Monday 9 December 2019

Crisis On Infinite Earths - Analysis & Breakdown : Hour One [Supergirl]


The crisis has begun and has already claimed its first victims.

The CW's 'Crisis On Infinite Earths' crossover kicked off with a bang last night in the first hour arriving with Supergirl and its fair to say, Crisis has already changed the status quo of the Arrowverse in the first hour alone. We were reintroduced to some familiar environments with the canonising of the Michael Keaton Batman movies over on Earth-89, DCU's Titans on Earth-9 and the 1966 Batman TV series established as being on Earth-66 and a quick nod to The Ray on Earth-X. Sadly, these were only quick glimpses as the above Earths were swiftly wiped out by the anti-matter wave sweeping across the universe. Even so, it was nice to have have them officially bought into canon forevermore.


Also officially reintroduced to canon was the events of DC's Legends Of Tomorrow episode "Star City 2046" but with an unexpected twist. That episode didn't take place on Earth-1 but in fact on Earth-16 and in a now seemingly redundant timeline as the current timeline on Earth-16 seems to have been a little gentler on Oliver. He looks significantly healthier, still has both arms and is also still actively pursuing the Green Arrow identity. He's taken aback when he encounters Sara and reveals that on Earth-16, she died on the Queen's Gambit and his life has taken an entirely different course that seems to imply he's never met Barry Allen or any of the other heroes that exist on Earth-1. He has however, taken care of baby Jonathan Kent who was sent to safety from Argo in the Earth-38 universe before the anti-matter wave claimed it, too.

There's every chance that officially introducing another Oliver Queen doppleganger could have much bigger ramifications throughout the Arrowverse going forward and especially in Crisis itself, but that remains to be seen just if and how. 


One of the most unexpected and shocking moments came in the closing moments of hour one with the apparent death of the leading man of the Arrowverse, Oliver Queen in a heroic sacrifice. The heroes convened on Earth-38 to make a stand against the anti-matter wave whilst Alex and Lena helped mount an evacuation of humans and aliens alike but inevitably, it simply wasn't enough against the Anti-Monitor's army of shadow demons and Earth-38 was doomed. The Monitor breached the heroes away leaving only Oliver who in an act of bravery, prevented The Monitor from rescuing him and eventually running out of arrows, ventured into the swarm of shadow demons unarmed in a bid to buy more time for the evacuation, sealing his fate.

The final minute of the episode seemed to absolutely confirm that Oliver wasn't escaping death this time and that his fate had changed so that the death that The Monitor had foreseen was no longer going to play out and the appearance of Nash Wells aka Pariah apparently confirmed that the timeline was still changing. 


The timeline changing to bring Oliver's certain death forward to the very beginning of the Crisis may yield another unexpected twist yet. We know that some version of Oliver will return in the third hour and will be primarily featured in scenes set on Lian Yu, where he'll be crossing paths with "The Spectre". Anyone who is familiar with the character and original crisis comic book will know that this could potentially be the key to bringing back our version of Oliver Queen for one last hurrah before Crisis concludes in January but that is merely speculation on my part. There's truly no telling what lies in store for the next four hours of the Crisis and we're very likely to be presented with no end of twists in the battle to save the multiverse. For now though, rest in peace, Oliver Queen. You have not failed this multiverse.


Analysis & Breakdown : Hour Two [Batwoman]
coming tomorrow!








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