
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths is a three-part Animated Adaptation of the storyline of the same name. It's the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth film in the DC Animated Movie Universe overall, and the eighth, ninth, and tenth films in the Tomorrowverse phase. It's also the Grand Finale of the Tomorrowverse arc and, at the moment, the final installment of the DCAMU.
Part 1 begins as death is coming. A deadly anti-matter wave threatens to wipe out every universe in the multiverse, leading the mysterious Monitor to gather heroes from many worlds. Meanwhile, the Flash finds his sense of time to be in flux, constantly jumping between different points in his life such as shortly before the Justice League formed, traveling to Earth-3 and meeting the Crime Syndicate, and the far future where he's happily married to Iris. But a mysterious figure with a dire warning haunts him in all these eras.
Part 2 features the assembled heroes holding the line against a seemingly endless onslaught of shadow demons as they work to protect the cosmic tuning fork towers, which may be the only hope of stopping the antimatter waves. The task is made more difficult when the Psycho-Pirate broadcasts waves of hatred that cause people to turn on one another, and secrets the Monitor and Supergirl hold that may doom them all.
Part 3 has the surviving heroes regrouping in "The Bleed", a pocket universe that exists outside of time and is slowly destroying itself. Heroes and villains from all eras join forces to quell the ultimate threat of the Anti-Monitor, but the team needs a miracle, and their last hope may lay in the only being who existed before their multiverse. Part 3 also notably features the final performance of the late Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and The Joker, respectively.
Part 1 was released on January 9, 2024, Part 2 was released on April 23rd, 2024, and Part 3 was released on July 16, 2024.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- Part 1 shows that the Earth-2 Superman and Wonder Woman are now a couple, having gotten together after the Earth-2 Lois passed away. This wasn't the case in the comics.
- A flashback reveals that Batman never adopted Dick Grayson on Earth-1, instead deciding he should go to the Central City orphanage. As a result, he's surprised when he encounters a version that was adopted by Batman and became Robin.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Dr. Ivo in the comics was just your old-fashioned Mad Scientist, here he's just an old man who created Amazo to prolong his life and to help others in similar conditions.
- As mentioned above, Amazo isn't just a machine created to steal powers but acts more like a child trying to save his father.
- Advancing Wall of Doom: The antimatter wave is a planetary-scale mass of antimatter passing through reality after reality, destroying everything it touches.
- Agony Beam: Superwoman's Lasso of Submission still has the effect of forcing people to tell the truth... under constant electric torture.
- All for Nothing: Despite everything the heroes did and the antimatter waves disappearing, somehow Earth-1's future still disappears, meaning that something (or someone) will destroy all earths.
- Alternate Self: Superman meets his much older Earth-2 counterpart, and the two have a few discussions. Meanwhile, Batman meets the Dick Grayson of an alternate universe, who was adopted by his Batman and became Robin unlike on Earth-1 where Batman had Dick be taken in by the Central City orphanage. The Crime Syndicate also acts as a counterpart to the Justice League.
- Alternate Universe: There are many introduced in this film, with Earth-2 making a reappearance:
- Earth-3, a Crapsack World that's home to the Crime Syndicate and is destroyed by the anti-matter wave.
- Earth-4, which isn't fully developed but is presumably the home reality of Blue Beetle, Nightshade, and the Question and the setting of DC Showcase: Blue Beetle.
- Earth-149, a world where the Earth is covered by the sea due to the actions of the surface world and home to Aquaman. Nicknamed Earth-Atlantis by Batman.
- Earth-X which is home to characters like the Ray.
- Animated Adaptation: Of the 1985-1986 comic of the same name.
- Ascended Extra: While Batman was part of the original Crisis, he was way out of his league against the Anti-Monitor and his henchmen and fought other villains. Here, he's a much larger part of the action, is seen fighting large-scale threats, and acts as the team strategist.
- Asshole Victim: Except for one (maybe two) of them, the Crime Syndicate is shown to be without any redeeming qualities, which would make their deaths fully deserved; subverted with Earth-3 being completely annihilated.
- Bait the Dog: As Earth-3 is devastated by lightning storms, Ultraman stops a falling building that is heading for the Syndicate headquarters, seemingly saving the civilians within. Then they have to watch in horror as he pushes the building just enough to make it topple over in the other direction.
- Becoming the Mask: The Justice League’s formation was announced purely to lure out Amazo and reveal the true purpose behind his creation to him. But Batman then decides to form an actual supergroup with the gathered heroes.
- The Bus Came Back: John Constantine and the Spectre, last seen in DC Showcase – Constantine: The House of Mystery which was part of a different franchise, return to warn Barry that he is to blame for the current threat.
- Call-Back:
- Superman recalls Parasite from Superman: Man of Tomorrow in reference to Amazo's power-copying abilities.
- Flash is reunited with the aged surviving members of the Justice Society from Justice Society: World War II.
