Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Crisis on Infinite Earths: Parts 1-3.
The first three chapters of the Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths have expanded that shared reality, showing a surprising number of alternate worlds are part of the Arrowverse. Ironically, this expansion comes at a time of collapse, as the evil Anti-Monitor destroys Earth after Earth until only his Anti-Matter universe remains.
The original Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book miniseries was a game-changer in several respects. For DC Comics, it was a celebration of the company’s legacy even as it paved the way for a new future, as the many realities making up the DC Comics’ multiverse were condensed into a single timeline. For the comic book industry as a whole, Crisis showed that it was possible to tell complex stories over the course of several months across multiple titles. This indirectly paved the way for the Arrowverse, which featured the same kinds of stories, spread across several different superhero shows, which shared the same multiverse.
The first three episodes of Crisis on Infinite Earths united many classic movies and television series based on DC Comics under the Arrowverse bannner. While the number of worlds profiled isn’t quite infinite, it is still considerable and some of the appearances brief enough to boggle the mind. Here is a rundown on every Earth in the Arrowverse shown in Crisis on Infinite Earths Parts 1-3.
Earth-89: Tim Burton’s Batman
The world of Tim Burton’s Batman movies was briefly seen in Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 1. Danny Elfman’s Batman Theme played as an unidentified man looked up from his newspaper to the Bat-Signal and muttered to himself that he hoped the “big guy” was watching, as the skies turned red. The unidentified man is actor Robert Whul, suggesting that the character depicted is Alexander Knox; the newspaper reporter and co-worker of Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale who was the first to investigate the rumors of Batman’s existence in the 1989 Batman movie.
Earth-9: DC Universe’s Titans
The introduction of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 1 offered a brief glimpse of San Francisco on Earth-9, where we saw a man in a red-white cowl and a teenage boy in a mask just before they were presumably erased by the anti-matter wave. The man and the boy will be instantly recognized by DC Universe subscribers as Hank Hall (Hawk) and Jason Todd (Robin) from Titans.
Earth-X: The Ray & Crisis on Earth-X
A parallel world where the Axis Powers won World War II and the world’s finest heroes were villains in the service of the Third Reich, Earth-X was a lousy place to visit and an even worse place to live. Thankfully, the tide turned for the resistance trying to liberate Earth-X following the Crisis on Earth-X crossover event in 2017. We briefly saw The Ray (Russell Tovey) flying towards the wave of anti-matter about to destroy Earth-X in the introduction of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 1.
Earth-66: Batman Television Series (1966)
Burt Ward played Robin alongside Adam West’s Batman through three seasons of the 1966 Batman TV show and was one of the first cameos confirmed for Crisis on Infinite Earths. Though the man from Earth-66 in the red sweater with the black, yellow and green trim was not directly identified as Dick Grayson, there was no doubt to his identity when he looked to the skies and declared “Holy Crimson Skies of Death!”
Earth-38: Supergirl
Named after the year of the publication of the first Superman comic book, Earth-38 is the setting of Supergirl. Most of the action of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 1 took place here, as Supergirl and her allies attempted to evacuate their Earth before the anti-matter wave reached their reality. In the end, a little under half of Earth-38’s population was safely sent away to Earth-1. While Earth-38 was Arrowverse canon before, they finally merged worlds in Crisis.
Earth-1: Arrowverse Prime
Earth-1 is the center of the Arrowverse, figuratively and literally. Apart from Supergirl, The Ray and Black Lightning, every superhero show on The CW is set on Earth-1. Likewise, all the maps of the multiverse seen so far have shown Earth-1 in the middle of everything.
Earth-16: Star City 2046
The Legends of Tomorrow once traveled to a potential 2046 where Star City had fallen into chaos and the only thing standing in the way of total anarchy was a one-armed Oliver Queen and newbie Green Arrow Connor Hawke. Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part 1 revealed that the Legends had accidentally traveled across time and reality and that the Star City they had seen was the potential future of Earth-16 rather than Earth-1. This future seems to have been altered, however, as the Oliver Queen of Earth-16 had no memory of having previously met the Legends.
