After a nearly month-long wait, the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover is finally continuing. After the events of part three, where the remainder of the multiverse, including Earth-1, got decimated by anti-matter, the Paragons got stranded in the Vanishing Point with no way out. In the fourth part and the Arrow hour, a familiar face returns to give the heroes the last bit of hope they need, and a surprise DC cameo makes its way into the Speed Force. How will the Paragons bring everyone back, and what exactly is Oliver’s new role as The Spectre?
Keep reading to find out what happened in “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four.”
All life ends. The conclusion to #CrisisOnInfiniteEarths starts now on The CW. pic.twitter.com/KHBiHHei72
— Arrow (@CW_Arrow) January 15, 2020
Starting off 10,000 years in the past on Planet Maltus, Mar Novu is working on a machine with his wife, Xneen. Said machine is supposed to get Mar Novu to the dawn of time. Mar Novu enters a portal for the dawn of time but ends up in a temporal zone. Over a radio, Mar Novu tells Xneen he wishes she could see the birthplace of all creation. Suddenly, an alarm goes off, and Xneen tells Mar Novu she’s getting readings she doesn’t understand, saying his presence has corrupted the zone somehow, releasing radiation she’s never seen before. She tells him she thinks it might be anti-matter, and he has to get out of there. All the monitors turn off, and Mar Novu’s signal is breaking up. He’s no longer in the temporal zone but doesn’t think he made it to the dawn of time. Xneen tells him it is, just not the dawn of time of their universe. She says he’s breached the wall between their universe and its opposite, an anti-universe. Xneen says Mar Novu’s body was suffused with coronal radiation, and the suit couldn’t contain it. The Anti-Monitor shows his face.
At the Vanishing Point, back in the present, Ryan Choi is writing to his now-destroyed wife, Amanda, talking about how everyone is gone, including her, and he’s supposed to be a Paragon.
“One of seven people who are supposed to be the multiverse’s last, best chance. The so-called Paragon of Destiny doesn’t even believe in tomorrow anymore. The Paragon of Courage spends every day working herself to the bone, training for a fight that will never come. The Paragon of Honor just meditates for hours on end. The Paragon of Hope has lost hers. As for Barry Allen, aka The Flash, aka the Paragon of Love, he’s just gone. Missing.”
Ryan tells Kara, Sara, J’onn, and Kate that he and Lex are repurposing leftover Time Masters tech, and the two of them think they’ve retrofitted it into a teleportation device. Since they don’t know exactly where it’ll teleport to, Sara suggests they send somebody to test it — being the only one who is not actually a good person, Kara volunteers Lex. Ryan starts up the device, but it’s no luck. However, a breach opens, and Barry comes through, crashing into a wall. Kara tells Barry they’re in the Vanishing Point, and Kate adds on that he’s been gone for months. Barry says he just left two seconds ago to go to the Speed Force. It was like he was running into a mountain at Mach 10. He tells them there’s no way out of there.
Flashbacks of Oliver fighting throughout the years come back to Oliver on Lian Yu, Purgatory. He sees everything now. He asks The Spectre why he would make him relive all that, and he says every fight, every punch he’s thrown, every arrow he’s fired, they’ve all led him here to this moment, to the ultimate battle with the Anti-Monitor. The only way to beat him is with help from his friends.
Back at the Vanishing Point, Kara tells Barry he needs to rest, but Barry wants to try again. Sara tells Barry the effort alone could kill him. Barry replies that it’s better than just staying there. Kate steps in and says they’re not going to let him kill himself. Barry keeps walking, and Sara gets in front of him, saying they’re not letting him go anywhere. “So try and stop me!” Sara tells him in the condition he’s in, it’s not going to be that hard. Kara steps in and says whatever’s going to happen is not going to include them turning on each other. Kara suggests maybe the Speed Force is their last, best hope. Oliver interrupts them and says it is. The Speed Force is the key to saving them, the key to saving everyone.
Oliver tells the Paragons that the multiverse is gone, replaced with an anti-matter universe, which they need to prevent from happening. That the Anti-Monitor is at the dawn of time, fighting to make his destruction of worlds permanent. Since the eight of them might not be enough to stop him, Oliver says they need a backup plan. While some of them fight at the dawn of time, the others must go to Maltus, where Mar Novu first attempted to go to the birth of the universe, to prevent him from creating his doppelgänger. Barry says they can get to both through the Speed Force, but he can’t get into the Speed Force right now, probably because there’s no multiverse left. He mentions that Oliver said he’s in tune with the multiverse; does that include the Speed Force? Oliver tells Barry what he’s asking is very dangerous. Barry says it’s possible. He could give him the energy boost he needs. Everyone’s lives depend on it. Oliver unlocks Barry’s potential, telling him to use this power with caution. Barry runs into the Speed Force, bringing the Paragons with him. He drops Kara, Ryan, and Lex off on Maltus, but Anti-Monitor attacks, and Barry is thrown into Queen Consolidated, still in the Speed Force.
Oliver is also in the Speed Force with Barry, and he tells him he’s lost. The Anti-Monitor attacked, they were separated, and now Oliver is utilizing various pieces of his essence to keep him, Sara, J’onn, and Kate together. Oliver tells Barry there are few things more powerful in the universe than memory and connection. Oliver is using memories of their friends and closest allies to keep all of them from falling out of the Speed Force. If they fall out, they’ll be consumed by anti-matter. Barry needs to get to each of them.
