REVIEW -- The CW Presents Arrowverse Crossover: Arrow/Supergirl/The Flash/DC's Legends of Tomorrow - Crisis on Earth-X (Parts 1-4)

Crisis on Earth-X is the name of the upcoming 4 part crossover event between Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and DC's Legends of Tomorrow. The crossover will air over two nights from November 27th to November 28th, 2017.

The episodes that are involved in the crossover are:

"Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1" (Supergirl)
"Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2" (Arrow)
"Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3" (The Flash)
"Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4" (DC's Legends of Tomorrow)

Plot Synopsis:

In a parallel world, Earth-X, Nazi regime rule the planet, where a dark hooded archer known as Dark Arrow is the latest to succeed Adolf Hitler's place as führer, and personally hunts the American loyalists and other resistances. On Earth-1, Barry Allen and Iris West's friends, including Kara Danvers and her adoptive sister Alex from Earth-38, come to Central City for their wedding. Harry Wells, Cisco Ramon, and Caitlin Snow develop a solution to separate the Firestorm matrix from Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson; however, Jefferson is reluctant on giving up being the superhero Firestorm. Inspired by Barry's happiness with Iris, Oliver Queen re-proposes to Felicity Smoak for her hand in marriage, but she is not ready to marry Oliver. During the wedding ceremony, the event is interrupted by Earth-X invaders, led by Dark Arrow and his wife Overgirl. After Kara injures Overgirl during the fight, the Nazis are forced to retreat, and Alex and Sara Lance capture Dark Arrow's partner Prometheus-X. As Dark Arrow, Overgirl, and a dark yellow speedster regroup and discuss their next step, Dark Arrow and Overgirl are unmasked to be parallel universe doppelgängers of Oliver and Kara, and the yellow speedster reveals himself as Eobard Thawne / Reverse Flash, Barry's nemesis who was thought to be erased from existence.

In S.T.A.R. Labs, Prometheus-X is revealed to be a doppelgänger of Oliver's deceased friend Tommy Merlyn, and commits suicide out of loyalty to the Nazi regime. Harry reveals that, through his exploration of the multiverse, he discovered Earth-X is a dystopian world where World War II was not won by the Allied Forces. Dark Arrow, Overgirl, and Thawne steal a power source known as the Prism from a research company; the heroes believe that Dark Arrow seeks to build a neutron bomb with it. After a series of battles, most of the heroes are captured; Oliver's team, along with Harry, Caitlin, Cisco, and Mick Rory, are in captivity at S.T.A.R. Labs after the Nazi forces infiltrate it, and Oliver, Barry, Sara, Stein, Jefferson, Kara, and Alex are transported to Earth-X's concentration camp, but Kara is moved to S.T.A.R. Labs. The villains reveal that Overgirl is dying and Dark Arrow plans to use the Prism to create artificial red sunlight that would weaken Kara's invulnerability, preparing a heart transplant for Overgirl but killing Kara in the process.

In the concentration camp, the heroes are rescued from execution by Ray Terrill and Citizen Cold (Leonard Snart’s Earth-X doppelgänger). Thawne prepares to operate on both Overgirl and Kara, and Iris and Felicity work to rescue their friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, leading the latter to confront Dark Arrow. After they struggle with both Earth-X’s resistance fighters and the Nazi forces, the heroes eventually made it back to Earth-1 after hijacking the Nazi’s dimensional projector at the cost of Stein mortally wounded. Iris, Felicity, Kara, and the others are eventually rescued by the returned heroes and The Legends.

The Verdict: 

I'm NOT going to split this up into parts to cover this properly, so bare with me as I talk about this in its entirety from start to finish. I might jump around a bit, so I apologize now. 

This whole thing starts off with everyone being invited to Barry and Iris' wedding, something goes awry and we get the Nazi invasion from Earth-X. Before all of that though? We get a cool montage of every set of these heroes in one of their individual adventures. Supergirl is dealing with a Dominator (last year's crossover villain as noted by Kara's cute remark), Team Flash is dealing with King Shark, Arrow is fighting ninjas, and the Legends are in medieval England, getting their "Robin Hood" on. Everyone is scrambling with last second details for the wedding and/or RSVPing their seating for we can see everyone come together. As much as I've been annoyed this season of The Flash with the heavy focus on Barry and Iris' relationship (I had my fill of that during last year's storyline against Savitar with Iris' life in the balance...), I thought the focus here set the stage for a lot of great things here. The last few Arrowverse crossover events can be best described as muddled up in terms of narrative storytelling, with the one for 2016 was merely an afterthought at the cost of promoting  Arrow's 100th episode and Supergirl not even tying into the event until the last two minutes to tease it. As a result of this get-together of all of these friends from other realities and time periods, we get a lot of fun moments from this episode. Sara Lance/White Canary and Alex Danvers hook up Wedding Crashers-style in a one night stand. Fans of Legends could see that one coming a mile away given the character's history with her random misc. flings of both sexes. It served as a wonderful departure from Alex's pining over her break-up from Maggie for the last few episodes.

Prof. Stein making Jefferson welcome with his family was a nice moment here.

Martin Stein and Jefferson bond with Stein's family at his home after Cisco and "Squidward"... err Wells (Earth-2 version) cooked up a means to destabilize their connection as Firestorm. For those who don't watch Legends, this has been an ongoing dilemma this season as Jefferson wants to break Martin Stein from their bond for Stein could return home to his family.

In typical soap opera fashion (much to chagrin that these CW DC Comics-based shows are written), the wedding gets crashed - literally - and we get a Nazi invasion while the heroes take action. What surprises me here is the lack of concern for the sake of maintaining secret identities. The Central City police are in attendance for the wedding, but Barry Allen uses his powers in plain view while Oliver Queen takes arms as the Arrow without a second thought. At least the Legends, Supergirl, and Alex Danvers have an excuse as the Legends are usually time displaced most of the time anyway while Kara and Alex aren't from this reality anyway. Still, that just seemed a bit odd for me here.

I don't want to sell the church battle short, but wow, that was one of the best choreographed action sequences ever (from what I've seen anyway...) out of any of these Arrowverse shows. If you don't watch anything else in this crossover, just watch that sequence in its entirety.

They cover all of the bases here: Cisco gets to do some breaching action to help Oliver out and invites Caitlin's "angry roommate" out to play, Barry and Wally protect the civilians, Kara takes the heavy hitting matters outside and away from everyone else, Alex and Sara dance once more - this time with hand-to-hand combat, and Mick just enjoys all of it.

I'm with Mick here. I'm all for more Killer Frost. The ongoing joke was that he was going out of his way trying to piss Caitlin off to bring Frost back out while he was around.

My thoughts exactly... It's up there with Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's from Spider-Man: The Animated Series from the impromptu team-ups that it created.

Shortly after this ordeal, the heroes are confronted with the lead metahumans in charge of this invasion - Overgirl, Dark Arrow, and Reverse Flash. The first two are obviously dopplegangers from Earth-X, with Eobard Thawne somehow surviving the events of the Season Two finale of Legends. At this point, I'm done trying to keep up with this shit in terms of how many times he's been killed off and/or revive due to time travel, the Legends, or Barry's fuck-ups due to Flashpoint in The Flash Season Three, so I'm just like whatever at this point. Barry just killed his doppleganger in Savitar during The Flash Season Three finale so there was no point to bring him back again. That would have been hella redundant, so Thawne was a nice call, even more so for him to wear Wells' face again. I thought Tom Cavanagh was always a better choice for playing Thawne over Matt Letscher who took over in the role in The Flash Season Two and Legends Season Two. I personally don't watch Arrow (but I love Felicity Smoak though...), but I thought the Dark Arrow (Dark Archer would make a better name but I'm not getting paid to name these characters... that's Cisco's job) and Overgirl (Haha, I get it a spin on Overman's name from Earth-X) were clever opposite reflections on Oliver and Kara's characters. I visibly cringed when Kara tried to reason with her evil doppleganger while Barry and Oliver were straight to business when the fighting started. I thought it was cool that Metallo was included in the set of villains from Earth-X but he didn't get nearly enough screen time for my taste. I guess they had to limit his scenes as they were already pushing it on terms of the visuals for this crossover.

