The multi-show Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event coming to the CW's Arrowverse is going to be a monumental event. It's not just because the stars from every Arrowverse show — Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning — are participating in the big event (but that's pretty major). It's will be a monumental TV event because, according to Crisis on Infinite Earths showrunner Marc Guggenheim, at least six new characters will be introduced within the first hour.
Yes, you read that correctly: Six. New. Characters. While speaking with Indiewire, Guggenheim revealed this huge bit of news among a whole bevy of important Arrowverse-related information. The Crisis on Infinite Earths event begins on Sunday, December 8 with Supergirl. According to Guggenheim, this hour of TV won't just be productive insofar as kicks off the live-action adaptation of the popular DC Comics arc — it will bring some new faces into the mix. Per Guggenheim,
"I like how there are at least six characters who appear in the first three hours that we haven’t announced. And I’m working on even more for the last two hours. So we’ve obviously announced a bunch, but I really want the audience to be able to tune in and still be surprised. So there are surprises of sorts that we’ve managed to keep secret, and not without great difficulty, I will tell you."
This is especially intriguing considering we already know of three big guest stars who will be joining the Crisis action: Smallville alum Tom Welling, who will reprise his star-making role as Clark Kent/Superman; Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), who will also appear as Superman; and Kevin Conroy, who will play a live-action version of Batman and is known for voicing the character in Batman: The Animated Series.
Another particular bombshell from Guggenheim indicates the Crisis crossover event isn't some hermetically-sealed storyline; this event is going to have a ripple effect through every Arrowverse show. According to the showrunner, in part,
"While I can’t specifically spoil any specific change, I can say all the shows are affected coming out of it, with the arguable exception of Legends, simply because Legends didn’t come into it. Basically, the crossover launches much of that season, but I will say that the events of Crisis do have ramifications. Actually in one case, one rather big ramification for the Legends show going forward in Season 5. And in many ways, Crisis sets up Legends’ fifth season. How exactly, you’ll need to watch a chunk of the season before that becomes clear. It’s not immediately clear in the first post-Crisis episode. But that’s Legends for you, they do things a little different."
New characters, big changes, lots of action... is there anything the Crisis crossover event can't do? All jokes aside, this sounds like a paradigm-shifting TV event. Fans of the Arrowverse, you are not going to want to miss a single hour of this one.
The Crisis on Infinite Earths television event begins Sunday, December 8, at 8/7c (Supergirl), then continues on Monday, December 9, at 8/7c (Batwoman); Tuesday, December 10, at 8/7c (The Flash); and ends on Tuesday, January 14, with Arrow at 8/7c and then Legends of Tomorrow at 9/8c.