Watchmen Easter Egg in "Crisis on Infinite Earths" Confirmed

Eagle-eyed fans on Twitter last night noted that one of the establishing shots in The CW's 'Crisis [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Eagle-eyed fans on Twitter last night noted that one of the establishing shots in The CW's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" featured a blink-and-you-miss-it nod to HBO's hugely successful Watchmen adaptation. The Easter egg, though, was a billboard in the city of Los Angeles, so even for as few people as caught it, some were skeptical that it was really meant as a reference, rather than just being a shot of Los Angeles. Of course, this was "Crisis on Infinite Earths," so mostly people knew better. And even for those who thought it might not be what it looked like, executive producer weighed in on Twitter today to confirm that it was indeed there by design.

The billboard was on Earth-666 which (really obvious spoilers) is the universe inhabited by Lucifer (Tom Ellis), the main character of the Netflix show of the same name. That take on Lucifer is based loosely on the one introduced in Neil Gaiman's Sandman universe.

Directed to a tweet about the Watchmen billboard, Guggenheim said, "Finally. Someone noticed. Special thanks to Damon Lindelof for making this one happen."

Surprisingly, this is not the first time there has been a billboard-related Easter egg on Lucifer. In the show's first season, the cityscape outside of Lucifer's apartment window was based on an image of Los Angeles taken around the time they were shooting the pilot. As such, there was a billboard outside for Fantastic 4 -- the Michael B. Jordan version that flopped around that same time. For one reason or another -- probably the relationship that existed at that time between FOX the network and 20th Century Fox the film studio -- nobody removed the billboard, and the Marvel characters had their own "cameo" on the DC show:

Lucifer-FF

The "Crisis" event brings together the heroes from multiple Earths to battle against the Anti-Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), a godlike villain who threatens to destroy all reality. In the comics, the story ended with the deaths of The Flash and Supergirl, and the destruction of DC's multiverse, leading to a single Earth with a complex history packed with hundreds of heroes.

The event is the most ambitious thing DC has ever attempted in live action, bringing together characters from all six of the current DC Comics adaptations on The CW (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning), along with characters and actors from Titans, the 1990 version of The Flash, the short-lived Birds of Prey, Smallville, Superman Returns, Tim Burton's Batman, and the iconic 1966 Batman series.

The first three episodes are available now, for free, on The CW app and CW Seed. "Crisis on Infinite Earths" will conclude on January 14.

Lucifer will have its fifth and final season in 2020 on Netflix.

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