Crisis on Infinite Earths' Body Count Grows Exponentially in Part 3

Just when you thought Crisis on Infinite Earths couldn't get any crazier, it kills off, like, just about everyone? Seriously, The Flashhour was basically a bloodbath! In Part 3 of the crossover, Barry's (Grant Gustin) final hour arrived, as he prepared to sacrifice his life for the multiverse, as planned. However, a bit of a miracle occurred providing for the survival of the Flash -- well, one of them anyway. When the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) foretold the Flash's death in Crisis, it turns out he was actually talking about the Flash from Earth 90 played by John Wesley Shipp.

After finding the device creating the wave of anti-matter destroying the multi-verse, Black Lightning's Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) was brought in to use his powers to stop the machine and halt the wave in its path. Unfortunately, in order for the plan to work, a speedster still had to power the device, and Earth 90's Barry volunteered to take Earth 1 Barry's place. With one last flashback to his own show from the 1990s, the other Barry sacrificed himself to save the multiverse, fulfilling the Monitor's prophecy and letting our Barry off the hook.

Unfortunately, Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson), aka Harbinger, found herself controlled by the Anti-Monitor, and she managed to absorb the Monitor's powers, making her powerful enough to kickstart the wave of anti-matter again.

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As the final earth (and the Waverider housing our characters along with it) was destroyed by the anti-matter, Pariah (Tom Cavanagh) sent the seven Paragons (Kate Kane (Ruby Rose), the Paragon of Destiny; Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), the Paragon of Hope; Clark Kent (Brandon Routh's version), the Paragon of Truth; Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), the Paragon of Courage; Barry Allen, the Paragon of Love, Ryan Choi (Osric Chau), the Paragon of Humanity, and J'onn J'onzz (David Harewood), the Paragon of Honor) to the Vanishing Point, a place outside of time and space, to save them. The development came with the major footnote that Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) turned himself into a Paragon in Clark Kent's place when he had the Book of Destiny, so he, like a cockroach, survived where Clark did not.

This development means that as we head into the month-long hiatus between now and the new Crisis episodes, everyone in the multiverse not mentioned above is dead to rights. Poor Barry spent so long saying goodbye to Iris (Candice Patton) and his team, only for them all to perish in Crisis, while he survived.

As for Oliver (Stephen Amell), we still don't have an update on his status, since the mission to retrieve his soul ended very ambiguously. A character who called himself Spectre approached Oliver's soul in Purgatory, telling him it was his turn to take up the Spectre mantle. That new mission caused Oliver to lose out on his opportunity to return to his body, leaving him hovering somewhere between life and death.

Crisis on Infinite Earths will return after the network's traditional winter break on Tuesday, Jan. 14 with a new episode of Arrow at 8/7c before concluding with DC's Legends of Tomorrow at 9/8c.

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