Seeing how my fellow writer Daniel Lewandowski recently shared why he believed Invasion was the best crossover to take place in the Arrowverse, I have decided to give my opinion on why I believe Crisis on Earth-X is the best crossover in the Arrowverse.
The DC shows that air on The CW have been an extremely mixed bag in terms of quality. Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow all had fantastic early seasons, particularly during each of their second years. However, somewhere around the third season, they all started to have a noticeable drop in quality. Unlike most shows, the quality only got worse in their following seasons. Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow all had terrible fourth seasons. Supergirl’s fourth season was a decent installment, but nothing to brag about. Arrow had a massive improvement during its fifth season but once again fell flat on its face during the sixth season and never managed to get back up during the last few installments of the show. The fifth season of The Flash was dreadful and proved to be even worse than its preceding season. Legends of Tomorrow’s fifth season was a slight step up over the fourth, but I wouldn’t exactly call it good. In my opinion, the last time in which the Arrowverse was at the top of its game was during its fourth annual crossover Crisis on Earth-X. This crossover improved upon the mistakes of the previous events and did so many new things that had not yet been done before in the Arrowverse.
Putting a large emphasis on the multiverse plot thread that began in the second season of The Flash, Crisis on Earth-X sees the heroes of the Arrowverse go up against an army of Nazis from the horrific Earth-X, a universe in which Nazi Germany won World War II and took over the entire world. Led by Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) Nazi counterpart the Dark Arrow, the Earth-X villains plot to invade the Earth of our heroes in order to kidnap Kara Danvers/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and surgically remove her heart for her sadistic doppelgänger Overgirl, who is dying from an exposure to red sunlight. The Earth-X Nazis are aided by the Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanagh), who has traveled to Earth-1 to take revenge upon Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin) and Iris West (Candice Patton), as well as the Legends of Tomorrow following their defeat of him. The heroes are attacked by the Earth-X Nazis right when Barry and Iris are about to get married. From this point on, the entire crossover is a wild ride, being exciting, dramatic, tense and all around greatly entertaining.
One of the main differences between Crisis on Earth-X and the previous crossovers that took place is that all four shows are given an equal amount of focus regarding their characters. The first three crossovers felt like they were telling the story of each show’s season first and the story of the actual crossover second. While Invasion had some terrific moments, only the last episode felt like a genuine crossover. The first episode mainly revolves around Barry being chastised for causing Flashpoint and the second was mainly a dream sequence due to it being Arrow’s one hundredth episode. The Supergirl episode wasn’t even part of the actual crossover. Only one scene at the end related to it and even then the exact same scene was shown in The Flash. Crisis on Earth-X was the first time in which an Arrowverse crossover actually felt like one. None of the overarching stories from each show take center stage. It is mainly about the heroes dealing with the threat of the Earth-X Nazis. While some storylines from certain shows get a great deal of focus like Jax (Franz Drameh) attempting to give up his Firestorm powers so that Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber) can have a peaceful retirement with his family, the crossover itself is mainly the focus and always manages to feel that way.
The characters in Crisis on Earth-X are phenomenal. If I had to say who the most important characters of this crossover were, it would probably be Oliver, Barry, Jax, Stein, Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), Kara, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) and Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards). These characters are the beating heart of Crisis on Earth-X and each of them greatly contribute to the story. Barry’s desire to get married to Iris more than ever following the attack on their wedding is greatly understandable, especially after everything that he’s been through. Meanwhile, Alex and Sara hooking up was not something that I was expecting, but I absolutely loved their relationship in the crossover, even when it came to an end. Alex’s desperation to save Kara from the Earth-X Nazis is also extremely compelling as you absolutely believe her fear of not being able to save her sister in time. If there were two characters who I’d say detracted from the quality of the crossover, it would be Oliver and Felicity. I never hated their romance as much as other people, but their storyline was very obnoxious. Oliver attempting to ask Felicity to marry him is awkward enough, but doing so at Barry’s wedding rehearsal was not right. There is a time and a place for asking something like that and doing so at one of the most important events of your close friend’s life is not it. Felicity is even worse. After loudly yelling that she doesn’t want to marry Oliver in front of everyone to hear, the two go back and forth on how they truly feel about each-other and end up getting distracted from the more important fight with the invading Nazis. The worst moment from the crossover occurs at the end when Felicity interrupts Iris and Barry’s wedding and asks if she can marry Oliver alongside them. Oliver asking Felicity to marry him during Iris and Barry’s wedding rehearsal was bad enough, but for them to hijack someone else’s wedding is just disgusting. They even get their own ceremony in the following episode of Arrow, so what was the point of Felicity asking to be married alongside Barry and Iris? She literally could have done this in a following scene after Barry and Iris were officially married. There was no reason for this. While I love Crisis on Earth-X, the romantic storyline between Oliver and Felicity is definitely the weakest aspect of it.