Exactly how exciting I'm picturing the rest of the Arrowverse seasons will be after the SFX budget has been blown in this crossover... 

I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the Arrowverse shows look like the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers fighting the Putty Patrol with the mid-season finales right around the corner next week. There's no way that they haven't blown their special effects budget from how great some of these scenes looked here. I have to admit I was really impressed with a lot of the action sequences in this.

Always nice to see Wentworth Miller back in costume as Captain Cold/Leonard Snart.

In Part 3 of this crossover, the heroes found themselves captured and sent to a prison on Earth-X while Kara was held against her will at S.T.A.R. Labs as Thawne prepared to harvest her organs to replace those in the dying Overgirl from her overexposure to solar radiation. The heroes found themselves rescued by Earth-X's Leonard Snart/Citizen Cold and found themselves a new ally in Snart and one of their fellow inmates, The Ray. The Ray is supposed to make his Arrowverse debut in the upcoming straight-to-DVD animated movie, but damn, I had NO idea that they were going to debut him in this crossover. It was cool to see him around but much like Metallo, I kinda wish that he was given some more screen time to get established, but I understand why not, as this crossover was jam-packed enough as it was. The Ray is the homosexual partner of Snart in this continuity and if the looks on Barry and Oliver's didn't say it for everyone else, NO ONE saw that coming. This episode ends with Flash and Ray taking on Red Tornado while everyone else infiltrates the enemy stronghold to hopefully use their portal to get back home to Earth-1. We got another great sequence with Ray and Flash in action against Red Tornado, while the rest of the team fought against the other Nazi forces. Unfortunately, Martin Stein took a stray bullet shot and was mortally wounded. This episodes ends with a cliffhanger as viewers are left wondering Stein's fate along with the fate of Iris and Felicity back in S.T.A.R. Labs, who managed to rescue Supergirl, but were apprehended by Reverse Flash before they could escape.

I can't say that I didn't see it coming but the second Jefferson and Stein decided to separate from being Firestorm I thought it was a bad idea. As much as I was laughing at Iris and Felicity's exploits, it would have made the villains in this crossover pretty lame if they were foiled by them without any opposition. It's not until Part 4 where we learn that Stein's injuries are fatal and it would have killed him sooner if not for his connection to Jefferson. After a touching moment between the two characters, Stein severs their connection as Firestorm with the concoction that Cisco and Wells devised back in Part 1 and dies on the Waverider.

Rest in peace, Professor Stein. 

This was a sad moment for the Legends, especially since Martin Stein was a father figure to many of the heroes in this crossover and integral part of Team Flash and the Waverider crew since the first seasons of both Legends and The Flash.

If that couldn't be only great scene in this episode, we get another from Felicity Smoak as she finds herself in a hopeless situation as the Dark Arrow stood ready and willing to kill her for Supergirl to keep Overgirl alive. God, I love this woman...

Anywho, Professor Stein's sacrifice allowed the heroes to return in time to aid the rest of the Legends (who Felicity and Iris sent an SOS for help, along with some token members of Team Arrow, but you're crazy if you think I knew who all of those losers were supposed to be outside of Mr. Terrific...) in reclaiming S.T.A.R. Labs and forcing the Nazi's of Earth-X to retreat. The heroes mourn the loss of Stein with even Jefferson informing his family of the unfortunate news. My only gripe from this was that Jefferson's acting was fucking awful here.

From that loss, the heroes have their motivation to make a final stand against the invaders from Earth-X as we're treated to the crossover team-up group shot. Whoever filmed this had to be a fan of Power Rangers/Super Sentai as this was straight out of their MANY team-up episodes. I was half expecting everyone to do a roll call and do henshin transformation poses. I won't deny that I geeked out a little seeing everyone together like this. Bravo, Arrowverse, you did good on this one.

The only thing missing in the background here was that traditional explosion in the background and everyone shouting, "POWER RANGERS!"

Nothing much to write home about in the final fight. Supergirl fights Overgirl to a stalemate until Overgirl overheats and self-destructs. Flash beats Reverse Flash and just lets him go. Man, I don't even know anymore on that one. Hey Barry, do you need Iris to kill him too for you like she did Savitar? At least Oliver killed his own doppleganger and there wasn't even no second thoughts about it. Glad to see someone in this crossover has some balls when it comes to these damn evil doubles and know you can't leave these lunatics alive.

Killer Frost doing her best Iceman... err Icewoman, impression for the ladies from Legends

This crossover ends with not one but two weddings to end this on a happy note as Iris and Barry finally tie the knot while Oliver and Felicity finally decide to do the same within the same impromptu ceremony. What was fucked up is that they waited until Kara and Alex went back to their Earth before cooking up this idea. It would have been nice to have them around for this when they were already hanging around for the bulk of this crossover anyway. It's not like Alex and Kara had anything better to do.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

If you don't watch anything Arrowverse related this season, I HIGHLY recommend this season's crossover event. There's a lot of laughs, some great action, and a few heart-touching moments to enjoy from start to finish. This was actually a LOT better than the bulk of all three out of the four Arrowverse shows that I actually watch have been this entire season thus far if you ask me, if I'm perfectly honest. 

REVIEW -- Injustice 2

Injustice 2 is a fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the sequel to 2013's Injustice: Gods Among Us. The game was released in May 2017 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Similar to the previous installment, a companion mobile app was released for iOS and Android devices.

The core gameplay remains similar to its predecessor, albeit with minor adjustments to returning game mechanics. Injustice 2 introduces a new feature called the Gear System, a loot-dropping system that rewards players with costume pieces and equipment that can be used to customize characters' appearances and modify their abilities and stats. According to developers, the idea for implementing an RPG-style progression system into a fighting game had existed since before the fall of Midway Games, the original publisher for the Mortal Kombat series. Director Ed Boon also sought to incorporate gameplay mechanics used by multiplayer shooter games, such as personalization, character creation, loot, and leveling up, into the fighting game genre, which led to the development of the Gear System.

Injustice 2's storyline centers around Batman and his insurgency's attempt to restore society after the fall of Superman's regime; however, the arrivals of the newly formed supervillain group "The Society" and the alien Brainiac force Batman to consider freeing the imprisoned Superman to help combat the threats.

Plot: (FULL Spoilers) 

Five years after Superman's defeat, Batman and his collaborators attempt to piece the world back together. However, a new faction, the Society, composed of villains spearheaded by Gorilla Grodd, emerges and plans for world domination. With several of his allies either victims of or collaborators with Superman's failed regime, Batman is forced to create a new team to combat the Society. He sends Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Harley Quinn to combat them in Gorilla City, where Doctor Fate warns Green Arrow and Black Canary of an incoming threat towards the planet. After defeating Grodd, the two are abducted by Brainiac, the true mastermind behind the Society. Having previously collected and destroyed Krypton, he had intended to reclaim Superman, but became interested in adding Earth to his collection. After Brainiac takes over Batman's communications hub, Brother Eye, Batman searches for allies to combat him.

Catwoman, Batman's double agent within the Society, frees Harley from Gorilla City. Flash and a reformed Green Lantern reunite before joining Batman, who sends Hal to Atlantis to gain Aquaman's assistance. Aquaman refuses to cooperate at first, but relents after Brainiac attacks Atlantis. Meanwhile, Black Adam has found Kara Zor-El's disabled evacuation ship in space and brought her to Kahndaq, where he and Wonder Woman give partial truths about her cousin, leading her to become "Supergirl". When they witness Brainiac's forces attacking Earth, they attempt to revive the regime. Desperate, Batman releases Superman from custody.

Cyborg, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn return to the Batcave to free Brother Eye from Brainiac's control and coordinate civilian evacuation efforts. Wonder Woman takes Supergirl to Metropolis, and openly challenges Batman's plan. When she comes close to killing Cheetah and Harley Quinn, Supergirl stops her and heads to the Fortress of Solitude to confront Superman on the matter, learning the truth of her cousin's tyranny. With several of Earth's cities abducted, Brainiac prepares to eradicate the planet. The alliance attempts to take on Brainiac's ship, but his shields are too strong and he seemingly kills Superman in the process. They concoct a plan to weaken Brainiac's shields by using Aquaman's trident as a conduit for the magic of the Rock of Eternity.

