'Crisis on Infinite Earths' reveals first look at big bad the Anti-Monitor
The destroyer of the multiverse has arrived.
Below, EW reveals an exclusive first look at LaMonica Garrett as the Anti-Monitor, the big bad of the Arrowverse’s forthcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” With his White Walker-ish visage, the Anti-Monitor looks like the embodiment of multiversal death and thus the opposite of his benevolent counterpart, the Monitor, also played by Garrett.
In Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s landmark series Crisis on Infinite Earths, the comic upon which the crossover is based, it was revealed that the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor have been around since the creation of the multiverse and represent the positive matter and anti-matter universes, respectively. Millions of years ago, they waged a war that knocked them both unconscious for millions of years until Pariah’s (who will be played by Tom Cavanagh in the crossover) experiments on the multiverse woke them up. From there, the Anti-Monitor started consuming positive matter universes, which increased his power, and the Monitor recruited Earth’s heroes and villains to fight him and prevent the destruction of the multiverse.
Even though we haven’t seen him yet, the threat that the Anti-Monitor poses to the Arrowverse started to be felt this week. In Tuesday night’sThe Flash, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) ran into an anti-matter barrier in the Speed Force when he tried time traveling to the day after his death, and Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp) revealed that there’s been dangerous increase in anti-matter throughout the multiverse. It turns out that was just the beginning because over in Arrow’s season 8 premiere, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Diggle (David Ramsey), and Laurel (Katie Cassidy) witnessed the destruction of Earth-2, which was hit by an anti-matter wave.
“It does indicate that ‘Crisis’ is starting earlier than we thought,” said Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz about Earth-2 dying.
As of right now, it’s unclear how closely the TV version of “Crisis” will follow the comic; however, the Arrowverse producers have made it their goal to honor Wolfman and Pérez’s game-changing oeuvre.
“I never feel anything other than a sense of responsibility,” Arrowverse executive producer Greg Berlanti recently told EW about adapting Crisis. “Whenever we do an iconic story line or we do something that reminds us really vividly of one of those books that meant a lot to us, we have a sense of pressure and obligation of ‘Oh wow, we really don’t want to mess this up’ even more so than we usually do. So that fear overrides any kind of other emotion.”
He added: “It’s the closest I ever feel to being a kid again, without a doubt. You just get the same sensation, and you didn’t even realize that you locked it up and put it away.”
“Crisis on Infinite Earths” kicks off with Supergirl on Sunday, Dec. 8, followed by Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9, and The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10. After the winter hiatus, the crossover will resume Tuesday, Jan. 14, with Arrow at 8 p.m. and conclude with Legends of Tomorrow at 9 p.m.
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