Trivia / Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019)

• Acting for Two:
  • LaMonica Garrett plays both the Monitor and Anti-Monitor.
  • Brandon Routh plays his regular role as Ray Palmer and his Star-Making Role as the Superman from Superman Returns.
  • Erica Durance plays Alura Zor-El as she has since Supergirl Season 3, but also reprises her Star-Making Role as Lois Lane from Smallville.
  • Stephen Amell plays Earth-1 Oliver Queen, but also plays his Earth-16 counterpart.
  • Tyler Hoechlin plays Earth-38 Superman and appears as John Deegan in the Speed Force manifestation of the events of Elseworlds.
  • Likewise, Elizabeth Tulloch plays Earth-38 Lois Lane and her Earth-75 counterpart.
  • Camrus Johnson plays the Earth-1 Luke Fox and the Earth-99 version.
  • Dominic Purcell plays the Earth-74 Mick Rory in addition to his regular role as the Earth-1 version.
  • Subverted with Ruby Rose and Rachel Skarsten, who appear as the respective Earth-99 versions of the Kane twins, but only through a photograph. Skarsten didn't show up with the Birds Of Prey main cast either.
• Acting in the Dark:
  • Grant Gustin was the only actor who knew about the guest appearance by Ezra Miller.
  • Kevin Conroy said in an interview that he had no idea he was playing a murderous Bruce Wayne until he was pretty much on set to shoot his scenes. The only guideline he got was that he would be playing an older Bruce Wayne. He was just excited to be on camera again.
• Approval of God: Alfred Gough, one of the co-creators of Smallville, appreciated the nod to his show. Erica Durance, who portrayed Lois Lane there, also expressed her approval of how the creators integrated the Smallville cameo into Crisis.
• Author Appeal: Greg Berlanti's favorite comic book series in history is the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, and finally getting to make it happen on TV is the culmination of one of his biggest dreams for the Arrowverse.
• Bonus Material: As a way to promote Crisis (and also as a hook for customers of the physical copies), the Arrowverse season sets for 2019-2020 all contain the same bonus disk featuring the entire crossover, with EPK interviews as bonus features (The standalone edition of the crossover has it all on one disk instead).
• Companion Show: This show has an official after show, Crisis: Aftermath, hosted by Kevin Smith and starring geek commentator Dani Fernandez, said jokingly to either be set in "Earth-69" or "Earth-420".
• Creator Backlash:
  • Reportedly, the cast and crew of Titans (2018) weren't pleased and felt blindsided that footage of their show was used to show them getting destroyed.
  • Stephen Amell was very dissatisfied with his first death scene, as due to the intense scheduling of the crossover he actually wasn't working with any of the other actors and had to try to deliver a bunch of moving last words to tennis balls to give him a visual reference.
  • Partly the reason that the Reverse-Flash wasn’t included, despite being hinted to be since long before the crossover was conceived. The idea was that of disgraced Flash showrunner Andrew Kreisberg and no one wanted to touch his ideas, instead opting to use their own.
• Executive Meddling: A minor one involving Warner Bros. revealed in the documentary on the DVD is that the show was forbidden from Kevin Conroy being in the iconic Batman costume. This seems to be a permutation of a long-problematic rule in DC shows, as Warner Bros. will not allow proper live-action depictions of any person seen in the DC Extended Universe in most circumstances (except The Flash (2014), as that had already been made when the Justice League film was in production, and exceptions were made for the Grand Finale of Gotham^note showing Batman in full for a total of five seconds, and every other instance of him in the episode was his suit obscured in darkness or camera trickery and the start of Batwoman (2019)^note which was required as he's directly responsible for orphaning Kate Kane, and was only shown in a smokey haze from behind, and never in anything other than darkly lit flashbacks), meaning depicting Batman properly is still off-limits for TV shows. Instead, the writers worked around this, and just made his design use an Exo-suit that references Kingdom Come instead.
• Exiled from Continuity: To work around characters that could not appear because of actor unavailability, a tie-in comic was created.
• Lying Creator: Tom Ellis repeatedly denied that he would be appearing as Lucifer in the crossover after he had been spotted, in an attempt to keep the surprise.
• Playing Against Type: It's pretty safe to say that nobody was expecting Kevin Conroy's only live-action portrayal of Bruce Wayne to be a bloodthirsty murderer with a body count.
• Promoted Fanboy: Ezra Miller was already Promoted when they were cast as Barry Allen in the DC Extended Universe, but them showing up and meeting Grant Gustin's Barry further cemented it, as Miller expressed hope in previous interviews that the Arrowverse's multiverse premise would make it possible for their Barry and Gustin's Barry to meet.