- Canon Character All Along: Among the gathered heroes is a shifty-looking man in a suit, who swiftly uses a superhero-costume generating machine to reveal that he’s Psycho-Pirate.
- Canon Welding: DC Showcase: Blue Beetle is revealed to have taken place on Earth-4, with Blue Beetle and Question appearing, and connections with the DCAMU begin to form with the return of Constantine.
- Composite Character:
- The Harbinger of the animated multiverse is Kara Zor-El.
- The role of Pariah is now given to John Constantine as his punishment.
- A Day in the Limelight: While the Justice League and other superheroes and villains feature, the main story follows the Flash from his beginnings to a seasoned member of the League and the reveal that the oncoming doom is somehow his fault.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart:
- The Earth-2 Superman, after being asked by his Earth-1 counterpart, admits that he did have a Lois that he married. However, she passed away from old age, which is why he's now with Wonder Woman, who also understands the pain of outliving a loved one.
- Meanwhile, Batman meets the Dick Grayson and Helena Wayne of another universe, who mention that their version of Batman has been dead for a few years now.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- In the comics, Earth-3 Lex Luthor died with his world as it was consumed by anti-matter. Here, he was killed and stripped of his main body at some point prior to the destruction.
- Barry Allen’s famous death of running so fast he gets absorbed into the Speed Force is changed to him dying of old age within Hypertime.
- Do Not Go Gentle: As Earth-3 is consumed by the Antimatter Wave, the Crime Syndicate goes out to fight it, even though they know it's futile. In particular, Superwoman chooses to calmly let the wave engulf her after seeing that nothing she does is affecting it in the slightest, and Ultraman defiantly punches it.
- Earth Is the Centre of the Universe: Discussed when Batman notes that mainly Earth's heroes have been recruited. The Monitor replies that Earth is always the first planet being targeted in each universe.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Barry explains to the think tank how he is able to vibrate between realities, giving them the idea to construct cosmic tuning forks on each of their worlds that will allow the antimatter wave to pass right through them harmlessly.
- The Ghost: Selina Kyle the Catwoman is briefly discussed between Batman and Helena Wayne the Huntress when they meet.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Dr. Ivo, knowing his life is soon to end anyway, orders Amazo to transfer the metahuman energy he's gathered to him, which Amazo has been led to believe will cure his condition. When the energy kills him instead, Amazo is shown that the purpose Lex claimed he was built for is a lie.
- After Johnny Quick is impaled by a piece of rebar, he lets himself die so that Barry will have the full speed force to escape the destruction of Earth-3.
- Hope Spot: Barry is able to complete the tower and save the day. Then people start disintegrating...
- Human Head on the Wall: Luthor's fate in Earth-3. Amazo becomes a more heroic version, incorporating his cranial processing unit into the tower that Barry is constructing to help power it up.
- The Multiverse: Several Earths are shown with many heroes coming from unknown realities, to stop a threat that threatens all their worlds.
- Mundane Utility: Flash travels between universes to gather ingredients for the best cup of coffee ever. Granted, he intended to use the coffee as a morale booster for the team figuring out how to stop the anti-matter wave. The Monitor is incredulous that Harbinger would use her ability for such a trivial matter, but Barry reveals he can use his own powers to move between universes. His explanation of how he can move between universes inspires the team to create a possible solution to the anti-matter wave.
- Mythology Gag:
- The older Superman and Wonder Woman from Earth-2 started a relationship after Lois Lane's passing as they did in Kingdom Come. However, in this case, Lois passed away from old age.
- Zatanna is sporting her outfit and design from DC vs. Vampires.
- Johnny Quick has an Australian accent like he had in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
- Superwoman turns silently resigned in her final moments as the destructive energy wave reaches her, like Queen Diana in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.
- Luthor manipulating Amazo's innocence and naïveté to make it eliminate the Justice League is like the "Tabula Rasa" episode from the JL animated series.
- At Iris and Barry's wedding, it appears that a relationship is developing between John Stewart and Shayera Hol, like in the DCAU continuity.
- The heroes using tech-generated energy fields to make a destructive wave pass harmlessly through planet Earth was also in Justice League: Doom.
- Obviously Evil: The way he's standing apart from the others (even The Question and Batman interact) and the shifty looks he's giving everyone make it clear to the audience that Charles Halstead is untrustworthy even before he steps out of the Fabricator dressed as Psycho-Pirate.
- Powerful and Helpless: Batman correctly surmises that the gathering of heroes haven't been called together because of their superpowers and cannot "punch" their way out of the crisis and that they're actually a think-tank.
- The Reveal: Both Spectre and John Constantine reference the events of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, confirming that the DCAMU and Tomorrowverse are connected. They also confirm that the Tomorrowverse Flash is the DCAMU Barry Allen, and his actions are somehow to blame for the Crisis itself.
