Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One is the first installment in a planned animated trilogy adapting the iconic 12-issue DC comic book crossover story of the same name that originally ran from 1985–1986. As Part One of the animated trilogy opens, an older Barry Allen, aka The Flash (Matt Bomer), suddenly finds himself in a destroyed lab, looking at a younger version of himself sitting in the coroner. Something is causing him to time-trip, constantly flashing into different moments from his timeline, living a very non-linear experience. He is bouncing between his wedding to Iris West (Ashleigh LaThrop); the formation of the Justice League with Batman/Bruce Wayne (Jensen Ackles), Superman/Clark Kent (Darren Criss), Vixen (Keesha Sharp) and Martian Manhunter/J’onn J’onzz (Ike Amadi); and time on Earth-3 where he is up against a similar league of evil characters, including speedster Johnny Quick (Liam McIntyre), Power Ring (Aldis Hodge), Owlman (Lou Diamond Phillips), Superwoman (Stana Katic), and Ultraman (Matt Lanter).
This Part One film feels more like two separate, back-to-back 45-minute stories. In the first half, an android called Amazo (Nolan North) is attacking Metropolis, sucking the energy and power from the superheroes who are trying to stop it. Amazo was created by Professor Ivo with the primary directive of protecting and extending human life, but somehow Lex Luthor (Zachary Quinto) intervened and the robot is now unknowingly doing the opposite. So the newly-formed Justice League must figure out a way to stop this indestructible android before it drains all of their powers.
In the second half of the story, a homeless man keeps warning Barry that something is coming, but he doesn’t know what to make of this. That is, until the Justice League is visited by Harbinger (Meg Donnelly), who tells them that she is gathering Earth’s greatest champions to help fight something that threatens the entire multiverse. She brings the heroes to a satellite, where the Monitor (Jonathan Adams) is hosting a cocktail party of sorts with superheroes from every version of Earth. He explains that his kind has been watching every event in the known universes, observing but never interfering…until now. A massive anti-matter wave is making its way across the multiverse, wiping out entire realities from existence one Earth at a time. He has gathered the top scientists and experts together as a think tank to stop this antimatter avalanche. Together, they have the skills to come up with a solution, and the heroes have the strength and speed to build whatever the scientists are able to come up with, but time is quickly running out. Can they save what’s left of the multiverse before they are wiped from existence?!
I haven’t seen any of the recent DC animated movies, so I went into this first installment of the Crisis trilogy not realizing that the franchise has been building up to this over the past 4 years with 7 other Tomorrowverse films—Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020), Justice Society: World War II (2021), Batman: The Long Halloween, Parts One & Two (2021), Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022), Legion of Super-Heroes (2023) & Justice League: Warworld (2023). I have never read the comics either, but the CW’s Arroverse shows did a live-action crossover event adaptation of this same Crisis story in 2019, so that gave me some general knowledge of the characters and the overall premise. As I watched this film, I found it a bit jarring at how quickly it introduces so many characters, just by their names—especially at the cocktail party. Granted, this is probably more of a refresher for those who watched the previous seven films.
While some of these characters were familiar to me from watching the Arrowverse shows, this is certainly not the film to serve as an entryway into these animated DC movies for someone who is brand new to the material. What I’ve learned from the disc’s bonus material is that the previous 7 films help to establish the concept of the DC multiverse, and introduce the versions of the characters and alternate Earths that will ultimately show up in this 3-part event.
That said, even if I had knows the backstories of these characters, I still would have found the film to be a bit chaotic and confusing, especially in the way that it’s not told very linearly, with Barry constantly shifting between time periods. It may have been clearer if there was a more standard flashback device used, but this is a present day Barry jumping into different times, which adds to the confusion. Barry Allen has a really dramatic story arc, but the constant jumping around caused it to lose some of the impact for me. The film also has two somewhat disjoined and only very loosely connected halves, rather than one 90-minute story. We spend the first half the movie on the fight with the android, and then just barely get into the actual Crisis before Part One is over. Maybe the android story will link in during one of the other two films, but here it just felt un-related. Part One does provide some level of closure to the incident at hand, but it also raises more questions, and leaves viewers on a cliffhanger. I kind of wish they had just released all three films together as a single miniseries, rather than spreading them out across the year. The impatient may just want to wait until all three films have been released and watch them together, and in the meantime, check out the previous films mentioned above, which establish the characters.
