Line #95 Recap/Supergirl2015S5E9CrisisOnInfiniteEarthsHourOne


1	As the Crisis begins, Harbinger gathers the greatest heroes of the worlds to save Earth-38.
2
3	----
4	!!Tropes:
5
6	* ApocalypseHow: As Harbinger and The Monitor constantly reiterate, the threat is Class Z--total multiversal annihilation of everything. The Anti-Monitor is accomplishing this through a sequential series of Class X-4s (i.e. Universal Annihilation), one universe at a time. By the end of the episode Earth-38 itself experiences a Class X-4.
7	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: While upgrading Kate's batarangs, Ray takes a moment to admire the weapon first. In the middle of battle. Oliver has to shout at him to get back on the task.
8	-->'''Ray:''' Oh, so cool. Incredibly balanced. Carbon fiber?\
9	'''Mia:''' Your friend talks a lot.\
10	'''Oliver:''' Yeah, you get used to it. Hey, Ray! Focus!\
11	'''Ray:''' Focusing!
12	* BackForTheDead: Ahead of her appearance as the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' version of Lois Lane, Creator/EricaDurance reprises the role of Alura just to be vaporized with antimatter alongside all of Argo City.
13	* BirdsOfAFeather: Brainy is happy to finally meet somebody who speaks his TechnoBabble language in Ray.
14	* BlatantLies: Lena actually tries to sell it to Alex that Eve Tessmacher was behind the events of the last episode, which she naturally doesn't buy.
15	* BottomlessMagazines: Averted at the worst possible time. Oliver runs out of arrows when everybody else is teleported out by the Monitor and then he charges to face the remaining Shadow Demons with his bare hands.
16	* BrickJoke: When Ray offers to upgrade Kate's equipment, she threatens to snap his hand off. During the climactic battle with a hoard of shadow demons, Kate asks for the upgrade, and Ray agrees, as long as he gets to keep all of his appendages.
17	* TheBusCameBack: Earth-38 Clark and Lois return from Argo City due to its destruction by an antimatter wave.
18	* CallBack:
19	** During one bar's trivia night, the host asks the name of Music/JanisJoplin's last song. Sara gives an incorrect answer due to Ray screwing with history during "The Virgin Gary".
20	** Sara and Oliver talk about how it all began 12 years ago with the two of them on the Queen's Gambit.
21	* TheCameo:
22	** Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox, a Gotham Globe reporter on [[Film/Batman1989 Earth-89]].
23	** Creator/AlanRitchson and Curran Walters reprise their roles as Hawk and Robin from ''Series/{{Titans\|2018}}'' through manipulated StockFootage. It is confirmed their Earth is Earth-9.
24	** Creator/BurtWard appears briefly as the sky of Earth-66 turns red. The colors of his sweater and his uttering of his catchphrase imply that his character is indeed Dick Grayson.
25	** Creator/RussellTovey appears as [[WesternAnimation/FreedomFightersTheRay Ray Terrill]] is seen flying on [[Series/CrisisOnEarthX Earth-X]] and then being consumed by the antimatter wave.
26	** Spike the dragon has a small appearance, and Creator/WilWheaton as the doomsday preacher Kara saves from Spike.
27	** Creator/GriffinNewman, best known for [[Series/TheTick2016 another superhero show]], plays a bar trivia host in Star City.
28	* CharactersDroppingLikeFlies: By the end of the hour, Alura, ''all of Argo City'', Oliver, and ''all of Earth-38'' save 3 billion people from Earth itself are killed. [[note]]This last one potentially means off-world characters like M'gann and Malefic are dead as well.[[/note]]
29	* ContinuitySnarl: While the writers apparently attempt to ''solve'' one, with declaring the events of "[[Recap/LegendsOfTomorrowS1E6StarCity2046 Star City 2046]]" to have happened on Earth-16, there are still things that don't match, only explainable by saying that the characters themselves are wrong about their assumption of them being one and the same. Oliver seems to be much younger than he appeared in that episode and he not only does not remember meeting Sara then ([[NonLinearCharacter which both might be explained by her appearing earlier in his timeline]]), but he thinks she died when the ''Queen's Gambit'' was sunk, meaning she wasn't even part of the events with Anthony Ivo in the Season Two flashbacks for ''Arrow''. Worth mentioning is that Sara is also confused that this Oliver doesn't remember her, implying that this future may not be exactly the same one that appeared in ''Legends''.