- Shout-Out: When Barry meets the Spectre, he asks if he is death. The Spectre clarifies who he is and that Death is "better looking".
- Time Stands Still: Barry uses this to save Iris, and then they and Amazo work to complete the tuning fork tower, growing to old age before it's completed.
- Unstuck in Time: Flash keeps randomly shifting between alternate realities and points in his own timeline.
- Victory Is Boring: Barry notes that the Crime Syndicate doesn't appear happy despite having taken over the entire world. However, the revelation of alternate universes to be conquered revives Ultraman's enthusiasm.
- Villainous Valor: The Crime Syndicate, except for Johnny Quick, choose to go down fighting when the anti-matter wave hits their world and charge at it, even when it becomes clear it's futile. Even Quick, who does run rather than fight a losing battle, acknowledges that he's in no shape to escape with Barry and accepts he isn't going to make it as a car strikes him, thus allowing Flash to escape.
- Villainesses Want Heroes: It’s subtle, but there might just be some kind of attraction that Superwoman feels for the Flash. She flips her hair when Johnny Quick introduces the Crime Syndicate to Barry, and most of her screen time has her constantly manhandling Barry to get information out of him, with her seemingly enjoying it.
- Wham Line:The Homeless Man / DCAMU John Constantine: I walk all worlds that are doomed to die. My punishment.
The Flash: For what? What did you do?
The Homeless Man / DCAMU John Constantine: So long, I don't remember... But I know... You share my guilt. - Wham Shot: As they're finishing the cosmic tuning forks, the antimatter wave suddenly appears ahead of schedule. As a natural phenomenon shouldn't do that, Batman reasons that there can be only one explanation: an intelligence is guiding its actions and adapting to their plan.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Subverted. When Flash explains his ability to cross universes to the Crime Syndicate, and how he presently can't thanks to sharing the Speed Force with Johnny Quick, Owlman notes that killing one of them would solve the problem. Quick protests because he doesn't know how to cross universes, clearly missing the implication that Owlman thinks he's expendable. Pariah interrupts before the discussion becomes action.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Terry McGinnis appears in this film, but it's implied that he comes from Earth-2 since he works with the Bat Family of that world and seems to have known the already deceased Earth-2 Batman. Given that he's seemingly the same age as Dick Grayson, it can be assumed that he had a radically different backstory to the DCAU version and might not even be Bruce's son. Or time travel took place before the anti-matter wave made that impossible.
- Adaptational Origin Connection: The Monitor saved Supergirl shortly after Krypton's destruction and looked after her until she left for Earth, while her anger at his decision to not prevent Krypton's destruction encourages him to eventually break his code to stop the Crisis.
- Adaptational Wimp: While the shadow demons are still unstoppable, at least they can't fly or kill you with their touch the way they could in the comic.
- After the End: Kamandi and the Atomic Knights come from realities where the Earth suffered a nuclear war.
- Appropriated Appellation: The Anti-Monitor doesn't even understand the concept of a name until Charles Halstead explains it, and accepts "Anti-Monitor" as a name given that he's opposed to everything the Monitor is. Charles in turn mentions that he chooses a supervillain name (and even a 'real' name) for each new universe he works in. When Supergirl says he looks like a "psychotic pirate", he's quite happy to adopt that one.
- Ascended Extra: Psycho-Pirate evolves from a hidden villain hanging out in the back to practically being the Villain Protagonist of this movie.
- The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: Averted, then played straight. When Damian throws his sword at the Joker, Batman uses his grapple to save Joker from what he assumes would have been a fatal blow, only for Damian to defensively state he threw it so it would strike hilt-first. It's played straight moments later when the sword flies past Joker and lands blade-first in the concrete.
- Bolivian Army Cliffhanger: The film ends with the remaining superheroes standing against a fully formed Anti-Monitor who's about to unleash a massive ball of energy upon his only opposing foes.
- Brought Down to Normal: John Stewart loses his ring in battle, becoming the normal joe he was once more.
- Call-Back: To Justice Society: World War II. Dr. Fate is shown when he was a prisoner in the Nazi torture chamber, now with Psycho-Pirate here attempting and failing in interrogating Fate. Then it's revealed how Psycho-Pirate found Aquaman and began controlling him, and how Psycho-Pirate escaped from Flash and the JSA after he killed Steve Trevor.
- The Cameo: The Earth that Dick Grayson and Helena Wayne come from is also home to Batgirl, Damian Wayne, and even Batman Beyond.
- Composite Character: It's revealed that Psycho-Pirate has been traveling to other Earths and assuming different identities, two of which were Doctor Spectro from DC Showcase: Blue Beetle and a version of Rainbow Raider called Rainbow Warrior.
