Crisis On Infinite Earths Part Three Ending Explained & How It Finishes The Tomorrowverse

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part 3 has finally been released, and the film has properly ended the DC Universe’s animated Tomorrowverse. Following the ending of Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part 2, the new animated DC film explores a multiversal threat across storytelling that spans several different DC canons. Featuring a vast array of heroes, including the now-restored John Constantine and the final appearance of Kevin Conroy as Batman, the culminating film, now available, promises to tie up several storylines neatly.

The tension between the Anti-Monitor and the varied DC Universes has grown in previous films. Part 2 ended on a cliffhanger, with the Anti-Monitor aligned with Psycho Pirate and preparing to drop an anti-matter bomb. Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part 3 opens with the effects of these plans and moves into a story that features new and returning characters in an allied quest to save the multiverse. Featuring sad Batman milestones and meaningful action, Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part 3 culminates with a definitive end to DC’s animated Tomorrowverse.

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths – Part 3 Destroys Multiple Animated Show Universes

Every Referenced Animated Universe Is Now Canonically Over

The Tomorrowverse began in 2020, and it ends in 2024 with the destruction of many universes. This becomes a necessity for the survival of any. In Part 3, several universes become hidden from the Anti-Monitor inside of the Bleed. When the heroes thought that there was any chance for all of the universes to survive, this seemed the best path forward. However, upon the discovery that there will always be more Anti-Monitors if the multiverse is allowed to proliferate, the necessity of reducing the timeline to a single universe became apparent.

Following the storyline that has been told in the comic books, this leads toward a reset of the universe and wipes clean the slates of all the DC animated universes that came before it. This includes the loss of the universe where Batman Beyond and Superman: The Animated Series took place, as well as the universe of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. Most pertinently, however, this means the end of the Tomorrowverse and its Earth-1.

How Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part 3 Ties Up Its Universe & The Anti-Monitor’s Defeat

The Tomorrowverse’s End Is Bittersweet

Following the hiding of various universes inside the Bleed, the Anti-Monitor eventually finds them and goes directly on the offensive. This leads to J’onn J’onzz’s arrival with the power of Warworld on his side. This is an effective weapon against the Anti-Monitor, but it is not enough. Channeling emotional power, the planet is used to blast a hole in the armor of the Anti-Monitor and damage him significantly. Superman’s plan is to become a bomb himself, and to detonate the Anti-Monitor, sacrificing himself. Instead, Kara insists on taking this responsibility.

While not entirely successful, this all leads to a shift in plans that resets the universe. While the Anti-Monitor is defeated by Supergirl, other Anti-Monitors are inevitable inside this multiverse, and the Justice Leagues does not have the power to sacrifice for each of them. This leads to the decision to remake reality through the Miracle Machine and to reset with a new Earth-Prime. This is a sad realization, but it is what must be done for the DC Universe’s survival. The heroes give themselves up to this new nniverse, and the Tomorrowverse comes to a somber close.

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Crisis On Infinite Earths Gives Kevin Conroy A True Batman Sendoff In His Final DC Appearance

The Actor Passed Away In 2022

Largely considered one of the hero’s best iterations ever, Kevin Conroy’s voice became iconic as the Caped Crusader ever since the 1990s animated series. The actor would go on to voice the hero multiple times in additional series and video games up until his death in 2022. Following this, for a time, it seemed that the actor’s final performance as the character would be in the video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. However, it later became known that the actor had recorded dialogue for Crisis on Infinite Earth – Part 3.

In a scene against Mark Hamill’s Joker, Conroy gets to speak some iconic dialogue. Before being swallowed up in the collapse of the multiverse, Batman holds Joker and lifts his fist. He says, “I care, Joker. About Gotham. About justice. And if it has to end, at least I go out like this… being Batman.” The moment is especially impactful when considering the actor’s legacy, and counts as one of the strongest points in the film. As a final moment for Conroy’s Batman, it is difficult to think of a more effective close.

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What Happens To DC’s Heroes At The End Of Crisis On Infinite Earths (& Who Dies)

The Justice League Is Forced To Make Sacrifices

The end of Crisis on Infinite Earths is harrowing, and unfortunately, a number of heroes are killed. As the heroes discover that the multiverse continues to split into further and further incarnations, they realize that the only way to stop this uncontrolled spread is by reducing the multiverse down to a single, prime universe. With a series of heroes fighting together across the multiverse, this is a challenging but necessary conclusion to draw. A portal is created for the heroes to walk through and be born anew on Earth-Prime.

Unfortunately, necessary sacrifices were made to lead to this. Wonder Woman has to give herself up to the Miracle Machine as a sacrifice, and Supergirl dies defeating the Anti-Monitor. Both of these are necessary, but the latter leads to the disconcerting realization that there are other Anti-Monitors out there, and each of them have the same goal for the multiverse. Still, with their own decisions, and their own hope for the future, the Justice League set the new path forward.

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How Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part 3 Sets Up The New DC Universe

The Future May Be Linked To the DCU… Or It May Not

With the end of the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, DC has set themselves up for a new beginning. Only stories that are not directly connected to the larger DC Universe seem to be coming in the rest of 2024, with the animated Watchmen movies and an Aztec Batman Elseworlds tale. While neither of these appear to be about building a larger universe, either of these self-contained stories could theoretically be spun off or continued in sequential films. Both are unique explorations of the DC Universe.

The elephant in the room is, of course, that James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU will be launching later this year with the animated series Creature Commandos. The DCU release premieres in December and is set to begin a strategy for DC studios that more closely integrates animation with live-action. While no animated films are currently announced for the DC slate, the plan is likely for future animated releases to be a part of the DCU rather than to build their own, separate universe.

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With the end of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part Three, an entire chapter of DC animation has come to a close. While there were ups and downs throughout the series, and not every film was beloved, there were certainly components of each entry that were worth watching. Although these exact iterations of the characters will not be seen again, the future for DC and its constant reinventions is always bright and exciting. Seeing the future of the DC Universe beyond this cumulative feature remains as promising as ever.

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part Three

Now fully revealed as the ultimate threat to existence, the Anti-Monitor wages an unrelenting attack on the surviving Earths that struggle for survival in a pocket universe. One by one, these worlds and all their inhabitants are vaporized! On the planets that remain, even time itself is shattered, and heroes from the past join the Justice League and their rag-tag allies against the epitome of evil. But as they make their last stand, will the sacrifice of the superheroes be enough to save us all?

Director

Jeff Wamester

Release Date

July 16, 2024

Cast

Corey Stoll , Brian Bloom , Elysia Rotaru , Armen Taylor , Cynthia Kaye McWilliams , Dean Winters , jason spisak , Ashly Burch