- Series: The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow
- Third Arrowverse Crossover Special: Crisis on Earth-X
- Episodes: 4
- Discs: 1
- Cast: Grant Gustin, Stephen Amell, Melissa Benoist, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, Jesse L. Martin, Emily Bett Rickards, Victor Garber, Caity Lotz, Chyler Leigh, Franz Drameh, Paul Blackthorne, Jeremy Jordan, Wentworth Miller, Russell Tovey
- Network: CW (Warner Brothers Productions)
- DVD Format: Color, Widescreen
Barry and Supergirl arrive, and a few moments later Green Arrow pulls up on a motorcycle, “Just a quick reminder, super speed – I don’t have it.” – Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow
“My grandparents didn’t survive the Holocaust so the world could be ruled by Nazis. So if you want Kara, you gotta’ go through me and even if you do, you’re not going to win. Because we will not back down, we will keep fighting. So get the hell off our Earth while you still can.” – Felicity.
Just like DC Comics occasionally does crossovers between two or more books, and all their characters live in the same “universe”, from the very beginning all the “Arrowverse” shows have been clearly in the same universe, and even though Kara Danvers (Supergirl) is on another Earth, she has met Barry Allen (the Flash) and company before, and the characters from Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow in the previous crossover, “Invasion”. “Crisis on Earth-X” starts innocently enough, with all our characters gathered together for Barry and Iris’s wedding. But just as their minister gets to the part about, “Does anyone object to the marriage of this couple?” Nazis burst in and a huge fight erupts. All of our heroes use their powers to fight off the Nazis, despite being dressed for a wedding. It’s total chaos.
Dr. Harry Wells explains that there is a 53rd Earth, beyond the known 52 Earths of the Multiverse. It’s a place so awful, it’s only known as Earth-X because no one would want to travel there. It’s the Earth where the Nazis won World War II. To make matters worse, in this version, Oliver’s doppelganger is the current führer of the Nazi-world and his wife is Overgirl, an evil Nazi version of Supergirl. First, evil Oliver and Evil Supergirl and their soldiers break into a lab and steal a prism, and then they come after Supergirl. Their plan? Well, Overgirl is dying after being exposed to too much sunlight so they’ve come to Earth One to kill Supergirl, take her heart, and implant it in Overgirl – because Supergirl would be the perfect donor. The Nazis manage to take over Star Labs and send half of our large group of Heroes to Earth-X and the rest are locked up in the pipeline. They miss Felicity and Iris though, who manage to be badass in trying to rescue everyone. Felicity and Iris also send a distress call to the Legends.
On Earth-X, Oliver, Barry, Alex Danvers, and company are locked in a cage with others in black and white striped convict clothes, with badges pinned to their chests. They meet Ray, and when Jax asks what he “did wrong” to be locked up, Ray responds, “I loved the wrong person”. Alex and Sara, who shared a one night stand the night before the ill-fated wedding, look knowingly at each other. The doppelganger of Captain Lance arrives and separates out our heroes and Ray, and leads them to a trench, they are told to stand on the edge, and a firing squad is readied. But at the last minute, Leonard Snart (“Leo”) arrives and rescues them all. They are taken to the base camp of the Freedom Fighters and meet General Winn Schott. The good – they are now in with a group that’s organized to fight and overthrow the Nazis. The bad? Their main plan is to destroy the Nazis’ new doomsday weapon, which happens to be housed with the interworld transport terminal that’s the only way for the Legends to get home. They also discover Ray is actually from Earth 1 and he and Leo are partners.
