December 10, 2019: "Crisis On Infinite Earths" Occurs On The CW

Left to right: David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz, the Martin Manhunter;

Ruby Rose as Kate Kane, Batwoman;

Caity Lotz as Sara Lance, the White Canary,

Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El/Kara Danvers, Supergirl;

Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, the Flash,

Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning;

and Tyler Hoechlin as Kal-El/Clark Kent, Superman.

December 10, 2019: Crisis On Infinite Earths occurs on television.

The CW Network, which had been airing the "Arrowverse" series of superhero TV shows since 2012, has its biggest event ever, an adaptation of the 1985 DC Comics series Crisis On Infinite Earths, which consolidated "Earth-One," "Earth-Two," and all the other Earths that had appeared in their stories onto a single Earth.

The TV version did the same. It was a "crossover" between 5 shows, bringing back many actors who had previously played DC superheroes in movies and on TV shows:

* Part 1: Supergirl, airing on December 8. Mar Novu, the Monitor, warns that the Anti-Monitor (both characters played by LaMonica Garrett), is using antimatter waves to destroy the Earth in "parallel universes." He warns that seven "Paragons" must be found, who can save the "Multiverse."

Guest stars include Burt Ward, the Dick Grayson/Robin of the 1966-68 ABC Batman series, said to live, naturally, on Earth-66; and Robert Wuhl, one of the stars of the 1989 Batman film, said to live on Earth-89. Both were shown only briefly. Neither of the Batmen then knew were: 1966's Adam West had died in 2017, and 1989's Michael Keaton was unavailable. He has since filmed a return to the role for the film The Flash, which has been delayed to 2023.

Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), known on her homeworld of Krypton as Kara Zor-El and on Earth-38 as journalist Kara Danvers, is found to be the Paragon of Hope. J'onn J'onzz (David Harewood), known as the Martian Manhunter, is the Paragon of Honor. Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), known as The Flash on Earth-1, is the Paragon of Love.

In this episode, Oliver Queen of Earth-1 (Stephen Amell), known as the Green Arrow, sacrifices his life to evacuate people from the doomed Earth-38. A former girlfriend of his, Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), known as the White Canary, and leader of the time-traveling team known as the Legends of Tomorrow, is found to be the Paragon of Destiny.

(For those of you familiar with the comic books but not the shows, Sarah is a character created for Arrow. There have been characters on the show called the Black Canary, who, in the comics, is Dinah Lance, and eventually marries Queen. On the show, his wife was Felicity Smoak; in the comics, Felicity is more identified with the hero Firestorm, who existed on the shows but had no connection to her.)

* Part 2: Batwoman, airing on December 9. It is believed that another Paragon is a version of Batman. For legal reasons, in DC-themed productions outside the DC Extended Universe, Batman can be mentioned, the Batsuit can be shown, and Bruce Wayne can be portrayed out of costume, but Bruce cannot be shown wearing the Batsuit.

Batwoman is Kate Kane (Ruby Rose), Bruce's cousin, who, on Earth-1, took up "the mantle of the Bat" after Bruce disappeared. The show didn't definitively say what happened to Batman, or any version of Robin, or Commissioner Jim Gordon, or his daughter, Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl. It did mention that Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce's butler and closest ally in Bat-operating, is alive, but has moved back to London.

Kevin Conroy, who had long voiced Batman in the DC Animated Universe, finally portrays a live-action version of Bruce. But his Earth-99 Bruce is based on the 1986 comic miniseries The Dark Knight Returns, except he took it a step further: He used Kryptonite to not just defeat Superman in a fight, but kill him.

And when Kate and Kara find this out, they confront Bruce. Bruce uses the same Kryptonite in an attempt to kill Kara. (According to comic book canon, this should not work: It has been established that Kryptonite only affects Kryptonians from its own universe, not any other. This carries over into Marvel Comics: Each set of Infinity Stones can only work in its own universe.) Kate defends her, and Bruce, weakened from his decades of combat, loses the fight, and falls onto his Batcomputer, his exoskeleton combining with the computer circuits to electrocute him.

Upon returning to the orbiting Waverider, Kara repeats what she told Kate: "This guy's not a paragon of anything." The Monitor now understands his mistake: No version of Bruce is the Paragon of Courage: Kate is.

This episode also features the Earth-38 versions of Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin), known as Superman; and his wife, Lois Lane (Elizabeth "Bitsie" Tulloch), both reporters for the Metropolis Daily Planet; and the Earth-1 Flash's wife, Iris West Allen (Candice Patton), also a journalist, in the Allens' hometown of Central City. (Apparently, there were no Kryptonians on the Arrowverse's Earth-1.) Clark, Lois and Iris go off to search alternate Earths to find another version of Superman, who would be the Paragon of Truth.

But the Earth-38 Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer), Superman's arch-enemy, now has the means to kill not just the Superman he knows, but all Supermen on all Earths. And every time Clark, Lois and Iris get to a new Earth, they're too late to save that Earth's Superman. When they get to Earth-75, the Kents even see a TV screen showing Hoechlin and Tulloch copying the scene, complete with Superman's cape hanging like a flag from a steel pole, from the 1992 comic issue The Death of Superman. (Which turned out to be temporary.)

Finally, they get to another Clark Kent in time, on Earth-167. This one is played by Tom Welling, who played Clark in the 2001-11 WB/CW series Smallville. But they can't recruit him, because Luthor arrives and sends them away.

Turns out, Luthor can't kill this Superman: In this universe, unlike the one that is home to Hoechlin's and Tulloch's counterparts and their infant son Jon, this Superman had to give up his powers to have children with Lois (Erica Durance also reprising her role in Smallville), and Kryptonite has no effect on humans, which this Clark now is. (That's not quite true: In the comics, prolonged exposure to Kryptonite, which is radioactive, can cause cancer.) Clark is still stronger than Lex, though, and manages to deck him, before he escapes to another Earth.

On Earth-96, the main Clark and Lois, and Iris, find a Clark. This one is played by Brandon Routh, who played Clark/Superman in the 2006 film Superman Returns, and this episode makes canon what that movie had implied: He is the same Superman played by Christopher Reeve in 4 movies from 1978 to 1987.