Grodd pursues Aquaman and Black Adam with a brainwashed Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Blue Beetle. After Aquaman kills Grodd, the pair successfully weakens Brainiac's shields enough for Batman and Supergirl to break in. The two are captured, but Batman is rescued by Superman. After they defeat a brainwashed Firestorm and Swamp Thing, they are confronted by Doctor Fate, turned into Brainiac's servant by the Lords of Order. Fate is defeated and his helmet is destroyed, removing the Lords' influence; however, he is impaled and killed by Brainiac. They then incapacitate Brainiac, taking control of the ship. Superman manages to restore most of the cities back to their original locations.

The heroes are divided over Brainiac's fate. Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Supergirl want to spare him in order to restore the lost cities. Superman, Aquaman, Black Adam, and Wonder Woman want to kill him to eliminate his potential threat and use his ship. Batman subdues Superman with a gold kryptonite-laden dagger and a battle ensues. Batman and Superman defeat each other's teammates before engaging in a final battle in the Batcave. The battle has two endings, depending on which side the player chooses.

If Superman wins, he kills Brainiac, bonds with the ship and reestablishes the regime. He offers an imprisoned Supergirl the chance to join his army, claiming he restored the remaining cities and put Earth at peace. She refuses, and is horrified when she sees Batman under Superman's mind control.

If Batman wins, he depowers Superman and imprisons him in the Phantom Zone. He decides to create a new Justice League with his allies and offers Supergirl a membership within it.

Gameplay: 

It's time to throw dem hands...

Injustice 2 retains numerous gameplay mechanics from Injustice: Gods Among Us, including environment interaction, stage transitions, clashes, and character traits. The trait system, like before, provides a temporary buff or ability that compliments each character's playstyle. The super meter, which allows players to execute enhanced special moves and unlock powerful "super moves" when fully charged, also returns. Players can expend meter to perform new techniques, such as an evasive forward roll, which provides a way to overcome enemy keep-away tactics, or an air recovery, which lets characters escape an opponent's combo early. Most environmental attacks, which were completely unavoidable in the first Injustice game, can now be blocked; however, certain environmental attacks with large amounts of startup, such as throwing a car, will remain unblockable.

Injustice 2 introduces a loot-dropping system, known as the "Gear System", which offers character-specific costume pieces and equipment with status-altering effects. The Gear System uses RPG-like mechanics to reward players with experience and loot after every match. Every playable fighter is given four base stats: strength, defense, health, and ability, the latter of which impacts special attacks. As players collect experience points and subsequently level up, their characters' base stats will increase. Players can enhance their base stats even further by equipping gear obtained through loot drops, which also lets players customize the look of their characters. Rarer gear can include one or more bonus augmentations, which range from new visual effects for special moves to higher yields of in-game currency or experience points. Players can receive additional bonuses by equipping their characters with all five pieces of a single gear set. Gear comes in three varieties: equipment, shaders, and abilities. Besides the random loot earned at the end of a fight, all three types of gear are available to purchase in loot crates, known as "Mother Boxes", using in-game currency. Each character has five equipment slots for donning new costume pieces, which include their head, torso, arms, legs, and an accessory; two ability slots for equipping new or modified special attacks; and one shader slot for altering their color scheme. The game will also include five separate gear loadouts for each character, allowing players to switch between their setups at the beginning of each match.

The game also includes a microtransaction system. Players can buy "Source Crystals" using real-world money to purchase cosmetic adjustments for fighters, such as premier skins and shaders, instead of waiting to obtain them through normal play. Source Crystals can also be used to buy "Transform Gear". Transform Gear lets players apply the visuals of one piece of gear to another, allowing them to match their preferred stat modifiers with their preferred costume pieces. Lastly, once players have reached Level 20 with at least one character, Source Crystals can be used to level up other characters to their maximum levels. NetherRealm representatives clarified that any purchases made with Source Crystals are strictly cosmetic and offer no gameplay advantages.

In addition to the campaign, online, and arcade modes, Injustice 2 introduces a new "Multiverse" mode. Similar to the "Living Towers" mode from NetherRealm's previous title, Mortal Kombat X, the Multiverse allows players to travel through series of parallel worlds within the DC Universe and battle against opponents with various handicaps, stipulations, and goals. Online multiplayer will feature the option to disable Gear System upgrades and modifications, reducing all base stats to their default levels, turning any equipped gear into purely cosmetic items, and providing more balanced gameplay for competitive matches. Players can also form online "guilds" with up to 50 other players. Guild members can collaborate to complete daily and weekly cooperative objectives to earn and share gear exclusive to guild gameplay and climb the worldwide leaderboards.

The Verdict: 

Narrative

The game picks up almost immediately after where the first game left off, only 5 years later after the Justice League (from the main continuity) teamed up with Batman's Insurgency to defeat (Evil) Superman and take him to prison while his regime of followers went into hiding. I found it rather odd, at least from a gameplay perspective that Robin/Damien Wayne plays like the "new" Robin in the prologue of sorts, but he plays how Nightwing/Dick Grayson did in the original game, despite the fact that he's not playable this time around. I'm aware that Nightwing had an alternate costume/skin that made him take on Damien's appearance in the Injustice universe, but that would be just straight up rude (or better yet... cruel) of NetherRealms to include Nightwing as a DLC add-on out of one of the future additional (of possible 10 total that NRS are promising).

Things quickly rehash/recap the events that kickstarted the events of the first game that ends with a face off between Batman and Superman before fast-forwarding to the present with the alarming presence of Brainiac coming to Earth. I found it rather interesting that this sequel took some subtle nods from some of DC Comics' other works, such as Batman developing Brother Eye to monitor the rest of the metahumans on Earth (which ultimately bit him in the ass like it did during the Future's End event), Brainiac coming to Earth after the emergence of Kryptonians (Superman and Supergirl) peaked his interest, and Batman's kryptonite-powered Bat-suit (same thing Terry McGinnis uses against Justice Lords Superman in the Batman Beyond comics that are canonical with the animated series of the same name and the Justice League Unlimited animated series) to name a few.

I hope NRS does an Arrowverse themed Premiere skin pack for we can get costumes and dialogue for the CW versions
of The Flash, Captain Cold/Leonard Snart, Supergirl, and Canary. 

Each chapter of the 11+ chapters of the Story Mode (with 76 battles total if you want to see EVERY event transpire from all perspectives), allows you to play as one or two characters with the case of team-ups you have the option of selecting a different character prior to the pending battle at hand. My only gripe with this is that you can only pause or skip when the game reaches a certain point in the cutscenes, but restarting/reloading checkpoints after losing a battle or restarting where you quit is rather a chore as you're forced to watch a lengthy cutscene or two before you get back to where you were. I know that's more than enough to annoy casual players, along with the sometimes unforgiving AI in this mode. Some battles the AI is a complete pushover, while others it really kicks it up a few notches.

Each of the characters seem interchangeable with little effort done for their individual motives outside of maybe the Trinity, Supergirl, and Brainiac while others you're stuck left wondering why were they even here for this game's events, such as Atrocitus and Dex-Star just showing up in Hal Jordan's chapter merely to offer a Red Lantern ring to him or Cheetah and Reverse Flash showing up in Wonder Woman and The Flash's chapters respectively. I just felt that there was little thought put into some of these encounters other than "Oh let's have their archenemies and rogues face X hero/anti-hero here" to extend this campaign's run-time out or act as mere fan service. It just comes off as lazy in execution in the grand scheme of things.

To say that Grodd's Society (Reverse Flash, Cheetah, Bane, Deadshot, Captain Cold, and Grodd himself) were supposed to be major players in this game like the initial trailers hyped them up to be, they came off to be to pretty much an afterthought once Brainiac came into the picture and filled in the time doing his grunt work when he could have easily sent his drones to do what Grodd promised to assist him with.

