When The CW’s Arrowverse was first revealed to have a multiverse of its own, the original tally of Earths had been set at 52. This, of course, was done in an effort to reflect the established status quo found in DC Comics following the events of 52 more than a decade ago.
As it turned out, 2017’s “Crisis on Earth-X” prime time crossover revealed that there was, in fact, a 53rd designate – Earth-X. Truth be told, I found this to be somewhat weird because Earth-X was merely another name for Earth-10 in the comics, but I guess I’ll take it because its TV counterpart was billed as a world that should’ve never existed.
Then, “Elseworlds” came along and revealed that, hey, there’s an Earth-90, and that’s where the Flash (played by John Wesley Shipp) from the previous TV series lives. This was just a clever nod to how that run aired back in 1990, but the producers most certainly raised the cap much higher than before.
Believe it or not, the tally has now ballooned past the three-digit mark, as this week’s episode of The Flash, “Memorabilia,” made mention of Sherloque Wells dealing with the Mad Hatter of Earth-221. I’m not sure if we’ll ever see the STAR Labs crew venture there, but the door’s open for a variety of crazy possibilities.
My best guess is that this is in an effort to hype this fall’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover because, after all, they’re not calling it “Crisis on 53 Earths.” And because of that title, those familiar with Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s epic comic of the same name will have high expectations.
In the meantime, be sure to keep watching The Flash on Tuesday nights on The CW in order to see how the story unfolds.