(How the 2006 film, which definitively displays dates from that year, can take place only 5 years after Superman II, released in 1981, with the scenery definitely showing a late Disco Period aesthetic, is never explained. Nor is the fact that Superman III, released in 1983, definitively states that their Clark and Lana Lang graduated from Smallville High in 1965.)

But he's also based on the 1996 comic miniseries Kingdom Come, in which Superman lost all the people who mattered to him, including his Lois. There's also an element from the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Amongst Us, in that the attack was launched by Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker (who couldn't be named, again for legal reasons, but the reference was clear.) Unlike in Injustice, this Superman didn't take over the world to rid it of crime, but retained his humanity, proving himself to be a paragon (Upper- or lower-case). And he agrees to help.

Luthor intervenes, and turns him against Hoechlin's character, deciding that it would be more fun to watch Superman kill Superman. Iris knocks Luthor out, and Lois reminds the older Superman of all that he stood for, which snaps him out of it. It may be Lois Lane's finest moment, in any medium. He drops a reference to the Clark Kent vs. Superman fight in Superman III: "This is the second time I've gone nuts and fought myself."

* Part 3: The Flash, airing on December 10. Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), known as Black Lightning, is brought into the story, having been saved from the destruction of Earth-4. So is the title character from the 1990-91 CBS series The Flash (John Wesley Shipp). This version of Barry Allen, from Earth-90, much as the comics' Earth-One version did in 1985, sacrifices himself, telling the younger one of Earth-1, "The prophecy said the Flash had to die. It didn't say which one."

(Shipp has also played that Barry's father, Henry Allen; and Jay Garrick, another alternate-Earth Flash, reflective of the original DC Flash, the Earth-Two or "Golden Age" Flash.)

The 7th and last Paragon is identified: Dr. Ryan Choi, a scientist on Earth-1, is the Paragon of Humanity. In the comics, Choi takes over for Dr. Ray Palmer as The Atom. At this point in the Arrowverse, Palmer, of Earth-1, is still The Atom -- and is also played by Routh, causing some confusion within the show, when people who know Ray see the older Superman, especially when the two men are together. Supergirl even tells him he's "looking jacked," while Superman tells him, "That's your cousin, sort of."

But all is lost: The heroes can't stop the antimatter wave from destroying the last Earth, and the Waverider. Just before that can happen, Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanaugh), a member of the Earth-1 Flash's tech team, and temporarily granted powers, transports the Paragons to the Vanishing Point, which exists outside time and space, where the Anti-Monitor can't reach them, buying them time to come up with a last-ditch plan.

In Part 2, Conroy's Bruce Wayne said there was no hope. But in Part 3, Routh's Superman said, "Even in the darkest times, hope cuts through. Hope is the light that lifts us out of the darkness." Something that DCEU director Zack Snyder, based on the films he's made, cannot possibly understand. Hoechlin's Superman backs this up: Just as the antimatter wave hits the Waverider, he nods to everyone, giving them his quiet confidence that, somehow, in a way that even he cannot yet imagine, everything is going to be okay.

But for the Paragons, who now appear to be the only 7 living things in the entire Multiverse, it's not okay. And, just when you think things literally can't get any worse, Routh's Superman fades away -- replaced by Luthor and his Book of Destiny. Talk about a cliffhanger: Part 4 won't air for another month. Those of us watching it first-run had to go through the rest of the holiday season, including Christmas and New Year's Eve and Day, before finding out what happens.

* Part 4: Arrow, airing on January 14, 2020. There is hope. Oliver Queen comes back, as The Spectre. He shows the Paragons how to build their power. In the process, the Flash meets another Flash, the one played by Ezra Miller in the DCEU, the 1st indication that the Arrowverse acknowledges the DCEU's existence, and vice versa.

Oliver takes the Paragons to "the Dawn of Time" to battle the Anti-Monitor. He tells them, "I'll light the spark, you fan the flames." While they -- 6 heroes and Luthor, who wants to restart the universe so he can rule it -- fight the Anti-Monitor's "parademons," Oliver, as The Spectre, fights the Anti-Monitor himself.

He delivers a variation of his old line to use on criminals in Star City: "You have failed this city!" He tells the Anti-Monitor, "You have failed this universe!" He looks up into the sky, and beams shoot out of his eyes, breaking through the cloud cover. The Anti-Monitor and his parademons disappear, and a new universe is created, at the cost of Oliver's life. (One more episode of Arrow aired, closing the 1st Arrowverse show after 8 seasons, showing Oliver's funeral, and his place in the afterlife.)

* Part 5: DC's Legends of Tomorrow, also airing on January 14. If you've never seen LoT, let me put it this way: It was the silliest show on television, but that made it fun.

Kara wakes up, and the month they spent at Vanishing Point has, well, vanished. It's January 14, 2020, and Earth is back to normal, with no one acting as if anything had ever been wrong. It's as if the Crisis had never happened. At least they got to celebrate Christmas and New Year's.

But then Kara sees that Luthor has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Everybody, even her adoptive sister Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh), thinks Luthor is a wonderful guy. Luthor had used his place as "the Paragon of Truth" to change people's perception of him.

And then the Flash shows up, and he and Supergirl each wonder, "What are you doing on my Earth?" Each had assumed that Oliver's act had restored all the Earths. But this is not the case. An old man walks up to them and asks them for their autographs, and he explains that they've always existed on the same Earth. He's played by Marv Wolfman, who, 35 years earlier, had written the original Crisis miniseries. (It was drawn by George Pérez, who was also, referenced, as the site of the final battle was said to be Perez Landing. He died on May 6, 2022, at which point Marv Wolfman was still alive.)

J'onn J'onzz uses his psionic abilities to show every superhero who wasn't a paragon what had happened, because they're still needed: The Anti-Monitor was returning for a rematch. At S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City, the home base for Team Flash, Harrison Wells, Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi design a "shrink bomb," based on Palmer's Atom technology, to send the Anti-Monitor to "the microverse," where he can do no harm to the larger multiverse. But the fight starts, and it looks like they won't have time to finish it.

Fortunately, The Flash is the fastest man alive, and a certified scientific genius in his own right. He runs to S.T.A.R. Labs, and is shown the blueprints and the parts for the bomb. He puts it together in 5 seconds. Ray puts on his Atom suit and flies back with him.

