By Will Barber Taylor

Now fully revealed as the ultimate threat to existence, the ANTI-MONITOR wages an unrelenting attack on the surviving Earths that struggle for survival in a pocket universe. One-by-one, these worlds and all their inhabitants are vaporized! On the planets that remain, even time itself is shattered and heroes from the past join the Justice League and their rag-tag allies against the epitome of evil. But as they make their last stand, will the sacrifice of the superheroes be enough to save us all?

“A total filler episode” says The Joker at the beginning of Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three and I have to confess this is what I feared that this final part might be. After the uneven and muddled first edition and the downright filler second part, I was not going into the third part of the animated adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths with any great anticipation that I’d enjoy it. However, I was instead pleasantly surprised to find that the concluding part of the Crisis on Infinite Earth saga neatly wraps up the story whilst also leading DC Animation in a direction that seems to be more in step with James Gunn’s overall vision for the DC Universe. Crisis Part Three likely marks the end of an era of invigorating and unrestrained creativity, separated from the DC film universe and all the better for it, into a period of a potentially more restricted universe.

The film understands that its mission is clear – unambiguously wrap up the Crisis saga and send our heroes to a new singular Earth where the multiverse is no more. It does that perfectly efficiently, rattling along at a rate that delivers the story beats in a way that isn’t overly stretched out but also gives time for our main characters to have decent character moments. This is far more balanced than the previous two parts and, rather than feeling like the film is sliding into fan service it is a much more consistent rendering of the Crisis story. Whilst this rendering has a somewhat different ending, in larger part due to its interconnectedness to the previous DC Universe Animated original film series and in particular Justice League Dark Apocalypse War, it is a satisfying conclusion to what has been an uneven trilogy.

Believable character moments are skilfully intertwined with the plot. For example Supergirl’s decision to absorb the fifty odd suns that have been taken into the pocket dimension in order to kill the Anti Monitor because she felt she should have died on Krypton and has nothing left for her in comparison to Superman is a believable and tragic end to her character arc. Similarly, the Question’s decision to not join the others in the newly created universe because he considers it to be a fabrication, a fiction created by the Legion of Superheroes’  Miracle Machine is similarly in keeping with this version of The Question – an objectivist whose beliefs and values are inspired by a belief in his own rational and distrust of authority. These moments are weaved into the film in a much more believable way than in Parts One and Two and as such serve to make the film that much more enjoyable rather than hold up the plot or simply feel like filler.

Overall, Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three is the best part of the trilogy and had the other two instalments had a similar pace and integrated their characters moments better than the previous parts did then I would have enjoyed the trilogy more. It is perhaps fitting that for all its ups and down this will be the final DC animated project (bar *another* adaptation of Watchmen) that doesn’t come under James Gunn’s purview. For the time being the golden age of DC animation, independent from the films and comics, seems to be over. It’s a shame but perhaps fitting that the man who represented it more than anyone else, Kevin Conroy, is given a truly appropriate send off in this final part.