- Darkest Hour: Part 2 ends with the heroes about to fall to the giant Shadow Demon, Supergirl being brainwashed by Psycho-Pirate to kill the Monitor, and the Anti-Monitor poised to successfully destroy the multiverse.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: Lampshaded; after Gordon dies of the Joker venom, The Joker tells Batman not to worry as he hears there are plenty more Gordon's out there.
- Death Seeker: When Kara is beamed back on board the Monitor's spaceship, she angrily turns her Eye Beams on him, which he effortlessly blocks with his personal forceshield. When she lets loose under Psycho-Pirate's influence, he makes no effort to protect himself.
- Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Despite being told that this Hippolyta and her Amazons are not her mother and sisters, Wonder Woman's only response is "They are close enough". It's implied she has Survivor's Guilt because the Amazons of her own Earth have been wiped out.
- Enfant Terrible: A young Charles Halstead uses his budding psychic powers to either turn people in his boarding school into his slaves or make them commit Psychic-Assisted Suicide.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: Psycho-Pirate uses his emotional manipulation to keep everyone calm and focused on saving the multiverse. Despite the pain manipulating positive emotions causes him, he is a willing member of the team. He only cares about his own self-preservation and sees no other choice but to help save the multiverse if he wants to keep on living. The Anti-Monitor offers him a universe of his own to rule over as its god and Psycho-Pirate immediately betrays everyone else.
- Freudian Excuse: Not that it remotely justifies him unleashing a Hate Plague and putting everyone at peril or teaming up with the Anti-Monitor, but Psycho-Pirate is given a backstory that shows how he became such a ruthless, sadistic person as shown by how he was traumatized by his parents constantly fighting each other and being sent to a boarding school where the other kids beat him and even the teacher seemed to lack any sort of empathy for his suffering until the moment one of the beatings unleashed his full power and caused him to take revenge on everyone who wronged him.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Charles used to be a normal kid with dreams and an appreciation for fantasy until he slowly grew more and more power-hungry, culminating in his transformation into the Psycho-Pirate and teaming up with the Anti-Monitor to ascend to godhood.
- Half-Sibling Angst: As it appears that one way that Psycho-Pirate is influencing the heroes into fighting each other is by amplifying their own most negative feelings, the fight between Helena Wayne and Damian reveals that these half-siblings already had hostile feelings between them.
- Hate Plague: Psycho-Pirate uses his powers to compel the heroes across the various universes to fight each other instead of the Shadow Demons.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Solovar, already badly injured, sacrifices himself to help Kamandi against the Shadow Demons by setting his gun to the highest velocity and using it as a makeshift bomb, blowing himself up and taking the Shadow Demons with him.
- He's Back!: John Stewart saying his full name at Pariah’s request restores the latter’s true identity and personality as John Constantine. He then casts a spell to clean himself up and restore his usual look.
- Idiot Ball: Whoo-boy. Both Dr. Fate and the Monitor decide it's a good idea to give more powers to Psycho-Pirate, despite knowing full well what kind of a sociopathic monster he is. While in the former's case, it's implied to be due to his Omniscient Morality License, the latter simply buys Pirate's claims that he needs this power in order to save everyone. True, the Monitor thought that Psycho-Pirate didn't have any options other than continuing to work for him, but giving this guy power without a leash was still an extremely dumb move.
- I Work Alone: Despite being confronted by the Bat Family, Batman insists on this trope and isn't impressed by his other self recruiting children to fight his war.
- Kids Are Cruel: Psycho-Pirate was a good kid until being bullied in boarding school helped him grow a sadistic taste for tormenting people, starting with his attackers. Some of whom were murdered horribly by his powers.
- Lady Land: Wonder Woman is dispatched to an Earth where the Amazons conquered the world centuries prior and enslaved all men.
- Living Shadow: The Anti-Monitor's shadow demons are a heavy focus, with a doglike demon attacking Batman and a swarm of others attacking the League. Later, the remaining demons merge into armor for the Anti-Monitor himself.
- A Million Is a Statistic: The Monitor has spent eternity monitoring catastrophes and never interfering in them, but the sight of Kara about to die of suffocation in a life pod disturbs him, so he tells Satellite to remove her from his view. Satellite moves her into the Monitor's ship, and though it suggests they can throw her out the airlock if needed, the Monitor is unable to do so and raises her as a surrogate daughter.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Supergirl fatally wounds the Monitor with her heat vision while under the influence of Psycho-Pirate and the Anti-Monitor. As the Monitor is agonizing, the influence wears off and she feels devastated.
- Mythology Gag: The teacher in Psycho-Pirate's flashback resembles the comic design of Charles Halstead.
- No OSHA Compliance: Kara nearly walks off a ledge in the Monitor's Unnecessarily Large Vessel with no safety rails.
- No-Sell: When Dr. Fate reveals himself, Psycho-Pirate tries to use his powers but they don't work as Dr. Fate exists in multiple realities simultaneously, which means there's always part of him free of Psycho-Pirate's mind control.