In the 1985 comic miniseries, Supergirl was one of the characters who sacrificed their lives to stop the Anti-Monitor. Just as it looks like Kara is in the process of doing it, Ray arrives, gives her the bomb, and says, "Throw it like a girl!" She does, and it hits the Anti-Monitor point-blank, and he and his parademons are now gone -- apparently forever.

The miniseries concludes with Barry using an old S.T.A.R. Labs building as the headquarters for a new team, the Justice League. There is a round table, as in King Arthur's Camelot (and in the DCEU's version of Wayne Manor at the end of the Justice League film). Oliver's costume is set up in a glass case, fronted by an eternal flame, as at President John F. Kennedy's grave, lit by Kara's heat vision. And a seat at the table is kept empty in Oliver's memory.

The 7 founding members are Superman, Supergirl, Batwoman, the Flash, the Martian Manhunter, Black Lightning and the White Canary. Clark, Kara, Kate, Barry, J'onn, Jefferson and Sara. Five of the seven Paragons, all but Ryan and the older Superman, with this Earth's Superman in his place.

A postscript showed that, contrary to what these heroes believe at this point, there are other Earths, including Earth-96, the one on which Routh's Superman lived. He's shown recreating the flying-over-Earth scene at the end of every Superman movie between 1978 and 2006, showing that he's still alive -- but also that the background of his S-crest, black in honor of those he lost, is now yellow again, suggesting that everyone he lost has been restored.

But no mention was made of Earth-66, on which Adam West's Batman and Burt Ward's Robin lived -- Ward wasn't shown in this sequence as he was in the earlier one, and, as I said, West was already dead. 

And nowhere in the miniseries was any mention made of the Earth on which Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman lived in her 1975-79 series (1975-77 on ABC, 1977-79 on CBS). Carter has appeared in the Arrowverse, but not as Princess Diana/Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. I'd like to believe that Ward's Dick Grayson and Carter's Diana Prince are alive and well. (A non-canon comic book series would combine the stories, titled Batman '66 Meets Wonder Woman '77, suggesting that, in her World War II adventures, Wonder Woman met Bruce as a boy, before his parents were killed.)

In the Arrowverse, hints have been dropped at the existence of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Green Lantern Corps, but none of them have ever appeared. Hawkman and Hawkwoman have, but, unlike in the comics, were not shown with this Justice League.

But while this version of Crisis On Infinite Earths was far from perfect, it was a true gift to so many fans of the DC superheroes, myself included. Something that Snyder and the people working with him refuse to accept.

In hindsight, it is interesting that the greatest crisis in each brand's live-action history was set in 2019: For Marvel, "The Snap" by Thanos in the film Avengers: Infinity War, on May 31 in their continuity, though the film was released on April 27, 2018; and for DC, the titular event in their miniseries Crisis On Infinite Earths, on December 10, the day it aired on The CW Network. And, in both cases, the man who was then President in real life, Donald Trump, couldn't save anyone.

In "The Marvel Cinematic Universe," the heroes had to restore half the life in the universe, and they did. In the Arrowverse, the heroes had to restore all the life in all the universes, and they had to do it without a Superman, a Batman or a Wonder Woman. And they did.

DC > Marvel. All day. Any day.

One last note: Whatever the real reason was, Ruby Rose left Batwoman after one season. A new character, Ryan Wilder, played by Javicia Leslie, was given "the mantle of the Bat," and became the new Batwoman. The character of Kate Kane was recast with Wallis Day, and she appeared only briefly, letting Wilder continue as Batman until the show's cancellation.

*

December 10, 2019 was a Tuesday. On our Earth, where a three-game losing streak is considered a "crisis," there were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Portland Trail Blazers, 115-87 at the Moda Center in Portland. Damian Lillard scored 31 points for the Blazers.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets, 97-92 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Washington Wizards, 114-107 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. Dāvis Bertāns scored 32 for the Wizards, but Devonte' Graham scored 29 for the Hornets.

* And the Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks, 135-121 in overtime at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. Kendrick Nunn scored 36 for the Heat, Duncan Robinson 34, and Bam Adebayo 30.

There were 12 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Dallas Stars, 2-0 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The New York Rangers lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 3-1 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat their arch-rivals, the Florida Panthers, 2-1 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Minnesota Wild, 3-2 in a shootout at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Arizona Coyotes, 5-2 at the Gila River Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-1 at the T-Mobile Arena outside Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-3 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

October 10, 2012: The "Arrowverse" Begins

October 10, 2012: Arrow premieres on The CW. Stephen Amell plays Oliver Queen, who becomes the costumed vigilante Green Arrow.

The character had debuted in DC Comics in November 1941, in More Fun Comics #73. He had usually been portrayed as an upbeat character, with his Robin Hood-inspired costume and archery ability, and his tendency toward witty quips, a trait also common to Batman's sidekick Robin, and later to the Marvel superhero Spider-Man. But his Van Dyke beard, debuting in 1969, made keeping his secret identity problematic.

In 2006, Justin Hartley began playing the character on an episode of Smallville, and became a recurring character on that show, a re-imagining of the Superman story. His darker, Batman-like take on the character carried over into Amell's portrayal, which began The CW's "shared universe" franchise of superhero-themed dramas, which became known as the Arrowverse.

Each episode was introduced by Amell, usually with a variation on the following:

My name is Oliver Queen. For five years, I was stranded on an island with only one goal: Survive. Now I will fulfill my father's dying wish: To use the list of names he left me, and bring down those who are poisoning my city. To do this, I must become someone else. I must become something else.

The show ran for 8 years, with Oliver telling the bad guys, "You have failed this city!" until he died in the Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover.

The Arrowverse has also included The Flash, starring Grant Gustin as the Scarlet Speedster, which began in 2014 and will wrap up in 2023; Supergirl, starring Melissa Benoist as Superman's cousin, which ran from 2015 to 2021; DC's Legends of Tomorrow, about half of whose characters had previously appeared in DC, from 2016 to 2022; Black Lightning, starring Cress Williams, from 2018 to 2021; Swamp Thing, starring Derek Mears as the slimy but noble hero, in 2019; and Batwoman, from 2019 to 2022, first with Ruby Rose as Kate Kane, cousin of Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, for a season, and then Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, a new character created for the series after Rose left the show.