On Earth-X, the heroes need to convince Winn to give them a shot at getting to the portal before Winn uses a secret weapon of his own to blow it up. Meanwhile, on Earth One, Iris and Felicity are trying to get Cisco and anyone else locked in the Pipeline free, and stop Reverse Flash (who is in league with Evil Oliver and Overgirl) from killing Supergirl. They delay the operation that would kill Kara by turning off the power. When Felicity is caught, she tries to stand up to Thawne, but he threatens to kill her, and she gives up the encryption code for getting the power on. Thawne again ties Kara down under Red Light lamps to weaken her, but just as he’s about to cut her open, Ray, the Atom, stops him. The rest of the Legends – The Atom, Amaya, Zari, and Nate have arrived. They get everyone out of the Pipeline and rescue Kara. Everyone else returns from Earth-X, but Martin was shot during the mission to get to the inter-Earth Gateway. Martin Stein is dying, and because he is linked with Jefferson, he is dying also. Cisco, however, had designed, with help from Caitlin, a serum that would safely separate Martin and Jefferson but at the cost of the loss of their powers. Martin takes the serum as he lies dying in the Waverider’s med bay, to save Jefferson.
Even though everyone has returned to Earth One safely, except for Martin, and they’ve rescued Kara. Reverse-Flash is still determined to use their Nazi Waverider to launch an invasion of Earth One and Evil Oliver is still determined to kill Supergirl to save Overgirl. They also discover that not only will Overgirl’s overexposure to sunlight kill her, but she’s a living bomb who will explode with the power of a neutron bomb. Part four largely consists of major fight scenes, and a money shot of all the heroes, in costume, just all-out fighting back against a troop of black and red uniformed Nazis. Nazis who have just stormed a city block, randomly killing anyone they come across. Everyone has their part in the fight. Iris and our Wells are on the Waverider fighting the Nazi one but can’t get through their shields. Supergirl teases Overgirl out to fight, and Overgirl breaks through a window in her own ship, this allows Killer Frost, Amaya and Zari access into the ship to fight Nazis, take it over, and then lower the shields. Vibe arrives to transport them off just in time before the ship is destroyed by the Waverider’s missiles. Kara takes Overgirl Up, Up, and Away, so she can safely explode. Evil Oliver is devastated by the loss of his wife. Oliver kills his evil doppelganger.
Our heroes clean up against the Nazis and exile them back to Earth-X. Everyone attends Martin’s funeral, then one by one, or in small groups, they head back to their own homes. The Ray returns to Earth-X, but Snart decides to stay on Earth One for a short time. Barry brings Diggle to a lakeside park and he marries not only Iris and Barry but Felicity and Oliver.
On the one hand, “Crisis on Earth-X” has some very satisfying moments – superheroes and their human non-powered companions punching Nazis and being badass (especially Iris, Felicity, Alex, and Sara all get to have some great moments. When they finally arrive, Zari and Amaya aren’t left out of the girl power fun.) But the entire crossover is fight-heavy and at times plot light. There is some horrific imagery, but also moments of pure power and generosity such as our Oliver breaking his impersonation of his evil self to save the Earth-X Felicity and Felicity herself standing up to the Nazis that invade Star Labs. Evil Oliver though has an almost understandable goal – to save his wife, whom he clearly loves – Overgirl. Still, his plan, to kill Kara to save Overgirl is horrific. And one has to wonder how he knew to find Supergirl on Earth One since she normally lives on Earth 38. Also, once most of our characters are on Earth-X, their one mission is to return home. General Winn Schott is incredibly stubborn about wanting to destroy the inter-Earth portal before everyone can return home. And Flash and the Ray end up destroying his weapon, which turns out to be Red Tornado, so you have to wonder what that did to Schott’s resistance. But overall, considering the logistics of having so many characters, even in a four-hour special, and giving all of them screen time and stories, the crossover works. I also really, really liked The Ray (Russell Tovey of the original British Being Human) and cuddly Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller).
Note: Over-exposure to sunlight giving Superman cancer, or at least a sort of cancer, is the plot of All-Star Superman.
Note 2: The first episode opens with a brief preview of Earth-X, which has red skies and yellow lightning, a reference perhaps to the future Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Note 3: Crisis on Earth-X, all four parts, is included in full on the Blu-Ray edition of Season 3 of Legends of Tomorrow. The individual DVD box sets of Arrow (Season 6), Supergirl (Season 3), The Flash (Season 4), and Legends (Season 3), on the other hand, only include their individual episode of the crossover.
Read My Review of Invasion! The first Arrowverse 4-show crossover.
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