Speaking of the characters, I did really enjoy the vocal performances—the cast is fantastic, with so many recognizable TV actors providing the voices for these iconic heroes. The writing is also quite witty at times, especially with Barry Allen. The filmmakers have found a great blend between the humor, drama and action, and they aren’t afraid to slow things down at times to take that extra comedic beat. I also really enjoyed the aesthetic and look of the animation, which finds this sweet spot between modern and classic.
Warner Bros. has released Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One on Blu-ray and 4K disc, and I was sent the latter for review. The 4K picture looks amazing, with a pristine, clear picture. Lines look sharp, colors really pop, detail is great—it’s just a really beautiful presentation, and I can’t imagine it looking any better. The soundtrack is also well done, providing clear dialogue and a really immersive experience. There is extensive use of the surround channel to make the viewer feel like they are right in the middle of the action, whether it’s echoes in Barry’s head as his consciousness wakes up in new location, or the gunfire as the heroes and others try to stop the android.
The 4K release features beautiful SteelBook packaging. The single 4K disc resides on the right side of the case, while an insert provides instructions for redeeming a 4K Movies Anywhere digital copy of the film. The disc contains about 18 minutes of interesting bonus material, in which the filmmakers discuss the original comics, and how they layed the seeds for this trilogy event in the previous seven movies.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:32:48)
- 2160p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- HDR10
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Norwegian, Spanish
- 4K Digital Copy (Movies Anywhere compatible)
- Crisis Prime(r) (9:39)
The filmmakers discuss how they reverse engineered things back to Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020), to establish enough characters, worlds and settings for this trilogy event, and how they seeded the ideas, concepts and characters in each of those previous 7 films of the Tomorrowverse. Includes clips and interviews with executive producer Butch Lukic, producer/writer Jim Krieg, director Jeff Wamester & DC creative director of animation (1986-2023) Mike Carlin. - The Selfless Speedster (8:02)
The original comic creators, cast and filmmakers discuss the stakes of the story, killing off Barry Allen, the challenges of adapting the comics to animation, some of the changes that needed to be made, the cast, the relationship between Barry and Iris, and more. Includes clips, storyboards, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with DC president/publisher/chief creative officer Jim Lee, inker on Crisis On Infinite Earths (1985-86) Jerry Ordway, associate editor on Crisis On Infinite Earths (1985-86) Robert Greenberger, writer on Crisis On Infinite Earths (1985-86) Marv Wolfman, director Jeff Wamester, executive producer Butch Lukic, producer/writer Jim Krieg, and star Matt Bomer (“The Flash/Barry Allen”).
4K Ultra HD:
Digital (code may not be valid after 3/31/2026):
Extras:
Final Thoughts:
for DC Animation Fans
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One feels like it was made for the die-hard fans of these DC animated movies, bringing together loads of characters from the previous seven films for one big epic crossover. The non-linear way the story is told didn’t quite work for me, and being just the first part of a trilogy, the viewer is left on a cliffhanger. That said, the presentation looks and sounds fantastic, and there’s some interesting bonus material going into how the previous seven films helped to establish the characters. Those who haven’t seen the previous films should probably spend the time checking those out first, while die hard fans will want to pick up this 4K release for the stellar presentation and beautiful SteelBook packaging. Though I wish we were getting the entire trilogy all at once.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 1 (4K Ultra HD/Digital/Steelbook) [4K UHD]
$34.99 $30.00 (as of November 8, 2024 01:11 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part One BD [Blu-ray]
$13.79 $9.47 (as of November 8, 2024 01:11 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