Another oddity is that this version Green Arrow didn’t recall his Sara Lance having survived the sinking of the Queen’s Gambit to become The Canary. He also had no knowledge of the multiverse’s existence, leaving him very confused when Lois Lane, Brainiac-5 and Sara Lance broke into his bunker, claiming to be from another Earth. Thankfully, this version of Oliver Queen was every bit the hero, having saved the infant Jonathan Kent when the rocket carrying him from Argo City crash-landed on Earth-16.
Earth-74: Alternate Legends of Tomorrow Reality
On Earth-74, the Legends of Tomorrow retired after one of their teammates died. Their version of the Waverider, which was managed by an artificial intelligence named Leonard, was taken over by Mick “Heatwave” Rory and turned into a man-cave where he could work on his novels in peace. This Waverider became a mobile base of operations for the heroes fighting the Anti-Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two and the Mick Rory of Earth-74 became an unconventional (but successful) babysitter for Johnathan Kent while his parents are traveling the multiverse.
Earth-33, Earth-92, Earth-67 and Earth-3
In Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two, Mia Smoak searched a map of the multiverse for an Earth that has a Lazarus Pit that could be used to resurrect Oliver Queen, briefly passing over the entries for Earth-33, Earth-92, Earth-67 and Earth-3 as she did so. None of these Earths had been previously referred to except for Earth-3, which is the homeworld of the Jay Garrick Flash. It was most recently seen in The Flash season 6, episode 2, “A Flash of the Lightning,” when Barry Allen consulted with Jay Garrick on how to fight the coming Crisis.
Earth-99: Evil Dark Knight Returns Reality
Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two saw Kara Zor-El and Kate Kane journey to Earth-99, in search of the Paragon of Courage; a being who was only identified as “the Bat of tomorrow.” This lead them to Earth-99’s version of Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy), who had retired from the role of Batman after many years of devoting himself to the war on crime and was barely able to walk with the aid of a special exoskeleton. This Batman was ultimately revealed to have fallen from the hero’s path, adopting lethal force in dealing with his enemies and former allies like Superman, who had been sent to bring him to justice. The journey to Earth-99 to confront this Darkest Knight proved to be the ultimate test of Kate Kane’s resolve, revealing her as the true Paragon of Courage.
Earth-75: Alternate Superman Reality
The Lois Lane and Clark Kent of Earth-38 briefly traveled to Earth-75 in Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two, searching for a Superman who fit the description given for the Paragon of Truth; “a second Kryptonian, who is said to have suffered a greater loss than most mortal men could endure.” We learned very little about this Earth during their visit, save that its versions of Superman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor were physically identical to their Earth-38 counterparts, as the Lex Luthor of Earth-38 killed the Superman of Earth-75 and was immediately recognized by the media.
Earth-167: Smallville
Despite going on a cross-dimensional killing spree to destroy as many versions of Superman as possible, Lex Luthor ultimately left the Clark Kent of Earth-167 at peace, because it’s no fun killing a Superman who gave up his powers to settle down and have kids. This brief scene confirmed the final fate of most of the cast of Smallville, with Clark Kent (Tom Welling) having married Lois Lane (Erica Durance) and moved back to Smallville to manage the Kent farm and raise two daughters. Earth-167’s version of Lex Luthor is also confirmed to have become President of the United States, based on Clark’s dry remark that he didn’t know the President was in town when the Lois Lane of Earth-38 tried to warn him that Lex Luthor was going to try and kill him. Its designation of Earth-167 is a tribute to Smallville producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who were both born in 1967.