Batman's Ending - This is the preferred ending for most players and the one I leaned towards more after dwelling upon it. Batman's planning proved to be fruitful - as usual - as he manages to subdue Superman and strip him away of his powers with the gold kryptonite. Imprisonment into the Phantom Zone is what they should have done in the first damn place, but given that thing, I doubt that would have held him in there long anyway.

That being said, I felt this was the "good" ending out of the two, with peace returning back to Earth as Batman and Supergirl lay down the foundations for a new Justice League. For some reason these games continue to ignore what happens to Batman's allies and Superman's Regime members after the climax. It just comes across as VERY lazy writing. 

Superman's Ending - This is the ending that didn't sit well with a lot of people - myself included - that left the Injustice universe in a far worse state than it was when the game began. Superman has merged his mind with Brainiac's ship and restored the archived civilizations and remaining cities that were thought to be lost. We can safely assume that Superman killed Brainiac as well, but anyone who follows the comics or seen any cartoon that Brainiac has been in knows that guy is harder to get rid of than butt acne and Ultron combined.

Call me crazy, but I think this ending is the one that has a lot more potential to be made canon with future sequels in this universe as there's far too many possibilities on where they could take this further. I know this is the ending that most people don't like and much rather they make Batman's ending canon, but if you read the Injustice tie-in comics, this universe has a knack (more like ongoing trope) for everything going from bad to worse, to shit hitting the fan in the worst way possible. 

Gear System

The Gear System allows players to customize their character(s) with stat modifying buffs and bonuses that change their appearance.  

As detailed above, the Gear System adds a RPG element to the fighting game genre, with loot boxes to have players obsess over like the fans of Overwatch as their rewards from their performances in matches from multiplayer and even single player content. The problem with this system is that while it's fun and addictive enough to extend the game's shelf-life outside of the competitive realm, it's completely random on what loot you acquire for the character(s) that you are playing. There's an option in the General Settings in the main menu to optimize/sway the loot acquired more towards the characters that you are playing currently, but it's still going to be a grind to get the stuff that you want. Out of the four days I had the game rented out of the past weekend, I got one character up to roughly Level 15, a few others to 5-10 thanks to play in Story Mode and miscellaneous Multiverse events and Battle Simulator ladders, but grew bored with this task rather quickly. Eventually I stopped caring how the gear looked on my favorite characters and was just looking for stuff with the best stats period. As the Multiverse challenges increase in difficulty or the rewards spike up in value, I'm sure that most players will resort to doing the same thing, especially in online multiplayer matches where these buffed characters are allowed to go nuts. 

I do appreciate the effort here by NetherRealm Studios to give players the ability to truly make these characters their own cosmetically and via customizable abilities and stats, but I wish there was an option to equip/change your gear without going all the way back to that menu. In single player modes, especially after receiving rewards, they should have included an option to open Mother Boxes right on the spot instead of going back to that menu too. It gets rather redundant really quickly. Players must also note that Mother Boxes should be opened the second you get them as the loot and gear within always applies to your character(s)'s current level, with the rare instances where you might get an Epic (rare) loot drop that is max level.

At least NRS had the foresight to make sure these customizations where only allowed in specific modes of play and won't completely ruin the online experience like the customizations found in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. God, I hope Namco-Bandai learned from their mistakes for Tekken 7...

Overall Experience

Damn, this game had some superb promotional artwork done.

To be honest, I can't speak on the Online Modes as it worked the first night of my rental with this as I was able to join a Guild, but for the rest of the weekend those options on the Main Menu were either grayed out or inaccessible in red, citing that I couldn't connect to the Injustice 2 server, despite being online to PSN. Maybe I had a bugged copy of the game or NetherRealms were doing maintenance but that's something I guess I would have to come back to if I were to rent or purchase this again down the road. From what I have heard from my friends' own online experiences, Deadshot is pretty much the Week 1 Deathstroke from the original Injustice, dominating the online matches with everyone resorting to spammable tactics for wins. 

I have to give NRS props where it's due. DC Comics' heroes and villains haven't ever looked this good in video game, since maybe DC Universe Online, but even these character models blow a lot of those out of the water. I'm glad that they abandoned the grim and depressing colors of the previous game and breathed a lot of life here with the usage of more colors. It makes this world come to life visually and aesthetically on an artistic level too. While I'm not too crazy about a lot of the voices cast to play parts in this (Kevin Conroy as Batman, George Newborn as Superman, and Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman I was perfectly fine with, but everyone else was either hit or miss IMO), the lip syncing and facial animations were incredible. I just wish NRS would quit recycling that death animation at the end of matches where opponents would fall down, only to stand back up and drop to one knee/on their knees in defeat. It's a minor gripe but looks so damn lazy when everything else looks amazing in this game.

As for the controls, they are the same as the first game, but I ran into a minor issue. If you're a Street Fighter player and looking to do those style inputs in a NetherRealms style fighter, it's not going to be understood by the game by default. Instead, the game has Input Shortcuts and Negative Edge enabled by default, so you have to disable those if you want traditional Street Fighter style inputs for the game. Even after changing that in the menus, I had an issue where moves weren't coming out properly to the point where I just said screw it and went back to the default settings. It's possibly something that will get patched out/corrected in a future update, but a minor annoyance for me in my short time with the game. Hey, I didn't care for those input controls for Mortal Kombat 9 nor the original Injustice and it's rather ridiculous that they have the option to switch the style inputs only for it to work haphazardly. 

With Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Tekken 7 on the horizon after the flop that was Street Fighter V's console release, Injustice 2 definitely raised the bar up from out of the toilet and into the heavens on what should be expected out of these fighting games in terms of single player content. Injustice 2's Story Mode is roughly 3-5 hours of content alone if you manage to do EVERYTHING with all of the branching story paths and multiple playable characters. The Multiverse is a fun, yet easy method to grind for EXP (experience) for characters, tokens/coins for spending on in-game items, and acquire Mother Boxes for obtaining more loot to customize your character(s) with. I'm glad that they scrapped the STAR Labs mode from the original game for this as those mini-games went from fun to absolutely retarded. Here, you can just pick up your favorite character(s) and have a ball however you see fit, no matter what your skill level is. On top of that, the Multiverse challenges refresh and update every few hours/days, so there's always something new to come back and do, along with the daily challenges (Street Fighter V has this as well, but who actually cares about doing those daily?) as well. 

Let's not forget about the downloadable content (DLC) on the horizon as well.

I can easily tell that Black Manta and Raiden make up the two of those 6 remaining DLC fighters, but no idea on the rest.

Sweet news to hear that Starfire is getting to be in this as I wanted her to be in the original, but seeing Red Hood makes me groan with disgust that I'm hoping that this game doesn't make the same mistake the original did and oversaturate the roster with nothing but Bat-Family affiliates and Batman rogues. From the tie-in comics and characters in the DC Universe as a whole, they shouldn't have any shortage of characters to pick from to be in this game. It's not like the original game where they had to depend on fan favorites and the established Batman brand to sell the product to people since it was a new IP. I know there's going to be plenty of people that disagree with me in that aspect, but for fuck's sake, there's TONS of games out there where you can play as Batman-themed characters. There's SOOO many other characters in DC Comics that deserve some representation in these games too.

Play It or Don't Bother?

Martha ain't gonna save you from this beatdown, Bats.

I personally rented the game last week for 5 days - completed Story Mode, ran through all most all of the roster's individual character trials/tutorials, and had enough time to dwell into the Multiverse for a lengthy bit of time. With the online content excluded, I enjoyed my time with the game. If you like the original game, there's more of the same while the fresh faces on the roster spice things up in a positive manner. I just hope that they bring back some of the other noteworthy characters from the original back in some fashion. If John Stewart can be in this as a premiere skin for GL and he's dead in the official storyline canon, I think NetherRealm Studios can find a means to make other characters playable in a similar regard. They have more than enough content here to keep players busy on and offline for months on end with the Multiverse and grinding it out for loot for Gear customizations for their favorite fighters while online Guilds and the Online AI Simulators will ensure that players of all skill levels will get something out of all modes of play. 

