DC’s heroes are about to experience one of their greatest defeats in Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Crisis on Infinite Earths. Late in 2019, DC Comics released five issues in their initial Tales from the Dark Multiverse run, which took some of DC’s well-known stories and twisted them to have much darker endings. The series included new iterations of Batman: Knightfall, The Death of Superman, Blackest Night, Infinite Crisis, and New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. DC just announced that Crisis on Infinite Earths will join the series in December.
Crisis on Infinite Earths was a huge crossover storyline created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez in 1985. The event showed hundreds of DC’s heroes from different universes coming together to fight the Anti-Monitor, an immensely powerful being that wanted to destroy all matter and become the ultimate ruler of a new anti-matter multiverse. The heroes were able to prevail and end the Anti-Monitor’s reign of terror, merging DC’s Multiverse into a single shared universe. Unfortunately, the battle resulted in several losses, including Barry Allen and Supergirl.
Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Crisis on Infinite Earths will explore what would have happened if Jor-L of Earth 2 had survived. According to the synopsis, this variation from the original story will create a totally different end-result. Alan Scott, the Green Lantern, will also play a big role in the new story as he will find himself on a much darker path. Here is the full synopsis released by DC:
When the Anti-Monitor’s deadly grudge match with the Multiverse was finally foiled, there was only one Earth left! But which Earth? That was crucial to what would happen next. In one timeline, Earth-1’s Superman stopped the Superman of Earth-2 from going into final battle, but in the Dark Multiverse, it’s Jor-L of Earth-2 who survives, changing the landscape for all that follows!
When Surtur comes looking to crush all life, the beleaguered heroes jump into their next big battle, jumping from one Crisis to the next... but will the last days of the Justice Society of America play out differently if Green Lantern Alan Scott steps into the darkness?
Crisis on Infinite Earths joins a slew of other DC stories slated to receive a Dark Multiverse makeover. Batman: Hush, Flashpoint, War of the Gods, and Dark Knights: Metal will also have their Dark Multiverse iterations released by the end of the year.
It is not yet clear how Crisis on Infinite Earths will change in the Dark Multiverse, but it is fairly safe to assume that things won’t go too well for the heroes. In David Marquez’s cover art, it seems that another member of the Flash family could be one of the story’s major casualties, as Jay Garrick is shown lying unconscious in front of Alan Scott. In addition, the recently released Dark Knights: Death Metal Trinity Crisis #1 shows Batman traveling to a Dark Multiverse version of Crisis on Infinite Earths, where he discovers a universe ruled by the Anti-Monitor. If this is any indication of what is to come, then this Dark Multiverse story will be absolutely devastating.
Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Crisis on Infinite Earths by Steve Orlando
and Mike Perkins will be released on December 15.