It was during Crisis on Infinite Earths that we finally witnessed the first real superhero animated trilogy which was previously impossible to imagine. True, you could watch several Batman and Justice League movies in a row in the DCAMU, but these never counted as a trilogy. But then again, the three movies that comprise Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths was ambitious enough to transform the 12 part comic book series from the 1980s into a single coherent storyline with its beginning, middle and end. It had a lengthy runtime of 4 hours 46 minutes and had used particular Point of View characters which made the story appear compact and fast paced. It surely achieved its objectives but for some reason, it feels like it could have done more.
In Part One, it was hinted that an anti-matter wave was roaming in the multiverse and eradicating the Earths in cracks. The Flash along with his wife, Iris, selflessly sacrificed their lives in building a tower containing a generator that would peacefully vibrate their Earth from the path of the anti-matter wave. In Part Two, the heroes were looking for the source of the crisis and preventing it but it also focused on Supergirl and her relationship with the Monitor and Psycho-Pirate’s ability to hop between Earths. Pariah was first revealed to be the DCAMU version of John Constantine, the Anti-Monitor was born, Supergirl has murdered the Monitor and the Psycho Pirate showed up.
Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, both Supermen, Lois Lane, Aqua man The third movie begins. With the heroes failing to overcome the Anti-Monitor’s forces and turnover. The pronounced death of the Monitor executes an overpower energy release and heroes end up on the Bleed a space found between the earths. Months fly by as heroes shelter, fend off dinosaurs that pop out occasionally and look for ways on how to defeat the anti-monitor threat for good.
There is definitely an escalation, but it does not seem like the heroes are in a different situation as compared to the last time. They still seem to be in an stationary state and losing ground. It takes the arrival of Lex Luthor to make things more interesting than usual. Aside from having participated in the creation of the Justice League and being played by Zachary Quinto in the previous installment, the character developed different objectives. He is played by Corey Stoll who is in charge of a group of villains comprising of the Joker, Two-Face and several others.
Lex has Psycho-Pirate in his possession and used him for purposes of knowing the existence of the Anti-Monitor. As always, Lex does not let such an opportunity slip. There is every chance that Lex has been serving the Anti-Monitor by providing him with desirable information about the whereabouts of other Earths. Then he beams himself onto the Monitor’s satellite and clarifies his intentions to the heroes. He claims that it would be unrealistic to confront the Anti-Monitor without first collecting enough intelligence and formulating a strategy. Unsurprisingly in Lex’s entire strategy is centered on the idea that Superman should die in order to amass sufficient solar energy to be able to use a weapon.
Lex does a good job, and the film also allows for the inclusion of the development of the arcs of Captain Atom, Superman, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Hawkgirl, and Dr. Light in spacefaring Supergirl and a national presenter, John Stewart, who have had gradual development that stretches back to their introductory movies. It’s true the Tomorrow verse might feel like it has lack of breadth that the DCAMU had but the franchise of movies has come from far. The continuation of the legacy of Black Canary influences the emotional feelings of the audience. It is rather too late in the storyline to add more characters, but the second Dr. Mid-Niter, Beth Chapel makes a non costume appearance. Apart from this, no other characters are introduced. I was anticipating quite more from Dr. Light since she has just joined the forces and put on the costumes. In the initial Crisis on Infinite Earths comic series, the accouchement of the new Dr. Light provided great opportunities for development of other sequels. Since this film seems to concentrate more on endings than beginnings, then, she performs a role, but her promise is largely neglected.
There is room for debate, but this is how I see it. Wonder Woman is the hero who stands out the most in this movie. After Justice Society: World War II, she struggled to accept her immortality and her place as a representation of the Tomorrow verse at last. Because, while something cannot truly exist in one form forever, it can be created in another this is the essence of immortality right there.
The previous film did showcase a multiverses Bat family, and this film doesn’t add much to their interesting and useful traits. Huntress is okay because much younger version of her father she is to meet has no capacity to love her as much. There’s the Earth-2 Robin and the Batman Beyond, but they don’t engage much in some sort of interactions that matter. Even in the strongest Batgirl scene, there is almost no depth when she talks with Supergirl even getting to the point that Batgirl is now counted as a backup to Supergirl’s friend Dawn star. So overall, it seems like a much better Batman movie if you just ignore the alternate reality sidekicks and see Batman as the superb detective that he is able to investigate and discover what really happened to bring about the Crisis through finding Constantine.