• Prop Recycling: Ashley Scott is wearing the same costume she wore in Birds of Prey (2002). She'd kept the costume for seventeen years just in case.
• Reality Subtext: More than a few commentators have noted a possible sign of writers expressing their irritation with the higher-ups in the closing montage of Hour Five: when Oliver speaks the lines "Civilizations rise...and fall", the hero it cuts to is a noticeably somber-looking Swamp Thing.
• Refitted for Sequel: The idea of reviving Sara Diggle was applied here since it could not be fitted into Elseworlds (2018).
• Role Reprise: and how.
  • Brandon Routh reprises Superman after having played him in Superman Returns.
  • Tom Welling and Erica Durance reprise their roles from Smallville.
  • Kevin Conroy portrays Bruce Wayne in live-action after being a recurring voice actor in his animated and video game appearances.
  • Ashley Scott and Dina Meyer respectively retake their role as Helena Kyle/Huntress and Barbara Gordon/Oracle from Birds of Prey (2002).
  • Burt Ward appears as an older version of his Robin in the opening montage of Earths getting destroyed in Part 1.
  • Robert Wuhl reprises his role as Alexander Knox from Batman (1989) during the same montage.
  • John Wesley Shipp reprises his role as The Flash (1990). Quite possibly for the last time.
  • Ezra Miller reprises their role as Barry Allen/The Flash from the DC Extended Universe.
  • A very interesting one happens in the Latin American Spanish dub: Robin is voiced by Arturo Mercado, who voiced him in the dub of The New Adventures of Batman, which is based in the live-action TV series, and also overlapping with The Other Darrin for its original voice actor from the live-action TV show, Santiago Gil.
  • In the Japanese dub, Takehito Koyasu reprises his role as the Joker from the dub of Suicide Squad (2016).
• Shrug of God: In regards to why Alexander Knox's newspaper states that the Joker was captured by Batman if he died in Batman (1989), Guggenheim and the crew imagined that Jack Napier either came back to life or was replaced by a Legacy Character in the intervening 30 years between Batman '89 and this crossover.
• Underage Casting: Much like in Superman Returns, Brandon Routh is still a decade younger than his character.^Explanation In Returns, Clark was supposed to be at least in his mid-thirties but was played by Routh at 26/27. Assuming that thirteen years have also passed in this crossover, this makes Clark in his late forties to early fifties played by a recently turned 40 Routh
• What Could Have Been:
  • Cameron Cuffe was invited to reprise the role of Seg-El, the protagonist of the TV series Krypton. This means that Krypton would also be part of the Multiverse in the Arrowverse. Unfortunately, the actor had to decline the invitation because of schedule appointments, but it was unclear whether the invitation was made before or after the cancellation of Krypton by the Syfy network (the series had only two seasons).
  • Michael Rosenbaum was approached by Warner Bros about reprising his role as Lex Luthor from Smallville as well. He turned down the chance because Warner Bros didn't mention anything about what his role would be, or when he would be shooting, and no payment. It didn't help that Warner demanded an immediate response from the actor, who happened to be visiting a sick relative at the time.
  • Alan Ritchson was called to reprise his role as Aquaman from Smallville, but he couldn't due to scheduling difficulties from his role in Titans (2018) and due to the complications of going to the other set. Ritchson makes a brief cameo as Hawk via archive footage, along with Curran Walters as Robin.
  • Nicolas Cage turned down the offer to reprise his cancelled role as Superman from the infamously unreleased Superman Lives movie. This would've not only been the first time anything from that movie was featured in other DC properties^note Teen Titans Go! To the Movies doesn't count since that was only a voice role, but also would've made four Supermen in one crossover!
  • Adam West passed away two years earlier, or else he could have possibly been in the Earth-66 scene with Burt Ward.
  • Brandon Routh was supposed to wear the same suit from Superman Returns, but this was denied them by Warner Brothers. He wears a suit based on Kingdom Come instead, and aspects from that story were worked into his version of Clark. (As it happens, the Returns suit still appeared through old footage from Smallville, which had reused it).
  • Joseph David-Jones was originally set to appear as Connor Hawke with Old Oliver, but scheduling conflicts forced the writers to remove him from the scene.
  • Marc Guggenheim revealed that the writers originally thought on adding the Psycho-Pirate, but they wrote him out due to not fitting in the story and only being added for his role in the original comics.
  • The Wonder Twins were apparently in an early draft of the ending, but ultimately they only referenced Gleek.