There are also the current series Titans, starring Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson, Batman's original Robin, now leading a team of younger heroes as Nightwing, premiering in 2018; Doom Patrol, about a team of celebrities-turned-experiments-gone-wrong-turned-heroes, premiering in 2019; Stargirl, starring Brec Bassinger as the leader of a teenage team of "legacy heroes" using the codenames and equipment of previous heroes, premiering in 2020; and Superman & Lois, starring Tyler Hoechlin as Clark and Elizabeth "Bitsie" Tulloch as the Mrs., premiering in 2021.

The Arrowverse is not the only TV franchise born on this day: Chicago Fire premieres on NBC. It begins the One Chicago franchise, created by Derek Haas, Michael Brandt and Dick Wolf. Wolf had previously created the Law & Order franchise.

Chicago P.D. premiered on January 8, 2014. Chicago Med, a hospital-based series, premiered on November 17, 2015. All are still running. Chicago Justice, focusing on Cook County prosecutors, only ran from March 1 to May 14, 2017.

In 2020, to accommodate the maternity leave of Missy Peregrym, who played Special Agent Maggie Bell, Tracy Spiridakos appeared on FBI, a CBS series created by Wolf and Craig Turk, as her Chicago P.D. character, Detective Hailey Upton. This crossover, despite involving 2 different networks, confirmed that FBI, and its spinoff FBI: Most Wanted, take place in the same universe as the One Chicago shows. In 2021, FBI: International premiered.

While not yet confirmed, it implies that these shows all take place in the same universe as Wolf's Law & Order shows -- which, due to the crossing over of Richard Belzer's Detective John Munch, would also put them in the same universe as Homicide: Life On the Street, The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen, Arrested Development, The Wire and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. And the use of the fictional newspaper the New York Ledger on "The FBIs" suggests a link to another series, the ABC police comedy-drama Castle. Never mind "The Tommy Westphall Universe": It's John Munch's world, we're just watching it.

However, as of 2022, there has been no indication of a crossover between the Wolfverse and the Arrowverse.

UPDATE: The Arrowverse came to an end on December 2, 2024, with the final episode of the last remaining series, Superman & Lois. The sale of The CW had led to the new owners having different priorities, and bringing the shows to conclusions. It had been 12 years, 1 month and 22 days, and the franchise had redefined how superheroes are shown on television.

CBS canceled both FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted in 2025. They have promised a series about the CIA, taking place in the same universe, but have pushed it back to 2026 due to casting issues.

*

October 10, 2012 was a Wednesday. Game 3 of the American League Division Series was played at the new Yankee Stadium. The New York Yankees trailed the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th, when Raúl Ibañez hit a home run. He hit another in the 12th, and the Yankees won, 3-2. I have a separate entry for this event.

In Game 4 of the other ALDS, the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at the O.co Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then officially named). But the next day, the Tigers won Game 5 to eliminate the A's. Then they swept the Yanks in 4 straight to take the AL Pennant.

In the National League Division Series, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals, 8-0 in Game 3 at Nationals Park in Washington; while the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The Giants went on to beat the Reds, the Cards beat the Nats, the Giants beat the Cards for the Pennant, and the Giants swept the Tigers in the World Series.

Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't start until October 30. The NHL team owners had locked the players out, so the season was delayed until January 19, 2013.

September 1, 1961: DC Comics Introduces the Multiverse

September 1, 1961: DC Comics publishes The Flash #123, with the story "The Flash of Two Worlds." It introduces the concept of the "Multiverse."

In 1940, Flash Comics #1 marked the debut of The Flash. Jay Garrick is a science student at a university in fictional Keystone City, who inhales hard water vapors, and becomes the fastest man alive. He was a major superhero of the 1940s. But in the mid-1950s, various circumstances brought "The Golden Age of Comics" to an end.

In 1956, Showcase Comics #4 began what came to be called "The Silver Age of Comics." It introduced a new Flash. Barry Allen was a forensic scientist for the police department in equally fictional Central City, and the joke was that he was always late for everything.

A lightning bolt crashed through the window of his lab, electrified some chemicals, knocked them over, and doused him in them. This made him the fastest man alive. He took on the Flash name, and a costume with a lightning bolt on it, although it was different from that of Garrick's character.

In September 1961, Flash #123 was published with the story "The Flash of Two Worlds." The story was written by Gardner Fox, who created the original Flash, Garrick. Robert Kanigher created Allen, but had no role in this particular story, which explained that the Flashes lived in parallel worlds. Eventually, DC would name them "Earth-1" (or "Earth-One"), on which Allen lived; and "Earth-2" (or "Earth-Two"), on which Garrick lived.

At a charity event organized by Iris West, a journalist and Barry's girlfriend (and, eventually, his wife), the Flash performs super-speed tricks to entertain the children there, as the scheduled magician has not come. Recreating a rope-climbing trick, he begins vibrating his molecules when he suddenly disappears from the stage. He finds himself outside near an unfamiliar city, which he discovers to be Keystone City.

On Barry's world, Jay's Flash is thought to be a fictional comic book character. Barry looks Jay up in the phone book, and introduces himself to the older speedster. On this Earth, Jay had retired as the Flash years earlier, the year his comic book series was canceled on Earth-One, and married his longtime girlfriend, Joan Williams. Barry claims Gardner Fox's thoughts must have been tuned in to the events of Earth-Two.

Jay says he is preparing to resume being the Flash, and describes for Barry three incredible crimes that were committed recently. These thefts were perpetrated by three of Jay's former adversaries, who have joined forces: The Fiddler, The Shade, and The Thinker. The Flashes split up, with Jay taking on the Thinker and Barry against the Shade, but they are unable to defeat them. The Flashes regroup and go after the Fiddler together, saving a man from a falling steel girder along the way.

Shade and Thinker meet up and realize that there are two Flashes. They hurry to warn the Fiddler of this turn of events, but the Fiddler has already managed to stop the Flashes with his musical powers. He commands the two speedsters to commit robberies for him. Just as the villainous trio are about to flee with their loot, the two Flashes capture them. It turns out that they had put small jewels in their ears to block the Fiddler's mind-control music after he told them to put them down and take larger jewels, then played along in order to fool the criminals. Barry returns to his Earth after Jay announces he is coming out of retirement, and will continue as the Flash of his world.