Batman and Constantine witness the actions of the Flash Batman who is taken on a tour of the multiverse because there is something appealing about introducing it this way. There are really many films and series that exploit the idea of a multiverse, but this particular one gives it the genesis and appends it to the presence of Constantine and to what really occurred at the end of the movie, Justice League Dark: Apocalypse War. There is a downside to it, however. The Tomorrow verse, which was a bit rather more optimistic of a breath of fresh air after the darkness and violence of the DCAMU, in light of Crisis is merely a by product of the blunders that heroes made in the previous continuity. Also, it is sort of important to engage DC showcase: Constantine The House of Mystery, but that thing is hard to track down on streaming and was never really given a lot of importance.
And if you are not down with that, there is no other House of Mystery for you to find, nor will all your hard work watching everything DC social lossmaking content get any rewards. Watching those bridged the gap towards Crisis for a reason, comic book arcs tend to in this universe. The Losers, Blue Beetle, even Adam Strange get callbacks. Kamani’s story is not continued, from DC Showcase: Kamani: The Last Boy on Earth, this short however served well in introducing the character. However, I do wish they managed to do a Zoo Crew animated short to further integrate those guys into this series, but I am happy with what we got.
However, what I mean by “dedication to all things DC animation” in this case, I mean only now the new direct to video films and short movies but not earlier made cartoon series. This is where I’m now going to reveal the most attractive aspects of the film, which the largest part of the public apparently came to watch the cameos.
The animated world of DC heroes has existed long before the Tomorrow verse because many Earths were created throughout the ages. Considering that Will Friedel reprises his role as Terry McGinnis in Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two, one would wonder whether other actors would follow suit. However, it appears that only Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill of the DCAU took that opportunity.
There was no epic gathering of Earth’s known heroes to counter the Anti-Monitor’s onslaught. I was expecting something similar to that scene in Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans where the entire Titan force comes together as one unit, but then again, that was not the point of Crisis. This film chooses to depict its cameos rather sparsely, opting rather to depict each Earth just before it is destroyed. The Super Friends (dwelling in Earth-508) were shown to ignore the death of their character as their world was being destroyed, whereas only the Titans tower based on the 2003 Teen Titans animated series (Earth-2003) appears because that world was rather ingloriously obliterated.
Kevin Conroy portrayed the character of Batman, here rather simplistically labelled as Earth 12 Batman, who found himself battling the Joker amidst the cataclysm that was the Earth 12. Conroy’s final performance is him saying that he comes out as Batman, and it is such an emotional time too as it is to be a time to rejoice as well. There even is a mention at the end credits in honor of Kevin Conroy. However, Batman the animated series was not the only series which was based in that universe. In addition to Batman Beyond (who again, did not display much emotion for the fact that he was ripped out of time and space), Earth12 has its Justice League members respond to the crisis. It is short and everyone is mute, but at least the Green Lantern and Hawkgirl love saga gets some closure (even if Green Lantern seems to be wearing his pre-JLU design for some reason).
None of the other DCAMU characters were involved in the Crisis besides Constantine, but it was made quite clear that they didn’t exist any longer. Young Justice and Batman: The Brave and the Bold were sadly absent. A reference to the Razer and Aya’s plot line was mildly amusing. Those characters were created to be seen in Green Lantern: the Animated Series but they ended up appearing in shows like Justice League Action and Young Justice after their plots were left unfinished. Jim Klieg penned all their appearances in other shows including the Crisis movies so it’s obvious he would use them in the films. Or at least different versions, since all characters are shown in the Tomorrow verse animation but they’re not mentioned at all.
Some may be enraged or irked that this film erases new Earths and well-known superheroes, but for me, it is not much of a bother. The DC has been through multiverses and Crysis’s in the Arrow verse and DCEU as well, but those Crises only seemed to work within their own universes. Is there any memo somewhere in the WB offices that tells them to never incorporate the Super Friends characters ever again because this movie killed them off? I highly doubt that, and for that reason, I do not feel sorry for what they went through.
I can still appreciate these films even though I may think the cameos were more likely wasted. The way the superheroes took the Crisis so seriously is commendable. The crisis on Infinite Earths focuses on mass murder on an unthinkable scale, and there shouldn’t be any other tone but a dark one. These films are fueled by loss, sacrifice, and the ramifications of actions. However even in the face of an apocalypse, a better day still awaits.
Unfortunately, for fans who wanted a heartfelt tribute to animated DC characters in all their glory, I cannot suggest this movie. It is not the greatest animated DTV movie that ever existed. However, it does honor the Tomorrow verse characters quite well, and it might just be the best Tomorrow verse movie so far.
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