In Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s event miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, heroes from around DC’s multiverse gather to battle the Anti-Monitor — and at different points in the story he has different looks. At the start of the series, he looks like an almost mummified version of The Monitor, wrapped up in a Kirby-influenced suit of armor with tubes of…something…running from his arms to his back. A version of that look — with a more modern twist inherited from the New 52-era “Darkseid War” redesign of the character — was the one fans saw in the TV adaptation, which aired on The CW and concluded earlier this week.
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A second look — a different suit of armor that incorporates those tubes around various parts of his body and has a larger, heavier-duty helmet that has a bullet shape to it reminiscent of Ram-Man from Masters of the Universe, appeared near the end of the series, after the Anti-Monitor had taken a ton of physical abuse during a battle with Supergirl and had to regroup. That one didn’t make it into the series, and executive producer Marc Guggenheim says the reason why is pretty simple: money.
“Probably the most obvious example is in the original Crisis, the Anti-Monitor gets a costume change midway through, and that was just something that wasn’t financially feasible for us,” Guggenheim admitted. “We barely have enough money to build one costume, much less two versions of the same costume. So that’s a silly example, but that’s a real example. You just can’t afford to do something like that.”
While he knows that a lot of fans would have loved to see the look, Guggenheim also admits that it wasn’t his favorite version of the character.
“That being said, I’ve never been a huge fan,” Guggenheim admitted. “I love George’s design and I think he’s probably the best costume designer in the comic book industry, but I was never a fan of the helmeted Anti-Monitor look. So maybe it’s all for the best.”
The Crisis brought together heroes from various eras of DC’s TV and film adaptations, including Brandon Routh’s Superman (originally seen in Superman Returns), Burt Ward’s Dick Grayson (originally seen in the 1966 Batman series), Tom Welling’s Clark Kent (originally seen in Smallville), Tom Ellis’s Lucifer Morningstar (currently appearing in Lucifer), and Ezra Miller’s version of The Flash, who first appeared in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and has his own solo movie coming up from the director of IT.
Fans can get caught up by watching all five parts of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover on The CW‘s website or app now, or buying them through video on demand platforms. The post-“Crisis” Arrowverse begins this weekend with new episodes of Batwoman and Supergirl before Arrow and Black Lightning return next week.
What did you think of The CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths?” Let us know in the comments below or tweet at @russburlingame with your thoughts!