The story was so successful, DC brought back the other Golden Age heroes, and put them on Earth-Two, showing them as older, since they had debuted in the 1930s or '40s. But there were some differences, some bigger than others:

* Superman: On Earth-One, Clark Kent was born Kal-El on Krypton, and he was still trying to prevent his Daily Planet teammate, Lois Lane, from finding out his secret identity. On Earth-Two, he was born Kal-L, and Lois knew, and they were married.

* Batman: On Earth-One, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, Catwoman, had a flirtatious relationship, as Catwoman played both sides, sometimes an anti-hero, sometimes a villain. (On the 1966-68 Batman TV series, she was only a villain, and yet, she and Batman had the never-resolved hots for each other.) On Earth-Two, Bruce and Selina were married, and their daughter Helena Wayne became a superhero, the Huntress. She would marry Earth-Two's Robin, Dick Grayson, who never became Nightwing (but did, on occasion, wear the Batman costume), while there were no other Robins (Jason Todd, Tim Drake, etc.).

* The Flash: The power in question was the same, but the names and costumes were different, and they didn't even live in the same city. On Earth-One, Barry Allen lived in Central City. On Earth-Two, Jay Garrick lived in Keystone City. And neither man's city even existed on the other man's Earth.

* Green Lantern: On Earth-One, Hal Jordan was a test pilot who followed an alien ship's crash. The alien was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, and, as he died, handed Jordan his "power ring," telling him, "It tells me you are worthy," and Jordan becomes the Green Lantern assigned to protect the sector that includes Earth, and meets the other members of the Corps, frequently teaming up with them. His costume is green with black trim.

On Earth-Two, there is only one Green Lantern, Alan Scott, a railroad engineer who finds a lantern whose backstory doesn't matter here, and he fashions a ring out of it, and his costume is multicolored. Also, Jordan wears his ring on his right hand, while Scott wears his on his left.

* The Atom: This was a huge difference, and an early 1980s story revealed that a man calling himself "the keeper of the cosmic balance" did just that by briefly switching the two men's powers. Both Atoms are, as you might guess (this was very common with both DC and Marvel heroes-to-be), scientists. The Atom of Earth-One was Ray Palmer, a science professor who discovered a way to change his size, allowing him to shrink to subatomic size. Usually, he limited his shrinking to 6 inches, yet he could punch someone with the full force of his usual 180-pound body.

The Atom of Earth-Two was Al Pratt, a college student who was called "The Atom" because he was only 5 feet tall. As an unexpected result of an experiment, he gained super-strength, but that was the extent of his powers.

The Earth-Two heroes had already had their own team, the Justice Society of America (JSA). The Earth-One heroes developed a team, the Justice League of America (JLA). Each team had its world's Flash, Green Lantern and Atom on it. Occasionally, there would be crossover team-ups.

The JSA included some heroes who only existed on Earth-Two, such as Dr. Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite, Hourman, Starman, and the Star-Spangled Kid. In contrast, there weren't many heroes from Earth-One that weren't also on Earth-Two. J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, was one of the exceptions.

Eventually, other worlds were created. There was an Earth-Three, in which the classic heroes we know were all villains: Superman was Ultraman, Batman was Owlman, his sidekick Robin was Talon, Wonder Woman was Superwoman (and her real name was Lois Lane, suggesting a relationship with Superman), Green Lantern was Power Ring, The Flash was Johnny Quick, and so on. They called their team the Crime Syndicate of America. And the villains were heroes, including Alexander Luthor (apparently, the Earth-One Lex's full name).

DC bought Fawcett Comics, including Captain Marvel -- or, as his stories had to be titled, since Marvel Comics won a court case over the right to that name, "Shazam!" -- and his stories were placed on "Earth-S," S for Shazam. DC bought Charlton Comics, including The Question, and those stories were put on Earth-Four.

In 1979, to celebrate Batman's 40th Anniversary, a story was written in which the Phantom Stranger tells Batman and Robin that there is a parallel world where the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Bruce's parents, is about to happen, and gives Batman, for once, a chance to prevent it, even sending Robin with him.

Robin discovers that there are not only no superheroes on this world, but no fictional heroes at all. No Sherlock Holmes, no Tarzan, no Zorro -- and in most versions of Batman's origin story, the movie the Waynes went to see right before it happened was a version of Zorro, a character Batman would come to resemble. (His co-creator, Bob Kane, even admitted as much.) Batman and Robin stop the murder -- and inspire little Bruce to become this world's first superhero. As the closing text says, he becomes his world's Batman not out of a desire for vengeance, but out of gratitude for the man who saved his parents. This world was later named Earth-Five.

There were many others, until, in the early 1980s, DC executives realized how confusing it all was, so they decided to consolidate everything onto one world. Marv Wolfman wrote the story, and in 1985, the 12-part Crisis On Infinite Earths was released.

In Issue #7, Superman's cousin Supergirl sacrificed her life to stop the Anti-Monitor, the villain who wanted to destroy all the Earths. In Issue #8, Barry Allen, the Earth-One Flash, sacrificed his life. Each of these was just a temporary reprieve. Finally, in Issue #12, the heroes of all the Earths triumphed, with the Superman of Earth-Two, the first superhero, appropriately being the one to deliver the deathblow.

When it was over, there was one Earth. A retroactive continuity (or "retcon") revealed that the Earth-Two heroes, the JSA, were active in the 1940s, retired in the 1950s because the House Un-American Activities Committee suspected them of Communist ties since they wouldn't reveal their secret identities, and had been exposed to something that reduced their aging, so that they could still be alive and fighting crime into their 70s, their 80s, and beyond. (Most of them would now be around 100 years old.)

Specifically to the Flash, it was revealed that Barry's home, Central City, and Jay's home, Keystone City, were neighbors, across a river and a State Line from each other. Given their location in the middle of the country, they could have been analogous to Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. Barry's nephew, Wally West, had been his sidekick, Kid Flash. At this point, he told Jay that he was taking the Flash name and Barry's costume, and says, "The Flash lives on!" Jay gave his blessing.

