The Comics History Of Earth-X Means Big Trouble For The DC-CW Crossover Event

The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow and Legends Of Tomorrow are all combining forces for a four-episode crossover beginning on Nov. 27. And an invasion from an alternate dimension promises to provoke their biggest fight yet. Is Earth-X in DC comics, or is the CW/DC universe creating a new threat?

Well, the heroes from all the DC superhero series on the network won't be the first to face off against citizens of this particular Earth. By now, they're all accustomed to the concept of the multiverse; Kara and her friends share a different one than the rest, in fact. But they've never met anyone from Earth-X before, that we know of.

Earth-X first appeared in Justice League Of America #107 in October of 1973. In the books, Earth-X is a parallel earth in which the Nazis triumphed in World War II by using mind control technology. The Justice League — made up of Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Wonder Woman — go to Earth-X to help small pockets of the resistance fight their overlords. And those overlords aren't human — a computer brain is controlling android leaders.

The trailer for the crossover event seems to confirm major crossover not just among the shows but with the Earth-X of the comics. Earth-X is described in the crossover trailer as a Nazi controlled 53rd earth, which threatens the wellbeing of our heroes. Similar to the comics, the superheroes must band together to fight, because only unity can defeat the intimidating evil. Time will tell if mind control and Nazi androids come into play but there is a good chance that the show will lean heavily into the comic book stories.

The exciting show twist for the series is that the entire Earth-X storyline will take place around another major event: Barry Allen and Iris West's long-awaited wedding. And the leaders of the Earth-X Nazi squad are actually the alternate universe doppels of the heroes themselves.

Stephen Amell who plays Oliver Queen, spoke to GreenArrowTV about the crossover. According to him, the crossover is so epic that it earns another name. He said:

"It’s like a four-hour escape. There are some through-line storylines like Oliver and Felicity’s relationship, and Barry and Iris’ relationship, and what’s going on with Sara, what’s going on with Victor and Franz. It really is, for the first time, it’s an event."

And in 2017, there are few comic book enemies that could be more relevant than empowered modern Nazis. In the comics, some people on Earth-X are able to resist the mind control while most are not. The people who are able to resist the mind control form the resistance. It will be interesting to see if any of the superheroes in the show become susceptible to the mind control technology and possibly join up with their evil selves.

In an interview with KryptoniteTV, Chyler Leigh, who plays Alex Danvers on Supergirl, teased one surviving aspect taken from the comics, which is that not everything can end perfectly happily. She said:

"It’s a comic book [thing] that nothing is ever peachy and easy. Disaster ensues. It’s everybody banding together and figuring out strengths and weaknesses ... At certain moments, we’re fighting for each other, fighting to get to each other, and fighting together. You really get to see a lot of sides of everybody, and sides that you wouldn’t expect."

The crossover could lead to not only comic covered stories, but major character development within the shows. It's always interesting when the teams from each of these series get together, especially when they're celebrating a major live event and battling AU Nazis at the same time.