By the 1980s, the Powers That Be decided to tidy up matters. DC enjoyed a variety of “alternate Earths” with many variations on the same character, a confusing mishmash that appeared to turn off neophyte readers.

This led to a mid-1980s 12-issue comic book series called Crisis On Infinite Earths. It simplified matters.

Nearly 40 years later, we get a DC animated adaptation of this narrative. Given the expansiveness involved, this stretches to three different chapters

Part One came out in January 2024, and April brings us Part Two. Unsurprisingly, it picks up roughly where the last chapter left off, with Part Three to finish matters in July 2024.

As various Earths undergo elimination due to waves of anti-matter, surviving heroes from these realms come together. In addition, a mysterious figure called The Monitor (voiced Jonathan Adams) takes in Supergirl (Meg Donnelly) and starts to learn more about humanity, a choice that eventually prompts him to more actively aid the humans.

In the meantime, a conglomeration of heroes come together to try to save as many Earths as they can. Eventually they realize they’re up against the Anti-Monitor (Ato Essandoh), a massively powerful monster aided by super-villain Psycho Pirate (Geoffrey Arend).

Unsurprisingly, Part Two will make zero sense if you skipped Part One. Actually, the second chapter might seem a little confusing even if you did watch the prior flick.

As I’ll discuss more fully when we get to Part Three, the animated Crisis offers a radical simplification of the source comic. It pares the tale down to the bone and also makes more changes than I could count.

Even with this reduced load, the story can feel fragmented. It bites off far less than did the comics, but it still seems like we find too many character detours for the scope of this three-part movie.

This tale also suffers from Second Chapter Disorder. This means it lacks the intrigue of an initial segment and comes with none of the drama of a resolution.

Does this make Part Two a dud? Not at all, as it still manages to move along events in a reasonably productive manner.

Part Two develops characters and narrative in a way that pushes them ahead. Again, we get a few less than necessary detours, but the overall package manages to press forward.

When it engages in action, Part Two also kicks to life pretty well. The semi-fractured nature of the tale makes these moments less frequent than desired as well as a little out of nowhere, but they bring some punch to the proceedings.

Ultimately, Part Two will likely fare best when viewers can watch it as part of a nearly five-hour full saga. In the meantime, it works acceptably well on its own, even if it can feel a like disjointed.

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths – Part Two appears in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Overall, the image looked positive.

Sharpness seemed terrific. Virtually no sharpness materialized, so the movie remained accurate and concise.

No issues with shimmering or jaggies materialized, and I saw no edge haloes or noise reduction. Of course, I found no print flaws here.

With the palette of Crisis, we got a pretty broad, vivid set of hues. The colors seemed fine, as they represented their intended schemes.

Blacks were deep and dark, while shadows looked smooth and clear. This became a pretty great image.

When I examined the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Crisis, it created a fine sense of action. The movie packed a fair amount of battles and involving material, and it used the five channels to impart that information in a lively manner.

Explosions and fights filled the channels to create a full spectrum, and quieter elements fleshed out the room as well.

Across the board, the material sounded good. Speech remained distinctive and concise, without edginess, and music seemed vivid and full.

Effects appeared accurate and tight, with clear highs and some powerful lows. All in all, the mix worked nicely.

Two featurettes appear here. Voices in Crisis runs eight minutes, 19 seconds and brings notes from actors Meg Donnelly, Jonathan Adams and Aldis Hodge.

As implied by the title, this program looks at cast and performances. We get a good perspective on the challenges that come with voice acting.

The Bat-Family of the Multiverse goes for eight minutes, 25 seconds. It involves DC writer Geoff Johns, DC Group editor Katie Kubert, writer Jim Krieg, DC archivist Benjamin LeClear, director Jeff Wamester, and executive producer Butch Lukic.

We get an overview of the way Crisis treats Batman and related roles. It gives us some useful background.

Finally, we encounter a Part Three Sneak Peek. It runs one minute, 19 second and simply offers a form of trailer to promote the saga’s final chapter.

As the middle of three chapters, Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths – Part Two can feel a little disjointed. Still, it moves along the overall narrative in a reasonably effective manner. The Blu-ray comes with strong picture and audio but only minor bonus materials. Part Two pushes us toward the saga’s finale in a generally positive way.