While I could knock this game for the sometimes "clunky" speed combat feels at times (it's just something about NetherRealms games that always feels off to me coming from Tekken/Soul Calibur and Street Fighter into playing this) and the recycled death/defeat animations, there's still some fun to be had here. NRS definitely learned their lessons from their first outing here and definitely raised the bar for a fighting game launch with tons of single player content, a thorough tutorial to teach players the basics and advanced techniques, and a stable (from what I've heard) online environment. 

Sorry, Capcom, but you're definitely going to have to bring your A game when Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite drops later this year after that mess that was Street Fighter V's launch last year. DC Comics and NetherRealms have raised the bar big time. For that, I'm more than happy to recommend that players give this game a shot. There's something here for everyone to enjoy, whether you plan on grinding it in the long haul and master every character and dominate the opposition online or you're just in for the short run for the story and messing around with the Multiverse and other various single player content. 

PREVIEW -- Injustice 2: Story Trailer

So Brainiac is the big bad this time around?

After reading all of the Injustice prequel and tie-in books, I was wondering what happened to him and Supergirl to be honest. Shit must really hit the fan if even the Red Lanterns are getting involved. The Sinestro Corps were brought in the prequel comics at one point with Evil Superman even wielding one of their rings. In comparison to the tie-in books, the video game has a lot on their plates if they want to deliver in the story department. I really hope they deliver in that aspect. If you haven't already, go out of your way to read the Injustice comics. They are surprisingly VERY good. I can't put that out there enough.

Cool that Bane's back and Poison Ivy has been confirmed playable too, but I hope that they don't go nuts with Batman-related characters. I said this on Facebook too, but I REALLY hope they don't make the mistake like the first game and devote most of the in-game roster to Batman's rogues gallery and the Bat-Family when there's a TON of DC Comics characters that deserve to be in this game. That was fine for the first game since they were trying to market this as a new IP but now the fanbase has been established and it's time to start showing off some more of these major players that were in the tie-in comics but didn't see the light of day in the video game.

That being said, I see Robin (Damian Wayne) will more likely inherit Nightwing's moveset and traits in this game since the deceased Dick Grayson is the new Deadman in the Injustice tie-in comics. I don't see them putting in both Batgirl and Batwoman in this when they can make them DLC skins for each other, which is reportedly what one of Supergirl's DLC costumes is going to be for she can be swapped out for Power Girl. Remember they did the same thing with Jon Stewart Green Lantern and Arrow for Green Arrow, providing alternate voices and dialogue.

CW Arrowverse Crossover (Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, DC's Legends of Tomorrow) -- Invasion!! (Parts 1-3)

"Invasion!" is the third annual Arrowverse crossover event, crossing over episodes of the Arrowverse television series The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow on The CW, and is inspired by the 1989 comic miniseries Invasion!. Events at the end of the Supergirl episode "Medusa" on November 28, 2016 marked the beginning of the crossover, which officially began on November 29 with The Flash, continued on Arrow on November 30, and concluded on Legends of Tomorrow on December 1. Each of the latter three episodes are also titled "Invasion!". "Invasion!" sees Barry Allen recruit Kara Danvers to his Earth to help his team, Oliver Queen and his team, and the Legends defeat the alien race known as the Dominators.

Development for a crossover between the three series, along with Supergirl, began in May 2016 after it was revealed that Supergirl would move to The CW from CBS for its second season. By the following September, the scripts for each episode had been written, with filming occurring shortly after, in October 2016. The premise and episode titles were also revealed that month. "Invasion!" sees all of the main cast members for each series appear in at least their own series, with Melissa Benoist appearing as Supergirl across the entire crossover. Multiple actors and characters from previous Arrow seasons also return to reprise their roles, as it was also Arrow's 100th episode.

Premise: (FULL Spoilers)

Supergirl Season 2, Episode 8: "Medusa" (Fall Finale)

The Danvers along with James, Winn and Mon-El celebrate Thanksgiving. Hank Henshaw unleashes a virus in the alien bar that kills the aliens except Mon-El, who is quarantined. Eliza determines the virus is Kryptonian. At the Fortress of Solitude, Kara learns that Henshaw was after "Medusa", a virus developed by Kara's father to kill all non-Kryptonian aliens in case of an invasion. Cyborg Superman attacks L-Corp looking for the isotope required for dispersal, but Kara stops him. Alex comes out to Eliza, who is fully supportive. Kara tells Lena that Lillian is Cadmus' leader and wants help finding her, but Lena refuses. Lena gives Lillian a case containing the isotope. Kara and J'onn confront the Luthors and Henshaw before Medusa is launched via rocket. J'onn fights Cyborg Superman, becoming a White Martian, while Kara chases the rocket down, but fails. Medusa is dispersed; however it is inert, as Lena switched the isotope with a fake to gain Lillian's trust. Lillian is arrested, but Cyborg Superman escapes. Mon-El is cured and Eliza uses Medusa to restore J'onn's Green Martian form. Maggie and Alex kiss after Maggie admits she has feelings for Alex. An unknown alien race is searching for Mon-El. Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon arrive from another Earth to enlist Kara's help.

The episode ends with a scene setting up the crossover event "Invasion!" that begins on The Flash season 3 episode 8, continues on Arrow season 5 episode 8 and concludes on Legends of Tomorrow season 2 episode 7.

The Flash Season 3, Episode 8: Invasion!! (Part 1)

Barry investigates a meteor crash outside Central City that turns out to be a spaceship from which aliens emerge. Lyla tells the team that the "Dominators" landed previously in the 1950s, but then mysteriously departed. Needing help, Barry assembles the original Team Arrow, Thea, the Legends, and Kara, Supergirl of Earth-38. The team begins training at a S.T.A.R. Labs facility, sparring against Supergirl to prepare against the aliens. Cisco finds and reveals a message to Rip Hunter from Barry's future self, which exposes Barry's manipulation of the timeline and how it affected other team members. Oliver, Kara, Felicity, Martin and Jefferson become the only ones who still trust Barry. The Dominators abduct the President.

Kara leads most of the others in a rescue effort, but the Dominators kill the President and trap them with a mind control device. The controlled heroes return and attack S.T.A.R. Labs. While Oliver and Wally hold them off, Barry lures Kara to the device and manipulates her into destroying it, freeing everyone. The team decides to trust Barry again. Suddenly, Sara, Ray, Diggle, Thea, and Oliver are teleported away before Barry can intervene.This episode begins a crossover that continues on Arrow season 5 episode 8 and concludes on Legends of Tomorrow season 2 episode 7.

Arrow Season 5, Episode 8: "Invasion!!" (Part 2 -- 100th episode special)

Oliver finds himself back at Queen Manor; both his parents are alive, he is about to be married to Laurel Lance, and Diggle is the Hood. However, it is revealed that he, Diggle, Thea, Sara and Ray are all being held unconscious inside pods aboard a Dominator spaceship. Meanwhile, Felicity, Curtis and Cisco Ramon try to hack into the Dominators' mainframe using a piece of their technology. The team recovers a necessary device with the help of the Flash and Supergirl, and they manage to locate the others. Oliver begins seeing flashes of his former life, as do Sara and Ray. All five captives soon realize that they are inside a shared hallucination. 

Their escape attempt is blocked by Malcolm Merlyn, Deathstroke, Damien Darhk and their mercenaries, all of whom are defeated by the captives. The captives then leave the dream and awaken inside the ship. Escaping in a shuttle, they are rescued by the Waverider. Ray deduces that the Dominators were gathering information from their minds, using the hallucination as a distraction, to help them complete a special "weapon". The team learns that the Dominator mothership is headed towards Earth.This episode continues a crossover that begins on The Flash season 3 episode 8 and concludes on Legends of Tomorrow season 2 episode 7.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 2, Episode 7: "Invasion!!" (Part 3)

As cool as this image looked I couldn't help but notice that there's a LOT of people missing. What happened to the rest of Arrow's sidekicks without any powers if Diggle and Heatwave get to join in this fight? We know Canary was on the Waverider with Cisco but damn... 

