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[[caption-width-right:350:[[CrisisOnInfiniteEarths The secrets of the past]], [[IdentityCrisis the sins of the present]], and [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo the harbinger]] [[FinalCrisis of what was yet to come]]... ]]

->''I've been in worse places than this. And I've gotten out.''
-->-- '''[[spoiler:Superboy-Prime]]''', at the end of ''InfiniteCrisis''

In 1985, [[TheDCU DC]] decided to clean house and create a stabler, more singular continuity. And so they gave us ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. And it was good (reception-wise), even though it left some issues with continuity (many of which were addressed in ''Comicbook/AnimalMan''). Since then, DC has not been shy with the {{Crisis Crossover}}s, though most of them could not live up to the standard the original Crisis had set. ''[[ZeroHour Zero Hour: Crisis in Time]]'' mucked up continuity a bit, and ''IdentityCrisis'' was in reality just a murder mystery with a plot [[BrokenBase the fanbase doesn't quite agree on]]. In honor of the Crisis' 20th anniversary, the editorial staff decided to tie up a few loose ends and create a full blown sequel to it. And in theory, it was a good idea.

Since the Crisis, fans had complained that nearly every title DC produced had been getting progressively DarkerAndEdgier. [[{{Batman}} The]] [[{{Superman}} Big]] [[WonderWoman Three]] had been hit hardest. Batman lost his sidekick, [[{{Knightfall}} had his back broken]], had Gotham hit by TWO plagues ''and'' an earthquake, and just barely saved Gotham from the ''[[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand No Man's Land]]''. Superman [[TheDeathOfSuperman died, was replaced four times (two of which were a clone and an evil cybernetic doppleganger), and came back to life]] JUST to start. Wonder Woman was arguably affected the least, but was recorded killing Max Lord to save Superman. The DCU was dark and getting worse, especially since the events of ''IdentityCrisis'', The [[{{OMAC}} O.M.A.C.]] Project and others came to light. The opinions of the fans had been heard, but a question was raised by DC: "What would the [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks heroes]] of the [[CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Crisis]] -- what would the [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Superman think?" Their conclusion? "We saved the wrong Earth." Their solution? Recreate the Multiverse into a MergedReality.

Thus the foundation was set for ''Infinite Crisis''.

The survivors of the Multiverse, [[CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Alexander Luthor Jr]], [[{{Superman}} the Golden Age Superman (Kal-L)]], [[{{Superboy}} Superboy-Prime]], and [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Lois]] [[LoisLane Lane]] entered a 'paradise dimension' at the end of the Crisis, but were able to watch the new Earth. As time went on, they were disappointed by the growing cynicism in the universe and Prime and Luthor began to plan to replace the Earth with a better one. Kal-L agreed, but was more attentive to his dying wife, which Prime and Luthor used to break free from their dimension and enter Earth. Due to Superboy-Prime's punching of the barriers of the dimension, [[RetCon several things changed without explanation]]. While Prime manipulated events in space, Luthor stayed on Earth and disguised himself as the regular Lex to form a Secret Society of Villains ([[ChekhovsGunman sans]] SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker) and even recruited the treacherous Psycho-Pirate from [[CrisisOnInfiniteEarths the original Crisis]]. When another hero, Pariah, who was instrumental in the fight with the Anti-Monitor, came to warn Lex Luthor of a coming danger, [[MoralEventHorizon Alexander Luthor killed him]].

Because of Wonder Woman's murder of Max Lord (who was responsible for the murder of [[BlueBeetle Ted Kord]]), [[IdentityCrisis the treachery of the Justice League]], the movement of the planet Rann into Thanagar's orbit, and the center of the universe no longer being [[GreenLantern Oa]], chaos broke out all across the universe. With [[GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] revived, the Spectre was without a host and was tricked by [[IdentityCrisis Jean Loring]], the new Eclipso, into destroying the magic of the universe, which ultimately led to the death of {{Shazam}}. Not to mention that before his death, Max Lord hijacked the [[AIIsACrapshoot Brother Mk. I satellite]] and injected millions of people with the O.M.A.C. nanoprobes which were to activate and transform people into cyborgs to eliminate any and all metahumans upon Lord's death (and it was later revealed that Alexander Luthor screwed up Brother Mk. I further, causing it to go rogue, rename itself Brother Eye, and try to kill as many heroes as it can with its O.M.A.C.'s). Finally, the story began with the abduction of the MartianManhunter and the destruction of the Justice League Watchtower.

Whew! And '''that's''' just the prologue to the story!

