Written by James Krieg
Directed by Jeff Wamester
Earth-12 The Joker: "I must say, Batsy, I'm flattered. The end of the world, and you want to spend it with me? I didn't know you cared!"
Earth-12 Batman: "I care, Joker, about Gotham. About justice! And if it has to end, at least I go out like this... being Batman!"
I think years ago and had both Arrowverse and the DC Extended Universe not played out the Multiverse concept, something tells me that this trilogu ender might have gone down better with DC fans. Instead, it seemed to be less of an event and more of a whimper for some fans.
It's a shame because after a very sluggish second part, I actually thought this third part was something of an improvement. Following the Anti-Monitor getting even more powerful and universe shattering, there was a bleed in the universe. A version of limbo where two versions of Superman, Lois Lane, Hawkgirl and John Stewart were able to find and rescue Wonder Woman.
Meanwhile Lex Luthor and his assembled villain corner of Joker, Poison Ivy, Solomon Grundy and Two Face had Psycho Pirate captive and used him in order to broker a deal of sorts with the Anti-Monitor. It wouldn't be Lex if he wasn't trying to manipulate a cataclysmic situation to his advantage. Oh and he trying to figure out a weakness for the Anti-Monitor. See, he's not all bad.
Then there was Supergirl working through her guilt of killing The Monitor, various characters (including the Losers) fighting off invading dinosaurs before there was a more concentrated effort to get some answers. That meant Batman, Wonder Woman, Doctor Fate and John Stewart taking a trip to Earth 18 in order to retrieve John Constantine.
For proof that you really needed to have caught between parts in this saga, once Constantine got sobered up, Batman learned very fast that Constantine manipulated The Flash into killing Darkseid as a baby. Yup, Constantine well and truly fucked up as it turns out that a Multiverse without Darkseid isn't a good one to have.
On the plus side, at least Supergirl (and Psycho Pirate) made a heroic sacrifice to take out the Anti-Monitor while Martian Manhunter and Nightshade got a hold of a machine with the ability to grant wishes. Constantine wasn't quite enough to get it working but Wonder Woman sure as hell was. Remember, it's a Crisis and multiple deaths were always going to be on the menu.
By the end of this movie, The Spectre showed up as the Multiverse ended and the Monoverse began, thus potentially ending all the animated continuity for now. Nearly everyone threw themselves into the Monoverse, except for The Question and Constantine. The latter was expecting punishment for royally fucking up the Multiverse but instead, he was offered hope. My feelings towards this trilogy to one side, I'm really happy the final shot was given to a young Wonder Woman on Themyscira.
- The movie was dedicated to Kevin Conroy (1955-2022). My quote for this movie is the exchange between Batman (Conroy) and Joker (Mark Hamill) from Batman: The Animated Series.
- We saw the ending of both the Justice League animated worlds, including Super Friends.
- There was flashbacks to both Justice League Dark: Apokolips Wars and Constantine: The House Of Mystery. We saw the Justice Society one last time and some of the Titans.
- Despite being the end of this particular animated continuity, there will be more animated movies not set in the DC Universe to come, starting with Watchmen: Chapter One from August 13th.
- Aww, poor Darkseid being killed when he was only a year old. Next time, John, think your plans through.
- Chronology: Eight months have passed between the second and third parts of this trilogy.
I know it's been a divisive trilogy and I would argue that the Arrowverse handled it better but I actually liked Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths - Part Three. It provided a solid ending to this particular continuity, gave certain characters their moments to step up and had fan pleasing cameos (minus their outcomes). Moving forward, I'd maybe avoid big universal plots for a long time and focus on smaller scale stories and adaptations.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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