Continuing from "Invasion! part two", Nate, Mick, Amaya, Felicity and Cisco travel back to the first Dominator invasion in Oregon, 1951. The Legends members successfully capture a Dominator for information, but are themselves captured by Federal agents led by an Agent Smith. While in custody, they learn from the Dominator that the aliens arrived to assess the threat humanity posed now that metahumans have appeared. Felicity and Cisco rescue the Legends and help set the Dominator free. Meanwhile in Central City, 2016, the team learns from an older Agent Smith that the Dominators know about Barry's manipulation of the timeline, and that they demand his surrender in exchange for peace. After Nate's party returns, the team discovers that the Dominators' weapon is a bomb that will kill all metahumans on Earth, with millions of collateral human casualties. The teams dissuade Barry from surrendering, with Cisco reconciling with him. They manage to destroy the bomb and force the Dominators to retreat using pain-inflicting nanotechnology. Cisco gives Kara a device to travel between universes. Martin convinces Jefferson not to tell the others that his daughter, Lily, (whom he met in part one), is an aberration.This episode concludes a crossover that began on The Flash season 3 episode 8 and continued on Arrow season 5 episode 8.

The Verdict:

It's only fair to analyze this crossover event by the four separate shows that it consists of.

Starting off with Supergirl, I have to say that it was in poor taste by the CW to market this episode as part of the crossover when it really didn't have nothing to do with it outside of the 30 second tease at the end that saw Cisco and Barry Allen arrive to her universe. The majority of this episode was tying up loose ends with the Luthor family/CADMUS, J'onn/White Martian, and Mon-El subplots, along with Alex continuing to cope with her newfound sexual identity.

I don't have a problem with Alex coming out as lesbian to her family and this show going that route to emphasize the importance of coming to terms with your sexual identity, but I fear that some viewers will feel that subject is being forced down their throats, especially with just about every Arrowverse show except for The Flash seems to have a LGBT character as a recurring cast member. That being said, it was a relief to see that Alex's mother was more accepting of Alex's choice than Kara was. That moment from a few episodes back where Kara, of all people, would give her sister hell about that was so goddamn awkward.

That being said, I was pretty sure the Luthor family subplot will have something to do with the conclusion of the ordeal with the Dominators. Otherwise, they shouldn't have gone out of their way to introduce this now. In terms of timing that "new weapon" by CADMUS is FAR too convenient timing - especially for what the heroes are going to be up against. That Medusa virus would have made a much more easier method to dispose of the Dominators instead of blowing the special effects budget in a mediocre action sequence in the conclusion of this crossover arc, but whatever...

One more thing... has anyone else busted out laughing like I did at Cyborg Superman looking like Cyborg from the DC Super Powers cartoon?

Onward to The Flash... I thought it was stupid to reopen Pandora's Box on what Barry did on Flashpoint when Felicity Smoak was one of the first people he told about it but she didn't tell the Team Arrow about it. Stein and Jax should've told the Legends crew before they decided to jump to this era which was even more stupid in my honest opinion. As well as I thought that The Flash handled the Killer Frost episode prior to this, it's bizarre to me to see how they are fumbling around with how to tackle this crossover here by bringing up what happened earlier this season that was already resolved to continuing to give Wally hell about using his powers. Have Iris and Joe West even considered that maybe if Wally got trained properly by Barry (and possibly Jesse and Earth-2 Wells too...) that they wouldn't have anything to worry about? Then again, all of this skepticism about Wally having powers is leaning me more and more into the mindset that they are going to try to pull the swerve that Wally ends up being Savitar in this timeline. I could be wrong but I was right about who was Zoom last season too.

Back onto the Flashpoint debate though.. How the hell can White Canary/Sara Lance be mad about Barry tampering with the timeline when she wanted to do the same thing not once but TWICE in Legends when she had a chance to kill Dahrk? Not to mention that her entire crew has been fucking up the timeline on MULTIPLE occasions. If it wasn't for the Waverider and Rip Hunter's instructions they possibly would have had things spiral even more out of control than what Barry has done too. CW, just get the fuck out of here with this shitty writing.

I found it a bit hard to believe that EVERYONE save for Barry and Ollie were brainwashed by the Dominators. That was just FAR too convenient for the sake of the plot here. Speaking of which, I hope they haven't blown their special effects budget on this crossover. Otherwise, the rest of this season for all 4 shows will be nothing but still images like the original ending to the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime. Seriously, what is up with people being mind controlled in ALL of these Arrowverse superhero team-up crossovers? Is that an ongoing joke or something? If so, it's redundant that they are still using it for the 3rd year in a row.

On a visual level, this stuff STILL looks slightly better than an average episode of Power Rangers.

I've been waiting for another Cisco/Felicity Smoak team-up for TOO long now. Why can't we have her on Team Flash full-time? God I love her. Heatwave and "Skirt"'s banter was hilarious, but made me miss Snart even more as I knew he would've had a ton of great one-liners in this.

Where the hell is Citizen Steele and Vixen? How did Palmer get a new Atom suit so fast? I know that Palmer took some of the dwarf star mineral for he could construct a new suit at the end of last week's episode of Legends, but to say that he already finished it in time for this event is a bit jarring. I would complain about how fast everyone got together to start this team-up too but why did they drag on the training sequence so long?

Last but not least, how the hell does Diggle (a dude who just has GUNS and no superpowers at ALL) get to help in this fight when they left Martian Manhunter and Guardian out of this fight? They completely lowballed the cast of Supergirl in this crossover outside of Kara. I can understand why in terms of conflicting filming schedules but damn...

Next we move onto the Arrow tie-in episode... What a fucking cheap way to get all of the old Arrow cast members that were either in past seasons or now starring in spin-offs in a single episode. I hate CW for making me watch an entire episode of Arrow against my will just to see the next part of this crossover team-up event.

This episode is as much of a throwaway as the Supergirl tie-in. Who the fuck is the geek that I'm guessing is supposed to be Mr. Terrific and that Hispanic Casey Jones (Wild Dog?) looking dude? Sue me. I don't watch this fucking show on a regular basis. I'm sure I wasn't the only one going, who the fuck are these losers when Cisco was taken to Team Arrow's base of operations (the Arrow cave?).

Best Sara Lance looked in while in this though. Hot damn I wish she was into guys... I know Ollie wishes she was too to say that he used to bang her and her sister. Speaking of Sara Lance, she had the best moment in this entire episode when they let her kill Deathstroke of all people like it was nothing. Dream or not, that was pretty bad ass I'll admit that. Out of all of the non-powered people in the Arrowverse, she comes off as the coolest (except when Snart was still around) in all aspects. Heatwave is the number two spot, despite managing to outshine everyone else in this crossover in terms of banter and overall depth to an otherwise generic character archetype in this season of Legends.

To say that they had Ollie had that bad ass speech to Barry on the previous episode in this crossover about shit happens in life and this crap happens kinda scales things back a bit to lessen the impact of that moment. Even more so when they are all forced to live this alternate "perfect" life when Barry already let them know how fucked up the timeline is thanks to Flashpoint. I get that this was Arrow's 100th episode special and they wanted to devote something to everyone who've been a part of it along the way, but they could have done their own thing with this episode as a stand-alone episode for this series and did the crossover tie-in(s) AFTER this week. I can say the same for Supergirl as well as it felt like they were just slapping on the big crossover label just to garner attention for these midseason finales.

Out of the VERY few times that I've seen Arrow, I'm fucking GLAD to hear that Laurel's dead. Kill off Thea too and I honestly might watch that show full time. Those actresses and characters do absolutely nothing for me and made even revisiting this show for the few scenes that they were in this crossover a chore to watch.

Their escape from the Dominators ship was fucking comical. So they just left their gear and Palmer's Atom suit (the main thing in Legends that keeps fucking up the timeline everytime the guy leaves parts of it in the past) on the ship without even caring? I repeat myself from the previous episode... Where was Steele during all of this? Was he just hanging out waiting for this moment to rescue the team because he wasn't invited for the rest of this team-up?