As the years passed, there were new retcons, and the 2006-07 series 52 would reveal that the Multiverse had been restored. Later, Barry Allen was brought back from the dead to resume his heroism.

Before The Flash #123, it never would have occurred to anyone to put 2 different versions of the same character together. No one thought of pairing Ronald Howard, who had recently played Sherlock Holmes on television, with Basil Rathbone, who had played the defining version on film a few years earlier. No one thought of putting Guy Williams, the recent TV Zorro, together with Tyrone Power, who starred in a 1940 film version. (It wouldn't have mattered: Power died while Williams' show was still on the air.)

But TV and movies have done it since. In 2012, The CW network began airing Arrow, starting the "Arrowverse" series of superhero shows. In 2014, it began to include a new The Flash series, starring Grant Gustin as Barry.

In 2019, it broadcast a 5-part Crisis On Infinite Earths series, with appearances from Burt Ward, the 1966 TV Robin (that show's Batman, Adam West, having died the year before); Tom Welling, the Clark Kent of Smallville from 2001 to 2011; Brandon Routh, the Superman Returns Superman of 2006 (hinted to be the same Superman played by Christopher Reeve from 1978 to 1987); Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman in the DC Animated Universe; Ezra Miller, who was playing Barry Allen in the DC Extended Universe films; and John Wesley Shipp, who played Barry Allen on the 1990-91 CBS series The Flash, and now played both Jay Garrick and Barry's father Henry Allen on the current CW series.

Left to right: Ezra Miller, John Wesley Shipp, and Grant Gustin.
"My name is Barry Allen, and I'm the fastest man alive."

And in 2021, the film Spider-Man: No Way Home brought the current version of Marvel Comics' web-slinger, Tom Holland, together with Tobey Maguire, star of 3 Spider-Man films from 2002 to 2007; and Andrew Garfield, star of the Amazing Spider-Man films of 2012 and 2014.

UPDATE: The 2023 film The Flash starred Miller as 3 different versions of Barry Allen, and also starred 3 different Batmen: Current DC Extended Universe Batman Ben Affleck, 1989-92 film Batman Michael Keaton, and 1997 Batman and Robin star George Clooney.

It ended up using computer-generated imagery to bring back George Reeves, who starred in the 1952-58 series The Adventures of Superman, but died in 1959; Christopher Reeve, who died in 2004, and Helen Slater, who starred in the 1984 film Supergirl, still alive at the time of the film's premiere, but appearing as she did in 1984; still images and voice recordings of West's Batman, Cesar Romero's Joker, and Eartha Kitt's Catwoman from the 1966-68 Batman series; a version of Jay Garrick, played by Jason Ballantine; and even Nicolas Cage as Superman from a movie that was announced, but never made.

*

September 1, 1961 was a Friday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 1-0 at Yankee Stadium. Don Mossi had not only outpitched Whitey Ford, but, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, he almost had the shutout. Then came 3 straight singles by Elston Howard, Yogi Berra, and Bill "Moose" Skowron to win it for the Yankees. Luis Arroyo was the winning pitcher in relief. Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris both went 0-for-4. At the time, Maris had 50 home runs, Mantle 49. Al Kaline had 3 of the Tigers' 7 hits.

The Tigers never recovered: Although they won 101 games this season, they finished 8 games behind the Yankees. Maris ended up with 61 home runs, Mantle 54.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson hit 2 home runs for the Orioles, and another was hit by Whitey Herzog, who would later manage Kansas City and St. Louis to Pennants.

* A doubleheader was split at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Chicago White Sox won the opener, 3-2. The Washington Senators won the nightcap, 5-1.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3 with a walk. Rookie Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Bowman tripled Joey Amalfitano home with the winning run in the top of the 14th inning. Willie Mays went 2-for-6. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4... with 3 walks.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 4-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. John Roseboro singled Ron Fairly home with the winning run in the top of the 9th inning. Hank Aaron went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-4 at the original Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Stan Musial did not play. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-2 before being replaced due to injury.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Athletics, 6-4 at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. Yes, Los Angeles: The Pacific Coast League's earlier Los Angeles Angels were a Cubs farm team, and William Wrigley Jr. built this ballpark to look like the Cubs' home in Chicago. In fact, this one was named Wrigley Field before the one in Chicago was.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Connie Mack Stadium (formerly Shibe Park) in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the following Monday (which was Labor Day). The Reds won the 1st game, 5-0. Ken Johnson pitched a 4-hit shutout. The Phillies won the 2nd game, 5-3. Over the 2 games, Frank Robinson went 2-for-8 with a walk and an RBI.

June 5, 1962: Spider-Man Debuts

June 5, 1962: Amazing Fantasy #15 is published. It was already set to be the last issue for the magazine, so there was nothing left for its publisher, Marvel Comics, to lose. So they chose to debut a new character: Spider-Man.

Created by Marvel boss and main writer Stan Lee, and artist Steve Ditko, "Spidey" was designed to be a hero that teenagers could relate to without being a child version of an adult hero like Superboy, or a sidekick to an adult hero like Batman's Robin.

Peter Parker was a nerdy, scrawny New York teenager with genius intellect and a love for science. While attending a science fair and seeing an experiment in radioactivity, a spider becomes irradiated, and bites him. The radioactivity gives Peter the proportionate strength and agility of a spider, and a "spider-sense" that acts as a warning system. He designs a substance that acts as a "spider's web," and wrist gadgets that allow him to shoot them and trap criminals.

His parents dead, Peter was raised by his Aunt May and his Uncle Ben. One day, early in his career, Spider-Man is interviewed for a local talk show. As he's leaving a man runs past, and a security guard tells Spidey he should have stopped the man, saying he'd robbed the box office. Spidey said it wasn't his problem.

When Peter gets home, he find out Uncle Ben has been murdered, and the police have the killer surrounded in a building. He goes after him in his Spidey costume, and discovers it's the robber: f Peter had stopped him, Uncle Ben would still be alive. At the end of the issue, Lee wrote, "With great power, there must also come great responsibility!" This was later retconned as advice from Uncle Ben.

