Batwoman Episode 01/09 "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Hour Two"

[Prison Mike]

Bruce is still a man who underwent a shocking childhood trauma. He then lived a life, despite having a noble purpose, that was full of violence. Combine that with the possibilities of advancing mental illness or brain trauma, and it's very possible that a once-heroic man like this might cross the line. At least, some particular version of him might cross the line.

So you’re telling me, in a multiverse of different Supermen....there can’t possibly be one version that would give up his powers and just live a human life?

I mean in The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce faked his death and retired from being Batman and basically lived the rest of his life anonymously. That definitively ended the Nolan series. That’s how I view the Smallville scene too.

 

[vantheman77]

Im still wondering if this interview still holds any truth to it.

He's likely overhyping. I think it will likely be the Supermen and Supergirl instead.

 

[Mani-Man]

Oh man did they drop the ball on this one.
So much potential wasted completely.

Seeing Keving Conroy as Bruce wayne put a smile on my face in every scene...even THAT scene.
Shame he was wasted on a rather bad storyline where they pretty much do the same thing they constantly do with Clark and Kara.

I like Cryer as Lex, he works for me.

Smallville was wasted too and looking at the comics, this makes little sense...hell the whole thing made no sense.
I never was the biggest fan of Smallville but damn a part of me misses the show.
Seeing the actors back even for this short time really was something.
I would try to see if they would be interested in reviving Smallville, i think with all those revivals and stuff we have nowadays, the chance would be there.
But only if Welling is willing to finally put on the Superman suit.
But i think that is not possible considering they work on a Superman show, having two seems kind of pointless.

Routh as Superman was the highlight to me, the man still got the whole vibe and all.
Again however they wasted this by having this rather casual costume change.
I was hoping for something magical, but what they did left me just with a sigh.
The CGI was decent enough in their fight and had a few nice shots.
For a CW tv show it was good enough.

I wonder if they realized that they got a lot of people to watch because of the cameos and stuff, looking at how they execute this stuff...i think they dont.
Because a lot of this is done without putting a lot of care in it.

We will see how this all turns out, who knows if a few of this stuff leads to more in the future.

 

[TheGuy]

Much better than the 1st episode mainly because this felt like a true "crisis".

 

[Lone]

So you’re telling me, in a multiverse of different Supermen....there can’t possibly be one version that would give up his powers and just live a human life?

I mean in The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce faked his death and retired from being Batman and basically lived the rest of his life anonymously. That definitively ended the Nolan series. That’s how I view the Smallville scene too.

Honestly you’re not wrong. But wouldn’t Smallville Superman at least take action knowing that the entirety of existence is in peril? That’s the only bit I don’t like.

I don’t mind SV Clark having a happy ending. I just feel it would be out of character for him not to take action knowing what’s at stake. Powers or no powers.

They could’ve just written it so that E-1 Clark, Lois and Iris upon arrival, didn’t interact with him at all and watched from afar that this Superman, with his two girls and Lois leading a happy content life doesn’t fit the profile that The Monitor described and just left for E-96.

But it is what it is and I’m just gonna enjoy it as it is.

 

[WhoMani]

I thought this was better episode than the first one but this episode was basically fanservice. Despite at first being underwhelmed I ended liking the brief scene involving Smallville's Clark. I liked that despite not having powers, he still managed to overpower Lex Luthor with one punch and he wasn't at all intimidated by Lex lol. A part of me is happy we don't get to see his Earth wiped as the alternative of seeing him and Lois have a happy life with a family of their own is better imo. It fits the character as in Smallville all he ever wanted was a normal life.

I enjoyed Conroy's Batman and I loved that Conroy used his Batman voice for this character. I like the direction in which Earth-99 Batman is villain in this world but it's shame they killed him off and I still wished they gave Conroy more material to work with. Routh's Superman was cool and Brandon Routh feels more like Superman to me than Hoechlin.

So far Hoechlin's Superman has been underwhelming and it's weird that Supergirl is a lot more hopeful than him. But I did enjoy his interaction with Routh's Superman but it's weird he didn't have a strong reaction in seeing Lex again. The battle of the Supermen didn't look good at all which is expected due the limitations of the CW.