  • About Smallville's Lex Luthor, the plan was to have him appear alongside Clark and interact with Jon Cryer's Lex. This plot had to be discarded due to Michael Rosenbaum rejecting the role and Tom Welling's availability running out.
  • Leaked material reveals Michael Keaton was originally intended to appear and may very well have taken Kevin Conroy's place as the Kingdom Come Batman with an exoskeleton, but for reasons unclear he wasn't included in the final version, possibly due to conflicts with talks of him reappearing in the DC Extended Universe.
• Word of God:
  • Marc Guggenheim stated that the Clark and Lois of Smallville did not lose their happy ending when the multiverse was rebooted.
  • When people questioned why Earth-Prime characters acted as if the multiverse was erased, Guggemheim said that there is a multiverse, but Earth-Prime heroes, even survivors from the original multiverse, are unaware of it.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants:
  • The Arrowverse crew put out a massive call for every living actor from a DC property they could think of (outside of the current films, that is), and had to wait until they had a decent idea of whom they would and wouldn't get before they could start seriously putting the story together. Michael Rosenbaum in particular said their pitch was basically "We have no idea what we'll be doing with you, but we need your answer yesterday," which left him so unimpressed that he turned it down.
  • Things were even harder for the Legends of Tomorrow crew, who only found out their season premiere was getting pushed to after the crossover very shortly before it came time to write their episode, forcing them to change all their plans from where the Legends were going to be at mid-season. As a result, most of the Legends crew doesn't actually appear in the first three hours of the Crisis, with our heroes appropriating a Waverider and a Mick Rory from another universe (Earth-74) instead.
  • According to Marc Guggenheim, Ezra Miller's cameo was made last minute, after filming for Crisis had already wrapped.
• You Look Familiar: Similar to Earth-90 Barry Allen being played played by the same actor as Earth-1 Henry Allen and Earth-3 Jay Garrick, Crisis now makes the following characters played by the same actor exist in the same multiverse:
  • Jon Cryer as Earth-38/Earth-Prime Lex Luthor and Earth-96 Lenny Luthor.
  • Tom Welling was both Earth-167 Kal-El/Clark/Superman, an undesignated Earth’s Kal-El/Clark/Ultraman, and Earth-666 Marcus Pierce/Cain.
  • Rachel Skarsten as Earth-1 and Earth-99 Beth Kane/Alice and Earth-203 Dinah Lance/Redmond.
  • Alan Ritchson as Earth-9 Hank Hall/Hawk and Earth-167 Orin/Arthur Curry/Aquaman.
  • Helen Slater as Earth-38 Kara's adoptive mother Eliza Danvers, Earth-167 Kara's aunt by marriage Lara-El, and Kara herself on Earth-96.
  • Laura Vandervoort as Earth-38 Indigo and Earth-167 Kara Zor-El/Kara Kent/Supergirl.
  • Terence Stamp as Earth-167 Jor-El and Krypton-96 Zod.
  • Christopher Reeve as Earth-167 Doctor Swan and Earth-96 Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman.
  • Margot Kidder as Earth-167 Bridgette Crosby and Earth-96 Lois Lane.
  • Annette O'Toole as Earth-167 Martha Kent and Earth-96 Lana Lang.
  • John Glover as Lionel Luthor on two Earths, including 167, Earth-89 Dr. Jason Woodrue, and Mr. Sivanna on the unnamed DCEU Earth.
  • Sam Witwer as Earth-38 Ben Lockwood/Agent Liberty and Earth-167 Davis Bloome/Doomsday.
  • Teri Hatcher as Daxam-38 Rhea and Earth-167 Ella Lane.
  • Dean Cain as Earth-38 Jeremiah Danvers and Earth-167 Curtis Knox.
  • Jessica Parker Kennedy Earth-1 Nora West-Allen/XS and Earth-167 Bette Sans Souci/Plastique.
  • Phil Morris as Earth-21 Silas Stone and Earth-167 J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter.
  • Michael Ironside as Earth-1 Lewis Snart and Earth-167 Sam Lane.
  • Earth-1 Lisa Snart and Earth-167 Lucy Lane.
  • Earth-9 Billy Wintergreen and Earth-1 and Earth-2 Henry Hewitt.
  • Earth-666 Dan Espinoza and Earth-1 Sebastian Blood.
  • Earth-1 Stanley Dover and Earth-167 Rudy Jones/Parasite.
  • Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus on the unnamed DCEU Earth and Earth-1 Konstantin Kovar.