Spidey was a hit immediately. It didn't save Amazing Fantasy, but it did lead to his own comic line. The Amazing Spider-Man #1 showed him auditioning to join Marvel's original superhero team, the Fantastic Four. Despite having had many adventures with them, the Avengers, and the X-Men over the decades, Spidey works best alone.

While still in high school, Peter gets a job as a photographer for a New York newspaper, the Daily Bugle. Their publisher, J. Jonah Jameson, is... complicated. On the one hand, he's a crusader to make the City better, having made his name exposing organized crime. On the other hand, he's a nasty boss, bullies his employees, including Peter, and when the city sees Spidey as a hero, "JJJ" prints editorials claiming Spidey is actually a menace who must be stopped, as giving "real heroes" a bad name -- real heroes like his son, John Jameson, an astronaut (who later becomes the unwilling villain Man-Wolf).

Peter's best friend is Harry Osborn, whose father Norman is a brilliant scientist. When an experiment goes wrong, it drives Norman insane, but it also gives him super-strength, and he becomes Spidey's greatest enemy, the Green Goblin. They fight, and the Goblin discovers Peter's dual identity. In their next fight, Peter knocks Norman out, and when Norman recovers, he has no memory of his Goblin identity.

Peter's first girlfriend is a blonde named Gwen Stacy, daughter of a hero cop. Eventually, he starts dating a redheaded aspiring actress named Mary Jane Watson, In 1971, while Peter was dating Mary Jane, daughter of Aunt May's best friend, Stan Lee agreed to work with the federal government to print an anti-drug message in The Amazing Spider-Man #s 96, 97 and 98. The Goblin returns, but, again, loses his memory after Spidey beats him.

By 1973, Spidey was back with Gwen, but in The Amazing Spider-Man #121, the Goblin came back, and killed her. The title of the issue was not revealed until the last page: "The Night Gwen Stacy Died!" Still, despite his vow to kill the Goblin over this, Peter remembered his great responsibility, and didn't do it. Eventually, the Goblin died without his "help." He got back with Mary Jane, but never forgot Gwen.

In 1967, Paul Frees became the voice of Spider-Man in a cartoon series. In 1974, Danny Seagren began playing Spidey on the PBS kids series The Electric Company. From 1977 to 1979, concurrent with their series The Incredible Hulk and 2 movies featuring Captain America, CBS aired The Amazing Spider-Man, with Nicholas Hammond. Despite being good as both Peter and Spidey, he was too old to play a teenage science prodigy, and so played Peter as an adult photographer, and it didn't really work.

In 2002, Tobey Maguire was cast in the 1st of 3 Spider-Man movies, making the character more popular than ever. In 2012 and 2014, Andrew Garfield starred in 2 The Amazing Spider-Man movies. In 2016, with legal issues having been resolved, allowing the character to appear in "The Marvel Cinematic Universe," Tom Holland played Spidey in Captain America: Civil War, leading to his appearances in 3 standalone movies and the Avengers films Infinity War and Endgame.

While DC Comics had explored the idea of a "multiverse" since 1961, Spider-Man was the 1st Marvel hero to have the idea explored. Marvel began its What If series in 1977, starting with "What If Spider-Man Had Joined the Fantastic Four?" It also explored:

* What if someone else besides Spider-Man had been bitten by the radioactive spider?

* What if a spider had been bitten by a radioactive human? (Ew.)

* What if Spider-Man had stopped the burglar who killed his uncle? (As it turned out, not as advantageous as you might have guessed. Marvel later flipped the story, and had Aunt May be the one killed, while a widowed Uncle Ben became "Alfred" to Peter's "Batman.")

* What if Spider-Man had rescued Gwen Stacy?

* What if Spider-Man's clone lived? ("The Clone Saga" was a storyline that most Spidey fans hated.)

* What if the alien costume had possessed Spider-Man? (In other words, what if Spidey had totally given in to the Venom symbiote.)

* What if Kraven The Hunter had killed Spider-Man?

* What if Spider-Man had not married Mary Jane Watson? With a B-story: What if Spider-Man had a son? (Peter had married Mary Jane by this point, but their daughter May died at birth.) Corollary: What if Spider-Man married the Black Cat?

* What if Spider-Man had not lost his cosmic powers? (I don't remember this one at all, so I can't explain it.)

* What if Spider-Man had kept his six arms? (In The Amazing Spider-Man #100, he grew four new arms. This didn't last. But in a later issue, he grew them back, and kept going, until he became more spider than man, and had to be stopped, though not killed, by a merciful Kraven.)

* What if Spider-Man killed the Lizard?

* What if the Punisher had killed Spider-Man?

* What if Spider-Man's parents destroyed his family? 

* What if Spider-Man became a murderer?

* What if Peter Parker had to destroy Spider-Man?

* What if J. Jonah Jameson adopted Spider-Man? (In other words, if, after Uncle Ben's death, Jameson, not yet knowing of Peter's dual identity, adopted him.)

* What if Scarlet Spider had killed Spider-Man?

This led to, among other things, Marvel's "MC2" universe, in which the newborn May Parker survived, and inherited her father's abilities, eventually becoming Spider-Girl. Another universe had the radioactive spider biting Gwen Stacy, and she became Spider-Girl -- or, to fans of the character, "Spider-Gwen" -- when Peter was murdered.

And another had the radioactive spider surviving years after Peter had become Spider-Man, long enough to bite another kid, a black Puerto Rican teenager named Miles Morales, who, after Peter was killed in action, became the new Spider-Man. This led to the Spider-Verse cartoon series, in which Miles meets many versions of Spider-Man, including the one from the main "Marvel Universe," and Spider-Gwen.

It also led to the 2021 live-action MCU film Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which the multiverse begins a dangerous overlap, leading to Holland's Peter having to fight the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and the Sandman from the Tobey Maguire Spidey's Earth; and Electro and the Lizard from the Andrew Garfield's Spidey's Earth. These were villains that he had never faced before, and may not even have existed on his Earth. This leads to the Goblin killing Holland's Aunt May (played by Marisa Tomei, way too young to play a character always depicted in the comics as elderly), and his friends bringing the Maguire and Garfield versions of Peter to their Earth, to stop the villains.

