Warning: spoilers ahead for Part 3 of the "Elseworlds" crossover event of the Arrow-verse.
The Arrow-verse went in some brand new directions with its 2018 crossover, but even the most daring fans likely never believed that "Elseworlds" would truly end the way that it did. The third and final episode of the crossover was Supergirl's installment, and it ended on a cliffhanger that teases so much more than we usually get out of a crossover ending. Yes, the cliffhanger revealed that the Arrow-verse really is tackling "Crisis on Infinite Earths." Check out the cliffhanger for yourself!
I'm not the only one who needed a few moments to process how huge this cliffhanger was, right? The Arrow-verse has been teasing a "Crisis on Infinite Earths" arc from the very beginning of The Flash, but all signs pointed toward the arc not beginning for quite a while. After all, the future newspaper revealing Barry going missing states that it goes down in 2024, and a lot seems to need to happen before those events get set in motion.
According to the end of the cliffhanger, however, "Crisis on Infinite Earths" is coming in the not-terribly-distant future! The footage couldn't have been any clearer about what fans will get to see the Arrow-verse explore the arc, as it announced the event is "Coming Fall 2019." Admittedly, Fall 2019 is still the better part of a year away, but some of us may need that long to really process what we're in for.
That said, there are a lot of questions about what we're in for. Will "Crisis on Infinite Earths" be an event in the same vein as "Elseworlds," and span a few episodes in December? Or will it be how Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and perhaps even Legends of Tomorrow begin their 2019-2020 TV seasons? Will this last weeks of episodes rather than just one per show? How involved will Batwoman be? What's up with Psycho Pirate? Could the Arrow-verse possibly do justice to such a huge DC Comics storyline without allotting a fair amount of screentime?
Only time will tell. On the one hand, DC Comics fans may consider it somewhat inconceivable that the Arrow-verse could even dream of condensing something as huge as "Crisis on Infinite Earths" into a single crossover event a la "Crisis On Earth-X" and "Elseworlds." On the other hand, The Flash barely did anything with the "Flashpoint" arc, and that is a huge storyline in DC Comics in its own right.
There is plenty for fans to speculate about as we pass the time until "Crisis on Infinite Earths" hits the airwaves in the fall. Personally, I'm wondering if Oliver's conversation with The Monitor and his enigmatic reaction to Barry questioning him about it is hinting the eventual death of Oliver and end of Arrow, which will be into its eighth season in the fall. Arrow has already lasted longer than some of us expected; ending it via "Crisis on Infinite Earths" would at least allow the Arrow-verse's original superhero to go out in a blaze of glory.
Unfortunately, we won't know for sure until the fall. The "Elseworlds" crossover also marked the midseason finale for Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow's midseason finale has already aired as well on The CW. We'll have to wait until 2019 to see more of the Arrow-verse heroes in action. The good news is that there are plenty of other viewing options in the midseason lineup, including more DC Comics fare thanks to DC Universe.
