Crisis On Earth-X Is the Arrowverse's Best Crossover Yet

Like the comic books the Arrowverse uses as its source material, The CW is committed to making sure its superheroes come together once in a while for a massive crossover. With Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl, The CW has plenty of stories to tell and a huge rosters characters to intertwine, and Crisis On Earth-X -- the fourth time they've done such a thing -- is the best major event to date.

In an age where big screen cinematic universes exist and crossovers are no rarity, it's easy to forget about those that happen on the smaller screen, but Crisis is one you don't want to miss. Warner Bros' Justice League movie may have left DC Comics fans desiring more superheroic team-ups, and The CW's latest four-part event is the studios' best yet, even if it happened on TV and not in theaters.

Temporarily readjusting the dates its DCTV series air, the network managed to tell a huge-scale story over four individual episodes, but it felt more like one big movie. Introducing a 53rd Earth to the fan-dubbed Arrowverse, Greg Berlanti and co. have taken Marvel Studios' approach to storytelling by bringing lower-profile characters together and placing them in an on-screen universe, and Crisis On Earth-X is the best result of that approach to date.

Last year's Invasion! was advertised as a four-part crossover, but Supergirl's contribution was poor and lasted merely a matter of minutes. The previous two crossovers, Flash vs. Arrow, both only spanned across two shows and two episodes. This is the first time that all four series have really focused on delivering on an overall narrative; in this case, saving Earth-1 from evil Nazi versions of the main heroes.

Now, this doesn't sound that ground-breaking on paper, but the crossover had it all - heart, humor, action and a true comic book feel. The characters are brought together through a lovely personal moment - Barry and Iris' wedding - which, of course, didn't pan out as anticipated. For reasons unknown at the time, invaders from Earth-X (Overgirl, Dark Arrow, Dark Flash and lots of unidentified soldiers), crash the wedding and launch a full-scale attack on our beloved heroes.

From the start, this was more gripping than Invasion!, which saw a host of aliens land on Earth in an attempt to take over the planet. Dubbed the Dominators, these aliens abducted the president of the United States and chaos ensued from there. It was a messy, somewhat disjointed effort that only barely succeeded because for the first time, it brought together characters we've watched for years. In Crisis On Earth-X, we're presented with villains that we recognize in the form of the Arrowverse's trinity of Stephen Amell, Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist. Watching them play evil versions of their characters is fun on its own, but by pairing this with huge action sequences and a roster of superheroes that's almost bursting at the seams, The CW gave us four enjoyable hours of television.

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Crisis On Earth-X didn't stop there, though; it reintroduced actors and characters who we had already been acquainted with (such as Wentworth Miller as Captain, err, Citizen Cold) and managed to introduce a brand new character in The Ray, a gay superhero who has his own animated show in development for CW Seed, and who joins forces with the team after they meet in a concentration camp to take down the Nazis for good.

It wasn't just the Arrowverse's superheroes that we saw in a different light; characters such as Quentin Lance and Winn Schott were given a villainous twist, allowing Paul Blackthorne and Jeremy Jordan to show off their acting chops in a very different way from what we're used to seeing. It worked on many levels, but the winning cameo was from a character that died all the way back in Arrow Season 1. Tommy Merlyn, Thea's brother and Oliver's best friend, was revealed to be Prometheus on the evil Earth-X, which gives Oliver somewhat of a reunion and a couple of fascinating character moments. It was a big shock to see Colin Donnell unmasked as the villain, especially as he was at the center of numerous fan theories when the Earh-1 incarnation of Prometheus showed up on Arrow's fifth season.

This year's crossover also delivered a truckload of drama. Barry and Iris are rudely interrupted just before they marry, Felicity turns down Oliver's marriage proposal in the first episode (and ends up saying yes in the last), and Professor Victor Stein sadly perished. The reason for the Nazis' invasion provided even more drama, with Overgirl dying and therefor needing Supergirl's heart to save herself, presenting Kara and the crew with a big choice to make: Does she sacrifice herself to save an Earth she doesn't even live on, or do they try and fight their way out of the problem? This dilemma is gripping from the get-go, despite the fact that Benoist still has a show to star on, so the crossover makes the more obvious choice. And yet, somehow, that doesn't really detract from the story's overall tension.

To really seal the deal as a top-tier crossover, Crisis On Earth-X truly felt like a comic book that had come to life onscreen. There's goofy humor, great action, engaging character interaction and plenty of references and callbacks to things that have happened in the pages of DC Comics many titles. The fight choreography was top-notch for a television production, and The CW didn't skimp out on visual effects, even if it couldn't quite live up to what we see in Hollywood blockbusters. The series' understand that it's not a big budget that makes these types of event work, it's the entertaining character moments.

Of course, this year's crossover benefited from viewers getting to know the main cast over a number of years. They didn't have to fill the script with tons of exposition to lay the storyline's groundwork. Instead, the script focused on delivering crowd-pleasing moments that are sure to be remembered for years to come. Crisis On Earth-X is sure to affect the individual series moving forward, too, which makes it even more worthwhile and gives it more impact. Developments such as Stein's death, the possible introduction of Barry and Iris' daughter and an immense double-wedding are bound to be explored across future episodes, and potentially seasons, of every show in the Arrowverse.

All-in-all, Crisis On Earth-X is one of the best live-action superhero crossover events we've ever seen, and is certainly the best that The CW has delivered (so far).