In the main story, Alexander and Superboy-Prime take all the heroes and villains that they spent the past year kidnapping and attach them to a giant "dimensional tuning fork". This allows them to recreate the Multiverse and bring back all the Earths that were lost during [[CrisisOnInfiniteEarths the original Crisis]], which Alexander can smash together to form what they consider the perfect Earth. Luckily for the Multiverse, Prime picks a fight with the regular Superboy. The fight escalates, and the two eventually crash into the fork, causing all the Earths to merge into one Earth. [[VillainousBreakdown Prime snaps]] and flies to the center of the universe in an attempt to destroy and remake the universe. He is intercepted by Superman and Kal-L, who beat him into submission, but not before he kills Kal-L.

Plus a bunch of other stories involving the Secret Society of Supervillains trying to TakeOverTheWorld by force, {{Batman}} leading a team to take down Brother Eye, {{Superman}} and Kal-L fighting over LighterAndSofter versus DarkerAndEdgier, and a bunch of heroes trying to do something about Alexander messing with the universe.

As with ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', a great number of {{Retcon}}s occurred as a result of the story, in this case caused by a combination of the recollapse of the once dead Multiverse and the punching of the Source Wall by Superboy-Prime.

Superboy-Prime's Changes were:

* [[BackFromTheDead Jason Todd was restored to life, even though everyone remembered his death]].
* Elasti-Girl and Negative Man of the Comicbook/DoomPatrol were restored to life, the Chief was restored to his original body and the team's history rebooted. The team eventually remembered its original history.
* Superman, Donna Troy, and the Metal Men each had the inconsistencies in their origins reconciled.
* The various incarnations of Hawkman... [[ContinuitySnarl got pretty badly mixed up]].
* [[GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] was never an ex-con who served 90 days in prison for drunk driving.
* Maxwell Lord managed to return to his full human self, but gained a deep hatred for superheroes.

The changes caused by the rebirth and collapse of the Multiverse were:

* Joe Chill was arrested for the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, and was subsequently released after serving his sentence.
* Superman was briefly active during his teenage years as Superboy. As a result, his adventures with the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} are once again canon.
** After losing and then regaining his powers, he regained the perfect memory and super fast computer-like calculative processes he had PreCrisis.
* Lex Luthor spent his youth in Smallville and knew Superboy, eventually leaving under suspicious circumstances.
* The Original Seven ({{Superman}}, {{Batman}}, WonderWoman, GreenLantern (Hal Jordan), TheFlash (Barry Allen), the MartianManhunter, and Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}) were once again the founding members of the JusticeLeagueOfAmerica.
* The Justice Society founders regained their memories of the [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Superman, Kal-L.
* The various versions of General Zod were replaced by a modern Kryptonian Zod (similar to the one in [[Film/{{Superman}} the movies]]).

Needless to say, in order to fully appreciate ''InfiniteCrisis'', [[ContinuityPorn you'd better have done your research, especially with the tie-ins]] as all of the above would eventually become more important later on. Worlds lived, worlds died (the same could be said of ''many'' characters), and the DC Universe was never the same... literally, as it was later revealed, due to the events of Infinite Crisis, [[spoiler: TheMultiverse was brought back, albeit with a definite number]]. Later references would call this event the "middle Crisis"; part of a saga that started with ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', and ran through ''FinalCrisis''. [[spoiler: The Multiverse]] and the fate of it and many of the DC superheroes characters (read: plotlines) were later revealed and concluded in the immediate sequel, ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo''.

Currently being unofficially converted into an [[http://www.youtube.com/user/dickmit audio drama]], albeit [[ScheduleSlip very, very slowly]]. There is also an official adaptation released by Graphic Audio... it's good for a car ride, if you're well-versed in the DC Universe.

Not to be confused with [[VideoGame/InfiniteCrisis the 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game]].

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!!This comic event and its lead up use the following tropes:

