“Crisis on Earth-X”: 10 Best Moments

The CW’s “Crisis on Earth-X” has come and gone, setting a new standard for the network’s DC Universe crossovers in future years and setting the stage for Freedom Fighters: The Ray, an animated series set to debut in 2018 on CW Seed.

The story brought together the casts of Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow — along with introducing new characters like The Ray, Citizen Cold, and a battery of Earth-X villains.

What were some of the best moments in the four-hour super-spectacular?

Well, let’s take a look at it.

RSVP

The opening sequence, which set the stage for much of what was to come over the following four hours of TV, introduced the four teams of characters by coming in during a “day in the life,” and it was a blend of spectacle and humor that would reverberate throughout the rest of “Crisis on Earth-X.”

While the “getting the band together” sequence could easily have been done on the cheap with whatever villain happened to be hanging around Vancouver at the time, the producers instead opted to have Supergirl fighting a Dominator and The Flash battling King Shark — two of the most effects-heavy and complex characters to work with.

That set the tone: this was BIG. And the humor — everyone talking about whether or not they had RSVPed for Barry and Iris’s wedding — worked to its advantage.

Side note, though: did Oliver and Felicity — who were in the wedding party — seriously not RSVP sooner than this week? Wow. The only thing ruder they could possibly do would be to step up and steal the wedding for themsel…

…oh.

Moving on.

 

The wedding fight

The first fight — in their Sunday best, at Barry and Iris’s wedding, and in total shock and confusion after being attacked by Nazis — was an inspired bit of choreography, creative use of teamwork and powers, and visually distinct from so many other big battles because of the setting and wardrobe.

Aside from poor minister William Katt being evaporated by Earth-Xers, it was a rout for the good guys, too — which is good, becuase after that, it would be a while before the heroes got good news.

 

The concentration camp

While the concept of “Crisis on Earth-X” was superheroes fighting Nazis, they did not shy away from the horrifying implications of Nazi ideology or the realities of Earth-X.

They also did not spend so much time there that it became uncomfortable or overly dark, proving that the writers and producers likely spent a lot of time finding just the right tone for what is obviously a very difficult balance to strike.

Even before that, though? You can hardly beat “our superheroes locked away in a concentration camp” for dread-inducing cliffhangers between parts of the crossover.

 

 

Citizen Cold’s big entrance

It was pretty predictable if you had watched the trailers exactly where Citizen Cold would come in, but that did not make it any less fun when it happened.

As many of Earth-1’s  heroes faced Lance’s firing squad on Earth-X, their powers dampened by electronic collars, things looked bleak. Just at the right moment, though, Citizen Cold swooped in, blasting away at the Nazis with his cold gun.

The heroes reaction — with half of the group, who knew other versions of the character, shouting “Snart?” in confusion — was priceless.

 

“Nobody is going to die because of me”

As she is being held, powerless and captive, Supergirl has friends on the outside: Felicity Smoak and Iris West work tirelessly to foil the plans of the Earth-Xers and almost succeed before they are captured by Thawne.

The electronics systems Thawne needs to take Supergirl’s heart, though, have been locked down by Felicity, who refuses to give them up.

Thawne makes a speech about killing Felicity, and prepares to do so when Kara intervenes, saying that no one will die because of her.

It is not only a perfect capsule summary of who Kara is as a character, but a great way to set up a dichotomy between Kara and her Earth-X doppelganger, Overgirl, who undertakes this whole bloody ordeal in order to save herself.

Ray Palmer’s debut

A chunk of the characters did not appear until more than halfway into the crossover, and nobody had a better first appearance than Ray Palmer, The Atom.

Just as he is about to begin surgery on Supergirl, Eobard Thawne finds himself unable to penetrate her skin.

Because they had just spent hours bathing her in red sun radiation, her invulnerability seemed unlikely to have returned so soon…but just as he was trying to process what else could be stopping him, the answer came: it was Ray, shrunk down to nearly microscopic and holding the scalpel away from Kara’s skin until he had a moment to grow and punch out Thawne.

 

The mourning montage

This season on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, there have been some stakes — but overall it has been a fun show, full of humor and characters bonding.

So to see them so devastated by the loss of their own was heartbreaking, and the sequence in which it was presented was note-perfect.

Capping it by giving Jax the responsibility of going to see Martin’s family and essentially being the messenger that Clarissa’s husband did not make it home from the war was a visual that made the whole thing that much stronger, and the pain felt by Martin’s family all the more relatable.

 

That long, one-take shot of the battle

In the final battle, there is a one-minute, four-second shot that is superhero action perfection.

Beginning when Steel is getting shot at by machine guns, and ending when the Oliver Queens of Earth-1 and Earth-X are duking it out on top of a car, the shot features dozens of characters, a boatload of visual effects, and the inspired shot of The Atom riding a T-sphere.

 

“General, would you care to step outside?”

Supergirl meets up with Overgirl one final time, and the way she addresses her doppelganger is pitch perfect:

“General, would you care to step outside?” She calls out to Overgirl, who is a general in the Earth-X army.

That’s not only a reference to Superman II, but also a perfect way to call out her doppelganger at the moment when the tides irrevocably turn.

 

The Red Tornado fight

Red Tornado was a big part of The Flash‘s hour, a weapon programmed to go after the Nazis at the behest of General Winn Schott and the Freedom Fighters.