Although Bill Bixby's David Banner and Lou Ferrigno's Hulk would interact with versions of Daredevil and Thor in TV-movies in the 1980s, they never interacted with Nicholas Hammond's Spidey. And, despite still being alive at the time, neither Seagren nor Hammond were included in No Way Home. Nor were they included in the Spider-Verse cartoons. And Paul Frees died in 1986, so he was not included in any of those.

On a 1996 episode of Friends, the fact comes up that, unlike most superheroes with the "man" suffix, Spidey's name is hyphenated. Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) asks why his name isn't pronounced "SPIGH-der-mun." Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) explains that it's not his last name, "Spiderman": "He's a Spider... Man. There's Goldman, but there's no Gold-Man."

Phoebe says there should be a Gold-Man. Chandler asks what his powers would be. Phoebe says, "He turns things to gold." Clearly, she'd never heard of the Greek myth of King Midas, whose lust for gold led to the gods giving him that power, which betrays him when he touched his food, and eventually his daughter.

More than Captain America, the Hulk, or anyone else, Spider-Man remains Marvel's most popular hero, rivaling DC's Superman and Batman as the most popular superhero of all.

UPDATE: Danny Seagren died in 2025.

*

June 5, 1962 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4. Hitting a home run for the Orioles was Whitey Herzog, whose 1st managing job would be in 1973, with the Senators franchise, after they moved to become the Texas Rangers.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 and 8-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Don Drysdale won the nightcap, with Sandy Koufax pitching the 9th inning for a save. Over the 2 games, Roberto Clemente went 1-for-8.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 11-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Willie Mays went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-9 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. At age 41, Stan Musial was, again, Stan the Man, hitting a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Frank Robinson and Reds starting pitcher Bob Purkey both hit home runs, to no avail.

* The Houston Colt .45s beat the Milwaukee Braves, 7-1 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Hank Aaron went 0-for-4. The Colts were renamed the Houston Astros in 1965.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Angels groundshared there until 1966, when their Anaheim stadium opened.

* The Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Red Sox won the 1st game, 2-1. Frank Malzone won it with a home run in the bottom of the 9th. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

The Tigers won the 2nd game, 3-2. In the top of the 11th inning, Norm Cash scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Dick Brown. Cash had homered earlier in the game. Jim Bunning went the distance for the win. Yaz went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Al Kaline did not play in either game.

* The New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 28. The Mets won the 1st game, 2-0. Al Jackson pitched a 3-hit shutout. The Phils won the 2nd game, 10-1.

* And the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Yankee Stadium. This game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 29. The Indians swept, 3-2 and 9-5. Roger Maris hit home runs in both games. Mickey Mantle went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the 1st game, but sat out the 2nd. Yogi Berra did not start either game, but pinch-hit in each, hitting a single in the 1st game.

January 3, 1985: DC Comics Begins Publishing "Crisis On Infinite Earths"

Issue #7, featuring the death of Supergirl

January 3, 1985: DC Comics celebrates its 50th Anniversary by rewriting its history, beginning its 12-part series Crisis On Infinite Earths, with an issue dated April 1985.

Essentially, it eliminates Earth-One (which features the current heroes) and Earth-Two (which features the heroes introduced before and during World War II), along with every other "alternate Earth" they'd ever depicted, and combines them into a single narrative.

This provides an explanation of why the WWII-era heroes can still be fighting for justice when they should be elderly -- in many cases, as mentors to the younger versions of their characters, i.e. Jay Garrick, the 1st Flash, doing so for Wally West, the 1st Kid Flash, who becomes the 3rd Flash after the 2nd, Barry Allen, sacrifices his life to save the universe in issue #8. (Barry would later be brought back to life in 2010's Blackest Night, DC's insane attempt at a zombie story.)

It also enables a reboot of the origin stories. Among the notable changes: Clark Kent was never Superboy, his parents Jonathan and Martha Kent are still alive as he begins his career as Superman, and, as Clark, he's not pretending to be the mild-mannered milquetoast he's usually seen as, making him seem more believable as a big-city reporter -- and, in hindsight, resembling George Reeves' 1950s TV Superman more than Christopher Reeve's then-current movie Superman.

Batman's origin is also slightly tweaked. Originally, his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, had worked at Wayne Manor for Thomas and Martha Wayne, then left before they were killed, with Bruce raised by an uncle and his housekeeper; and returned many years later to work for Bruce Wayne, who had already adopted Dick Grayson. He soon found out the hard way that Bruce was Batman and Dick was the 1st Robin.

In this new version, Alfred never left Wayne Manor, raising Bruce after his parents were killed, and assisting him in becoming, and then being, Batman every step of the way.

Not all the changes were popular: In addition to the death of my generation's Flash, Superman's cousin Supergirl, known as Kara Zor-El on Krypton and Linda Danvers on Earth, was killed in issue #7, producing a shocking and oft-imitated cover. And all the other Kryptonians were eliminated, making Superman truly "the Last Son of Krypton." This was dropped in DC's next reboot, the 1994 series Zero Hour.

In 2019, TV network The CW, having done several superhero shows in their "Arrowverse" series, crossed them all over, adapting Crisis On Infinite Earths. In this case, though, not only did Supergirl, now known as Kara Danvers, and the Barry Allen version of the Flash survive, but Barry proves pivotal in developing the final weapon, and Kara is the one who delivers it. In this version, the one who sacrifices himself for the greater good of the multiverse was Green Arrow, who, in order to do it, becomes that universe's version of the Spectre.

The original series was written by Marv Wolfman, and drawn by George Pérez. In the Arrowverse version, Wolfman makes a cameo appearance in the 5th and final episode. Pérez was dealing with serious health issues, and was unable to appear, so he was honored by the writers placing the final showdown with the Anti-Monitor takes place in Pérez Square.

(UPDATE: Pérez died in 2022. In 2024, a 3-part animated film, Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths, premiered, as part of the DC Animated Universe. It is yet another variation on the story, but it is closer to the original comic than to the Arrowverse version.)

*

January 3, 1985 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between rounds of their Playoffs. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Bullets, 100-93 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks, 116-115 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-87 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Golden State Warriors, 112-96 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat their arch-rivals, the Seattle SuperSonics, 123-89 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Vancouver Canucks, 6-4 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-2 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 2-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 8-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.