Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths: If It Has To End
A universe-ending conclusion so ambitious that it was split into a three-film saga, ‘Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths’, or Crisis, is a rousing coda to the Tomorrowverse that rose from the vestiges of another film universe, the DCAMU which ended with ‘Justice League Dark: Apokolips War’.
Crisis is remarkably groundbreaking in that it proves the narrative multiversal concept beyond any reproach. With the Tomorrowverse’s 10 films being so tightly crafted that seeds of Crisis’ grand endgame were planted as early as ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’, the Tomorrowverse wasn’t just a reboot of DC’s animated continuity but a cosmic consequence of the universe before it.
It is therefore fitting that this tremendous space-time tale begins before the beginning, when one man’s mistake damned a crisis upon infinite earths. You’d think Flash, DC’s famed purveyor of time-travel, would be central to instigating the events of Crisis, and you’d almost be right. For while the unlimited velocity of Flash did explicitly set Crisis in motion, it was steered by the unbridled volition of a mortal, John Constantine.
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The Tomorrowverse wasn’t just a reboot of DC’s animated continuity but a cosmic consequence of the universe before it.
The trench coat-wearing occultist with a punkish devil-may-care attitude wouldn’t be anyone’s first choice as the linchpin of a colossal multiverse story, but John’s compellingly flawed sense of justice and regret at persuading Flash to save his own universe at the cost of the multiverse’s demise helps us to finally fathom the true cosmic price of anti-heroism – eternal damnation.
I wonder if the emotional erasure of DC’s storied legacy in animation alludes to the DC Animation team recognising their own impending creative obsolescence, as DC’s new CEO, James Gunn, plans to unite DC’s live-action media and animation under a single universe, rendering another standalone DC animated film universe improbable.
If Crisis’ finale is anything to go by, we can only hope that somewhere in the ether, the DC animated universe as we knew it lives on in a new frontier where the brave remain bold, capes continue as crusaders and justice exists in a league of its own.
Kevin Conroy’s final words as Batman in Crisis put it best: If it has to end, at least it goes out like this.