January 3, 1985: DC Comics Begins Publishing "Crisis On Infinite Earths"

Issue #7, featuring the death of Supergirl

January 3, 1985, 40 years ago: DC Comics celebrates its 50th Anniversary by rewriting its history, beginning its 12-part series Crisis On Infinite Earths, with an issue dated April 1985.

Essentially, it eliminates Earth-One (which features the current heroes) and Earth-Two (which features the heroes introduced before and during World War II), along with every other "alternate Earth" they'd ever depicted, and combines them into a single narrative.

This provides an explanation of why the WWII-era heroes can still be fighting for justice when they should be elderly -- in many cases, as mentors to the younger versions of their characters, i.e. Jay Garrick, the 1st Flash, doing so for Wally West, the 1st Kid Flash, who becomes the 3rd Flash after the 2nd, Barry Allen, sacrifices his life to save the universe in issue #8. (Barry would later be brought back to life in 2010's Blackest Night, DC's insane attempt at a zombie story.)

It also enables a reboot of the origin stories. Among the notable changes: Clark Kent was never Superboy, his parents Jonathan and Martha Kent are still alive as he begins his career as Superman, and, as Clark, he's not pretending to be the mild-mannered milquetoast he's usually seen as, making him seem more believable as a big-city reporter -- and, in hindsight, resembling George Reeves' 1950s TV Superman more than Christopher Reeve's then-current movie Superman.

Batman's origin is also slightly tweaked. Originally, his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, had worked at Wayne Manor for Thomas and Martha Wayne, then left before they were killed, with Bruce raised by an uncle and his housekeeper; and returned many years later to work for Bruce Wayne, who had already adopted Dick Grayson. He soon found out the hard way that Bruce was Batman and Dick was the 1st Robin.

In this new version, Alfred never left Wayne Manor, raising Bruce after his parents were killed, and assisting him in becoming, and then being, Batman every step of the way.

Not all the changes were popular: In addition to the death of my generation's Flash, Superman's cousin Supergirl, known as Kara Zor-El on Krypton and Linda Danvers on Earth, was killed in issue #7, producing a shocking and oft-imitated cover. And all the other Kryptonians were eliminated, making Superman truly "the Last Son of Krypton." This was dropped in DC's next reboot, the 1994 series Zero Hour.

In 2019, TV network The CW, having done several superhero shows in their "Arrowverse" series, crossed them all over, adapting Crisis On Infinite Earths. In this case, though, not only did Supergirl, now known as Kara Danvers, and the Barry Allen version of the Flash survive, but Barry proves pivotal in developing the final weapon, and Kara is the one who delivers it. In this version, the one who sacrifices himself for the greater good of the multiverse was Green Arrow, who, in order to do it, becomes that universe's version of the Spectre.

The original series was written by Marv Wolfman, and drawn by George Pérez. In the Arrowverse version, Wolfman makes a cameo appearance in the 5th and final episode. Pérez was dealing with serious health issues, and was unable to appear, so he was honored by the writers placing the final showdown with the Anti-Monitor takes place in Pérez Square.

In 2024, a 3-part animated film, Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths, premiered, as part of the DC Animated Universe. It is yet another variation on the story, but it is closer to the original comic than to the Arrowverse version.)

Top 5 Great Things About the Arrowverse (& 5 Things They Got Wrong)

Top row, left to right: Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El, Kara Danvers, Supergirl; Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer, The Atom; Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Green Arrow, The Spectre; Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Sentinel; Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, The Flash; and Jesse Rath as Querl Dox, Brainiac 5.

Second row, left to right: Ruby Rose as Kate Kane, Batwoman; David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

Third row, left to right: Katherine McNamara as Mia Queen, the 2nd Green Arrow; Tyler Hoechlin as Kal-El, Clark Kent, Superman.

Front row, left to right: Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels, Harbinger; Caity Lotz as Sara Lance, White Canary; Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane.

Lower right inset: Arrowverse creator Marc Guggenheim.

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Last week, with the final episode of Superman & Lois on The CW, the Arrowverse officially came to an end, after 12 years.

Top 5 Great Things About the Arrowverse (& 5 Things They Got Wrong)

10. Got Wrong: Teasing Green Lantern, But Not Delivering. During their version of Crisis On Infinite Earths, the Flash of Earth-90 (John Wesley Shipp reprising his role from the 1990-91 CBS Flash series) recognized John Diggle, a.k.a. Spartan (David Ramsey) as "John," suggesting that his counterpart was Earth-90's Green Lantern -- possibly a version of John Stewart. In the last installment, they showed that Earth-12 had a Green Lantern Corps. And the last episode of Arrow showed Diggle finding a box with something glowing green inside. But a later episode of The Flash showed Diggle rejecting the power ring, believing he would be corrupted by it.

