The multiverse is something that is largely at play these days. From the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Rick and Morty, numerous franchises are currently using this element. While DC has been no stranger to it, the screen adaptation might have taken a little longer than others.
DC Comics’ twelve-issue crossover series Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez has undoubtedly been revolutionary for the DC Universe. With co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran rebooting the franchise, it seems fair that the comic series is finally being adapted into animated movies. However, there are a lot of scenes from the original script that will never see the light of the day.
Fans Are Going to Miss Out on Numerous Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Scenes
Crisis on Infinite Earths comic series is widely known for the hundreds of characters and an unfathomable number of alternate universes. It is also notable for the huge number of characters killed in it. In fact, the demise of so many C characters led to the franchise’s reboot which was labeled as the ‘pre-Crisis’ and ‘post-Crisis’ eras.
Bruce Timm‘s DCAU welcomed Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths- Part One earlier this year. The movie is based on the DC superhero team Justice League. The next two sequels are scheduled for release throughout the year. With a story as big as the one in the comics for this movie, it would take a huge time to show every event.
This was one of the issues that the filmmakers faced as producer Butch Lukic, producer and screenwriter Jim Krieg, and director Jeff Wamester revealed in an interview with The Beat. When asked if all the scenes were filmed according to the script or if some had to be edited.
Responding to this query, Butch Lukic said:
“From the written script we did have to cut out other scenes because unfortunately we are only limited to a certain amount of footage we are allowed to animate.”
Lukic also claimed they had to move around certain scenes because they did not make sense when they were put together in the visual aspect. This would imply that quite a few scenes in the script did not make it into the movie.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Filmmakers on How the Non-Linear Storytelling Came About
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths follows a non-linear narrative, which is considered difficult to direct. Wamester insisted they mostly stuck to the script, but had to add certain scenes to make it easier for the audience to understand.
Screenwriter Jim Krieg then explained how the non-linear narrative came about, saying (via The Beat):
“The thing that inspired the non-linear storytelling was Batman’s vision of The Flash dying. That was already in the books and I thought that was great. Barry is dying this entire time, but we don’t get to see where he is until we do.”
Lukic further mentioned that they had to figure out where to stop with each film because they had to leave every movie on a cliffhanger.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths is available for watching on Apple TV and Crunchyroll.