- Not so Dire: Superman appears next to a tower under an Alien Sky, with sinister knights with glowing eyepieces riding on slaving dogs charging towards him. The knights then... thank Superman for his help, because they no longer have the means to build such a tower in their After the End Feudal Future.
- Omnicidal Maniac: The Joker tries to blow up the tower protecting the Universe from being destroyed because...why not?
- The Power of Trust: Solovar asks Kamandi to trust him despite having spent a lifetime being hunted by apes. This turns out to be the right thing to do. We then cut to The Monitor trusting Psycho-Pirate with his power. This turns out to be the wrong thing to do.
- President Evil: Psycho-Pirate is shown to be this in one of the Earths he conquered; however there's a large mob outside the White House on the verge of storming it, implying that he has trouble controlling an entire nation.
- Principles Zealot: Rather than take Diana's suggestion to release all her male slaves to help against the Shadow Demons, Hippolyta would rather go down fighting them herself. Downplayed, as at this point Psycho-Pirate is broadcasting his Hate Plague and she may have been more reasonable absent that.
- Ruthless Modern Pirates: In his backstory, Psycho-Pirate was quite happy to become a real pirate by serving as the captain of a Kriegsmarine merchant raider.
- Villain Protagonist: Psycho-Pirate is more or less the star of the show. His origin, backstory, and role in the event are greatly divided into to build up his eventual alliance with the Anti-Monitor and betrayal against the heroes.
- Weakened by the Light: The Shadow Demons are invulnerable to physical attack, but are scattered by intense light. Anything from flashbangs to light-emitting superpowers works, though Batman observes that more mundane things like flashlights are insufficient.
- Wham Shot: Batman chases after the Joker who's laughing. When Batman knocks him down, it's actually revealed to be Commissioner Gordon who's been Jokerized.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Batwing (Luke Fox) appears during the Bat Family's battle against the Joker's attack, then isn't seen anywhere at all for the rest of the film or the next one.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Kara learns about Krypton's destruction, she gets furious at the Monitor for keeping this from her.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The first half of the film reveals the backstory of Psycho-Pirate and how Supergirl became the Harbinger.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Sort of with the Anti-Monitor. In the source material, his motivation for destroying the positive matter universes was to replace them with his own universe. Here, he's described as being more like an antibody, performing a necessary function by removing the additional realities, which are ultimately dangerous to the health of reality as a whole.
- Advertised Extra: The DCAU Batman is shown fighting Joker in the trailers, hinting that he may play some role in the Crisis as an ally to the other heroes across the multiverse. However, it turns out his scene with the Joker is his only scene in the movie because not long after, his world is destroyed by the anti-matter wave.
- Anachronism Stew: A stampede of dinosaurs go charging into one Earth, pursued by Allied soldiers and aircraft from World War 2. Later the Bat Family fight Nazi soldiers who've helped themselves to the arsenal used by the Rogues Gallery.
- Art Evolution: The Teaser
shows that the DCAU Batman and Joker's original BTAS character models have been tweaked to bring the Timm Style designs into the Tomorrowverse design aesthetic. The update's pretty faithful. - Art Shift: The Superfriends universe is drawn in that cartoon's style, with the flat colors standing out amongst everything else.
- Asshole Victim: Lex has captured Psycho-Pirate and has him tortured for information and kept alive to assist in his plans. Considering the vast death and destruction Psycho-Pirate deliberately caused multiple times even before the Crisis, and then during the Crisis in service to the Anti-Monitor, his fate was fully deserved.
- Bittersweet Ending: More on the bitter side than the sweet. While the heroes try to maintain hope, they ultimately lose. Countless universes are utterly destroyed, and the Anti-Monitors cannot be stopped; even if they were, the constant creation of new parallel universes would destroy reality anyway. Only by creating a new mono-universe can reality avoid being wiped out, but at the cost of all the inhabitants' memories and individuality as they're merged together. The ending is compared to the destruction of Krypton on a cosmic scale, with the belief that maybe something good can come out of it being the only comfort.
- Bookends: A Meta variation for Kevin Conroy's Batman and Mark Hamill's Joker. The DCAU Batman and Joker's appearances fittingly see their characters restored to their original BTAS designs circa 1992, thus serving as a nice full-circle sendoff for their decades-long run with the characters.
- Broad Strokes:
- This film has Aya and Razer from Green Lantern: The Animated Series appear, who confirm they come from Earth-1. This means that some version of the series happened to the Tomorrowverse Hal Jordan.
- While this film features cameo appearances of the DCAU, Superfriends, and Teen Titans, Schrödinger's Canon is in effect as their appearances are only canon to the Tomorrowverse, not the original shows themselves. This is shown by how the DCAU Batman and Joker have their original character designs from Batman: The Animated Series, despite the DCAU Justice League also appearing and having the updated designs from that series.