There was a notation for "HAL" on the speed-dial of the pre-Crisis Earth-2's version of Barry Allen, the Flash (Grant Gustin), suggesting Hal Jordan. Ferris Air, Hal's employer, was mentioned on 7 episodes of Arrow and 12 episodes of The Flash. Coast City, Hal's hometown, was mentioned on 7 episodes of Arrow, 12 episodes of The Flash, 2 episodes of Vixen, 1 episode of Supergirl, and 1 episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow. And in 1 of those episodes of Arrow, set partly in Coast City, a man wearing a bomber jacket with the name "JORDAN" on it is shown, although his face is not.

And, aside from references to the Earth-2 Green Lantern, Alan Scott, on Stargirl, that was it. We never saw an actor play Scott, or Stewart, or Hal Jordan, or Guy Gardner, or Kyle Rayner, or any of the interplanetary GLs. After the flop of the 2011 film with Ryan Reynolds as Jordan, that was disappointing.

9. Got Right: Diversity. The writers and producers of the Arrowverse were unafraid to highlight female heroes, with Supergirl, Batwoman and Vixen as title characters. They were unafraid to highlight black heroes, with Vixen, Black Lightning, and, eventually, Batwoman as title characters. They were unafraid to show an interracial marriage between John Diggle and Lyla Michaels, a.k.a. Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson).

They presented gay characters as well, starting on Arrow with Curtis Holt, a.k.a. Mr. Terrific, also a black character (played by Echo Kellum). The character is straight in the comic books. (UPDATE: As portrayed by Edi Gathegi in the 2025 Superman film, he is black, but his love-life is not mentioned.)

Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Kara Danvers, a.k.a. Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) interacted with several gay characters, including her adoptive sister, Alex Danvers, a.k.a. Sentinel (Chyler Leigh); Kelly Olsen, Jimmy Olsen's sister and Alex's eventual wife, who succeeded Jimmy as the hero Guardian (Azie Tesfai); and Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath), Lex's sister who becomes Kara's best friend.

On DC's Legends of Tomorrow, the co-captains of the time-traveling spaceship Waverider, Sara Lance, a.k.a. White Canary, and Ava Sharpe developed a romance that led to a marriage and, through means too convoluted to discuss here, a pregnancy, though the baby hadn't yet been born when the show was canceled. (In real life, their portrayers, Caity Lotz and Jes Macallan, respectively, were both straight, are married to men as of this writing, and each recently had her 1st child.) 

On Batwoman, as the daughter of Jacob and Gabi Kane, Kate Kane was both female and Jewish, as was Jacob's sister, Martha Kane, who married Thomas Wayne, who wasn't Jewish, and this made their son Bruce (played only in a single hallucination scene, out of costume, by Warren Christie), Kate's 1st cousin, and half-Jewish but not raised as such. And Kate was also gay, for a trifecta of potential discrimination.

When Ruby Rose, the Australian supermodel and genderfluid actress who played Kate, left the show after Season 1 despite being "the Paragon of Courage" in the Arrowverse's version of Crisis On Infinite Earths, under controversial circumstances, a new character, who had never previously appeared in comic books, was created to be the new Batwoman: Ryan Wilder, who was written as female, gay, and black. Cast in the role was Javicia Leslie, who, in real life, is also all three. (UPDATE: Leslie is actually bi, and has since married a man. So has Megan Tandy, who played gay character Sophie Moore. Tandy has also had a baby.)

It didn't bother me that most of the people on the heroic side on Batwoman were gay -- Luke Fox, a.k.a. Batwing (Camrus Johnson), was an exception -- while the show's main villain, Kate's sister Beth, a.k.a. Alice (Rachel Skarsten), was straight. I fully support "Gay people can be heroic, too," but that doesn't mean being straight automatically makes someone the enemy.

Legends also had TV's 1st Muslim superheroes, the siblings Zari and Behrad Tarazi. (They were played by Tala Ashe and Shayan Sobhian, respectively. They are not related to each other in real life, but both are of Iranian descent).

8. Got Wrong: Making Green Arrow Their "Batman." Since they followed Warner Brothers' demand to not have Batman on TV shows, they needed a stand-in for the character, and made Green Arrow a "dark knight." For fans used to the usual version of Oliver Queen -- a billionaire business lord and wisecracking playboy who fights crime by night, but doesn't even get along with Batman -- this was jarring. On the other hand...