30	* ContrivedCoincidence: Sara and Lois are amazed that Jonathan's pod would have landed right at the Bunker, with Brainy pointing out that the odds against that are astronomical. [[DownplayedTrope However]], the pod didn't actually land ''there'', just in Star City; Earth-16's Oliver recovered Jonathan from the pod and brought him to the Bunker. It's still an amazing coincidence that the pod landed in Star City, but less of an extraordinarily unlikely one.
31	-->'''Sara:''' You've gotta be kidding me.\
32	'''Lois:''' What are the odds that my son's pod landed here?\
33	'''Brainy:''' 3,827,000,000 to one. [[DownplayedTrope But the pod didn't land here]].
34	* DefiantToTheEnd: Despite being alone, vastly outnumbered, and out of weapons, Oliver continues fighting for as long as he can to protect the quantum tower. According to the Monitor, the time he bought saved roughly an extra billion people.
35	* DespairEventHorizon: Nash is way past his; having released the Anti-Monitor and been resigned to his role as Pariah, he speaks with a monotone and expresses a belief that the multiverse is doomed.
36	* DidntSeeThatComing: Even the Monitor is shocked at Oliver's death, stating that wasn't the end for him he foresaw.
37	* DiggingYourselfDeeper: Alex's attempt at begging Lena for help doesn't do her many favors; Lena would have helped regardless of her personal feelings, and she's offended at the idea that Alex thinks otherwise.
38	* DisneyDeath: It initially appears Superman and Lois perished in Argo City, but it's later revealed that Harbinger saved them at the last second.
39	* DownerBeginning: For the crossover as a whole. The heroes fail to stop the antimatter wave from destroying Earth-38, Oliver dies ensuring more people can evacuate to Earth-1, and even with his sacrifice, less than half of Earth-38's inhabitants are able to escape. The episode ends with Nash Wells, now Pariah, lamenting that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero he's doomed the multiverse]].
40	* DramaticUnmask: Kate does this for everyone else in the DEO upon being told by Kara that she is among heroes Kara would protect with her life.
41	-->'''Oliver:''' Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
42	* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Oliver, alone, out of arrows, and with no hope of survival, charges a horde of shadow demons bare-handed. According to the Monitor, Oliver's last stand bought time for ''one billion people'' to escape Earth-38 with their lives.
43	* TheEndIsNigh: There is a doomsday preacher at the beginning of the episode, and appropriately enough, the Crisis hits right afterwards.
44	* EnemyMine: Lena agrees to help protect Earth-38 but makes it very clear she does not forgive Kara and Alex for lying to her.
45	* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The tone of the crossover is firmly established when Argo is annihilated, with the heroes being totally helpless to do anything to prevent it or even save more than a few people.
46	* EurekaMoment: Alex helps Lena finding a solution for portalling the ships safely when she brings up the Galleon's theory.
47	* EveryoneHasStandards: Lena is offended by the notion that she would allow her personal hatred for Alex and Kara to prevent her from trying to save the people of Earth.
48	* EvilIsPetty: Downplayed; while she doesn't allow a personal grievance to stop her from helping to save lives, Lena twice goes out of her way to make it clear that she will ''never'' forgive Alex, even responding to a genuine compliment (after Alex saved her life, no less) with a cold admonishment that they will never be friends again.
49	* FamilyEyeResemblance: Lois mentions that little Jonathan has Clark's eyes.
