Crisis on Infinite Earths: Where’s Laurel?

Before Crisis on Infinite Earths began, Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim answered some questions from fans about the crossover event, and among the answers he gave was which version of Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy Rodgers) we would be seeing in the crossover.

Would it be Earth-1 Black Canary, or Earth-2 Black Siren?

“Earth-1 in Crisis. Earth-2 Laurel in spinoff,” Guggenheim replied.

But with worlds dead, are there even Earth-1 and Earth-2 to exist?

The fourth chapter of Crisis on Infinite Earths airs in less than two weeks, on January 14 (see pictures here)… and we still don’t know what’s up with Laurel. The character didn’t even appear in the Crisis tie-in comic, which had some appearances by some off-camera folks like Felicity Smoak, Kid Flash, and Nyssa al Ghul. We do, however, have a photo that has costumes from the “Invasion!” era that Stephen Amell had tweeted, implying that at least something channels back to the past… perhaps, even, tying in to the Monitor’s origin story. You can see that photo below.

But back to the Laurel of it all: Guggenheim said it was the Earth-1 Laurel. Maybe that character met The Monitor in the past, before her death, and we see a flashback to that time? Or maybe Oliver Queen is revisiting his past, and part of that past involves seeing the Laurel of Earth-1’s past?

It’s also interesting to note that Guggenheim says it’s the Earth-2 Laurel in Crisis. In the comic books, Crisis ended with worlds merged, and it was more firmly established that the Black Canary of the Justice Society was Dinah Laurel Lance’s mother, Dinah Drake Lance. (Yes, it gets confusing, and yes, we did meet Laurel’s mom, as played by Alex Kingston on Arrow in the early seasons. And yes, we’re still sad she never met Rip Hunter or Malcolm Merlyn). For some characters, multiple histories merged…. and if Guggenheim hadn’t said what he did, it might even be assumed that Black Siren might have been “Earth-1 Laurel” after going bad after the death of, say, her mother. But with this wording, it sounds like Earth-2 may still be in this character’s past, not forgotten… so it’s all a big mystery that hopefully we’ll get the answers for when Crisis on Infinite Earths concludes on January 14.

(Note: Most heroes in the DC Universe post-Crisis in the comics were aware there was a big battle, but aside from the Psycho-Pirate, very few remembered the past that was left behind. At the time, Earth-2, Supergirl, and some other concepts were treated as though they never existed.)

Do you have some speculation? Leave it in the comments.