7. Got Right: Taking Green Arrow Seriously. Like Robin and Spider-Man, he's been a bit of a quipster, the jokes hiding his pain. Throw in the Robin Hood-like costume, and it's a little difficult to take Ollie seriously. But Arrow had him written as a serious character, with plenty of depth, and Stephen Amell was more than up to the challenge. They could have made him a little less dark, and still made him completely watchable.

6. Got Wrong: The Titans. The casting of Titans was not an issue. But making the show as dark as they did was.

As Batman has said in other media, the point of taking on kids and making them his Robins isn't so that they'll end up like him, but so that they won't. Yet, looking at this version of Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) and Jason Todd (Curran Walters), it's clear that this Earth's version of Bruce Wayne did make them too much like him. Throw in the demonic stuff, and just how ruthless Deathstroke (Esai Morales) could be, and you have something that would have been rated R even without the sex scenes.

Actually, one casting was a terrible mistake. When I saw Iain Glen, at that point best known as Ser Jorah Mormont on Game of Thrones, come out of Wayne Manor to greet Dick, I thought he was a great choice to play Alfred. But he was Bruce instead, a role he was way too old for.

5. Got Right: The Justice Society of America: The Next Generation. Okay, the writers and producers of Stargirl never explained how their version of the original JSA got started in the 1940s and were still alive and relatively young in 2010. But they did a terrific job of showing what it would really be like to be both a teenager and a superhero, with Brec Bassinger as Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl, Yvette Monreal as Yolanda Montez/Wildcat, Cameron Gellman as Rick Tyler/Hourman, and Anjelika Washington as Beth Chapel/Dr. Mid-Nite.

And, in what might be the most trivial piece of trivia of all time, but I noticed it, and liked it: As far as I know, Yvette Monreal is the first actor, of either gender, to play a superhero whose secret identity has the same initials.

 

4. Got Wrong: Teasing Batman, But Not Delivering. Batman, under that name and under his real name of Bruce Wayne, was mentioned on nearly every episode of Batwoman (on the pre-Crisis Earth-1). He was mentioned on episodes of Supergirl (on the pre-Crisis Earth-38). On The Flash, "BRUCE" was another name listed on the phone of the pre-Crisis Earth-2's Flash. Iain Glen played Bruce, but not in costume, on Titans (on Earth-9, pre- and post-Crisis). Kevin Conroy, long the voice of Batman in the DC Animated Universe, played Bruce, but not in costume, on the Batwoman installment of Crisis (on Earth-99).

A much-older (and much-fatter) Burt Ward, who played Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Robin, on the 1966-68 Batman TV series, was shown at the beginning of Crisis. So was Robert Wuhl, who played news photographer Alexander Knox in the 1989 Batman film.

But, in 12 years, except for a shadowy figure whose face would couldn't see on 1 episode of Titans, we never saw Batman in costume. Nor did we ever find out what happened to the main universe's Batman after he left Gotham City. 

3. Got Right: Crisis On Infinite Earths. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe had its Infinity War, it was the end of half of all life in the universe, and they had to fix it. In the 1985 DC Comics series COIE, all the life in every universe was at risk. In the Arrowverse's adaptation, the Anti-Monitor actually went further: He did kill all the life in all the universes -- including, by inference, everyone watching -- except for, as it turned out, 11 individuals: Himself, 9 heroes, and Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer). And the heroes, plus Lex, had to restore life to the universe, and do it without a Superman, a Batman, or a Wonder Woman (though they did have a Supergirl, and a Batwoman, then played by Ruby Rose).

And they did it. In other words, in this way, the Arrowverse topped the MCU -- and the movies' DC Extended Universe. They took the darkest possible storyline, and still provided it with hope. They went for a young audience, and told an uplifting story, in a way that the MCU couldn't quite do, and the dark as hell DCEU didn't even try to do.

Bringing Brandon Routh, from the 2006 film Superman Returns, to play an older Superman of Earth-96, suggesting (but not outright saying) that he was the same Superman that Christopher Reeve played in 4 films from 1978 to 1987, emotionally wounded but still fighting for humanity, was the symbol of all of this.

When Earth-38's Lois Lane asks him why he added black to his S-like House of El crest, he said, "Because, Lois, even in the darkest times, hope cuts through. Hope is the light that lifts us out of the darkness."

2. Got Wrong: No Wonder Woman. The real world's leading female superhero character was mentioned on an episode of Batwoman. There was a notation for "DIANA" on the speed-dial of the pre-Crisis Earth-2's version of Barry Allen, the Flash, suggesting Princess Diana of Themyscira, a.k.a. Diana Prince, a.k.a. Wonder Woman. (In addition to "DIANA," "BRUCE" and "HAL," there was also a "CLARK.")

