to The House of Mystery, a pocket dimension with the appearance of a haunted house in the middle of swamp land. Constantine, in the House of Mystery, lives for centuries in a time loop, waking up to find himself in a gathering with all his loved ones, who invariably reveal themselves to be demons and turn on him, killing him.
Constantine finally manages to escape, but in that process, he is met by Spectre again, who reveals that every event in the time loop leading to a bloody death has always been a result of self-hatred and loathing on the part of Constantine, unable to forgive himself for all the events of his past. Realizing that Constantine is the broken cog himself, he finally acquiesces to the punishment, which the Spectre grants him by making him an unobtrusive observer of the destruction of universes, as a penance for breaking the rules and laws of the universe. It’s a clever streamlining process that joins both the characters of Constantine and Pariah from the comics into a singular entity.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The main culprits in the reconstruction of the universe and the beginning of the Tomorrowverse—The Flash and John Constantine—hadn’t been referenced so far in the six movies within the series. The Flash had one cameo at the end of “Batman: The Long Halloween.” But perhaps due to the constrained time, the creators decide to intricately tie in Allen’s powers as the Flash and his ability to tap into his powers in the speed force to jump back and forth between timelines and extrapolate story threads from there.
How did Barry Allen shape the future?
The movie opens with, presumably, the accident that grants Allen his powers when a lightning strike hits a vat of chemicals in his lab. From there, we witness the first meeting between Allen and his future wife, Iris West. The meet-cute between the two is interrupted by Allen hearing a voice and witnessing through the window an old man wearing a hoodie asking him to get up before the timeline, and we presume Allen’s consciousness sliding forward in time to one of the earliest battles of this universe’s Justice League.
Like in the comics, Amazo is shown here as an armored android able to siphon the powers of any metahuman. After dispatching Superman very quickly, Flash manages to drag Superman out of harm’s way and escape only because Green Arrow fires off a smoke bomb. This leads directly to the next scene, with Green Arrow driving the Flash and a weakened Superman to Wayne Manor, connecting with the post-credit scene of “The Long Halloween Part 2.”
“Crisis on Infinite Earths” also touches on the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen, with their connection as investigators and crime fighters, as well as being wards to younger crime fighters. A timeline jump towards a near-future event shows Bruce coming to meet with Barry, accompanied by his young ward, Dick Grayson, who would eventually become the first Robin.
The movie lays out how Allen would be responsible for mildly convincing Wayne to adopt Grayson as his ward rather than have him be in the foster care system. While Batman investigates Superman’s weakened state and Superman slowly recuperates, we also witness the formation of the Justice League in this world, and it’s a fascinating team.
Barry Allen vs. Amazo: Can the Fastest Man Alive Stop a Killer Machine?
Contrary to popular iterations, Wonder Woman in this world has been a part of the Justice Society, and thus, in this current generation, the Justice League (or Secret Superhero Club) would be comprised of Batman, Superman, The Flash, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and Vixen. Considering what happens with the Hal Jordan iteration of Green Lantern in “Green Lantern: Beware My Power,” his appearance and rejection of membership in the group feel like one of those pivotal moments. Amidst all of these events, Flash is plagued by visions of the older Constantine, AKA Pariah, reminding him that the world is about to end.
When the new Justice League ultimately forms, Amazo attacks in the middle of the press conference. While Amazo fights the rest of the Justice League, he also communicates with Flash in the midst of traveling faster than the speed of light, revealing that his primary function, as defined by Professor Ivo, would be to prolong and extend human life, considering Ivo had been suffering from a disease that causes rapid aging. However, his primary functions have been amended by Amazo’s “new best friend,” the villainous businessman Lex Luthor. As it turns out, Luthor would co-opt the Amazo android, convincing him that the absorbing of metahuman energy would aid in the curing of such incurable diseases as the one afflicting Dr. Ivo.
The Flash, realizing that the Justice League is outmatched and that the only option would be for Batman to call in an airstrike, races to convince Ivo to override Amazo’s directive. As Lex, in his power suit and siphoning the power from Amazo, manages to overpower the League, Ivo appears in person to Amazo and convinces him to redirect all the absorbed energy to him. Sadly, that act kills Ivo.
How does Constantine send the Flash on time trips?
To add salt to the wound, Batman tries to and forces Amazo to discern the truth—that Luthor had infected Ivo with the disease such that Ivo would build such a unit. As Amazo angrily attacks Luthor, the Flash stops him, trying to convince him that Ivo wouldn’t want Amazo to fall from grace. Amazo agrees to return the metahuman powers to all the Justice League members. With Lex being carted off to jail, Batman decides to form the Justice League in earnest.
In the middle of the Justice League’s first mission against Amazo, the Flash learns that Constantine, AKA Pariah, induced the time jumps or time trips. Constantine sends the Flash to Earth -3, an Earth populated by evil doppelgangers of the Justice League. After an encounter where he is almost overwhelmed by the Crime Syndicate, he is questioned by Superwoman (the Wonder Woman analog) under duress due to her lasso.