However, the two characters who stand out the most are Jax and Stein. Jax starts out the crossover angry with the Professor, as he is upset at the thought of him leaving the Legends due to Stein being the closest thing he has to a father. It is definitely a situation in which you can understand both sides. Stein wants to be with his family for as long as possible, especially due to his advanced age while Jax will no longer get to be close with him if the Professor gives up his powers and leaves the Waverider. The acting from both Garber and Drameh is incredible, with this crossover possibly being their best performance in the Arrowverse. Even though the two thankfully make up during the third episode, the crossover takes a major turn after Stein is mortally wounded by an Earth-X Nazi soldier. If that wasn’t horrifying enough, Jax will also die from Stein’s wound if they continue to share the Firestorm bond. In a heartbreaking scene, Stein takes the cure that was given to him to remove their powers, sacrificing his life for Jax. The Arrowverse has shown many tragic scenes throughout most of the shows, but this is hands down the saddest moment for me in the entire franchise. I felt nothing when Oliver Queen died in Crisis on Infinite Earths. I did not care when Laurel Lance/Black Canary (Katie Cassidy) was killed in Arrow season 4. I was in tears when Professor Stein sacrificed himself to save the closest thing he had to a son.
While most of the main characters besides Oliver and Felicity are incredible, the supporting characters in the crossover like Cisco Ramon/Vibe (Carlos Valdes) and Mick Rory/Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) still provide a good amount of comedy to the heavier situations without it ever seeming out of place. Mick in particular has several hilarious moments, especially when he meets the Earth-X doppelgänger of his deceased partner Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), who turns out to be a very kind rule abiding hero and the exact opposite of the Snart from Earth-1. Speaking of which, Earth-X Leonard Snart/Citizen Cold is hilarious and one of the most likable characters to ever appear in the Arrowverse. His relationship with his lover Ray Terrill/The Ray (Russell Tovey) is just so charming and provides a great deal of levity throughout the crossover.
The villains are much better in this compared to Invasion. While I appreciated the comic book accurate designs of the Dominators, they still felt like a very generic threat and showed no real personality outside of being like every hostile alien species you have ever seen in a tv show. The villains from Earth-X are far more interesting. Even though they are not likable at all, they still manage to have compelling motivations. While the overall objective of the Nazis is to conquer Earth-1, the Dark Arrow mainly wants to take Supergirl’s heart in order to save Overgirl, who just so happens to be his wife (a fact that comedically disgusts Earth-1 Kara). Despite their somewhat sympathetic motivation, you still absolutely hate the Earth-X versions of Oliver Queen and Kara Danvers, and their deaths at the end of the crossover are extremely satisfying. Thawne is just as despicable, as he is only helping the Nazis to cause pain for Barry. One villain who I found to be quite terrifying was Earth-X Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), who is shown to be completely dedicated to the disgusting values of the Earth-X Nazis, even proudly admitting that he murdered his own daughter for choosing to be bisexual. One frightening scene with Earth-X Lance included him attempting to test Oliver (who is disguised as his Earth-X counterpart) by bringing in the doppelgänger of Felicity Smoak, who is hauntingly portrayed as a concentration camp prisoner, and openly mocking her as he asks Oliver to execute her. The villains in Crisis on Earth-X were hateable, terrifying and overall better antagonists than the ones that were seen in previous crossover.
Lastly, the action in Crisis on Earth-X is top notch. Each of the four episodes contain a massive fight scene between the heroes and villains. The first major fight at the church when the Nazis interrupt Iris and Barry’s wedding is breathtaking. Every character gets a moment to shine and nothing feels missing from the fight scene. When it comes to the Arrowverse during an action scene in a closed space, the editing and choreography of the scene is normally atrocious, so the battle at the church was a breath of fresh air. The second episode ramps up the action in a great way, having several more fights throughout the installment and including several amazing references from the comics, particularly a kryptonite arrow which Oliver uses on Overgirl. The third episode goes even bigger as we see two storylines with a great amount of action. One story features several of the main characters trapped on Earth-X while Iris and Felicity are forced to hide in the vents of S.T.A.R. Labs on Earth-1 as they attempt to save Kara from the Nazis who are about to harvest her heart from her body. Every action scene feels like a race against time as the heroes must make their way home before it is too late. The final episode of Crisis on Earth-X features what I believe to be the best fight scene in the entire Arrowverse as our heroes have one final battle against the Nazis. Every moment from that final action scene feels like a comic book come to life. From Barry and Thawne’s fight through the streets of Central City, to Kara and Overgirl’s brawl in the air, to Oliver’s fight to the death with his Earth-X doppelgänger, every single moment is a sight to behold. For a crossover on a tv show budget and a budget on The CW at that, this entire fight looked way better than it had any right to. What makes this even better is that this one fight managed to outdo all of the action that was seen in the theatrical release of Justice League in 2017 and when a tv show on The CW can accomplish something like that, you know that the crossover is amazing.
Overall, I absolutely believe that Crisis on Earth-X is the best crossover in the Arrowverse. I don’t think that the Arrowverse will ever have an event that will top the incredible quality that was seen in the crossover. If you ask me, this was the last time where the Arrowverse consistently felt amazing. Crisis on Earth-X is an event that I absolutely love and one that I will happily rewatch all the time.