50	* FiveSecondForeshadowing:
51	** Just before Argo City is engulfed in the wave, Lois and Kal are surrounded by an energy wave. Later, they appear in DEO headquarters, saved by Harbinger.
52	** During the fight on the Quantum Tower, Oliver briefly incapacitates the Monitor with some sort of electric arrow. When the Monitor shows up with Oliver, dying, in tow, he explains that he can't bring Oliver back from the dead like he did with Lex because the Anti-Monitor's advancing destruction is sapping him of his power. Thus Oliver was able to stymie what had previously been a godlike being.
53	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Clark mentions he envisioned him and Lois as a family on Earth and raising two kids, instead of Argo and raising one. Sure enough, [[Series/SupermanAndLois after Crisis]]...
54	* ForcedToWatch: As punishment for releasing the Anti-Monitor, Nash has become Pariah and now must witness the destruction he unleashed.
55	* ForWantOfANail: It's implied that part of why Oliver of Earth-16 is as bad as he is is because his Sara never survived the sinking of the ''Queen's Gambit'' in the first place.
56	* TheGhost: Although the Anti-Monitor is finally revealed as the cause of the destructive anti-matter waves across the multiverse, as well as the voice behind the wall Nash was digging away at under Central City, he still hasn't made an appearance in the flesh.
57	* GlassCannon: Despite being shadowy, ethereal ghost monsters, the Shadow Demons are surprisingly easy to kill, falling to even simple physical attacks from the BadassNormal heroes. That said, there are a [[ZergRush a shitload of them]], and united they are able to overwhelm and ultimately kill Oliver, and destroy the Quantum Tower that's protecting Earth-38.
58	* GoryDiscretionShot: We don't see exactly what the Anti-Monitor's army does to Oliver, but whatever it was, he was left mortally injured as a result.
59	* HappyEndingOverride:
60	** Superman and Lois left last crossover to raise their son and to live on Argo. The Crisis destroys Argo, and they only escape by the skin of their teeth, leaving Clark despondent because he feels [[IJustWantToBeNormal he hoped]] for [[CantStayNormal too much]].
61	** Implied with Malefic retreating to Mars to try and rebuild Martian society with M'gann. As they aren't on Earth at the time, it's implied they aren't among the survivors of the universe.
62	* TheHeroDies: Oliver Queen, the man who started the Series/{{Arrowverse}}, was killed in a LastStand to save more people from Earth-38.
63	* HeroicSacrifice: Oliver charges headlong into a battle he can't possibly win in order to buy more time for the people of Earth-38 to evacuate. He holds his own long enough to save a billion people.
64	* HistoryRepeats:
65	** Jon Kent is sent to Earth in a pod in much the same way Clark and Kara were, as their home is being destroyed. However, at least this time the parents do end up surviving, thanks to Harbinger.
66	** Kara, Clark and J'onn lost their world once again.
67	** Sara witnesses a close friend die during a CrisisCrossover about TheMultiverse.
68	* HomeworldEvacuation: The heroes have to organize an evacuation of the planet to another universe entirely before the antimatter wave hits. With all the ships available, they manage to round up three billion people and get them to safety.
69	* IncompatibleOrientation: When Ray offers to "upgrade" Kate's Bat-suit, she treats it like his attempt at flirting. Later, she lets him upgrade her bat-a-rangs, as an ally.
70	* InconvenientSummons: Harbinger pulls Batwoman to Earth-38 just as she was interrogating a Wonderland mook for the location of Alice. She's not happy with her about it and punches her once the surprise of the teleportation wears off.
71	* InternalReveal:
72	** In a bit of humor, when Kara calls Argo to warn Lois and Kal, the first thing Lois notices is that Kara now wears pants.
73	** Earth-38 in general learns of the Crisis, previously thinking that the Monitor was Earth-1's problem.