- Glimpsed at the same time on Apokolips are the Parademon designs from both the DC Animated Universe and the later DC Animated Movie Universe.
- The Bus Came Back: Aya and Razer, straight out of Green Lantern: The Animated Series, are back in full form to aid the heroes in stopping the destruction of the multiverse and at last complete Aya's unfinished arc.
- Call-Back: To Justice League: Warworld; before Warworld itself reappears, Batman recalls glimpsing the vision of elderly Barry Allen passing a message to him, and then Wonder Wonder encountering Bat Lash on Earth-18 makes her sadly recall his clone on Warworld.
- The Cameo:
- World War 2 heroes The Losers show up to help drive off the dinosaurs.
- As the DC Animated Universe is destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, there's a brief glimpse of the Justice League Watchtower hovering above Earth, appearing as it did in Justice League Unlimited. Inside the Watchtower, we also see Superman, Wonder Woman, John Stewart, Hawkgirl, the Flash, and Aquaman mere moments before they're all wiped out.
- Canon Welding: The DCAU, Superfriends, and Teen Titans are established as being alternate universes to the Tomorrowverse.
- Chekhov's Gun: Wonder Woman's immortality. It is the key to saving the multiverse, as the Miracle Machine cannot create something infinite without something infinite in return.
- Composite Character: The Reveal that The Multiverse was a mistake and should never existed makes it similar to the Dark Multiverse from Dark Nights: Metal, which are unstable and doom to die no matter what due to being born from bad idea and mistakes.
- Contrasting Replacement Character: The last version of Bruce Wayne played by Kevin Conroy in an adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths was a bitter old recluse who'd become a shell of his former self both physically and mentally. This film's version reuses his exact design from the 90's and dies reaffirming the fact that he will always be Batman.
- Cosmic Flaw: It's revealed that Darkseid's existence acted as a Cosmic Keystone to keep reality stable, and removing him from the equation created an infinitely expanding number of universes that necessitated the Anti-Monitors to destroy everything before all of reality tore itself apart.Dr. Fate Darkseid must exist. So when Constantine tried to erase a fixed point in time, it didn't change the universe; it shattered it.
- Curse Cut Short: Or rather, Slur Cut Short. A saloon patron on Earth-18 is clearly about to call John Stewart something unpleasant before John warns him off:Saloon Patron: Hey fellas, here's a—
John: Better end that sentence carefully. - Death by Adaptation: Psycho-Pirate is consumed by the antimatter wave rather than making it into the new universe with his memories intact like in the original comic story.
- Death by Cameo: The worlds of Superfriends (Earth-508), the DC Animated Universe (Earth-12), and Teen Titans (2003) (Earth-2003), are all wiped out.
- Death of a Child: The Flash kills Darkseid during his infancy, albeit unwillingly. Constantine attached a compulsion spell to direct him to the child, and a dark spell equivalent to typhoid to do the deed in case Flash backs out. Proof of this death is shown when the child stops breathing and black liquid leaks from its nose.
- Determinator: Even as the multiverse comes to an end, the Batman of Earth-12 refuses to give into despair, as he informs Joker before they're both consumed by the antimatter waves.Joker: I must say, Batsy, I'm flattered! The end of the world and you want to spend it with me. I didn't know you cared!Batman: (grabs Joker by the collar as the antimatter gets closer) I care, Joker. About Gotham, about justice. And if it has to end, at least I go out like this: being Batman! (punches Joker in the face before they're both swallowed by antimatter, along with the rest of the universe)
- Dies Differently in the Adaptation: Unlike in the original Crisis, where the Wonder Woman of Earth-1 is killed during the final battle against the Anti-Monitor, the Wonder Woman of this movie sacrifices herself to power the Miracle Machine and create a new universe.
- Dying Declaration of Love: Before she and Jay Garrick are vaporized by the Anti-Monitor along with the Earth they're on, Dinah Drake takes a moment to say goodbye to her daughter Dinah Lance and that she loves and is proud of her.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Just as the antimatter waves consume both of them, Earth-12!Batman gives out a Badass Boast about how he will never give in to despair towards his universe’s Joker before giving him one final punch to the face.
- End of an Age: For the entire Tomorrowverse and everything connected to it. In the end, nothing the heroes do can save the Multiverse; the Anti-Monitor, or rather Anti-Monitors, are unstoppable, and even if they were, reality is dying since the universe can't sustain infinite versions of itself at once. The only recourse is to either let the Anti-Monitors do their job of wiping the slate clean, or create a brand new Monoverse and surrender their memories and identities to be joined together into a new "prime" version for the sake of leaving something behind. Either way, it's death by staying behind, or "death" by becoming a new version of themselves in a new world with a new history.
- Face Death with Dignity: The Superfriends remain perfectly calm as Earth-508 is destroyed by the Anti-Monitor.
