'Crisis on Infinite Earths' Ending Explained: What Happened at the End and What It Means for the Arrowverse

After five episodes, Crisis on Infinite Earths aired its finale on January 15 on The CW, and it was perhaps the most dramatic two hours the Arrowverse has ever seen. Though the finale was full of DC Easter eggs (including a cameo from Ezra Miller), the ending in particular was full of references to the history of the comics brand as The Flash (played by Grant Gustin), Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), White Canary (Caity Lotz), Martian Manhunter (David Harewood), Batwoman (Ruby Rose), Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Black Lightning (Cress Williams) meet in a STAR Labs facility.

Here, there is a memorial to Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), who died for the second time in Crisis on Infinite Earths—this time for good. In Part 4, he fought with the Anti-Monitor (LaMonica Garrett). In this battle, Oliver, who has become the spirit of vengeance known as Spectre, "lit the spark" that allowed the Paragons to "fan the flame," using their combined mental energy to redirect the light coming out of the Anti-Monitor's eyes into the sky, bringing back the worlds that had been destroyed.

However, in this battle, Oliver loses his life, with Arrow showrunner confirming to The Hollywood Reporter: "He is really dead this time." This does not stop his fellow supers expecting Oliver to return on the new Earth Prime, the Earth that was created that is the new home of all The CW heroes. Not only is Oliver still dead, but the Anti-Monitor is still alive, meaning that the remaining heroes have to try and destroy him again.

They do this via a plan devised by Ray (Brandon Routh), Nash (Tom Cavanagh) and Ryan (Osric Chau) to create a shrink bomb that will put the Anti-Monitor into the "microverse" and stop his evil plan to destroy all positive matter.

While they build this bomb, the shadow demons that have been plaguing our heroes swarm together and form a giant Anti-Monitor. The heroes begin an aerial attack on this giant villain while The Flash lends his super-fast hands to build the bomb. Supergirl then threw this bomb at the Anti-Monitor, shrinking him into the macroverse (hopefully) forever.

With this foe defeated and the multiverse returned, the show takes time to mourn Oliver. The President gives a speech on the bravery of the first known superhero (and originator of the Arrowverse), leading to a moment's silence for the fallen Green Arrow.

After a few more Easter eggs (we hear a voiceover from Spectre about the new multiverse while we see worlds of Stargirl (Brec Bassinger), Swamp Thing (Derek Mears), the Titans and other DC properties, the show ends with Barry revealing a table around which the heroes can meet when the world needs saving, before the show gives its biggest hint that we are getting an Arrowverse version of the Justice League.

We discover that the heroes are in the Hall of Justice, traditionally the home of the group of superheroes, and then see an empty cage belonging to Gleek, the pet monkey of the Justice League in the cartoon Super Friends (the theme of which plays).

While we are not likely to see a Justice League anytime soon (or, at least, until the next crossover next year), Crisis on Infinite Earths does have some major implications for the future of the Arrowverse, Black Lightning, for example, is now based on an entirely new world as the superhero joins Earth Prime, as is Supergirl. Other programs, meanwhile, have moved to entirely new worlds. Titans and Doom Patrol are now on different Earths, and we got our first look at the new worlds that will be the home of HBO Max's upcoming Green Lantern show and The CW's Stargirl.

Crisis on Infinite Earths also set up Superman & Lois, the upcoming spin-off of Supergirl that was ordered to series after the finale of the crossover. At the end of Crisis, Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) tells Superman that they need to deal with a problem with their kids. TVLine reported that the new series will see the pair try and deal with being parents while also juggling their jobs as journalists and heroes.

Crisis on Infinite Earths is streaming on The CW website and app now.