That being said, this was a great episode if you're a long-time Arrow fan in sake of nostalgia. For everyone else, it's the weakest of these crossover tie-ins as the Dominators plot was almost nonexistent in this episode outside of the action with Flash and Supergirl that lasted all but a few seconds before going back to the "dream world" with Ollie's group.

We wrap up this crossover event with Legends of Tomorrow. Much like The Flash tie-in episode, this was a back to form without the Domintors' invasion plot being secondary to what was your typical episode of this CW superhero show. This season of Legends has hit a comfortable pattern now where every episode is pretty much a one-off in terms of their time travel era of the week with the subplot of trying to figure out what Reverse Flash and Damien Darhk are doing tampering with the past.

We get a resolution to the subplot with Martin Stein concerning his daughter that spawned out of a result of his own interaction with his younger self and NOT by Flashpoint, along with some more bonding between Stein and Caitlin Snow. That was something I really missed about having Stein on Team Flash as Stein seemed like a father figure to Snow and after what has transpired with her following the "Killer Frost" episode of The Flash last week, she really needed this time to show her kind side again. I'm anxious to see what they are going to do with Stein's daughter. She has to be harmless, much like Jesse in Earth-2 Wells' timeline.

Citizen Steel, Vixen, and Heatwave took charge on this episode for the most part, with Felicity Smoak and an irritable Cisco Ramon tagging along for the time travel field trip to capture and interrogate one of the Dominators from the past. To say that the Legends are supposed to be careful about who sees them and what they do in the past, they sure do love getting captured. It makes them look REALLY stupid at times, especially during this episode where they are captured by officials from the US government for experimentation. Of course, the gang escapes, thanks to an unexpected rescue by Cisco and Felicity (yeah you read that right...) and they manage to free the Dominator as well.

Doing so ends up screwing up the timeline even further and forces Cisco to realize that his personal gripe with Barry is pointless as he just did the same thing. I don't see why they reopened this wound in the first place when it was resolved earlier this season in The Flash and didn't need to be brought up again here. Much like the entire episode devoted to the trip down memory lane on Arrow, this was more unnecessary drama that dragged this crossover down in a bad way.

By the way, I had to laugh at Cisco making a reference to Stranger Things and I immediately went, "It's WAAYYY too soon to be making references to that show right now, buddy."

Finally, things came together for the final battle of this crossover which pitted the heroes against the main group of Dominators while Supergirl and Flash race around the world slapping on the devices that Stein and his daughter worked on together earlier to "short out" the Dominators' brains. This forced the Dominators to make a hasty retreat, but here's the thing that I had a problem with. Couldn't Kara (who had like a minimal role here in this crossover since Day 1) have gone back to her world, get that bioweapon that the Luthor family tried to use on the aliens there and reconfigure it to work on the Dominators only? That just seemed like a missed opportunity to say that they were billing the entire week as part of this crossover and nothing of use came out of the Supergirl midseason finale that could have been applied here.

Once again though, the final battle pushes the Arrowverse's special effects budget to the limit, but still manages to look underwhelming for the most part. It still cool to see all of these characters working together and interacting with each other on such a large scale as this and at the end of the day, I suppose that's all what matters -- despite how lame the Dominators looked.

This episode ends with all of the heroes having a party together in the Star Labs warehouse that looks conveniently like the Hall of Justice from the old Superfriends cartoons. Cisco gave Kara an inter-dimensional breach device, so they are able to do these crossovers much more easily from here on out as she's able to communicate with them for help (as the Dominators are said to exist in her Earth too) and vice versa. I'm pretty sure Palmer's remark about Kara looking like his "cousin" was lost on most people as Brandon Routh (Palmer/The Atom) played Superman in Superman Returns. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Supergirl (more likely Power Girl instead...) in the Arrowverse on Earth-1 though.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

If you're a fan of the Arrowverse then give this a shot, but you're a newcomer or just only watch Supergirl, then you're going to be REALLY disappointed.

This crossover is much like the two Flash/Arrow crossovers before it. There's nothing much here to draw in non-Arrowverse fans into these four episodes, especially the Supergirl tie-in as a newcomer, and the entire week long event as a whole seemed like a waste by the time it was said and done. The Dominators came off as an easily forgettable adversary while most of the crossover appeal to this event was mainly due to how these reunions and meetings between the mash-ups of all of these different characters from different branches of the Arrowverse were going to interact with each other. The main cast of Supergirl really got shafted in this event, with only Melissa Benoist serving as the sole representative from her show while the other three Arrowverse shows were highly selective in who they allowed to participate in these episodes while completely omitting or disregarding others to continue plot points that could have been resolved prior or after this event took place. 

To say that this was the first "major" crossover connecting all four of these CW superhero shows together, I have to say that in terms of a narrative, they failed to deliver in that regard as the main plot was undermined for the vast majority of this affair in favor for plot points that should have been resolved in each of these individual series (much like Supergirl did before her "official" debut in The Flash) beforehand. That being said, the Dominators weren't really a great enemy to pull from the comics anyway as they weren't given much to work with on that storyline, but damn. To say that this was their first big crossover and this was the best they could do by doing 3 individual average episodes of these shows with some guest-stars thrown in with a loose plot tying it all together, just shows that the CW writers' for these shows are grasping at straws in terms what to do on these shows. Seeing all of these character interact and trade banter was the greatest appeal here, but all of that is for nothing when the story and action (for the most part) doesn't deliver as well. 

REVIEW -- Supergirl: Season 2 Episodes 1-2 - "The Adventures of Supergirl" and "Children of Krypton"

Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist) was sent to Earth from the doomed planet Krypton as a 13-year-old by her parents Zor-El (Robert Gant) and Alura (Laura Benanti). Alura gave her instructions to protect her infant cousin Kal-El, and informed her that she, like her cousin, would have extraordinary powers under Earth's yellow sun.

En route to Earth, Kara's spacecraft was diverted by a shock wave from Krypton's explosion and forced into the Phantom Zone, where it stayed for 24 years. During this period, time stopped for Kara so, when the spacecraft eventually escaped the Phantom Zone, she still appeared to be a 13-year-old girl. By the time the spacecraft crash landed on Earth, Kal-El had grown up and become Superman. After helping her out of the craft, Superman took Kara to be adopted by his friends, the Danvers family. The main series begins eleven years later when the now 24-year-old Kara is learning to embrace her powers after previously hiding them.

Kara hid her powers for more than a decade, believing that Earth didn't need another hero. However, she has to reveal her powers to thwart an unexpected disaster, setting her on her own journey of heroism as National City's protector. Kara discovers that hundreds of the criminals her mother prosecuted as a judge on Krypton are hiding on Earth, including her mother's twin sister Astra (also played by Benanti) and Astra's husband Non (Chris Vance), who seek to rule the world. After briefly becoming suspicious of the true agenda of her boss, Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), she and her adoptive sister, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh), secretly discover that Henshaw is actually a benevolent alien refugee, J'onn J'onzz, who has resided on Earth for over fifty years after escaping a holocaust on his homeworld of Mars. J'onn infiltrated the DEO to reform the organization as well as to watch over both Alex and Kara in addition to guiding the latter in the use of her powers due to his experience with his own abilities. Kara is also being targeted by Earth's criminals as the result of her being related to Superman, and later on encounters an emerging community ofmetahumans and individuals from parallel universes. In the process, Kara accumulates her own rogues gallery who seeks to defeat and destroy her. She is aided by a few close friends and family who guard her secrets—most notably her cousin's longtime friend,James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks)—which also serves as a major plot in high tech mogul Maxwell Lord's (Peter Facinelli) scheme to expose Kara's identity.

Plot (FULL Spoilers)

"The Adventures of Supergirl"

Kara finds an unknown young man lying unconscious in the pod and takes him to DEO. She prepares for a date with James just as the commercial spacecraft, the Venture, is launched into space. It suffers engine failure and descends to Earth, but Kara saves the craft with help from Superman. They find the main target to have been Lena Luthor, the new CEO of Luthor Corp after her brother, Lex, was convicted. In a ceremony where she renames the company L Corp, she is attacked again by John Corben, the assassin. Alex engages him while Kara and Clark stop a building from collapsing. Corben reveals he is working for Lex before he is shot by Lena. Kara chooses to be a reporter for CatCo, a decision supported by Cat. Kara and James decide to keep their relationship friendly. Winn is formally hired to work with the DEO. Meanwhile, J'onn reveals to Alex that he was the one who found the Kryptonite and decided to keep it against the wishes of Clark, who wanted to destroy it. At Project Cadmus, an unnamed woman revives Corben and begins turning him into a metahuman called Metallo.

