How to Watch the CW Crossover

Publish date: 2024-07-09

After the major success of Avengers: Endgame, the world of movies and television changed forever. We’ve seen superheroes take over every space in the entertainment industry. From podcasts, streaming services, and even network TV, nothing was bigger than The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths.

For those who don’t know, the television event Crisis on Infinite Earths is based on a comic book event of the same name. In the comics, the DC multiverse is in peril, and it’s up to the Justice League (mainly The Flash) to keep the different universes from collapsing. The CW’s take on the story shares many similarities with its comic book counterpart, as do their other crossover events, but they add their spin on the concept of multiple universes, and of course, their main cast of heroes serves as the Justice League.

In this world-shattering adventure, the heroes of the Arrowverse need to unite to save the entire DC Universe from the brink of destruction, with Oliver Queen at the center of the story. The road through this five-part event can be a bit confusing, especially if you didn't watch it live as it aired, so that’s where we come in. Here’s how to watch the Crisis on Infinite Earths event in chronological order.

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What Do You Need to Know?

The Arrowverse, named after the Green Arrow himself, is a series of shows based on DC Comics characters. These heroes have been on our television screens for nearly a decade, and Crisis on Infinite Earths is the culmination of their stories. The ending of Arrow Season 7 sets up the events of the Crisis storyline, so this event can be hard to follow without a least some basic knowledge of the shows before watching. With that said, here is a shortcut, so you don’t have to watch multiple seasons of five different shows.

The main characters featured in Crisis are Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), Kate Kane (Ruby Rose), and Sara Lance (Caty Lotz). Each star of one of the CW’s superhero shows Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, respectively.

The easiest way to catch up on eight years of lore is by watching the previous crossover event. Elseworlds is the third annual crossover and introduces the concept of alternate realities and the larger idea of a multiverse. Here, you can see Green Arrow, Supergirl, Flash, and the Legends work together prior to Crisis, giving you a sense of their team dynamic and their roles in these larger stories.

Another good place to start is Arrow Season 8. This is the shortest season of Arrow, with only seven episodes prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it’s integral to the crossover’s plot. The entirety of Arrow’s final season is building up to this event, and while it’s not essential viewing, you’d do yourself a disservice by not watching it before Crisis.

There’s also a Black Lightning episode that ties into Crisis. Season 3, Episode 9 of Black Lightning, is titled The Book of Resistance: Chapter Four: Earth Crisis and shows what’s happening on Earth-73 during the Crisis event. This episode doesn’t have any significant connections to the crossover itself, so it’s not mandatory, but it’s a fun addition nonetheless.

Episode Viewing Order

The episode viewing order is spread across the five shows. This is where things can get weird because if you didn’t watch it live, there’s no way you’d know where to start. We have the episode order listed below.

Epilogue

Once you’ve finished Crisis on Infinite Earths, the next step is to return to Arrow and watch the series finale, Season 8 Episode 10, Fadeout. Here, you see the aftermath of the crossover, and it serves as a fitting end for the character of Oliver Queen and the legacy of the show Arrow. Crisis on Infinite Earths is an event that brings together multiple generations of DC heroes and stories in a way we’ve never seen before.

Arrow served as the launching point for this universe, and the show’s connection to Crisis serves as the perfect ending to not only the crossover event but to Arrow and Stephen Amell’s final performance as Oliver Queen.

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