Crisis on Infinite Earths Cast: New CW Cameo May Reveal a Time Travel Twist

Giddy up, cowpokes. Scarred Confederate soldier and gunslinging bounty hunter Jonah Hex from DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will appear in the upcoming mega-crossover Arrowverse extravaganza “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” His appearance strongly suggests a time travel plot, which isn’t impossible based on what we know so far.

On Friday, Entertainment Weekly confirmed that actor Johnathon Schaech will reprise his role of Jonah Hex, for the fourth time, for the upcoming crossover. Based on the landmark 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, which folded the DC multiverse into one timeline, the five-part TV special will feature a robust number of DC heroes who emerge from all corners of the multiverse.

This year’s crossover will feature characters from Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, and Batwoman, which premieres its first season this fall. The crossover will also include elements from the 1966 Batman series (through a cameo with actor Burt Ward) and the 2006 film Superman Returns (with Brandon Routh reprising his role as Superman).

“Crisis on Infinite Earths” will begin Sunday, December 8, in an episode of Supergirl. After a winter hiatus, it will conclude with the Season 5 premiere of Legends of Tomorrow, on January 14, 2020.

Jonah Hex, a bounty hunter who fought in the Civil War, inhabits the Old West of Earth-1. Despite fighting on the side of the Confederacy, he has teamed up with the Legends, the ensemble superhero team made up of characters from Arrow and The Flash. He first appeared in the Season 1 episode “The Magnificent Eight,” and returned in Season 2’s “Outlaw Country,” and the epic Season 3 finale, which we reported on.

Because of Jonah Hex’s place in the timeline, his appearance doesn’t guarantee that he’ll team with the rest of the Arrowverse in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” But his appearance certainly means the crossover will at least hop through time.

That’s possible because of the Legends’ Waverider, which is how the Legends traverse the timeline on a weekly basis. But the Legends (who missed out on last year’s crossover) have never actually made time travel matter in the actual plot of the crossovers. This year, that might finally change.

Time travel in superhero crossovers are all the rage (see: Avengers: Endgame) but the Arrowverse has already been doing time travel for years now. It was in 2016 when Legends of Tomorrow premiered on The CW. After a critically mixed first season, the show evolved to become a wacky, genre-bending fan favorite that pays loving homage to classic movies and DC Comics history.

Hex, a dark homage to pulp western comics from the early 20th century, was created by John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga and first appeared in an issue of All-Star Western in 1972. He was quickly included into the main DC Comics canon, where he appeared in the third issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths. He was brought to the big screen in the 2010 box office bomb Jonah Hex, which starred Josh Brolin and Megan Fox, but it’s probably safe to say that part of the DC franchise won’t be featured in the crossover.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will return in January 2020.