Mia was annoying again. You would think that Sara and Constantine would put up a much stronger argument against using the Lazarus pit to resurrect Oliver.

 

[vantheman77]

Guggenheim stated that they never wrote a scene with all three Supermen - Tyler, Brandon, and Tom - together because they had Brandon and Tom working cross purposes. You have one Clark at the Daily Planet while another Clark is at the Kent Farm. Tyler’s Clark is the bridge between them.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I don't hate the direction they took Tom Welling in this episode at all. Heck I see it is kind of a meta commentary on his whole policy of not ever wanting to wear the suit. But even standing on its own outside of that, it's a perfectly fine ending. He got to retire and live a happy life. Good for him. Again, this is not a story about Tom Welling Superman. This is a story about the various characters in the Arrow world averting a multiverse crisis. I know a lot of us are attached to various versions of characters, but it's not their story. Much like the purpose of the newer Star Wars movies is not to have the original characters we know and love fix everything. It's not their story. Why does Bruce Wayne have to prop up Batwoman? Because this is not Batman's story. That's just how it is

 

[Dr.]

I have no issue with Kara and Sara being paragons. They took years to develop both characters and to show the audience why they are heroes. I just feel like the writers are trying to shoehorn Kate in there and force her down our throats when she hasn’t really proved anything yet.

Well, at least Kate’s “What? I’m not worthy” reaction reflects audience opinion.

I agree with @Spider-Fan ’s pragmatic assessment: Since these crossovers (among other things) exist to cross-promote the Arrowverse, it’s not so surprising that the principals of these shows would get the lion’s share of screentime and pivotal roles. And Batwoman is a principal. You work with the material at hand.

I also think these “paragon designations” should be taken with a grain of salt. Ultimately, they’re McGuffins - arbitrary goals to advance the plot. Granted, Kara being “hope” ties into the House of El; and Sara as a time-traveler kinda relates to “destiny.” But you could plausibly swap any of these labels around and achieve the same basic effect. (They’re a bit like a daily horoscope - vague enough that they can apply to anyone. ) So in that light, I wouldn’t put too much stock in Kate being a literal personification of “courage.”

 

[WhoMani]

It does feel like Tom Welling is saying farewell to Clark Kent and honestly I loved that his final scene is with Lois at Kent Farm. In a way he actually becomes a family man like his father Jonathan.

 

[Dr.]

Also…

I had a second look at the Supes vs. Supes fight. Granted, I wasn’t watching on a 30’ 8K screen. But in modest HD, it seemed decent enough. Put it this way: I give the scope and dynamism of the battle a solid A for effort. Much preferred over the “demon” battle in part one where Kal and Kara (two heroes who can fly!) just stand around shooting off their heat vision.

 

[Travesty]

Why does Bruce Wayne have to prop up Batwoman? Because this is not Batman's story. That's just how it is

We all get that this is more centered around Batwoman, nobody is denying that or confused by that. It’s the fact that they have to constantly tell us how their counterparts are inferior. And it’s not like this is arising naturally, it’s completely contrived in every way. It’s like the writers have to go out of their way to beat you over the head that Supergirl and Batwoman are better versions of Superman and Batman. You can fall back on the excuse that it’s their show, and think it’s totally acceptable to do that, but really, what’s the point? Would it feel natural for a Batman show to constantly tell you how terrible Batwoman is, just to prop himself up in his own story? That would be terrible writing.

This is similar to when those initial Batwoman trailers were released, and they kept talking about how women are stronger than men. What’s the point in doing that? Do you see episodes of The Flash, where after he saves the city, he has to give a speech about how much better men are at everything than women? Does a song play in the background about how great men are? No, of course not, that would be completely stupid, but for some reason, you switch up the genders, and then make some obvious excuses, and suddenly it becomes perfectly acceptable....for whatever reason? Just because the show is centered around them and their story, doesn’t change the fact that it’s lazy and an incredibly obvious device that these writers keep incorporating.

