Crisis on Infinite Earth's second entry in its 5-Episode arc is without a doubt more enjoyable than its Supergirl revolving predecessor. Yes, there are a few nitpicks to mention such as the brief return of what I like to call "typical annoying Mia", a baby crying interruption joke that went on a bit too long, and still no awesome action sequences worthy of excitingly yelling out about. However, what it does offer is something else entirely in the "sorry neighbors for yelling so loud at my TV screen" department in the form of character/actor appearances. So, let's do a quick rundown of some of the awesome fan service elements that Part 2 presents us with. Just keep in mind that I won't be touching upon every single detail as I normally would with these highlight lists.
Kevin Conroy is Batman!!!
Just when I was starting to have doubts after the Supergirl episode didn't give me the chills that I was hoping for, Kevin Conroy shows up and saves the day with an absolutely geek out worthy appearance. The idea alone of Conroy being our first onscreen casted Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Arrowverse is probably one of the Top 3 most awesome things that this franchise has ever done in its 7 year history. The actor kills it in the role making me immediately think back to my years of watching the classic Batman Animated Series (possibly my favorite Batman property) and several other non-live action iterations thanks to his incredible voice acting. I've stated for many years that Kevin played my favorite Batman period placing his classic animated version above all, so it's interesting to see him actually portraying the character in live action for the first time.
I loved the boldness of the idea that this alternate Earth's Batman eventually killed off his enemies and even Superman at some point. On a side note, it kinda reminds of what the Titans series did with their Batman via Trigon’s nightmare version of an unhinged Batman killing off his rogues gallery. Eventually, we see a trophy case at Wayne Manor where Conroy's Batman keeps his villains’ memorabilia. It made his Batman actually scary considering the fact that not only does he kill his rogues gallery keeping something to remember each of their deaths by but that Superman’s glasses are in that collection. The concept of Batman battling Superman isn't new, but seeing a version where he successfully murdered him having no regret of his actions is completely new to the live action corner of DC Comics. Watching this Bruce Wayne's true nature being slowly revealed to Kara and Kate was a pretty intense scene. And although I didn’t care much for how he died (assumingely?), it gets me excited at what could be done with Earth-1’s version eventually returning. Would it be Conroy again? Fingers crossed.
Brandon Routh is Kingdom Come’s Superman!
There are several Superman Easter eggs in this episode to enjoy, but the biggest highlight for me personally was seeing the Kingdom Come suit design on Brandon Routh. Just that piece of imagery alone has sense of incredible iconography that truly raises the bar for the possibilities of the Arrowverse. Also, the implication that this is the same Superman being followed up from the movies (remember Routh's Superman Returns movie is supposedly connected to the Christopher Reeves series) is just bonkers in all the best ways possible. The Superman vs Superman fight that follows was fine once Lex shows up and manipulates him, but this is really Brandon Routh’s shining moment to reprise this role and boy does he completely deliver. Much like the Kevin Conroy appearance, I had such a blast seeing this version of the character being paired up with a specific actor that I truly hope we haven't seen the last of it. There are so many implications with his character's history that would be pretty interesting to explore somewhere down the line.
Smallville's Clark Kent!
Admittedly, I was never a Smallville fan personally due to how I felt about the production values during its run, but it does bring me immense joy to see the Arrowverse finally directly follow up on the iconic series. Hardore fans must’ve lost their minds seeing Tom Welling show up at the farm which I suppose is sort of like my reaction to Conroy playing Batman in live action. There's that sense of Crisis on Infinite Earths not only being a significant story for the Arrowverse but an ideal opportunity to make fan dreams come true with highly beloved and desired casting/character appearances. So, even I got a few goosebumps seeing Tom Welling reprise his role knowing very well how much people have clamored for him to return.
It was pretty interesting seeing him calmly and confidently interact with Earth-38’s Lex knowing that he gave up being Superman to be a father. I'm not sure how fans feel about this as a conclusion to the Smallville series, but looking at it from a comic book fan perspective, I love the idea of Clark's final knock on Lex being that he removed the thing that made Lex hate him via his own life decision thereby making his enemy speechless and unmotivated to kill him. It adds a bit of finality to his story.
Constantine Makes It To The Crossover!
It’s so cool getting to see Constantine finally get spotlighted in a crossover event. I was happy to see that the writers allowed him to utilize his powers to witness the Crisis situation taking place with the multiverse as it showed how his mysticism can connect to the story’s events. It’s also interesting seeing him and the Lazarus Pit together in the same story again following Season 4 of Arrow’s subplot with how Sara was resurrected. I'm not sure where they'll take the character with Oliver's situation, but I do hope that he gets to use his magical powers in other ways during the Crisis in a similar fashion to how Doctor Strange's magic was used offensively, defensively, and for massive story purposes in both Avengers Infinity War and Endgame.
Cool Cameos & Easter Eggs
Like I mentioned with the Brandon Rough Superman spotlight, there are several Easter eggs to list off from this episode. However, what I'll do here is mention the ones that stood out to me the most personally. On the Legends of Tomorrow corner, we have Jonah Hex showing up at another Earth’s Lazarus Pit which was interesting as well as Mick from another Earth being hilariously harassed by his Waverer's version of Gideon being Snart. We also get several Batman Easter eggs during the Conroy Bruce Wayne scenes such as Clayface being mentioned as being a puddle of mud and Jane Doe being locked up at Arkham. In Bruce's trophy collection, we see a Joker card, the Riddler’s cane, a possible plant from Poison Ivy, and a snow globe-like object representing Mr. Freeze. On the Superman side of things, we have the Kingdom Come Superman's history being linked to the Joker using a toxic gas to kill off several Daily Planet employees as shown in a newspaper article. There's also the iconic “Death of Superman” imagery from the comics being portrayed by another Earth’s Superman and Lois as witnessed via news footage.
Side Note: Did Lex use the book of destiny to summon Doomsday on that Earth to kill Superman thereby leading up to that news footage? Hmmm.
The Anti-Monitor Looks Pretty Great
There’s not much else to say here actually. I think the suit design of the Anti-Monitor is great invoking that classic cosmic super villain type of attire and the pale zombie-like face looks pretty imposing being a perfect contrast from what we know the Monitor to look like. This is essentially the Arrowverse’s big bad in the likes of the MCU’s Thanos, X-Men’s Apocalypse, or even DC’s Darkseid, so it’s nice to see the production team making great attempts to have the Anti-Monitor look like a scary and imposing threat.
Episode Rating: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment