Crisis on Infinite Earths: Easter Eggs and References in Part 1

After years of anticipation and dread, The CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover has finally arrived. The five-episode crossover, which draws inspiration from the iconic DC Comics event of the same name, spanned across The CW’s multiverse of Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman, as well as some surprising other parts of the DC world. Even with worlds living and dying by the events of “Crisis”, the magnitude of seeing so many DC actors in one place certainly has a whole different kind of significance behind it — something that was seen firsthand with the episode’s many cameos and Easter eggs. Spoilers for this week’s episode of Supergirl, “Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 1” below! Only look if you want to know!

The episode saw Lyla Michaels/Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson) court characters from across the Arrowverse, in an attempt at having them carry out their “last stand” on Earth-38. In the process, fans got some unexpected meetings, heartbreaking moments, and pretty epic references to DC lore and beyond. So, what Easter eggs, references, and cameos did we catch in tonight’s episode? Read on to find out.

Earth-89

The episode opened with a montage of Earths being destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, which included some surprising faces from the past few decades of DC adaptations. The first was of “Earth-89”, where Alexander Knox (Robert Whul) was seen reading a newspaper about Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), before looking up into the sky and remarking that he hopes the big guy is watching.

Whul most notably played the character in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie, in which he served as a reporter for the Gotham Globe and a coworker and ally of Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger).

Titans

The second Earth destroyed was Earth-9, which featured several faces familiar to those who watch the DC Universe streaming app. Titans‘ Hank Hall/Hawk (Alan Ritchson) and Jason Todd/Robin (Curran Walters) could all be seen, before their Earth appeared to get swallowed up by anti-matter.

Titans has aired on DC Universe since last year, and recently wrapped up its second season. While the idea of their Earth being destroyed in “Crisis” is certainly bittersweet, the fact that they’re already renewed for a third season might still give fans hope.

The Ray

The next Earth shown was one familiar to the world of Arrowverse crossovers — the Nazi-run dystopia of “Earth-X”. In it, Ray Terrill/The Ray (Russell Tovey) could be seen flying over his city, before the anti-matter took hold.

The Ray was notably introduced in the 2017 crossover “Crisis on Earth-X”, which spun out into his own animated series on CW Seed. The Ray is also set to play a role in the upcoming “Crisis” tie-in comic, which raises some major questions about his potential demise. 

Burt Ward

The final “red skies” cameo showed a older Dick Grayson/Robin (Burt Ward) wearing a red, green, and yellow sweater, while walking a German Shepard on a leash. The man looked up into the sky at the wave of anti-matter, uttering “Holy crimson skies of death!”, just as his Earth appears to be destroyed.

Ward played Robin in the 1960s Batman TV show, as the pint-sized foil to Adam West’s Batman. In recent years, Ward has reprised his role as The Boy Wonder across several animated properties as well.

Wil Wheaton

Shortly after the “red skies” montage, a man was standing in the streets of National City holding a sign that says “Prepare to meet thy doom, the end of the world is nigh”, and monologuing about how even Supergirl can’t save them. The man was played by none other than Wil Wheaton, who most famously played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

Wheaton also has some pre-existing ties to the DC universe, including voicing Aqualad on Teen Titans and Teen Titans GO!, Cosmic Boy in the 2006-2008 Legion of Super-Heroes series, and Ted Kord/Blue Beetle in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Spike the Dragon

Wheaton’s character and the people of National City were later attacked by Spike the Dragon, causing the Girl of Steel to intervene.

Spike, a lizard with the ability to turn into a fire-breathing dragon, first appeared in the Supergirl Season 4 episode “Call to Action”, in which Spike played a bizarre role in National City’s Thanksgiving.

Jonathan Kent

Audiences also got reacquainted with Clark Kent/Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch), who had moved to Argo City and developed a much more domestic life. This included having a baby son, named Jonathan Kent.

Jon’s first few minutes also provided a major callback to Supergirl‘s lore, as he was sent from Argo in a pod not unlike Kara and Clark before the destruction of Krypton. Clark and Lois’ dialogue to their son also served as an homage to Marlon Brando’s monologue in Superman: The Movie.

Griffin Newman

Another unexpected cameo came during the Legends’ first season, which saw them participating in a Trivia Night on Earth-1’s Star City. The emcee, who later got annoyed at Harbinger crashing the event, was played by fan-favorite actor Griffin Newman.

Newman is best known for playing Arthur Everest on Amazon’s The Tick, and also has roles on Vinyl, Search Party, and Our Cartoon President.

Janis Joplin

Legends‘ first scene also followed through on a small year-long plotline, which was initially set into motion in the show’s Season 4 premiere. The episode saw the team traveling to Woodstock in the 1960s, where Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) interacted with Janis Joplin while in small form.

Apparently, this had an impact on Janis’ music career, leading to the final song that she recorded appropriately being named “Little Robot Man”.

Quantum Tower

 Midway through the episode, Harbinger revealed why the heroes were sent to Earth-38 — because it had a Quantum Tower lurking underneath its surface. The tower, which looks a lot like the cosmic tuning forks in the “Crisis” comics, had apparently been planted by The Monitor years before, in the event that something of this magnitude would occur.

In the comics, the cosmic tuning forks are a series of structures built by The Monitor, which help slow the combining of universes in the “Crisis” itself.

Earth-16

Part of the episode also followed up on something that has plagued Legends since its first season — the nature of “Star City 2046”, the dystopian future that the team had accidentally traveled to. According to multiverse readings, that actually existed on an alternate Earth dubbed Earth-16, which was where baby Jonathan’s pod was accidentally sent.

Brainiac-5 (Jesse Rath), Lois, and Sara Lance/White Canary (Caity Lotz) all traveled to Earth-16, and Sara reunited with that Earth’s Dark Knight Returns-esque version of Oliver Queen.

Shadow Demons

The final act of the episode saw the Arrowverse’s heroes engaged in an epic battle against a race of beings pretty familiar to “Crisis” readers — Shadow Demons. In the comics, the Shadow Demons are a race of silent killers enslaved by the Anti-Monitor, who have a pretty dark origin. They’re essentially the warped essences of Weaponers, a race of aliens from the planet Qward. 

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“Crisis on Infinite Earths” will continue across Batwoman on Monday, December 9th at 8/7c, as well as The Flash on December 10th at 8/7c. Following a midseason break, the event will conclude on Tuesday, January 14th, with new episodes of Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.