- Constantine and the Question are content with dying on Warworld instead of joining everyone else in the new Earth, Constantine believing this is a fitting punishment for his actions while the Question refuses to live in a fake world.
- The Ghost: When the Bat Family battle Nazi soldiers in the Gotham of one Earth, Renee Montoya is mentioned, and the weapons of Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn, Bane, Penguin, and Scarecrow are being used by the soldiers, with none of them (except a hallucination of Scarecrow) or Montoya appearing in this or the previous two Crisis films.
- Go Out with a Smile:
- Earth 12!Joker is seen grinning as he and Batman are consumed by the antimatter waves.
- The Psycho-Pirate dies with a smile on his face as he's killed once and for all by the antimatter waves while everyone else leaves Warworld for the new Earth, leaving Psycho-Pirate truly alone and free of the emotions of other people.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- The Monitor in retrospect, as his death created the energy to move everyone to the Bleed.
- To kill the Anti-Monitor, Supergirl absorbs the energy of 52 suns simultaneously and releases the energy inside of him.
- Wonder Woman offers herself as the sacrifice to power the Miracle Machine and create a new universe.
- Guns Do Not Work That Way: One of the Losers fires a bazooka without worrying about backblast affecting the man standing on the gun mount behind him, and without a second person to do the reloading.
- Handwave: Turns out the Martian Manhunter didn't self-destruct himself along with Warworld; it was simply transported elsewhere and this somehow looked like a planet-sized explosion.
- Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Flash (unknowingly being manipulated by Constantine) went back in time and killed baby Darkseid. However, because Darkseid is a necessary being, this caused the existence of the multiverse, which is slowly killing reality.
- Homage Shot: The appearance of Earth-12, the Batman: The Animated Series universe, opens on the nighttime Gotham cityscape with blimps hovering over, mimicking the familiar opening from the series.
- Hope Spot: With a War World powered by the emotions of every living person on the various Earths and Supergirl's sacrifice, the heroes can kill the Anti-Monitor. Then Dr. Fate and Batman explain that the Anti-Monitor was an anti-body trying to cleanse a multiverse that spread like cancer. Suddenly, thousands of Anti-Monitors appear, each with the power to destroy entire Earths.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- During the dinosaur rampage Green Arrow questions whether they should help these "uptown fat cats", only for it to be pointed out that he's a billionaire.
- Joker tries to get the last laugh on Batman by mocking how he “chose” to spend the end of the world fighting him when the Clown Prince of Crime was the one who attacked him first while the Caped Crusader was watching over Gotham in its last moments. Batman doesn’t let it rattle him though, and punctuates their shared annihilation by punching the Joker’s lights out.
- I Die Free:
- The Question refuses to live in the "fake history" of the artificial mono-universe and chooses to die with the rest of the Multiverse on principle.
- Constantine also volunteers to stay in the dying multiverse as he believes it's enough punishment for his careless actions.
- It's the Only Way: Subverted; Lois calls Lex out on how his plan to save them just happens to require Superman dying. Unfortunately no-one can think of a better one.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The Joker dismisses the Action Prologue with the dinosaurs as a mere "filler episode", since it doesn't advance the plot.
- Merged Reality: Though the Anti-Montior is defeated, thousands more take his place thanks to the multiverse expanding. It becomes increasingly clear that it is beyond saving, leading to Wonder Woman sacrificing herself to the Miracle Machine to create a new, singular reality where everyone left in the multiverse can join with a version of themselves in that new reality, each becoming a small part of the new whole.
- Mythology Gag:
- The shot that reveals Earth-12's Batman recreates the ending of the intro of Batman: The Animated Series, complete with Danny Elfman's Bootstrapped Theme from the 1989 film. The sequence then briefly quotes Shirley Walker's theme, composed for Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
- A version of Earth prominently showing the T-shaped Titans Tower is referred to as “Earth-2003”, referencing the release year of the animated show Teen Titans (2003).
- Much like in Final Crisis, the destruction of the multiverse is caused by Darkseid's death, although here he's killed as a baby by the Flash rather than slowly dying from injuries dealt to him by Orion and taking every single universe with him.
- The Pietà Plagiarism of Superman cradling Supergirl's dead body in his arms after her Heroic Sacrifice is ripped straight out of the cover for issue 7 of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- The use of "52 suns" is a reference to DC's signature Arc Number and the premise of there being 52 universes as seen in 52 and the New 52.
- Just like the 2019 live-action adaptation of Crisis (and its spin-off comics) worked to fit appearances by (or references to) nearly every past live-action DC media, selected past DC animation universes make appearances here.
- After some absences in Parts 1 and 2, Part 3 includes all the Tomorrowverse versions of the DCAU Justice League founding lineup - the DC Trinity, John Stewart, Hawkgirl, the Flash (in a flashback to Justice League: Warworld only), and Martian Manhunter.