So instead of stating the obvious about how this show is centered around them, can you explain how this is a good plot device? Also, isn’t it a bit silly that they tell us how evil Batman is for killing, and how much better Kate is for not doing that, but in the end, they have her kill Bruce? What was the point in all of that preachy nonsense about killing and how evil Batman is for doing it, if Kate ends up killing herself? lolwut?

 

[Frodo]

I don't hate the direction they took Tom Welling in this episode at all. Heck I see it is kind of a meta commentary on his whole policy of not ever wanting to wear the suit. But even standing on its own outside of that, it's a perfectly fine ending. He got to retire and live a happy life. Good for him. Again, this is not a story about Tom Welling Superman. This is a story about the various characters in the Arrow world averting a multiverse crisis. I know a lot of us are attached to various versions of characters, but it's not their story. Much like the purpose of the newer Star Wars movies is not to have the original characters we know and love fix everything. It's not their story. Why does Bruce Wayne have to prop up Batwoman? Because this is not Batman's story. That's just how it is

This is pretty much how I feel as well. Clearly every fan is gonna come in with their own expectations of how things could or should play out with these versions. As someone who's basically lived through and loved all of these actors versions of characters, I've been very satisfied with how things have played out.

Ironically, there were alot of complaints going into this crossover about there being "too many characters and guest appearances" and "not enough time devoted to the main struggle". Now that we see that these appearances are basically cameos, and that they aren't taking a huge chunk of time from the main CWverse characters ,I get a sense of disappointment that they didn't play bigger roles.

 

[Prettyricky]

If you expected welling to get in a suit and fly around you got another thing coming. He stated for years he didn't wanna wear the suit. I would go as far to say they only got him for this crossover if they agreed he wouldn't be in a suit but give fans closer.

Routh still has it though and is a tank next to the other superman. Seriously he looks like he could step on a new movie set right now next to Gal.

Conroy was great as batman and I never expected him to join the fight and be on all these crossovers.

They have better momentum now going into episode 3 then they did going into episode 2 and I hope it continues.

 

[Dr.]

We all get that this is more centered around Batwoman, nobody is denying that or confused by that. It’s the fact that they have to constantly tell us how their counterparts are inferior. ...It’s like the writers have to go out of their way to beat you over the head that Supergirl and Batwoman are better versions of Superman and Batman.

But… there’s an obvious difference in the two scenarios.

Kate was reacting against an alternative-Earth version of Bruce Wayne who’s gone nutso evil. So morally (and otherwise), her superior status is well founded. Heck, the average Joe on the street would be morally superior to this Bruce Wayne. And of course, in the Batwoman continuity, there’s an Earth-1 Bruce out there (somewhere) who Kate continues to revere and take inspiration from.

The Supergirl one-upmanship, however, is more awkward. Hoechlin’s Supes isn’t a transient, Multiverse curiosity; he’s the “real”/Arrowverse version of Superman and (allegedly) the future star of his own show. So establishing him as second fiddle to Kara is a hole they’ll have to dig themselves out of.

 

[SupermanFan]

OMG episode 2 was the best episode of DC CW TV ever.

So what the hell is gonna happen with Ollie now? Ugh I bet Felicity is the one who brings back his soul.

Conroy’s Batman was darker than any other version (maybe aside form Flashpoint) that I’ve ever seen. Sounds like he went crazy killing villains & when Superman tried to stop him he paid for it with his life.

The Smallville scene, my god this was a perfect ending for that character.

The Earth 75 Death of Superman Easter egg, man such a big deal made and it was a tiny scene haha

Brandon Routh’s Superman scenes were amazing. I loved the sues of Williams themes from the Donner movie. Superman vs Superman was great, and I loved that he said he’d thought a version of himself before haha. Absolutely incredible stuff.
I loved that Tyler’s Superman totally held his own against Routh’s Superman aswell after people were laughing when Routh’s Supes had him by the throat in that image.

For me though Jon Cryer totally stole the episode. He was an absolute joy to watch as Lex yet again.

