The four-show crossover between Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow was inspired by the comic book story Invasion!. We look at five ways the crossover borrowed from that story.
The villain
The big villain of the crossover, the Dominators (who we break down here), come directly from the DC Comics. Though they first appeared in 1967, they are best known for their role in the 1989 mini-series Invasion!.
The look of the Dominators on television is also quite faithful to their look in the comics, though according to EP Andrew Kreisberg, the writers initially wanted to include “a lot more nods to the comic book.”
For example, “There was discussion about the size of their circles and how that was indicative of where they stood in the caste system, so I’m sorry some of that stuff went away just because it was great flavor, and I think people who are fans of the original comic book would have seen a lot more of our joy at adapting Invasion in there, but unfortunately, to get these down to the proper time, that’s the kind of stuff that tends to fall by the wayside.”
The big hero team-up
In the crossover, it takes the combined efforts of the heroes from Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow to defeat the Dominators.
In the Invasion! storyline, heroes and villains alike team up to protect the Earth from the Dominators. A few of the characters involved in the storyline include Superman, Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Amanda Waller, Aquaman, Maxwell Lord, Firestorm, The Flash, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Batman and the Suicide Squad.
The villain’s motives
In the crossover, the Dominators have come to Earth because of the threat metahumans represent. This was specifically related to Barry traveling back in time and creating Flashpoint, but we know they are more concerned with metahumans in general as well because they came to Earth in the 1950s to gather information, long before Barry was born.
In the Invasion! comics storyline, meanwhile, the Dominators team up with a number of other alien races with the goal of rounding up Earth’s superheroes due to the threat to the universe the meta-gene (the gene that allows for humans to develop superpowers) presents.
Government involvement
In the show, we see different aspects of the U.S. government involved in dealing with the invasion. Lyla Michaels, head of A.R.G.U.S., encourages the president to engage the Dominators. The Dominators kill the president, leaving his VP in charge. After the president’s death, Glasses parlays with the Dominators to learn their demands. He also works to cover up the invasion.
While the invasion was more public in the comics, there is involvement from worldwide governments in the invasion. However, when they learn that the Dominators want them to turn over the Earth’s superheroes, they refuse. This is the opposite response to Glasses when he learns the Dominators want The Flash.
The bomb
On the crossover, the Dominators drop a meta-bomb on Earth that will take out all the metahumans on Earth. Thanks to the combined efforts of Sara in the Waverider and Firestorm’s transmutation abilities, the bomb never hits.
In the Invasion storyline, a rogue Dominator drops a Gene Bomb on Earth that disabled metahumans by negating the power of the meta-gene. However, the goal of the Alien Alliance’s invasion was not the destruction of metahumans but to harness them and their abilities, so this Dominator was imprisoned and sentenced to be executed. The Gene Bomb also was responsible for creating several metahumans, including giving mind control abilities to Maxwell Lord (who appeared in season 1 of Supergirl).
Notably, the Invasion! storyline was the first time the idea of metahumans and the meta-gene was introduced in the comics. Now the idea of metahumans is quite common in the DC universe.
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