A Tale of a Heroine and a Villain

Crisis On Infinite Earths is probably the most important, and most formative, comic book crossovers in the genre’s history. There have been better written stories since, arguably bigger stories, and stories more important to specific characters, that’s all true. And in the long run, the ramifications of what happened in Crisis On Infinite Earths has been muted by further stories from DC that walked back many of the plot developments and changes. And yet, due to how the story worked, and what happened within, there is no doubt that the crossover changed the game for the entire industry.

It wasn’t just a big superhero crossover. We’d had those before. It wasn’t just that characters died, as that had happened, too. No, what Crisis On Infinite Earths proved was that giant, universe-defining crossovers could sell comics as a massive clip. DC’s sales on the series (12 issues in total, plus a number of companion issues and tie-ins from other DC comics) made everyone sit up and take notice. Not only did DC realize that they had a money-making formula on their hands, leading them to continue doing massive, universe-defining crossovers for the next four decades (and counting), but Marvel also saw the potential and started playing the same game with their own comic characters, leading to even more massive crossovers. The game had changed.

Any number of these crossovers over the years have been big, and some have even been great, but Crisis On Infinite Earths is the pure definition of the trope, and it’s also the most famous example of it to date. Thus, every few years or so DC has to come back and revisit the story with one of their many related properties. Most recently we had the ArrowverseWhen it was announced that the CW was creating a show based on the Green Arrow, people laughed. The CW? Really? Was it going to be teen-oriented like everything else on the network and be called "Arrow High"? And yet that one show, Arrow has spawned three spin-offs, various related shows and given DC a successful shared universe, the Arrowverse on TV and streaming. crossover, “Crisis On Infinite Earths”, which did for that TV universe what the comic achieved in its form: aligning all the various related stories into a single, unified universe. And now we’re in the midst of a three-part animated movie for DC’s direct-to-video division. Part one already came out, and was pretty good. Now we have part two, and if anything, the story is getting even better. Given time and breadth to really fill out the story, while wisely keeping the focus on a few key characters, this version of Crisis On Infinite Earths may just prove to be the best adaptation of the story yet.

The first part ended with the heroes successfully stopping the anti-matter waves that were threatening to destroy all the Earths in existence across the multiverse. However, a number of heroes from the future of the universe suddenly disappeared, and Supergirl (as Harbinger) realizing that the timeline might have been changed by the actions of the heroes in the present. With that cliffhanger in place, part two starts off even earlier than the story from part one, with Kara Zor-El (Meg Donnelly) flying from her doomed planet, Krypton, and getting caught and brought aboard the ship of the Monitor (Jonathan Adams). This being is one of many Monitors, a race who fly through the multiverse, watching key events (read: disasters) as they occur, although they are not allowed to intercede. Taking Kara on board his ship was a change, an unusual one, but over time, as they two bond, Monitor comes to care for Kara.

While we learn her story, we also learn about the Psycho Pirate (Geoffrey Arend), a man with psychic powers who, as a youth, discovered he could amplify the feelings of others, and eventually control them. He abused this power, using it only for evil, until an encounter with Doctor Fate (Keith Ferguson) left him with the power to move through the multiverse, but also put a target on his back. Taken into the ship of the Monitor, Psycho Pirate was meant to help use his emotive powers to ease the suffering of those on the various Earths. But once the villain gets a boost in his powers, and has a conversation with the Anti-Monitor (Ato Essandoh), the villain behind these attacks, he might just find a way to control Kara and bring an end to the heroic efforts to save all of existence.

Part two of this series is interesting as, for a good two-thirds of its runtime, it eschews continuing the story from part one to, instead, explore the backstory for two key characters to help flesh out the narrative. This does make sense, in a way, as the events of the first film were framed around the perspective of the Flash (Matt Bomer in part one, not voiced here). Giving us two key characters to focus on gives us a similar perspective to view the film through, letting us in on matters for these characters so we can understand who they are, where they’ve been, and why they matter to the overall story.

In the case of Kara, we needed to know how it was that she became Harbinger when, last we saw (in Legion of Super-heroes) she wasn’t in league with the Monitor and, at that point, had no knowledge of him whatsoever. So yes, there’s a little bit of a retcon here, introducing her time with the Monitor aboard his ship before she flew off to Earth to be with her cousin, Kal El, but it works in context. Plus, it gives depth and character to Kara and lets us view the Monitor, his mission, and why he’s working to save the multiverse, through her eyes.

On the flipside, Psycho Pirate is there for two reasons. The first is because we need a tangible villain for the story. The first part of this trilogy didn’t have a villain, just the fear of the antimatter wave that was coming for each dimension in turn. That worked, of course, but for the story to have a solution, someone that can be fought (and thus defeated) so that the story can resolve itself, we need a villain to slide into place eventually. Making Psycho Pirate that villain, even if he only comes into focus as the “Harbinger” for the Anti-Monitor, works. The Anti-Monitor is a concept the film gives us, someone dedicated to ending life while the Monitor wants to document it, but before we can understand the Anti-Monitor we at least first have to have someone solid within the context of the story. That’s Psycho Pirate.

The movie does a solid job giving a backstory for the Psycho Pirate, making him both creepy and understandable. He’s built as a solid villain, one with motivations that feel real and grounded. He’s not a nice person, and it’s doubtful that most people, given his powers, would act like him, but you can also see how he got to the place he’s at. And, when given the opportunity to have more power, and use it to punish people he hates or disagrees with, you can see how he’d automatically start abusing that power. He’s true to himself and the scenario.

He also gives us insight into the true villain by letting us finally mean the evil presence at the center of this all. While the Anti-Monitor remains a shadowy figure for now, possibly just a force in the universe designed to bring about anti-life, we also learn that he exists and he has some kind of want, desire, need. He’s directing the waves, he’s trying to wipe out all life. While we don’t understand why, we at least see him interact with Psycho Pirate and bring the villain over to the cause of exterminating all life. It seems reasonable to Psycho Pirate, who hates everyone, and thus we get better insight into everything.

So structurally the story works. It gives us more understanding and, in the last act, pushes everything forward. Yes, the first two acts are a fair bit of talking, but it’s handled well. It’s telling us the backstory but showing us how it happened, so a nice merging of information and exposition. And letting it build to a last act where the heroes are pushed further, and have to start worrying about how they’re going to survive against an all-powerful threat, certainly brings the story up a notch, making us ready for the last film which should, in theory, but the culmination and conclusion of this whole adventure.

This is the middle film of a trilogy, and it’s hard for the movie to shake that vibe. While the story moves forward, this is hardly a conclusion in any form. It starts in the middle of the whole story, it ends on a cliffhanger, and it’s dependent on you having seen the first film, and anticipating the last one, for you to understand or care about anything going on. It’s flaw only if anyone expected “part two of three” to be a full and complete story on its own. You have to go in knowing you won’t get the end of this adventure, just the middle of the middle, and that’s fine.

For what it is, and what it does, Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths, Part 2 works. I enjoyed it, was intrigued by the characters, and rather liked the twisty, high-flying adventure. It sets up what it needs to set up, and explains a few things from the previous film that needed explaining. Now it’s time for part three to come along and actually deliver. Only then will this whole adventure feel properly complete.