Crisis on Infinite Earths Will Reveal Major Details About Harbinger Soon

Earlier this month, Arrowverse fans got their first look at Audrey Marie Anderson’s Lyla Michaels as Harbinger in the upcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover event and it left fans with a major question: is it the Earth-1 Lyla fans know that is really Harbinger or is it a Lyla from another world? It turns out, that question is one fans will get answered perhaps sooner than expected. How soon? Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz tells TV Line that the answer will come in Arrow’s third episode of the season.

In the Crisis on Infinite Earths comics, Lyla/Harbinger was just a baby when The Monitor saved her from a shipwreck during a violent storm. He went on to raise her as his assistant with Lyla helping him monitor the heroes of the multiverse, helping to arrange the tests that would allow The Monitor to recruit heroes for the battle against the Anti-Monitor. Unfortunately, during her recruitment efforts, Lyla ended up under the Anti-Monitor’s control and ended up killing the Monitor.

For executive producer Marc Guggenheim, including Harbinger in the upcoming crossover is a very satisfying move and not just because of her significance to the original Crisis story, but because of how Lyla was originally introduced into the Arrowverse all the way back in Arrow‘s first season.

“Lyla Michaels as Harbinger is a key component of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths that we were determined to honor in our crossover,” Guggenheim said previously. “What makes this particularly satisfying for us is that we introduced Lyla Michaels and her Harbinger codename all the way back in Arrow Season 1.”

As fans will recall, Lyla was first introduced as John Diggle’s ex-wife in the episode “Unfinished Business”. The pair ultimately reconciled and had a child — originally baby Sara, though thanks to Barry Allen and the whole “Flashpoint” story, she was transformed to John Diggle, Jr.

While many fans are of the mind that the Lyla that becomes Harbinger will be from another Earth, there’s something interesting about the idea that Earth-1’s Lyla could end up taking on the role. With the events of last season’s “Elseworlds” as well as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow’s (Stephen Amell) involvement with The Monitor, Earth-1 is already significantly involved in the fight for the fate of the multiverse. Having Earth-1’s Lyla be the Harbinger wouldn’t be completely out there.

“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.

What version of Lyla do you think will be the Harbinger? Let us know in the comments below.