Earth-96: Kingdom Come
Home to the Superman who became the Paragon of Truth, the Clark Kent of Earth-96 saw all his friends at The Daily Planet and the woman he loved die after “a reject from Gotham… played what he called a practical joke and gassed the building.” The exact same tragedy played out in the 1996 mini-series Kingdom Come, starting a chain of events that saw Superman abandon the world for a decade, only to resume his never-ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way after it became clear that the world still needed a Superman. The Superman of Earth-96 is played by Brandon Routh, whose Superman in Superman Returns was meant to be the same Superman portrayed by Christopher Reeve in four earlier Superman movies. This continued association is confirmed, as he makes reference to the events of Superman 3 (“Actually, this is the second time I’ve gone nuts and fought myself.”) and Superman’s son, Jason, from Superman Returns.
Earth-18: Old West Earth
The search for a Lazarus Pit sent Barry Allen, John Constantine, Sara Lance and Mia Smoak to Earth-18 and a seemingly abandoned mine in North Dakota. Mia and Sara fought an alternate version of Jonah Hex, who had claimed the mine as his own and hadn’t yet earned his famous face scars. It is interesting to note that in the list of Earths making up DC Comics’ classic and modern comic book multiverses, Earth 18 is home of most of DC Comics’ classic Western heroes and it has been left unable to advance further than the 19th Century in terms of technology. The Earth-18 of the Arrowverse seems to be trapped in a similar state, as our heroes traveled to the Old West setting using a breach device rather than a time machine.
Earth-203: Birds of Prey Television Series (2003)
Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three opened with a dramatic scene revealing Earth-203 to be home to the heroes of the 2003 Birds of Prey TV series. The brief scene showed Huntress (Ashley Scott) running across the rooftops of New Gotham while trying to get a comms signal from Oracle (Dina Meyer). The message finally came through, just before an anti-matter wave destroyed the clock-tower that was the team’s hideout and Huntress herself.
Earth-666: Lucifer
With the multiverse collapsing and anti-matter creating turbulence between realities, the rules of magic became unreliable and John Constantine couldn’t work the same resurrection ritual he used in the past to retrieve Oliver Queen’s soul and reunite it with his now living body. This leads Constantine, John Diggle and Mia Smoak to take a detour to Los Angeles on Earth-666 where John can call in a favor from an old acquaintance. This was revealed to be Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) of Lucifer, who agreed to give Constantine a passageway into Purgatory to pay off an old debt.
Earth-90: The Flash Television Series (1990)
While we do not get to see Earth-90 in Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three beyond a quick flashback, we do learn the final fate of its last survivor; the Barry Allen of Earth-90 (John Wesley Shipp), who disappeared during last year’s Elseworlds event. The Flash, Vibe, Frost and Pariah discovered that Earth-90’s Flash was abducted by the Anti-Monitor and forced to run on a treadmill which powered the massive Anti-Matter Cannon that was unmaking the multiverse. While Earth-1’s Flash felt this was where he was meant to sacrifice himself, the older Flash of Earth-90 used a trick he had learned to temporarily absorb the Speed Force from his doppelganger. This gave him the energy he needed to overload the Anti-Matter Cannon, thinking of his wife Tina McGee (Amanda Pays) as he ran his last race.
Earth-?: Black Lightning
As the Flashes of Earth-1 and Earth-90 puzzled out how to destroy the Anti-Matter Cannon, Pariah summoned a hero from another Earth to try and short out the fail-safe that threatened to destroy Earth-1. Enter Jefferson Pierce, aka Black Lightning. Strangely enough, Jefferson’s Earth was never officially identified with a numerical designation in Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three, though it would likely be either Earth-77 (after the year of the publication of the first Black Lightning comic book) or Earth-218, if using the same convention for other 21st century DC Comics TV shows like Birds of Prey.
Earth-73
Nothing is known about this Earth, which met its end in Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three, as Lois Lane monitored the decay of the Multiverse. Lois noted sadly that with Earth-73 gone, there were only seven Earths left in including Earth-1. Unfortunately, it did not take long for the rest of the unidentified Earths to fall, leaving Earth-1 alone in the Arrowverse.
