Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One review

It’s hard not to watch Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One and avoid immediately comparing it to Crisis on Infinite Earths. The 1985-1986 DC Comics maxi-event was a no hyperbole needed game-changing storyline for the DC Universe. Creators have been chasing the Crisis dragon ever since. 

There’s a lot working against Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One from even being a decent adaptation. This isn’t the crack at an adaptation of Crisis. The CW’s Arrowverse creators managed an ok-ish take back in 2019-2020.

Like the Arrowverse version, Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One shows there’s no improving on the original. Creators would be better served simply bringing that story from Marv Wolfman and George Perez to live-action/animation instead of making wholesale changes. Crisis isn’t the kind of story that works with alterations. It’s one of the all-time best comic stories and as 20th Century Fox learned with the various takes on the X-Men’s Dark Phoenix story, if you won’t do it right, don’t bother at all. 

Worried the DC Universe — with its plethora of worlds comprising its multiverse — was too unwieldly for new readers to comprehend, DC editorial pared it down. The goal was to eliminate all but one Earths. Winnow the various redundant heroes and start all over again.

Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One starts in the hole as DC Animation just restarted its latest reboot of the DC heroes. To better align with the new DC comic book initiative, DC Animation kicked off the DC Animated Universe in 2013 with Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. This era ran from 2013 to 2020 and spawned 16 films. 

Its successor, the Tomorrowverse, started in August 2020 and has cranked out six films. Hardly enough to develop a universe that needs to be rebooted. Especially given The Flashpoint Paradox more effectively served as a reboot for DC Animated films.

This puts writer James Krieg in a bind as he’s got to finish establishing some connecting elements to flesh out this era. Hence the Justice League addition to Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One. 

Krieg opts to again make Barry Allen aka The Flash (Matt Bomer) the central character. This shifts the universe-spanning Crisis story to a Flash-focused one. Again, Flashpoint Paradox already featured a Flash story where he’s trying to save the universe. To further complicate the story, Krieg has Flash shift back and forth to different time periods.

Two pivotal stops play out. The first involves Barry meeting his future wife, Iris (a terrific Ashleigh LaThrop), and their relationship over the decades. These are very charming scenes that would be fantastic in a standalone Flash movie. Flash is a big enough character who headlined his own live-action TV series for nine seasons. It actually is possible fans would buy an animated movie starring Flash without the bait and switch of calling it a Justice League film.

Secondly, Flash goes back and forth to the original formation of his Earth’s Justice League. This team includes Superman (Darren Criss), Batman (Jensen Ackles), Green Arrow (Jimmi Simpson), Vixen (Keesha Sharp) and Martian Manhunter (Ike Amadi). During these scenes, Flash and the JL encounter Amazo and Lex Luthor. It’s also worth noting that in this Tomorrowverse era, there hasn’t been a true Justice League movie. Despite the title, this still isn’t it.

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Introducing time travel to a an already complicated story with multiple Earths is a tall order. Krieg tries hard to make it work, but the entire premise is just faulty.

There’s some major shift in the animation for this Tomorrowverse era. The minimalist art style with thick, dark lines around the characters and herky jerky camera pans still proves to be a visual adjustment. Jeff Wamester, who has directed the last five Tomorrowverse films, is providing some consistency even if it doesn’t look particularly polished.

Are there any positive to Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One? Kinda? Barry shifts to Earth-3 where the Crime Syndicate reigns. Their banter and bemusement with The Flash is entertaining. This one of the few moments where it felt like Krieg actually used the source material to influence their fate.

The assemblage of the heroes is very cool with unexpected DC characters making their animated debut. Most don’t get any speaking roles, but it is fun to see who is in the background.

Unlike most DC Animation films that force writers to tell a complex story over 85 minutes, Krieg got three movies 90+ minute films to do Crisis justice. Wasting the first one and largely missing the point of the story is a serious misfire, signaling a significant crisis of faith that this adaptation will improve.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Photo Credit: DC Animation

You can purchase the Crisis on Infinite Earths trade paperback on Amazon.

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