DC has been trying to get its own cinematic universe off the ground since 2013's Man of Steel in an attempt to replicate the MCU's incredible success. Marvel Studios has only continued to grow in those years, having released many successful movies and had several blockbuster crossover events, most notably the record-breaking Avengers: Endgame.
Crossover events have always proven to be a major piece of the comic book puzzle when it comes to both Marvel and DC. The former's best-known events include the likes of Civil War, The Infinity Gauntlet, Secret Wars, and Avengers vs. X-Men; the latter has had the likes of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Flashpoint, Blackest Knight, and Identity Crisis.
Several of these famous DC storylines have already been brought to screens through The CW's Arrowverse, which annually brought together its many shows into major crossovers. After more than five years of build-up, five shows and countless heroes came together in 2019 for Crisis on Infinite Earths, a Multiverse-threatening event that rivals the scale of even Avengers: Endgame.
Many are eager to see an event on that scale adapted into the DCEU, especially after the failure of the franchise's first crossover attempt, 2017's Justice League. Well, it seems that may be part of the vision for the DCEU, or at least it was before Warner Bros. was purchased by Discovery.
DC's Massive Endgame Crossover Plans
According to a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter, DC Films President Walter Hamada intended to build toward an adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths in the DCEU before the Warner Bros. Discovery merger led to a change in management at the studio.
Hamada was first brought on in 2018 to take charge of the DCEU after Zack Snyder's vision for the franchise fell apart in the wake of 2017's Justice League debacle. The studio president's vision was said to include three to four DC movies releasing annually; it's unclear how the change in management will affect these plans moving forward.
Previous reports indicated DC's intention to develop a Crisis on Infinite Earths movie that would've been set up in The Flash with a teaser that involved Ben Affleck's Batman and that, in concept, could've rivaled the epic scope and scale of Avengers: Endgame. The legendary crossover event was previously adapted on The CW in the ArrowVerse in December 2019 after years of build-up.
Is Crisis on Infinite Earths DC's Endgame?
So, Walter Hamada was charting his DC course for Crisis on Infinite Earths, but is that still the plan? Warner Bros. is currently preparing a ten-year plan for the DCEU that may not be spearheaded by Hamada amid reports he may depart DC Films after Black Adam, potentially throwing the continuation of his direction into question.
Crisis on Infinite Earths was an event designed to put an end to DC's Multiverse and create a singular universe to simplify things for readers. The event proved to be among DC's biggest ever as it saw the Anti-Monitor destroying universes while the Monitor brought together heroes from across the Multiverse to stop him.
Ultimately, the blockbuster-scale crossover resulted in a reboot of the DC Universe and remains renowned for its massive death count. Hamada may have been heading in this direction sooner rather than later in an effort to eventually reboot the DCEU with an Avengers: Endgame-level crossover.
An event on the level of Crisis on Infinite Earths would require years of build-up to have the appropriate impact and to stand a chance of rivaling Endgame. If Hamada's plan was to rush toward this event in the immediate future, there's a high chance it would have fallen flat.
Now, the question is whether Warner Bros.' new management will be equally eager to pursue this direction and to implement Crisis on Infinite Earths into its new ten-year plan. If that were to be the case, then it will almost certainly round out that decade as it proved to be the ultimate crossover for the franchise, with smaller ones along the way in the vein of the Avengers movies.
Only time will tell where DC is going with its next decade of storytelling, but The Direct has its own predictions for 18 movies that need to be included, from Shazam vs. Black Adam to Justice League: Year One.
For now, The Flash hits theaters on June 23, 2023.
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