Barry runs to what looks like Star L.A.B.S. but a different one, with a different Flash. In a surprise cameo, Barry comes face-to-face with The Flash, aka the D.C.E.U.’s own Ezra Miller. Neither of them knows what’s going on. Miller’s Flash thinks Grant Gustin’s Flash is just cosplay. After feeling each other’s costumes, they both reveal themselves to be Barry Allen. How is this possible? Gustin’s Flash realizes Miller’s Flash doesn’t know about the multiverse, but before he can say anything, Miller’s Flash says he told Victor this was possible before fading away.
Barry winds up at the end of the “Elseworlds” crossover, where Dark Superman is reading the Book of Destiny, and Clark is trying to stop him. Barry talks to Oliver and tells him that he’s actually in the Speed Force. That arrow from the Monitor, Barry always felt like Oliver wasn’t telling him something. Oliver says he didn’t want to burden him with the choice he made. Barry and Kara were fated to die trying to save the world. Barry remembers that right before Oliver died, he said he’d given up everything for him and Kara. Oliver says he would make that choice again. “It cost you your family, Oliver. It cost you your life.” Oliver tells Barry that dying is the easy part. The dead are at peace. The real heroes are the ones who have to keep going.
Lex finds Mar Novu on Maltus before he has a chance to test out the quantum portal. He tells Novu he’s there to make an offer he won’t let him refuse. Lex says the experiment he’s about to try will not destroy him but will destroy his planet and his wife. Since Lex is from the future and knows exactly how the experiment goes wrong, he tells Novu he is willing to share his future knowledge. And in return? Lex says Novu will soon have certain abilities that he will need to deal with some super problems popping up in his world.
Back in the Speed Force, Barry finally finds Sara, J’onn, and Kate. On Maltus, Lex is telling Mar Novu everything that’s happened and will happen when he opens the quantum portal. Before Lex can do anything with the machine, Kara interrupts them and tells Novu not to trust Lex with anything. Kara tells Ryan to get Novu out of there. While Kara and Lex are fighting, Novu and Ryan find Xneen, who is passed out on the floor. Ryan tells Novu to listen to him. Whatever he does, he cannot open that portal. Trillions of other people’s lives, an infinite number, will be lost if he goes through with it. Before Kara and Lex have the chance to destroy each other, Ryan comes back into the room, telling them he got through to Novu. Barry comes and takes Kara, Ryan, and Lex, bringing them along with Sara, J’onn, and Kate to the anti-matter universe, the dawn of time. J’onn said when they got there, the Anti-Monitor was already there. The Anti-Monitor shows up and tells them that some fates are inescapable. Welcome to his destiny.
Oliver tells them this is why they were chosen as Paragons. It means they’re powerful enough to hold the line, to buy them the time they need to rebirth the universe. Oliver says the dawn of time is the only place it can happen. He’ll light the spark. They fan the flame. They’ll know when it’s time. Barry, Kara, Kate, Sara, Ryan, J’onn, and Lex fight the Shadow Demons while Oliver fights the Anti-Monitor.
“You have failed this universe.”
The Shadow Demons disappear, and the Paragons notice what Oliver is doing. Lex remembers the Book of Destiny. He made himself the Paragon of Truth. What if the truth can tell us what they need to do? Use what’s left of the book “to fan the flame.” Kara says they have to focus, a singular, laser-like focus. On what? “Humanity, truth, love, destiny, honor, courage, and hope.” There’s a big explosion, Barry takes Sara, and they both race up to the mountain to find Oliver.
Oliver is on the ground, coughing, slowly slipping away. He tells Barry and Sara he needs both of them to watch over his family. Sara says they’re going to be okay; he’ll be fine. Oliver says they did it and tells them to look up at the sky. It’s the new universe. Sara tells Oliver he did it, and that’s why he has to come back with them. Oliver says this is just what the Monitor said would happen. “There was an end, and there’s a beginning.” Barry remembers what Oliver told him; dying is the easy part. Oliver’s at peace. The real heroes, they’re the ones who have to keep going. “So keep … going. Don’t ever stop. This world, this new world, it needs both of you.” Oliver closes his eyes and is finally at peace. Sara and Barry look up at the new universe, an end and a beginning. “Thank you, Oliver.”
Bravo to DC Comics and Warner Bros. for getting Ezra Miller to appear and being able to keep it a secret for this long. It was a brief but funny scene, especially with how serious the crossover has been. The episode was also a beautiful departure for Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, who will no doubt have a lasting legacy not only in the Arrowverse itself but on fans and the cast of the Arrowverse shows. There’s no telling what the series finale will consist of, but it will be a very emotional one come two weeks.
I won’t go into the full details of Part Five, the Legends of Tomorrow hour. Still, there is a new Earth, and the heroes try to adjust to a new life, a life without Oliver Queen. Because it is Legends of Tomorrow, a giant Beebo is rampaging through Star City. All five parts of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event are available to stream on The CW app. Supergirl, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow are expected to profoundly feel the aftermath of the Crisis in their new episodes. Arrow only has two more episodes left, and next week will see the backdoor pilot for the potential spin-off, “Green Arrow and the Canaries.” Catch the series finale of Arrow Tuesday, January 28 on The CW.