"Children of Krypton"

Kara and Clark continue operating together in National City before he decides to return toMetropolis. However, they encounter Corben, who challenges them by the kryptonite he possesses. The DEO deduces that there is a mole who smuggled the kryptonite out. In another encounter with Corben, another Metallo goes on rampage in Metropolis without opposition. Alex finds the mole, who is killed by the Cadmus leader, who intends to destroy aliens. Winn manages to build an anti-kryptonite suit for Kara and Clark, who manage to defeat the Metallos by the help of Alex and Hank, respectively. Kara promises the Cadmus leader to find her. Hank entrusts the remaining kryptonite to Clark, who returns to Metropolis. Meanwhile, Cat introduces Kara to the latter's new boss,Snapper, who does not like her and refuses to give her an assignment. Cat advises her to solve the problem herself, deciding to leave CatCo for other adventures, giving her place to James. Cat manages to prove her value to Snapper, who agrees to teach her. In the DEO, the alien man regains consciousness and attacks Kara.

The Verdict:

Originally, I was just going to cover the premiere of this season but I went ahead and added my thoughts on the second episode for this season as well.

"The Adventures of Supergirl"

This episode served as killing two birds with one stone - it served as the premiere of the show on the CW Network while simultaneously kicking off the new season. Right off the bat they addressed the biggest criticism concerning the show in the first season and its lack of Superman despite the several name drops and references. Now we finally get to see the Man of Steel in the flesh so to speak. Even though I read the casting news for the months leading up to this, I have to admit that I was still ultimately underwhelmed by how Superman looks in this show. Then again, we weren't given much in terms of physique when it came to Supergirl so I can't be too surprised. Compare to Henry Cavill, I guess we're all a bit spoiled to how Superman is "supposed" to look like so I wouldn't be too surprised if fans don't cut Tyler Hoechlin any slack about his lack of a Superman-worthy physique.

I will admit that they did manage to capture Superman's presence to the public. They made it a big deal for him to be apart of this show's universe and rightfully so - it IS a big deal, especially after an entire season of teases and minor mentions. Everyone was starstruck and in such awe of him and his reputation while Clark Kent was getting the opposite reaction - save from Cat Grant, who was surprisingly caught up in a schoolgirl-like crush over him. I'm guessing her fixation over Clark is the polar opposite of what drew Lois Lane to him. Cat fell in love with Clark Kent while Lois fell in love with Superman. I guess we'll find out over the course of the next few episodes since Clark is expected to stick around for a bit this season. 

Cat's still my favorite character on this show if I'm perfectly honest...

As usual, the true star of this episode - much like the bulk of Season One - was Cat Grant in all of her brutally honest glory. She puts Kara on blast throughout this episode, pointing how she's become complacent with her position in CatCo and life in general. In a said truth of reality, that's the problem with a lot of these comicbook-based shows. They get stuck in their own repetitive nature of a fairy tale-like narrative but are often afraid to "take the dive" to try something new and different. Sure, the path may be difficult along the way but even if it's a flop or a bust at least the teams behind these shows like this can look back confidently and say that they weren't afraid to take the plunge and do something outside of the box instead of sticking with what is easy or is the safer option for drawing in ratings. 

In terms of action sequences in this premiere, I have to admit that they look a lot better compared to the low quality stuff that we saw last season, but they have a long way to go to blow me away with the action with anything in these shows based in the Arrowverse in general.

I have to ask, what is up with this show's obsession with almost every new female minor character that is introduced is in a position of power? Lana Lang was made the interim head of the DEO last season after J'onn was demoted, the new mystery lady appointed as the figurehead of Cadmus, that woman who ended up being a White Martian in Manhunter's focused episode, and now Lena Luthor too. I'm all for equal rights and building/establishing powerful women in narratives but it seems a bit excessive in this show as the writers are going a bit out of their way to keep doing that.

Project Cadmus finally making their presence known was a pleasant surprise after staying in the shadows for the bulk of Season One, but I fear the weak narrative writing for this show will drag it down in the long run. Not even the mysterious Kryptonian has my interest perked enough to care about what he brings to the table. The rift between Superman and Martian Manhunter made me roll my eyes more than actually care about it from a narrative standpoint when most fans should know that if Superman really wanted to be petty he could just keep a book of matches laying around when the subject of Manhunter's weakness comes up.

Seriously... Just ask Batman.

"Children of Krypton" 

This episode continued the Project Cadmus plot that was teased at the end of the season premiere but we are treated to the first fruit of their labors as Corben is transformed into Metallo. This version of Metallo wasn't really memorable but it wasn't bad for this show's first attempt at the character. Seriously, it could be a lot worse as I think we can look no farther than Smallville and The Lois and Clark: New Adventures of Superman versions of the character. Yeah, I went there...

They didn't butcher Metallo like they did Livewire in the first season, so I can't complain. Let me get into what I'm really upset about on this episode...

Cat Grant is fucking leaving. Reportedly, this has to do with the show not filming locally where Calista Flockhart lives so travel is an issue but she's set to still make sporadic appearances throughout the season. She's just not listed as a series regular from here on out. From a storyline perspective, they are writing her off as being "burnt out" and taking a leave of absence while James takes over her position at CatCo while Kara takes on her new reporter job. Boy, seeing the arguably the "best" character on this show being written off doesn't give me much high hopes for this season. The Project Cadmus plot is intriguing enough as it makes me wish that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice went that route in terms of being opposed to powered-people like Kryptonians, especially with their propaganda video.

No one gives a pep talk like Cat Grant. #Supergirl pic.twitter.com/jpXcRJKciO

— SupergirlWritersRoom (@SupergirlStaff) October 18, 2016

Snapper Carr seems like a piss poor replacement from this first appearance and comes off as a poor man's J. Jonah Jameson to add onto Kara's moping around like The Flash's Barry Allen, if these CW shows don't have enough of that with their young adolescent protagonists. At least Cat went out with a bang with her sassy attitude and brutally honest life lessons for Kara/Supergirl. We'll definitely miss you, Cat.

This episode has more awkward looking action sequences, somehow managing to top how poor the premiere's sequences looked. Can someone explain to me how Alex was punching Metallo in that exo-frame armor when it wasn't covering her hands? She should have shattered her fist to dust if she was hitting him as hard as Supergirl was. (Sighs) At least we got a Superman and Martian Manhunter team-up in this episode along with another look at the Fortress of Solitude, so I won't complain too much in that department.

I will complain about how stupid they made the whole "shipment/supply" of kryptonite issue in this episode. How the fuck does Superman know that's all of the world's supply of kryptonite? Like LexCorp or Cadmus might have their own supply somewhere. Jesus H. Christ, Superman is stupid when it comes to this whole kryptonite thing in this universe. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having an insurance policy if his ass gets brainwashed or something. The last thing the world needs is some rampaging rogue alien going around doing what he pleases - we had enough of that last season in this show.

How the writing on this show makes me feel at times...

I should look up the side effects and see if long-term exposure to kryptonite makes Superman stupid - kinda like the Orb of Confusion from Spongebob...

Watch it or Don't Bother?

From the ratings numbers, it seems like that a LOT of people tuned in - old and new viewers - just to see Superman in this premiere. If that's all you want to see then go nuts. But if you're looking for anything more than that, you might not be getting what you were looking for, especially when there's a lot of MUCH better shows to be watching than this. As the season continues on, I see those rating numbers going further and further down the hole unless this show really pulls something out of left field. With both Cat and Superman not sticking around for the duration of the season, I think those new viewers who turned in for Superman will quickly give up the ghost to watch something else in this time slot on Monday Nights.