Themyscira, home of the Amazons and birthplace of Wonder Woman, was shown on an episode of Legends and mentioned on 2 others. And Diana's adoptive sister, Donna Troy, a.k.a. Wonder Girl (Conor Leslie -- white, and thus no relation to Javicia), was a major character on Titans, and mentioned Diana a few times.

But that was all we got. The Arrowverse's version of Crisis On Infinite Earth gave us a nod to Chris Reeve's Superman on Earth-96, and showed Burt Ward's Dick Grayson on Earth-66. (Adam West, who played Batman opposite Ward's Robin on the 1966-68 Batman series, had already died.) But no mention was made of any live-action Wonder Woman: Not Lynda Carter from the 1975-79 TV series, not Adrianne Palicki from the failed 2011 TV pilot, not Gal Gadot from the DCEU, not even Linda Harrison from the failed 1967 TV pilot. (Carter did appear on Supergirl, as Earth-38's President of the United States, though her character was forced to resign when she was exposed as an alien.)

When the end of their Crisis showed that the Multiverse had indeed been restored, including Earth-96 and its Superman, I wanted to see a scene of Ward as Dick, Routh as Clark Kent, and Carter as Diana Prince, standing together at the grave of Bruce Wayne, with an image of West carved into the tombstone. It would have been as close to perfect as they could have gotten, short of West still being alive.

1. Got Right: Superman and Lois Lane. Not just the series titled Superman & Lois, but the dynamic between them. Tyler Hoechlin gave us the best Superman since Chris Reeve, and the best Clark Kent ever. And Elizabeth "Bitsie" Tulloch took Lois to heights she'd never reached before.

No more of the games, with Lois trying to prove Clark is Superman, and Clark trying to prevent her from finding out. No more of Lois as a "damsel in distress" every week. This showed both of them as fully-rounded characters, complete with the difficulties that come from middle age and raising adolescents -- which, sometimes, is harder than saving the world.

Top 10 Most Tenuous Superhero Secret Identities

Note: I'm limiting this to DC Comics. Most Marvel heroes seem to have had their identities exposed at some point, some by their own choice.

Honorable Mention: Aquaman. Although he has a civilian name, Arthur Curry, he doesn't really have a civilian life. So the fact that he doesn't wear any kind of mask doesn't really affect his secret identity: He doesn't need to keep it a secret.

10. Tie: Starfire and Beast Boy/Changeling. These 2 members of the Teen Titans (or just "The Titans") have a distinct disadvantage, having unusual skin color: Starfire, a.k.a. Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, has orange skin and bright green eyes, like all Tamarans. Her civilian identity of model Kory Anders tries to get around this by appeared to have used too many tanning beds. But Garfield "Gar" Logan seems never to have found a way to hide his green skin.

The TV show Titans mostly got around this. Kory was played by a black actress, Anna Diop, and her natural color was kept; so her hair, always drawn as a different shade of orange from the character's skin, didn't seem so odd. Gar was played by Ryan Potter, and given an appearance similar to the Joker: Green hair, and skin that, while not fully white, was whiter than what we normally call Caucasians. But that could be explained by his simply being a kid who dyed his hair.

9. Robin and...

8. Batman. Even on the 1966-68 TV series, the connection was made: Batman needs a lot of money to fund his gadgets, therefore he must be a rich guy, around a certain age, living in Gotham City. Narrow it down to that, and see which ones are especially motivated to fight crime. Bruce Wayne was a kid when his (at least, locally) famous parents were murdered right in front of him. There you go.

It's easy to rationalize that, even with that motivation, Bruce might not be Batman, he might only be funding him. Still, if you were to find a way to neutralize Bruce Wayne, then you can go some ways in neutralizing Batman, even if you don't know they're the same guy. The Joker did this in the recent Joker War storyline. (He knows the dual identity in some versions, but not others.)

Also, Bruce Wayne has a teenage ward, Dick Grayson. Batman has a teenage sidekick, Robin. Dick eventually left the role, leading to a series of Robins. Still, if you already suspect that Bruce has a direct connection to Batman, a succession of Robins could be easy to match to a succession of children, surrogate (Dick, Jason Todd, Tim Drake) or biological (Damian Wayne).