- Like old friends, Supergirl and Batgirl have a friendly conversation about heartfelt matters, referencing their friendship during the Crisis comics era.
- Huntress doesn't recognize Harley Quinn's mallet, as Quinn and Helena Wayne have (as of 2024) never had any encounters in the comics or any other media. And also Quinn never appeared in the Tomorrowverse.
- The ending shows young Diana on Themyscira and playfully interacting with her mother Hippolyta, reminiscent of them in Wonder Woman (2017).
- Necessary Fail: Unlike the comic counterpart to this storyline, the Anti-Monitors are a natural antidote to the expanding multiverse: without them, the multiverse is doomed to rip itself apart anyway, due to not being designed to handle infinitely branching parallel realities. The only way to "fix" everything is to create a new monoverse and allow all the alternate versions of people wiped out by the Anti-Monitors to remain gone forever. Lois likens it to Superman's parents sending him away to preserve Krypton in the form of one person.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Constantine's actions at the finale of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War is revealed to be a whole lot worse than merely having the Flash reset time. Knowing Darkseid is and would always be the problem, Constantine (without his knowledge or consent) turned the Flash into a walking Enemy to All Living Things, radiating an aura that causes all life to die in his presence, then sent him to Apokolips when Darkseid was still a child lacking the powers that would ordinarily make him nigh-impossible to kill. As Darkseid's existence is a fixed point in time, this shattered reality and created the multiverse, not only leading to the current crisis but the potential destruction of reality.
- Place Beyond Time: The Monitor's dying act is to bring all the worlds with towers into the Bleed, a place outside of reality where physical laws and time itself aren't consistent. This protects everyone from the Anti-Monitor but poses its own problems as the timelines break down and begin merging past and present.
- Refuge in Audacity: When Lois Lane accuses him of revealing their location to the Anti-Monitor and causing billions of deaths as a result, Lex Luthor willing admits to it. Billions will die anyway because The Bleed can't sustain them, so at least this way they will gain information on the Anti-Monitor every time it makes an incursion.
- Revisiting the Roots: The DCAU Batman and Joker's cameo in the Teaser show they've been restored to their original BTAS designs rather than using the later updated models from TNBA or Justice League. Similarly, Mark Hamill tweaks his vocal performance to recapture his BTAS-era Joker voice (more falsetto than the raspier voice from the post-DCAU).
- Senseless Sacrifice: Supergirl sacrifices herself to kill the Anti-Monitor. Almost immediately afterward, thousands of Anti-Monitors appear, meaning her sacrifice was for nothing.
- Sherlock Scan: Waking up on Satellite, Bruce is able to estimate how long he was unconscious by the growth of his fingernails and assess the current situation by the signs of mental trauma on the doctor treating him.
- Shout-Out:
- Constantine humiliated by having the coin for his drink tossed into a spittoon is from Rio Bravo.
- Constantine describes the death-spell carrying Flash that he dispatched as being "Typhoid Barry".
- The Social Darwinist: Lampshaded by Lex Luthor when he's informed that an erupting volcano has appeared in the middle of Metropolis. Rather than rush off to do something like Superman would, he just says it's Darwinism in its purest form if the populace get killed because they're too stupid to run away.
- Start X to Stop X: Lex deliberately lures the Anti-Monitor into the Bleed because simply doing nothing will result in everyone dying from attrition as their resources dwindle. The only choice, therefore, is to study and hopefully defeat their enemy.
- Subverted Catchphrase: When Superman insists on taking Diana's place, she says, "This isn't a job for Superman."
- Third-Person Flashback: Batman is briefly confused when Constantine's memories show events he wasn't present for. Constantine explains that part of the magic he cast on the Flash required severing a part of his soul, so he was essentially there as a ride-along and has awareness of the events.
- Those Were Only Their Scouts: After a harrowing battle, Supergirl sacrifices herself to destroy the Anti-Monitor. Then it's revealed that the multiverse itself is responsible for the creation of the Anti-Monitor, as its unchecked growth threatens to destroy all reality. The Anti-Monitor is an antibody, and there's an entire army of them. Before they were content to just let one of them wipe out the Multiverse one universe at a time, but now that they're meeting solid resistance, they stop fooling around and decide to anti-matter all of reality all at once.
- Together in Death:
- Aquaman chooses to return to his world to be with his wife and child as the Anti-Monitor destroys them.
- Earth-12 Batman and Joker also spend their last moments together, with Joker gleeful that Batman is choosing to spend it with him.
- John and Shayera from the same universe also spend their final moments with a Big Damn Kiss.
- Wham Shot: After Supergirl's heroic sacrifice to kill the Anti-monitor, thousands of other Anti-monitors show up.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Diana is weary of outliving both friends and enemies, so she sacrifices herself so her immortal life will have had meaning.