The Flash’s revelation of the multiverse and the time jumps excite the Syndicate. Having completely taken over their world, they have grown bored. This allows them the opportunity to contemplate a multiversal invasion, utilizing the Flash’s dimension-hopping via the Speed Force. They are even open to killing the Flash or his analog on Earth-3, Johnny Quick if that would mean access to the Speed Force would return to normal. However, Constantine appears at that moment and manages to deflect the attacks of the Crime Syndicate before revealing to them through his visions the destruction of worlds due to the “antimatter wave.” Constantine reveals to Flash that he has been cursed to witness the worlds doomed to destruction as punishment.
Can the Heroes unite in time to save the Multiverse??
The Crime Syndicate realizes that their world, too, is next on the chopping block of the antimatter wave and tries to stop the wave but is reduced to nothingness. Johnny Quick chooses to sacrifice himself so that Barry will have enough access to the speed force to escape from Earth-3. On the day of Barry and Iris’ wedding, a being known as Harbinger appears to them and transports Barry, Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Jon Stewart (Green Lantern), and Mari McCabe (Vixen) to a space station. Reunions, both welcoming and weird, simultaneously occur. The Flash reunites with the members of the Justice Society (last seen in “Justice Society: World War II”).
When they had last met, Allen had been transported to the past mid-fight with Brainiac and had aided the society, led by Wonder Woman, to thwart the threat of the Nazis in a world later revealed to be Earth-2. Meanwhile, Harbinger had also managed to rescue Superman, Batman, the Martian Manhunter of Earth-1, and the Wonder Woman of Earth-2 from Warworld (as seen in “Justice League: Warworld”) seconds before Warworld would be decimated by the antimatter wave.
At the Monitor’s satellite, Batman also meets Robin (Dick Grayson) of Earth-2, his crime-fighting partner, now older and fighting crime in his mentor’s absence with Batman’s daughter Huntress (Helena Wayne). While Bruce outwardly remains stoic, inwardly, he feels conflicted regarding his decision to take Grayson as his ward and recruit him for his mission. Meanwhile, Earth-1 Superman also learns of the relationship between Earth-2 Superman and Wonder Woman. We also witness Dawnstar having been transported from the 31st century, representing the Legion of Super-Heroes, who converses with Harbinger only for Harbinger to reveal herself as Supergirl.
Can the Heroes outrun the Antimatter Wave?
All these heroes and many more had been recruited by a multiverse being known as the Monitor. The Monitor had recruited these heroes to stop the world from being destroyed by the anti-matter wave. When asked why they had been recruited and why they should believe him, Flash, under Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth, confirms it. Batman then figures out that each section of heroes had been recruited for specific purposes: genius-level scientists, heroes with knowledge about extra-terranean objects, would comprise the think tank, while the rest of the heroes would be on the front lines, devising the defense mechanisms.
The flash’s vibration through time and dimension inspires the think tank and the monitor to devise gigantic vibrational generators, like cosmic tuning forks, that would enable them to match the frequency of the antimatter wave such that the wave would vibrate over the planet. However, that plan entails building all the towers before the antimatter wave reaches the planet and managing to power even one of them. The theory would suggest that powering up one of the towers would reverberate the vibrations through the rest of the towers on all the worlds, activating the towers and rescuing the planets from destruction. However, the wave, like an anomaly, adapted and suddenly began to accelerate. The heroes are out of time.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
How does the Flash save Earth?
The movie’s somewhat scattershot narrative also showed a significantly older Barry and an older Iris living together in an isolated dimension. We see that Barry’s costume has sagged, but he is still living and working as the Flash. Towards the end of the film, we learn that Barry, under the advice of Pariah, rescued Iris, and before the antimatter wave could destroy Earth-1, he vibrated so fast that he created a pocket dimension.
He managed to do that because he had successfully absorbed almost all the energy of the speed force within himself while escaping from Earth-3. Within that pocket dimension, Barry and Iris live a life and grow old together while Barry builds the vibrational tower with the help of Amazo. Amazo would be powered up by the cosmic treadmill, which notably shares the same energy source as the Speed Force’s cosmic energy. Iris finally dies as the tower reaches completion. Barry, distraught but determined, returns to normal time and activates the vibrational tower via the cosmic treadmill. The resultant energy destroys the cosmic treadmill but manages to activate all three vibrational towers, resulting in the antimatter wave passing through Earth-1, Earth-2, and Atlantis Earth.
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As the heroes rejoice, the decades-old Barry is visited by the Spectre, who warns him that he bears responsibility for what had occurred here, but his punishment had been significantly delayed due to the time dilation. However, the Spectre believes that only the “Speed Force” could afford him a suitable punishment. The Spectre believes that he has a chance to right some of these wrongs, which leads to him traveling back in time through the speed force, as seen throughout the movie, until he reaches “before the beginning,” stopping to visit the lab accident that had given him powers before he goes further back.
He finally stops at the Warworld era illusion when Bruce Wayne has been enslaved by the Warlord and tries to warn the enslaved Bruce to travel back in time “before the beginning” and fix it before disappearing inside the speed force, seemingly dying. The first part of this crisis ends with the Flash disintegrating, followed by Dawnstar and Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as the events that had taken place had seemingly resulted in a chronal anomaly, changing history irrevocably.
