The main purpose behind the creation of the monumental crossover event of DC comics, Crisis on Infinite Earths, was to streamline DC’s ever-expanding roster of characters from the past fifty years and create a sense of cohesiveness in the process. Helmed by two of the greatest creative minds in comics literature, Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Crisis on Infinite Earths went on to become a pioneering comic epic and championed everything the iconic characters of the franchise stood for. The animated movie trilogy, which concluded with the recently released third part, might have different motivations, character arcs, and altered narrative structure, but in the end, it honors the spirit of its source material by adhering to the final resolution of the series. Like its comics counterpart, the Crisis on Infinite Earths movie trilogy is a story about bringing an end to beloved sagas but also about new beginnings, and in between there are a series of similarities and differences between the two mediums, which we would like to discuss in detail.Â
Spoilers Ahead
Barry Allen’s Role in the Crisis
The overarching narrative of DC comics has gone through a number of crises following the first massive one, and in every one of them, the Scarlet Speedster makes his presence felt. In the comics version, Barry, who was a prisoner of the Anti-Monitor, died in his effort to stop the cosmic behemoth from destroying the remaining earths, but before his death, he goes back in time to warn Bruce Wayne about the impending doom that awaits. This was also the inspiration for a similar scene in Zack Snyder’s “Batman vs. Superman,” where Flash warns Bruce about the Knightmare timeline. In the animated movie trilogy, Barry and Anti-Monitor never interact with each other, but his role remains almost the same. Within moments, Barry and Iris spend a lifetime together to build the cosmic tuning forks across different earths, and realizing the end is near, an older Barry spends his remaining strength to go back in time and warn Bruce in the Warworld.
In the animated movie universe scenario, Barry is also revealed to have traveled from another reality (DCAMU) as well, and in his effort to stop the previous one from collapsing, he unwittingly led to the creation of parallel realities and infinite earths. When it comes to Barry Allen’s lore in comics, the makers have gone in the opposite direction, as in the animated movie universe, Flashpoint created a New 52-inspired reality, which in turn created the pre-crisis infinite earth reality of Tomorrowverse. Whereas in the original lore, pre-crisis reality goes through a series of crisis events (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis), followed by a Flashpoint and the creation of the New 52.
Pariah and John Constantine’s Roles
In the comics, Pariah was a separate character not at all related to John Constantine, unlike in the movies, where the duo has been fused together. In fact, in the comics, the trash-talking British paranormal sleuth had no major role to play in Crisis; the only reason he gets to play an important role in the movie adaptation is because he is the missing link between the previous DCAMU reality and the Tomorrowverse. In comics, Pariah was a scientist whose experiments led Anti-Monitor from the antimatter universe to become aware of the existence of the universe of positive matter, which kicked off the destruction of earths in the antimatter wave. As a result, the scientist was forever doomed to witness the end of the world through eternity without being able to protect or save anyone in the process. In the movie trilogy, Constantine’s transgression of attempting to rewrite history with Flash’s help leads to him suffering a similar fate as he becomes Pariah for a certain time in the future as well.
The Death of Supergirl
Supergirl’s death was one of the most crucial moments of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the movie adaptation respects it even though there are a few alterations in the arc. In the comics, Supergirl died while protecting her cousin from Anti-Monitor’s attacks, while in the movies, she acted like Captain Atom, i.e., a living nuclear fusion bomb, after absorbing the energies of the suns of the multiverse and destroying the original Anti-Monitor. Much like the Constantine-Pariah twist, here Supergirl was fused with Harbinger, who once again was an entirely different character in the comics. However, Monitor’s death by a mind-controlled Harbinger (Supergirl in the case of the movie) remains similar in both versions, which in turn makes Supergirl’s arc more impactful in the movie as well, given that Monitor acted like her father figure previously. Supergirl’s death is crucial because, unlike most other non-permanent character deaths in comics, canonically, the death of pre-crisis Supergirl was irreversible, i.e., the same Kara Zor El never returned to the mainstay DC universe ever again as the Crisis made her death an unchangeable event. Barry Allen, who perished in the crisis as well, returned while escaping the literal embodiment of death 23 years later in “Final Crisis,” but Supergirl remains the tragic character who couldn’t return.Â
Darkseid’s Role in the Crisis
The literal manifestation of evil, the tyrant New God ruler of Apokolips, Darkseid, had a much different role in the comics and animated movie adaptation. In the comics, Darkseid bided his time and, in a surprising twist, made a temporary alliance with the heroes of the multiverse to strike at a weakened Anti-Monitor. After all, Apokolips could have been a target of the all-devouring Anti-Monitor, and motivated by his own necessity to protect the Fourth world, Darkseid decided to join hands with his adversaries against the great threat. In the movie universe, however, Darkseid doesn’t exist in the Tomorrowverse, and his death in the altered DCAMU timeline is what triggers the creation of multiple parallel realities and infinite earths in the first place.
Absence of Superboy Prime and Alexander Luthor Jr. from Earth-3
The movie made a major change compared to the source material by totally omitting two major players of the Crisis, Alexander Luthor Jr. of Earth-3 and Superboy Prime from Earth Prime. This was probably done to avoid confusion between too many multiple versions of the singular character sharing space, but given how important role these two characters play in the DC universe as a whole, it seems like a wrong decision in hindsight. Superboy Prime belonged to a reality much like the real world, where the existence of superheroes is limited to the pages of comics, and this version of Superboy, who was immensely inspired by the heroics of the caped heroes, eventually finds out that he is the only superhero in his universe. Alexander Luthor Jr. is the son of the heroic versions of Lex Luthor and Lois Lane of Earth-3. Both Superboy Prime and Alexander Luthor Jr. lost their worlds at the hands of Anti-Monitor and joined the heroes of the multiverse to counter the cosmic threat. Later on, both of them were driven by isolation and grief to become the two most villainous characters in the DC universe, although Superboy Prime got his redemption much, much later during Dark Knights: Death Metal.
Spectre Had a Much More Active Role In The Comics
Finally, among the major differences, Spectre’s role was massively altered in the animated movie version of The Crisis. In comics, Spectre, as God’s wrath, leads the charge of taking the battle to Anti-Monitor to save reality, and he needed to battle in his empowered form to even stand up to Anti-Monitor, which emphasizes just how strong the cosmic monstrosity was. In the movie version, however, Spectre merely advises and assists on an occasional basis, never actually taking part in the conflict as an active character.
