Crisis on Infinite Earths Concept Art Reveals The Monitor’s Satellite Was Originally Planned

Today, DC released Crisis on Infinite Earths: Paragons Rising, a deluxe edition hardcover that collects the lead (and primary backup) stories from the Crisis on Infinite Earths 100-Page Giant issues that were released during the show’s run on The CW. In the back, there are a lot of features, including script pages, pencil art, and a lot of concept art from the TV event. Among the images in that behind-the-scenes concept art is a number of what appears to be 3D models, rounding out the shape of what would have been The Monitor’s satellite had it been used in the show.

On TV, The Monitor gathered heroes on an alternate Earth’s version of the Waverider (the timeship from DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), presumably for budgetary reasons. The satellite he operated out of in the comics doesn’t appear on the show, but at one point in development, it looks like there were plans for it to be there.

It’s maybe a little surprising, then, that the satellite didn’t prove to be the setting for the comic, which takes place between the moments of the TV episodes and features primarily characters who were not prominently featured during The CW’s version of the story. That, too, takes place on the Waverider, making these early renderings the only real proof that the Monitor had a satellite at some point in the story process.

You can see them below.

If you can’t read it, the caption explains some of the specifics of the satellite, noting, “Sunken in elements will have micro-details an dmsall lights. Cavity in the center will have a larger facility/structure for more scale detail.”

When he got his comp copy of the hardcover recently, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” showrunner and Crisis on Infinite Earths: Paragons Rising writer Marc Guggenheim tweeted that there would be behind-the-scenes extras that would get people talking. He’s not wrong: besides the Monitor’s satellite, there is concept art representing unused versions of The Spectre and Harbinger, as well as an Easter egg featuring Michael Keaton’s Batman.

Crisis on Infinite Earths: Paragons Rising is available in comic shops now. You can get it next Tuesday at Amazon and other non-comics bookstores. You can watch the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” TV event on a special disc included in the Blu-rays for Arrow (already in stores) and the upcoming releases of The Flash, Batwoman, Supergirl, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.