74	** The team brought by Harbinger to the DEO learns about Kate Kane being Batwoman. Mia informs everyone there that she is Oliver Queen's daughter.
75	--->'''Kate:''' You can all just call me Kate.\
76	'''Oliver:''' Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.\
77	'''Mia:''' I'm Mia. I'm Oliver's daughter.\
78	'''J'onn:''' I never knew he had a daughter.\
79	'''Mia:''' [[DeadpanSnarker He gets that a lot]].
80	** Oliver learns that Barry is destined to die during the Crisis, prompting him to confront the Monitor.
81	** Oliver reveals the destruction of Earth-2, although Barry isn't present during this to get his reaction.
82	** As he's dying, Oliver reveals the deal he struck with the Monitor to save Barry and Kara.
83	* ItsUpToYou: Before dying, Oliver tells Barry and Kara that he's leaving it to them to save the multiverse.
84	* KnowWhenToFoldEm: The Monitor portals the heroes to Earth-1 when it becomes clear Earth-38 can no longer hold against the Anti-Monitor. Oliver, being the last, briefly incapacitates the Monitor so he can hold the line as long as possible, buying time for the ships to evacuate.
85	* LastStand: How Oliver meets his end, fighting to his last breath against the Shadow Demons.
86	* LetsSplitUpGang: The heroes take on different missions in this episode.
87	** J'onn and Alex help in the worldwide evacuation, with assistance from Dreamer. Furthermore, Alex has to help Lena build the portal machine that would send the immigrants to Earth-1.
88	** Lois, Sara and Brainiac 5 travel to an alternate 2046 to search for Jonathan.
89	** The remaining heroes have to HoldTheLine and fight the Shadow Demons, but briefly get separated for various tasks again: Barry, Kara and Clark help with subduing the earthquakes and then the latter two later have to power the quantum towers up so it can keep running.
90	* LiteralMinded: When Batwoman complains about being interrupted while questioning a "rabbit" (a Wonderland gang mook), Brainy assumes she meant an actual rabbit.
91	* LockedOutOfTheLoop:
92	** Downplayed: when Lena accuses Alex of pretending to hate Supergirl last season, Alex states that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia she wasn't faking]], but it's a story too long to get into now.
93	** As Barry isn't in the room when Oliver mentions Earth-2's destruction, he may not know that his friends Harry and Jesse are possibly dead.
94	* ManipulativeBastard: As should be expected from a GreaterScopeVillain and counterpart to the Monitor (himself a manipulative bastard), the Anti-Monitor is revealed to have been manipulating Nash Wells for quite some time, convincing him that Mar Novu is an evil god that Nash can kill and leading Nash to his, the Anti-Monitor's, own prison, and somehow setting up the lightshow of the Monitor walking through the wall to convince Nash that the Monitor was in there.
95	* MoodWhiplash:
96	** Amidst the various alternate Earths getting hit with red skies, Earth-66's Robin makes an inappropriate, but for him expected, cry of surprise.
97	--->'''Dick Grayson:''' HOLY CRIMSON SKIES OF DEATH!!!
98	** Clark and Lois in Argo with baby Jonathan, acting like a typical family, is actually heartwarming...until they see the red sky and Kara sends them a message warning them of the antimatter wave.
99	** Ray and Sara's trivia night in Star City gets interrupted by Harbinger showing up to [[AvengersAssemble recruit them]].
100	* {{Mooks}}: The ones serving the Anti-Monitor are [[Franchise/HarryPotter Dementor]]-like ethereal beings called Shadow Demons.
101	* MoralMyopia: Lena sarcastically asks if Alex came to her office to try to kill her again, clearly bitter over Alex being ready to do just that in the previous episode. Lena, [[ObliviouslyEvil of course]], is ignoring that she was trying to brainwash the entire world at the time.
102	* MovingTheGoalposts: After hearing how Barry is also destined to die in the Crisis, Oliver angrily confronts the Monitor, stating their deal was that Barry would survive. The Monitor states that the deal was for the Elseworld incident, while the Crisis is on a scale beyond his power to prevent.