A couple of really funny parts I loved were Lois fancying all three Supermen, Lex doing a ballet pose when the Monitor said he he’d played his part in getting Routh Supes back and Routh Clark meeting Ray haha.

That Anti Monitor tease at the end!

This was a 10/10

Bring on Episode 3!

 

[TheGuy]

A couple of really funny parts I loved were Lois fancying all three Supermen

Watch this woman, Clark!

 

[Travesty]

Brandon Routh’s Superman scenes were amazing. I loved the sues of Williams themes from the Donner movie. Superman vs Superman was great, and I loved that he said he’d thought a version of himself before haha. Absolutely incredible stuff.
I loved that Tyler’s Superman totally held his own against Routh’s Superman aswell after people were laughing when Routh’s Supes had him by the throat in that image.

Yes, this was the best part of the episode for me. I really enjoyed the fight. A little cheesy CGI, but that's to be expected for a CW show. It looked fine for TV.

A couple of really funny parts I loved were Lois fancying all three Supermen,

Yeah, I also thought that was funny.

 

[Web-Head]

Much better than part one, the pacing alone made it better.

Seeing Conroy as Bruce, his first line where we just hear the Batman voice from the distance gave me chills.

The Smallville scene worked really well for me and it made a lot of sense. Brought closure to the whole thing and I'm curious if they would have used Rosenbaum's Lex there instead of Cryer, but it accomplished everything they needed to imo.

Brandon Routh back as Superman! Great stuff.

Most of the humor worked too, especially with Mick and the baby

These heroes being the paragons works for this universe, I'm completely fine with it.

Only thing I didn't really care for in this episode is the Lazarus Pit, but I'm glad Oliver is back bc his original death was a little weak.

This was probably the episode I was looking forward to the most with Welling, Conroy and Routh making appearances and it didn't disappoint for the most part.

 

[The Caped Knight]

I've got a lot of issues with this crossover,

1. The Misrepresentation of Batman & Superman to service Supergirl & Batwoman

2. The Monitor

3. CGI

4. The multiverse

Its becoming very aparent that this crossover is mainly to highlight that the women are superior and the men are just their. Between the whole bull of Kara being the icon of hope, Kate of courage and Sarah of Destiny. Plus Kara's jab at Barry & Oliver this is as clear as daylight.

The total lack of respect for Batman & Superman is appalling and I fear the worst for the spin off show with Tyler next season. Kingdom Come Superman is slightly an improvement physically. Props to Kevin Conroy & Tom Welling they did their best with the material given but are you freaking kidding me.

They give no context to why Bruce Wayne has become this version. (Death of Alfred
), (Selina's dies at the hands of the Joker). Where's Robin, Nightwing, Bat girl, hell I'd settle for f'n Terry .

I like that smallville Clark got to live a peaceful life with Lois and two daughters. That was beautiful. Also I loved how even without his abilities he still was able to give a good right hand punch to lex.

 

[vantheman77]

The older Bruce Wayne is based on Dark Knight Returns than Kingdom Come.

 

[Legendver2]

Earth-99 Bruce is what would happen if no "Martha" was said

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

were Conroy's Batman and Routh's KC Superman in the same universe? I missed the first 10 minutes of the ep.

As for Smallville, it contradicts the shows own cannon to an extent where Clark was known as a legend to the Legion of Superheroes form the 31st century. Hard to believe that would be the case if he was only "super" for the 10 some odd years in time since the show ended. But other than that, the ending was fine. The thing about him giving up his powers while Lex was still President irks me to an extent.

 

[Herolee10]

were Conroy's Batman and Routh's KC Superman in the same universe? I missed the first 10 minutes of the ep.

As for Smallville, it contradicts the shows own cannon to an extent where Clark was known as a legend to the Legion of Superheroes form the 31st century. Hard to believe that would be the case if he was only "super" for the 10 some odd years in time since the show ended. But other than that, the ending was fine. The thing about him giving up his powers while Lex was still President irks me to an extent.

I mean it's always possible that Clark may get his powers back someday.

 

[Sithborg]

This episode was more of what I was expecting of the crossover.