The Clock Tower: Who is Spectre and Why Does He Matter to the Arrowverse?

(Welcome to The Clock Tower, where we’ll break down the goings on of the The CW network’s Arrowverse. We’ll touch on things like themes, cultural impact, lead-ins to major events, ships, and more every week! Warning: this Clock Tower is filled with spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.)

So, it’s been a week, and you’ve still got some questions on that whole Crisis on Infinite Earths situation. Worry not, mighty heroes! You shall have your answers. Or at least some answers. We’re going to dive into some of the stuff we just didn’t have the space to cover last week, as well as take a look at where we might kick off when the last two parts air in January. 

Who’s That Guy Who Took Oliver?

One of the coolest moments in Crisis is nestled in a simple name drop. If you don’t know who Jim Corrigan is, you have no idea why some random dude in Purgatory was enough to pull Oliver’s soul away from his daughter and best friend. Who Jim Corrigan is, exactly, depends on which era of comics you’re into. For the purpose of our little edition of The Clock Tower, we’re going to roll with the characterization that matters most for the story at hand. 

After being brutally murdered, Corrigan becomes Spectre.  Spectre’s involvement doesn’t typically come into play until after Crisis on Infinite Earths, where he takes on a much weaker version of the Anti-Monitor. In this arc, Spectre also acts as a guardian of the entrance to hell. If you consider how often our heroes die, and the implication that Oliver will be taking over the role as Spectre, it seems we’re not entirely closing the door on more Oliver Queen in the future. 

The idea of Oliver taking over that moniker does throw a bit of a wrench in the theory that he and Felicity will have something close to Superman and Lois’ ending from the Crisis comics, but my guess is we’ll see some weird kind of amalgamation of the two before it’s all said and done. 

It’s the End of the World as We Know It, But You Still Lied

Yes, Lena Luthor is technically dust with the rest of the known multiverse, but we’re going to continue to talk about her and the rest of the folks as if they’re coming back because we’re smart people. There’s not a lot to go over here, I’d just like to applaud Lena Luthor’s dedication to being the pettiest person in this universe and the next. And that applause is sincere! I will always remain firmly on the team that Lena Luthor remain on the side of good, but she also has every right to be upset with Kara and the rest of her friends. 

Lena was up front with Kara from the beginning. She couldn’t handle being lied to anymore. There was a while where Kara keeping Supergirl a secret from her best friend was even reasonable! Unfortunately, that moment passed around the beginning of last season. So here she is with a best friend who, in her own words, practically begged her not to betray her like everyone else in her life had. And then she did. Stay petty, darling Lena! But stay good, too. 

Why Won’t You Just Die?

We touched briefly on Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor last week, but it feels like he deserves a little bit more attention. Despite his previous involvement with the Superman franchise, his casting as Lex Luthor raised a few eyebrows. Since then, he’s continually proven that he was meant to play a villain. Never has that been made more clear than in Part 3 of Crisis. Sure, he went on a multiverse-wide killing spree of any and all Men of Steel he could find just the episode before. But somehow that feels less maniacal than straight up erasing a Paragon from existence so he could avoid being wiped out himself? 

Endless folks have died. There’s been plenty of heartbreak already, and yet watching Brandon Routh’s Superman be ripped from existence ala The Book of Destiny was still one of the biggest shocks of the first half. 

Three Men and a Baby

One of the few things I miss in Crisis on Infinite Earths is the humor of crossovers past. It’s not quite a shot on this crossover in particular – there’s really not a lot of room for laughs when entire planets are being decimated. All the same, it’s missed. Thankfully, the Legends of Tomorrow came out to play before their premiere in January. Not only does Substitute Mick Rory still write his romance novels, he also happens to be exceptional with babies! 

Lois and Clark would have undoubtedly preferred that little Jonathan was taken care of by the infinitely more responsible Ray Palmer, but he’s got to build his fancy Paragon finding machine! Mick and Ray humorously sniping at one another while the ever-dry voice of Leonard Snart plays from the Waverider’s coms adds some much-needed levity to an otherwise heavy story. 

Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel

It’s almost Christmas! That means you’re one week closer to the continuation of the most epic crossover yet. In the meantime, we’ll have more to dive into in the next edition of The Clock Tower! We’ll dig into Pariah’s powers, the Arrowverse’s version of Harbinger and what she means for the multiverse, and just how unprepared The Monitor was for his cranky brother and all of his world-wiping nonsense. 

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