7. Green Lantern. Yes, Hal Jordan wears a mask, but he also always wears the power ring. He never takes it off.

As for the other Earth-based GLs: Alan Scott, Kyle Rayner, Simon Baz and Jo Mullein wear masks; Guy Gardner and John Stewart don't; and Jessica Cruz wears a Green Lantern tattoo over her right eye when she's in costume, making for a half-mask.

6. Wonder Woman. In "man's world," she uses the name "Diana Prince." Anyone who already knows that Wonder Woman is Princess Diana of Themiscyra (known in pre-Crisis continuity as "Paradise Island") will be able to make the connection.

In the 1975-79 TV series starring Lynda Carter, Wonder Woman wore glasses as Diana Prince, and this was carried over into the comics, both before and after Crisis. But it shouldn't have worked for her any more than it did for Superman. And in the DCEU, both in Wonder Woman 1984 and in Justice League, set in 2017, Gal Gadot's version doesn't use glasses.

And, like the 1977-79 version of Lynda Carter's character, she didn't adopt a new name at a point when the Diana Prince of the previous era should have been too old to look so young. There is a big difference between 1918 and 1984 (DCEU, so "the two Diana Princes" could have been believed to be grandmother and granddaughter), but not so much between 1945 and 1977 (TV), or between 1984 and 2016 (DCEU). Batman found a 1918 photo of her, and made the connection. You don't have to be "the world's greatest detective" to do that.

Honorable Mention: Wonder Girl. Neither of the women who've used that name and been trained by Wonder Woman, Donna Troy and Cassandra "Cassie" Sandsmark, have worn masks.

5. Superman. Honorable Mention: Supergirl. This is the most-cited example: Glasses shouldn't be enough. The early writers tried to get around this by making Superman raise his voice an octave while playing Clark Kent, and by slouching, so that Clark seems shorter than Superman.

But in post-Crisis continuity, Clark is less "mild-mannered," and more assertive. On Lois & Clark, Teri Hatcher's Lois noticed that Dean Cain's Clark was pretty buff, but it still took her 2 full seasons to make the connection.

The comics have further explanation for why people don't make the connection. One is that most people don't realize that Superman even has a secret identity. Another is that, when he knows he's facing still or television cameras, Superman uses an identity-obscuring trick he learned from...

4. The Flash of Earth-2. Jay Garrick doesn't even wear glasses, let alone a mask. Just a hat. He hides his identity by vibrating his face so fast that nobody can get a clear photograph of him. But all anybody needs is for him to forget to do that once, and his cover is blown.

(UPDATE: In the 2025 Superman film, the superheroes in the Justice Gang know Superman's true identity. Green Lantern Guy Gardner, played by Nathan Fillion, suggests that, as Clark, he wears "hypno-glasses," to make people see Clark and Superman as 2 different people.)

3. Mary Marvel. Saying, "Shazam!" ages her from teenager to adult, as with her foster brother (biological brother in pre-Crisis continuity) Billy Batson, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Shazam. And it makes her physically stronger and more fit. But it doesn't alter her appearance beyond that. And she literally uses her real name in her superhero codename. That's very risky.

Marvel Comics have had characters named Ms. Marvel since 1977, but neither DC nor the Shazam Family's previous publisher, Fawcett Comics, ever thought to call Mary "Miss Marvel."

2. Black Canary. Dinah Lance doesn't wear a mask, a hat, or a hood. Her only concession to her secret identity is a blonde wig, as she's a natural brunette.

It is somewhat appropriate that the only DC hero whose secret identity is more tenuous is that of the hero she romanced and eventually married:

1. Green Arrow. Aside from his modus operandi, that of being an archer, what's GA best known for? His blonde Van Dyke beard, first drawn by Neal Adams in 1969, in the same story where GA started dating Black Canary. Oliver Queen, prominent Star City businessman (who, in some versions, has even served as the city's Mayor), has a Van Dyke beard. Hello?

The CW's Arrowverse came close to getting around this: While Stephen Amell's Ollie had a beard, it wasn't as distinctive as a Van Dyke; and wearing a hood instead of a Robin Hood-style cap, as GA has usually done post-Crisis, did more to disguise his identity. And he tended to operate mainly at night, like every version of Batman but the 1966-68 TV version, with darkness helping to obscure his identity. Still, anybody who met both Ollie and Green Arrow wouldn't have had to think too hard to make the connection.

This is my biggest problem with the current Superman & Lois TV series: Tyler Hoechlin never seems to shave. Superman shouldn't have stubble. Yet he has it, as both Clark and Superman. 

Risky mistake, and a rookie mistake, from a guy who's clearly been at this game long enough to have been Superman for a few years before marrying Lois Lane, and to now have sons old enough to drive (and fly).