* BatmanGrabsAGun
* BecauseImJonesy: When Lex comes face to face with a disguised Alex.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Alexander and Prime. Kal-L doesn't really get involved in their schemes since he's too busy taking care of his wife (not that they told him what was going on anyway).
* BigShutUp: Superboy-Prime, on Kal-L's RousingSpeech.
* BroughtDownToNormal: Happens to Superman and Superboy-Prime at the end of the story.
* ChekhovsGunman: In the second issue, SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker is pissed off that he wasn't invited into the Society by Alexander for being too crazy and unpredictable. In the last issue [[spoiler: he kills Alexander in an alleyway as revenge]].
* CListFodder: According to TheOtherWiki, over sixty named characters were killed in this event. At best, only ten of those characters were really cared about.
* CombatBreakdown: The final fight between Superboy-Prime and Superman and Kal-L [[spoiler: as their powers begin to fade due to the red sun radiation they've absorbed]].
* ContinuitySnarl: The series was an attempt to fix a couple of [=DCs=] more infamous ones. While the explanation for what happened was mocked, the results were pretty decent.
* CriminalDoppelganger: Alexander Luthor Jr. for mainstream Luthor (who is also a criminal, but at least keeps his hands clean).
* DebateAndSwitch: Initially there was some ambiguity about whether survivors of the original Multiverse could be right in regards to the moral condition of the current universe. After the first couple of issues it was gone; the rest of the series had [[StrawHypocrite Alex Luthor]] and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Superboy-Prime]] as the clear-cut villains and Kal-L ended up [[HeelFaceTurn changing sides]].
** However, Alex Luthor told Power Girl that he accepted that, no matter which universe or reality, a Superman and a Luthor [[YouCantFightFate will always be enemies]].
* ExpoSpeak: Mostly used the way it always is in superhero comics, but it becomes especially notable when Alex takes a time-out from [[spoiler:destroying entire universes]] so he can run down what amounts to a bulletted list of the retcons created by Superboy-Prime.
* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner
-->[[spoiler:'''BlueBeetle''']]: Rot in Hell, Max.
* FamousLastWords:
-->[[spoiler:'''Superboy''']]: I know Cass. Isn't it cool?
* FinalBattle: The Battle of Metropolis. ''All'' the villains versus ''all'' the heroes.
** And leading the charge for the villains? [[TheDeathOfSuperman Doomsday]].
* GondorCallsForAid: During the Battle of Metropolis.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: [[spoiler: At the end of the storyline, Prime ''carves'' the Superman insignia on his chest]].
* {{Homage}}: Mongul Jr. shows up to menace Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman on the moon in a manner similar to the way his father did in ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything''. Notably, the battle shows [[AHouseDivided how divided the heroes are.]] It then becomes ContinuityNod in a tie-in issue of ''GreenLantern'', which reveals that he was there to take the [[LotusEaterMachine Black Mercy.]]
** [[spoiler: [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Superman smashing a car into Modern Superman in the same way he smashed a car on the cover of ''Action Comics'' #1]].
* HurlItIntoTheSun: variant: [[spoiler:Golden Age and Modern Superman carry Prime while flying ''through'' Rao (a [[KryptoniteFactor red sun]]) in order to remove Prime's powers.]]
* IncrediblyLamePun: The Joker has killed the members of the Royal Flush Gang and demanded to know why he wasn't included in the latest Society of Super-Villains:
--> '''Ace''': "''Everyone knows the Joker's wild.''"
--> (''Joker scowls a bit then electrocutes him'')
--> '''SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker''': "''[[SeriousBusiness That's not funny]]''."
* InsigniaRipOffRitual: Superman does this to Prime.
* JoinOrDie: The Society's default recruiting tactic when would-be members don't believe that EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily.
* KickTheDog: {{Batman}} gets a moment in the first issue when he tells {{Superman}} that [[TookALevelInJerkass the last time he inspired anyone]] [[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman was when he died]].
** In a literal example, Superboy-Prime hurting Krypto.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: While searching for the perfect Earth, Alexander at one point reaches through panels to grab the reader.
* LegionOfDoom: One of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Secret_Society_of_Super_Villains_members#Alexander_Luthor_Jr..27s_Society largest iterations]] of the Secret Society.
* MediumAwareness: The connection that all the kidnapped heroes and villains had was that there were aware on some level of the full extent of ''CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. For some, that included knowing that the whole thing was a comic book event.
** Somewhere in issue 6, Alexander Luthor is standing in the middle of representation of the multiple Earths, searching for Earth-Prime (the "real world" from the Bronze Age stories)
--> '''Alexander Luthor''': Earth-Prime. Where are--
--> ''(Alexander Luthor [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou looks directly out at the reader]], through the FourthWall)''
--> '''Alexander Luthor''': --[[OhCrap you]].
* NeverMyFault[=/=]WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: Superboy Prime does a lot of victim-blaming on his rampages.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Combined with FreakyFridayFlip, this is the fight between the Golden Age and Modern Supermen.
** It's also both fights between Bart Allen and Prime. Allen is ''not'' on the receiving end.
* ThrowawayCountry: The city of Bludhaven gets nuked when the villain Chemo gets dropped on it.
* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler: Golden Age Superman and Lois]].
* [[spoiler:TooDumbToLive: Alex Luthor underestimated the mainstream Lex Luthor and [[KilledOffForReal paid the price]] for not letting Joker get involved.]]
-->'''Lex Luthor:''' [[IronicEcho Now who's stupid?]]
* UnwittingPawn: Kal-L, for Alex Luthor.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Nightwing was originally supposed to die during the event; Ironically, the reason he survived is the same reason his death was considered in the first place - Dick Grayson is arguably TheHeart of the DCU & his death would send shockwaves through the entire company.

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