103	* MundaneUtility: Sara and Ray try (and, in true Legends fashion, fail) to use their knowledge of time travel to win at bar trivia. And it's Ray's own fault why they get the answer wrong.
104	* MusicalNod:
105	** A fraction of the Danny Elfman ''Film/{{Batman\|1989}}'' score plays as Earth-89 is shown.
106	** Similarly, the famous theme from the [[Series/Batman1966 Adam West series]] plays when we cut to Earth-66.
107	* MusicalSpoiler: The score playing right before Oliver's last stand is similar to what played before Tommy Merlyn's sacrifice to save Earth-1 Laurel Lance in ''Series/{{Arrow}}''[='s=] [[Recap/ArrowS1E23Sacrifice first season finale]], tipping viewers off to Oliver's fate.
108	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: As a consequence of his actions unleashing the Anti-Monitor, Nash is completely devastated and resigned to his new role as Pariah.
109	* MythologyGag:
110	** Burt Ward, who played Robin in ''Series/{{Batman\|1966}}'', is shown as a resident of Earth-66 and utters a variation of his catchphrase ("Holy crimson skies of death!").
111	** Earth-89 features a newspaper with the headline "Batman captures Joker". Joker was the main villain of ''Film/{{Batman\|1989}}''.
112	** A street preacher appears announcing the end of the world in a banner in the same way of ''Film/SupermanII''.
113	** Lois mentions Clark fighting Doomsday in the past.
114	** Much like Earth-38 was named for the year ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' first appeared in comics, three of the alternative Earths follow the same convention: Earths 16 and 66 are named for the years in which ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' and ''Series/{{Batman\|1966}}'' first aired, whilst Earth-89 is named for the year of the theatrical release of ''Film/{{Batman\|1989}}''.
115	** Jonathan Kent uses [[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis Alexander Luthor Jr.'s]] origin in that he was evacuated from his home (in Luthor's case it was Earth-3) before the anti-matter wave hit.
116	* NeverTrustATrailer:
117	** Trailers for the episode have the Monitor telling Oliver that "it is time", suggesting we're about to see the sacrifice Oliver agreed to as part of his deal, which Oliver refuses to do because there are still people in danger. In the episode itself, the Monitor is actually trying to save Oliver to fight another day, and Oliver is refusing to be saved, leading to his death.
118	** The trailers showed Kara apparently saying that her wrong choices outweigh the good she did, but in the episode Kara criticizes that idea and she is later revealed to be the Paragon of Hope.
119	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
120	** In a very minor example, Ray's encounter with Janis Joplin ends up ruining his and Sara's trivia night.
121	** It's revealed that the chamber Nash was trying to get into was the Anti-Monitor's [[SealedEvilInACan prison]], and he set him free.
122	* NoSell: Harbinger takes Kate's hard punch to the face by barely even moving, showing that she is beyond human.
123	* NotHelpingYourCase: Lena gets offended by Alex begging her to help them despite everything that happened, because why ''wouldn't'' she want to save the world?
124	* PassingTheTorch: Oliver gives Mia her own Green Arrow outfit, officially passing the mantle to her.
125	* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: With a bit of Ray's tech, Kate's batarang turns into one of these.
126	* TheReveal: From Pariah (previously Nash Wells), that mysterious gate he'd been investigating all season was not the Monitor's hideout; it was the Anti-Monitor's prison.
127	* RejectedApology: Lena rejects Alex's apology and is adamant on not forgiving her, even when they work together quite well.
128	* {{Retcon}}: The Legends visited future Star City during their first season. However, subsequent ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' seasons made that future more and more unlikely. Here it's established that they actually visited an alternate Earth, explaining away inconsistencies once and for all, while also creating new ones: see ContinuitySnarl.
