The CW officially kicked off the Arrow-verse's switcheroo-driven "Elseworlds" crossover on Sunday night, with a Flash episode that ranks up there with the best of the franchise. There, viewers got to finally see more from LaMonica Garrett's quasi-villain The Monitor, who makes for quite the stoic and striking image. Fans probably shouldn't expect Garrett to do much striking in various fight sequences, though, thanks to the impressive costume's bulky size and weight limiting things.
Speaking with CinemaBlend's Adam Holmes ahead of the crossover, comic fan LaMonica Garrett gushed about getting a chance to take on such an iconic comic book role. He also delved into how the Monitor suit's restrictive nature was complemented by the character's imposing and somewhat immobile nature. In his words:
It'd be extremely difficult for action in that costume. Thank God The Monitor is cosmic, all-powerful. He doesn't have to do a lot, and it's fun playing someone like that ,where you are just that powerful. My wife said, 'If you're carrying a gun, you don't have to yell and scream. The gun does all that for you.' And he is the gun -- The Monitor -- he's that powerful. So there's not a lot of movement, but that suit is restricting, and the cape alone is like, 15-20 pounds. . . . And thank God I don't have any crazy action scenes, but you'll see what I'm talking about when you watch it.
Everyone's first look at The Monitor within an episode came as part of the Earth-90 tag that aired at the end of Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash's most recent episodes. In it, he mostly just stood there, casting harsh judgment upon a fallen and wounded Flash as portrayed by the returning John Wesley Shipp. He definitely wasn't about to go all Zoom for a foot race with the Scarlet Speedster in that heavy get-up. Not that The Monitor would even need to get into such petty faceoffs.
The otherworldly entity can hang out looking like a boss while an entire planet's arsenal of superheroes is laid out in defeat. No sweat on his forehead. No crease in his suit. There may possibly be a little blood on both, depending on which heroes went down closest to him, but that suit is probably stain-proof.
The Monitor's visit multi-Earth trek is tied to that massive book he's lugging around everywhere. Jeremy Davies' John Deegan has control of it in Earth-1's Gotham City, where Ruby Rose's Batwoman resides. (Among many others.) The way LaMonica Garrett put it, Deegan might want to carry around a table for when he wants to peer into the tome's guiding light, as it were.
That book that we're using in the crossover, that book's like 30 lbs. You got to pick that thing up with one hand and yield it around.
If that book really did hold all of the answers in the universe, or whatever it's being purported to contain, then 30 lbs isn't that heavy. But since that would already be impossible, that weight does seems fabulously ludicrous for a single book. It's presumably meant to add realism to the performance, but probably isn't fun for an actor to have to hold out and away from the body from large spans of time. Superpowers would probably help.
LaMonica Garrett definitely doesn't try to make it sound like he drew the short straw when it comes to moveable costumes. He knows that squeezing into uncomfortable comic-influenced outfits is one of the unique aspects of being welcomed into this TV universe.
But all the suits, I don't think anyone is just comfortable. Just, 'Oh yeah, I'm gonna put this on and let's go for a walk.' I think they're all uncomfortable to some extent, but I wouldn't change anything about it. It was fun.
Those watching Monday night's episode should be excited, too. Not only because it will finally plant an official Arrow-verse flag into Gotham City with the first bit of ass-kicking from Batwoman. Or because we'll also get to meet Nora Fries and possibly Psycho Pirate and other Arkham Asylum baddies. That's definitely a reason to, don't get me wrong.
However, the reason why we should all get pumped for "Elseworlds, Part 2" is because it's the one that LaMonica Garrett is most excited about. Here's what he said about it:
My favorite, I would have to say, would be the Arrow installment, the second hour. It was an episode where, you know, The Monitor is not going to be in every other scene. He's going to come early and he's going to come hard and it's going to be a lot. His impact will be there throughout the whole crossover, but the scenes on Arrow, which is fewer than the other two, I think it sets up an iconic kind of feel to it. And as a comic book fan, me in that situation I was in was kind of surreal, and it was fun. It wasn't that long, but it was impactful.
It would be kind of weird to have a long and dramatic dialogue scene between The Monitor and another character inside of CC Jitters or in a CatCo storeroom. So his scenes do kind of need to a quick and noteworthy impact. Like, the kind of impact a 30-lb book makes when you drop it on someone's face.
For those wondering what LaMonica Garrett thinks of this Monitor's importance:
This Monitor, I think the significance of him is just what he does, and what he's been a part of and what he's about. Like right now, it sets the stage for all the other Monitors to come. So I think there is a difference between the other Monitors. Like after everything happened, there were Monitors assigned to each multiverse, to each Earth. So there were 52 of them, but the significance of the first one...without the first, none of the rest of them happened.
The Arrow-verse's "Elseworlds" crossover continues on The CW with Arrow on Monday night and Supergirl on Tuesday night. To see what other shows will be popping up in the future that may or may not feature their own crossovers, take note of what's left in fall TV and what's on the way with the 2019 midseason lineup.
