Crisis On Infinite Earths: A Shot-By-Shot Breakdown of the First Teaser

The first teaser trailer for The CW‘s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event is here — and although it runs just 15 seconds long, it gives fans a lot of eye candy, a lot to digest, and a few things to speculate about. The trailer is a quick series of shots, with no dialogue, and the only text or narration is about how big the event is and when it begins. Still, there is a first look at Black Lightning in the Arrowverse, some questions raised about The Monitor, and shots of every series lead at one point or another, including Katherine McNamara from the planned Green Arrow and the Canaries spinoff.

The trailer was released via Arrow‘s Twitter account, so you can check it out below. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” may impact no series greater than Arrow, which will end just a couple of weeks later.

“Crisis on Infinite Earths” kicks off on Sunday, December 8 on Supergirl, runs through a Monday episode of Batwoman and that Tuesday’s episode of The Flash. That will be the midseason cliffhanger, as the shows go on hiatus for the holidays and return on January 14 to finish out the event with the midseason premiere of Arrow and a “special episode” of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which launches as a midseason series this year and so will not have an episode on the air before the Crisis.

If you want to know what we spotted in the teaser, read on…!

The Monitor…?

One of the most persistent questions of the last few weeks in the Arrowverse is, “what is going on with The Monitor?” There is some speculation that The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) seen in Arrow might actually be the Anti-Monitor, although the character also has the kind of cosmic consciousness that means he can sometimes do bad things for good reasons.

It also seems curious that The Monitor seems to talk to The Flash as though his fate is sealed, while coaching Green Arrow on how to prevent that fate. Is he lying to one? To both? Are these Monitors even the same person?

Fans couldn’t help but notice that, just the other day, Garrett himself may have implied that The Monitor wasn’t all he was cracked up to be…

…and now we have this figure, staring down a pack of heroes, without the trademark mutton chops that Garrett has worn as The Monitor…and without a cape. It seems like a possibility that this guy is actually the Anti-Monitor, who in the comics didn’t wear a cape, and whose face has been revealed in publicity photos. He has no hair at all, mutton chops or otherwise.

An Unexpected Group

Right after The Monitor (?) shows up, we’re treated to a shot of an interesting grouping of characters. John Diggle (David Ramsey) from Arrow appears on the far left, next to DC’s Legends of Tomorrow headliner White Canary (Caity Lotz). Next to him is The Flash (Grant Gustin), then Supergirl (Melissa Benoist). Beside her is Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) and a myserious, bearded figure.

It appears as though the bearded figure may be Osric Chau, appearing in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” as the character of Ryan Choi. In the comics, Choi was Ray Palmer’s successor as The Atom.

It’s hard to say what these characters might be doing together, or what they might have in common, although it’s worth noting that the official series lead for each of the TV shows (Lotz, Gustin, Benoist) are present except for Arrow‘s Stephen Amell and Batwoman‘s Ruby Rose. This is especially worth pointing out since the pair are spotted together later in the teaser.

Given the way the shot zeroes in on The Flash, it seems likely that this is a big confrontation between Barry and the Monitor, dealing with the nature of Barry’s disappearance/death.

The Wall of Antimatter Returns

Next up:  a shot of someone — it could really be anyone, and guesses have ranged from Cisco Ramon to Tom Welling’s Clark Kent from Smallville, but they’re all basically blinde guesses at this point — being swallowed up by a wall of antimatter. This is more or less the same way we saw Earth-2 destroyed at the end of the Arrow season premiere, and don’t be surprised if we get a lot more of it by the time the Crisis is over.

Black Lightning’s Back!

While we knew it was coming, and even saw some behind-the-scenes photos, this shot in the teaser is the first time we have officially seen Black Lightning in the Arrowverse.

There isn’t any real indication of how or why Jefferon Pierce (Cress Williams) will be called upon to save the multiverse, but don’t be entirely surprised if he turns out to be one of the “paragons.”

Kingdom Come Superman

There’s a brief shot of Brandon Routh in costume as his version of Superman.

Whether or not he is officially following up his role in Superman Returns has yet to be determined. His costume is taken from the hit comic book series Kingdom Come, in which an aging Superman is drawn out of retirement to deal with a cataclysm brought on by a younger generation of shallow and violent self-styled heroes.

You can’t really tell much about Routh’s Superman here, except that given the color palette and some behind-the-scenes shots we have seen, he appears to be on the Waverider from Legends of Tomorrow in this shot. It will be interesting to see how the Legends react to seeing him, given how much he will look like Ray Palmer.

Team Arrow-ish

Batwoman (Ruby Rose), Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), and Mia Smoak (Katherine McNamara) line up and stalk their way through a cityscape, with Oliver talking to someone on a communications device in his ear.

This represents a not-insignificant confirmation: that Mia Smoak (and maybe other characters from Star City’s future) will still be in the present day when the Crisis happens, and will join the heroes of the DC Universe in the battle against the Anti-Monitor.

It also means that Mia will be revealed to the DC Universe beyond just Arrow, something that has not happened yet.

The presence of Mia also raises another question: will she serve a purpose in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” similar to the one played by Wally West in the comics? In that story, he learned about the death of his mentor, Barry Allen, and took up Barry’s name and costume. That’s a thing we already know Mia will do soon…!

The Title Card

Last but not least, we get what appears to be the title card for “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” featuring shots from each of the five shows as well as an image of The Monitor’s face.