129	* SacrificialLion: WordOfGod states that one of the reasons for Oliver's death was to show that [[AnyoneCanDie none of the heroes are safe]].
130	* ScrewDestiny: Oliver manages to perform a unique mix of this and YouCantFightFate, as his pre-determined death occurs, but not in the way Monitor was expecting.
131	* SkewedPriorities:
132	** Zigzagged regarding Kate being upset with Harbinger for disrupting her interrogation of a Wonderland mook by taking her to Earth-38. Granted, that while Kate trying to learn Alice's location was important (at least to her), it paled in comparison to the concern of the Crisis.
133	** PlayedForLaughs. When Kara projects her message to Clark and Lois on Argo City, their first response is not to her apparent dire expression, but to the fact that [[CostumeEvolution she's wearing pants now]].
134	** Sara's first question when Harbinger appears in a flash of light is "What's with the suit?"
135	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Evacuating an entire planet, even with the means to do so, is no small task; in the end, only 3 billion of Earth-38's 7.53 billion population are saved, and a billion of those only survived because of Oliver's HeroicSacrifice.
136	* TakeUpMySword: James left Kelly his Guardian shield, which she uses to save a civilian from debris when she and Nia are evacuating the planet.
137	* TeethClenchedTeamwork:
138	** Kate takes an immediate disliking to Harbinger, although aside from an [[NoSell ineffective]] punch in the face, she doesn't let it get in the way of the mission.
139	** Despite working together, Lena goes out of her way to remind Alex (and probably herself) that the two of them are no longer friends and never will be again.
140	* TemptingFate: A street preacher rants about how the end of the world is coming and even Supergirl cannot save them. Moments later Spike the dragon attacks, lashing out in fear of the coming Crisis, and Supergirl saves the preacher. She then lampshades her timely appearance before shooing him away.
141	* ThisCannotBe: A heroic version when Novu reveals that Oliver's LastStand didn't play out like it supposed to in his plans.
142	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Earth-38's destruction and Oliver's LastStand are prominently featured in the final trailer for ''Crisis''.
143	* UncertainDoom: Earths 9, 66, 89 and X are shown with Red Skies or antimatter. The fates of those Earths and their inhabitants are unknown.
144	* VoodooShark: The events of Star City 2046 during ''Legends'' Season 1 were retconned as being set on Earth-16 to fix a ContinuitySnarl, but it instead created ''much'' bigger ones. At that point in the Arrowverse, Oliver was still set to live to 85, because the Monitor hadn't changed Oliver's fate (technically a change to the timeline because he altered when Oliver would die) yet, so Star City 2046 could have happened but can't anymore because of the timeline change. It also seems unlikely that the Waverider could be shunted to an entirely different universe without the Legends knowing, since the same process would have to occur to put them back in their universe. The only real explanation is that the characters are all wrong about that assumption, and Star City 2046 is just a very similar timeline.
145	* WhamEpisode: Earth-38 and Argo City are destroyed, with only two-fifths of that Earth's population surviving; Oliver Queen of Earth-1 dies making sure as many people make it off Earth-38 as possible.
146	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
147	** It's as yet unclear whether characters like James, Cat Grant or Maggie Sawyer were among those who survived Earth-38's destruction.
148	** It's also unclear how the world's destruction affects characters who are living in the future, such as the rest of the Legion and Winn.
149	* WhatTheHellHero: When told that she had been teleported to Earth-38, Kate punches Harbinger in the face, given she had been just about to get information out of one of Alice's rabbits.
150	* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Kara gives her cousin a pep talk after the latter is devastated about the destruction of Argo.
151	* ZergRush: The shadow demons are individually so weak that even the BadassNormal heroes can dispatch them with ease, but the Anti-Monitor sends so many of them that the heroes simply can't kill them fast enough to do anything but delay the inevitable.

Context Recap / Supergirl2015S5E9CrisisOnInfiniteEarthsHourOne