The CW's comic-book crossover has a name, and it's awesome

As much as we’re all looking forward to the premieres of shows like The Flash and Supergirl in a couple weeks, we’re anticipating just as eagerly the mid-season crossover between all of the CW’s shows. Now the CW has revealed the title for the event: Crisis on Earth-X.

All the heroes from the Arrowverse come to Central City for Barry and Iris’ wedding, including Supergirl herself and the Legends team, and the event is crashed by doppelgangers of not only Supergirl, but Flash and Arrow as well, and dearly beloved heroes have to put their heads and powers together to fight the trio.

Not only will the core cast be there, but it seems like just about anyone with superpowers or a super-device will be taking part in the event. The shows’ producers commissioned comic artist Phil Jiminez to create a truly epic ‘cover’ image for the event that gives us a hint at who we’ll see in the episode. Scroll down past the cut to check it out – just in case you’re worried about spoilers. Secondary characters like Killer Frost from Flash and the Arrow’s vigilante team will make appearances, and the poster seems to suggest that even the villain Captain Cold is getting in on the good side of the fight.

One particular surprise is the entry of The Ray from CW Seed’s animated series Freedom Fighters: The Ray. Freedom Fighters is set in an alternate universe where the titular character is fighting evil versions of Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl – which is suggestive of where the crossover’s evil characters are coming from – just maybe.

“We conceived this year’s crossover to be evocative of the annual Justice League/Justice Society crossovers we grew up with and looked forward to as kids,” said the shows’ executive producers, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg in a prepared statement.

If you think you’ve heard the word “Crisis” used with comics books before, you’re not wrong. DC Comics likes to use the word Crisis for anything that could alter the main universe in a significant way. We’ve seen over the years events like Crisis on Infinite Earths, Crisis in Eternity, Crisis on Multiple Earths, Final Crisis, and tons more.

Crisis on Earth-X in particular comes from a 1973 two-issue event that indeed had the Justice League facing off alongside the Freedom Fighters against Nazis on Earth-X. There will obviously be some significant differences between the original and this, but the CW DC team is going a long way to make the event feel just as big – if not bigger – when compared to last year’s event.

Crisis on Earth-X begins on Monday, November 22 as a two-night, four-show event, with Supergirl and Arrow on Monday, followed by The Flash and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on Tuesday. Arrow returns to its normal night after that.

The shows themselves begin premiering in October, starting with Supergirl on Monday, October 9.