Warner Bros. and DC have ambitious plans for Ezra Miller’s Flash. It’s looking highly likely that the Scarlet Speedster won’t have a regular standalone film. Instead, Warner Bros. is planning on adapting one of the more complex storylines of any DC superhero for the Flash’s first solo outing, Flashpoint. This project was formally announced at Comic-Con 2017 and it’ll see Barry Allen awakening in a different, twisted version of the true DCU timeline. All of the Justice League members are feuding with each other and Barry Allen no longer has his superpowers. Reading a quick synopsis of Flashpoint will make anyone excited for this potential project, but what does this grandiose storyline actually mean for the DCEU moving forward? And is making another film filled with several different superheroes a good idea?
The way this dark alternate version of the DCU occurs in the first place is because Barry Allen decides to use his speed to travel back in time and stop Reverse-Flash from murdering his mother. This little act has a huge ripple effect on the entire timeline, resulting in Barry Allen creating a different world that’s on the brink of destruction, with a deadly war waging on between Atlantis and Themyscira. Flash learns the hard that time shouldn’t be meddled with and teams up with Shazam, Cyborg and Batman to restore the world and fix the timeline.
It’s a fascinating storyline, one that has Superman trapped in a government facility his entire life, failing to become the superhero the world so desperately needs him to be. But the most interesting part here is that Bruce Wayne actually gets murdered on the night when his parents were the ones who’re supposed to get killed. Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s father, becomes the Dark Knight instead. And with Ben Affleck wanting to stop playing Batman, this is the perfect way to replace him.
But aside from Flashpoint just being a fantastic story, can it actually work as a feature length film? Well, it’ll certainly be tricky to nail the spectacle of it all and, don’t forget, Warner Bros. will have the problem of explaining it to regular audiences who aren’t too familiar with the comics. On paper, a Flashpoint movie is a great idea, but it’s way too soon for the DCEU.
Warner Bros. wasn’t able to make two movies that featured multiple main characters: Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad. On the other hand, Wonder Woman, which was a simple origin story about Diana without any other DC hero in it, worked wonders for the DCEU. You can’t also forget about the success of both Logan and Deadpool which, like Wonder Woman, are personal, smaller scale superhero stories that are a joy to watch.
Flashpoint is even more complex and ambitious than Batman v Superman and there isn’t any substantial evidence that Warner Bros. has it in them to pull off a massive story like this. The studio shouldn’t and simply can’t rush into making Flashpoint, as it needs to see how Justice League turns out. A lot is riding on the upcoming DC superhero mashup, especially since the film’s director Zack Snyder left due to terrible personal circumstances. And with the news of the film’s expensive and long reshoots, people are very skeptical.
Audiences still haven’t even been properly introduced to Ezra Miller’s Flash to even think that Flashpoint can actually work. Who knows, even though Miller is a truly fantastic actor, maybe his portrayal of Barry Allen is flat? Maybe he was miscast? It’s also important to consider how Justice League will even set up Flashpoint given just how many different moving parts the film seems to have. Warner Bros. can’t just expect the general audience to willingly be interested and understand the significance of Flashpoint.
If a lot wasn’t already riding on Justice League, even more pressure is now on Warner Bros. to deliver. Wonder Woman is a great achievement, but it had the benefit of really zeroing in on a single character in a story the took place decades before Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Suicide Squad, which have been panned by both critics and audiences alike.
