WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 1," which premiered Sunday on The CW.
The latest Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths" is the CW's biggest epic yet.In the lead up to the monumental event, shows like Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl all introduced ideas that would come to full bloom within the event.
One of those ideas blossomed in the first part of the crossover, which took place on Supergirl, when a version of Harrison Wells appeared alongside the Monitor near the end of the episode, wearing a costume of his own and calling himself Pariah.
While that character might be familiar to longtime comics fans, he's a fairly new character in the greater Arrowverse who only came to prominence in The Flash's Season 6. Now, we're taking a closer look at who Pariah is and why he's such a pivotal figure in "Crisis."
In Marv Wolfman and George Perez's original Crisis on Infinite Earths comic series, Pariah was a scientist from another Earth named Kell Mossa. In his quest for knowledge, he sought to see the birth of the Universe itself, something which resulted in the awakening of the Anti-Monitor. As a penance, the Monitor transformed Mossa into Pariah, who traveled from parallel Earth to parallel Earth, forced to only observe as the Anti-Monitor wiped out all of these realities.
In the Arrowverse, Pariah might just look like another version of Harrison Wells, a scientist who's helped the Flash and his allies out on numerous occasions. While the show has featured versions of Wells from several alternate dimensions, this version of the character, who debuted in The Flash's Season 6 episode "Dead Man Running," goes by 'Nash' Wells, and he is a multiversal explorer not unlike Indiana Jones. Throughout his appearances on The Flash, Nash was searching for, a vault he eventually located underground. This ancient vault was locked, and Nash went to great trouble to try and open it. According to him, he was actually on a quest to destroy the Monitor, and he believed this vault to be where the powerful cosmic being was hiding.
Nash was finally able to open the vault in the end-credits scene of "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 2," a scene that was also used to close out all Arrowverse shows before the start of "Crisis on Infinite Earths." After a voice reached out to him from the other side of the vault, Nash was given the knowledge to open it. And immediately after he did so, Nash was consumed by a bright light and "Crisis" began.
The character's return in "Part 1" is the first we see of him since he has disappeared, and it's clear that he has been through some changes. Given what we know of the character in the comics, it seems like Nash inadvertently opened the gate that allowed the Anti-Monitor to go free. Now, the Monitor has cursed him to be the Pariah, an immortal being who can only watch the destruction he has unleashed.
"Crisis on Infinite Earths" Continues in Batwoman on Monday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and in The Flash on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. After the winter hiatus, the crossover will conclude on Tuesday, Jan. 14 in Arrow at 8 p.m. ET/PT and in DC's Legends of Tomorrow at 9 p.m. ET/PT.