The Flash: What To Expect From The Dc Movie And The Soft Reboot Of The Saga
In June, the balance of the DC cinematic universe will change thanks to The Flash, let’s take stock of the situation, helped by the new trailer. As we know, the DC Extended Universe will soon be hit by a soft reboot under the direction of Peter Safran and James Gunn, who will attempt the feat of unraveling the strings of the complex puppet theater set up by Zack Snyder ten years ago with Man of Steel. The intervention will not be painless but will involve cutting only a few threads: we will try to save what can be saved, especially that relating to titles that, in one way or another, have worked well. Providential, therefore, from this point of view, The Flash, which was initially supposed to be a simple stand-alone film with various cameos which, as per tradition, “had to change everything to change nothing” and instead will have a role similar to the one that the comic book miniseries it is inspired by had for the original comics. The long-awaited trailer, finally available, allows us to clarify many points and make open conjectures about many others.
The Flash: A Difficult Film to Manage
A full-length live-action Flash film has been anticipated for many, many years, not to mention the fact that the character was supposed to appear on the big screen, for the first time, in George Miller’s sadly never-made Justice League. The golden opportunity came with the present version of the DC EU, interpreted by Ezra Miller: the film was initially thought to debut already in 2018, but various production changes, as well as the push and pull with different directors, complicated things once first time; when finally Andy Muschietti takes charge of the project and shoots it in 2021, shortly after two imposing problems arise: the pandemic (with all the production and distribution problems that it has entailed) and the repeated behavioral problems of the protagonist Ezra Miller, rebounded on social media making it difficult to sell a film with a criminally compromised lead interpreter. The release has been postponed for a year (along with the second Aquaman film, for similar reasons between the pandemic and the legal troubles of co-star Amber Heard) finally here is The Flash earns a release for June of this year, just in time to ensure Miller’s rehabilitation and to serve as a bridge between the past of the DCEU and the future of the new DC Universe.
The Flashpoint Paradox
The Flash film is inspired, as we mentioned earlier, by Flashpoint, 2011 comic miniseries that started the comic reboot known as The New 52, upsetting the balance that had reigned for decades (and which has already inspired an animated feature film and a season of the TV series with Grant Gustin). The story tells of a complex time paradox unleashed due to the powers of The Flash, who finds himself in a world very different from the one he knows, in which several superhumans do not exist or are different from how he knows them, starting with Superman (experimental prisoner government always), Batman (here Thomas Wayne, who survived the robbery instead of his son) and Cyborg, considered the greatest hero ever.
Aquaman and Wonder Woman are at loggerheads in a war that has devastated Europe, and to make matters worse, in his little Barry Allen discovers two shocking news: his mother is still alive… but he has lost his powers. From what we can see in the trailer, the plot is or seems to be similar, even in the final results: Ezra Miller’s Barry finds himself in a world where there is a different Batman than the one he knows, there is no trace of Superman (but in his place is his cousin Kara), his mother is alive and he and his doppelganger of that reality try to figure out and save the world from the invasion of Zodd despite a series of “little problems”.
Trailer Analysis
As is always the case with trailers, a lot of things could be shown “deceptively” and a lot of things still appear obscure. Furthermore, while some seem to answer some now atavistic questions of the DCEU, others arise and make the whole thing creak. But let’s go in order. Let’s start from the assumption that, rarely, films that present time travel (or even have them at their core) do not present more or less evident plot holes, right down to the premises: to this is also added the discourse, much “of currently in fashion, of narrative multiverses, which hide at least as many narrative and metanarrative pitfalls (on balance, for example, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a film that technically makes no sense, if not that of the show, but anyhow).
At the beginning of the trailer, we discover that Barry finds himself in this alternate timeline, which he adopts as the one “to be safeguarded” since his mother, in this timeline, is still alive. Sure, it’s embarrassing to have to deal with a more jovial version of himself who has never been a superhero, nor afflicted by the loss of parents (one dead, the other in jail for the alleged murder of his wife). Although it is not clear from the trailer, it seems that at this stage of the film neither Barry will have superpowers, but they will regain them in the scene (present later in the trailer) in which they are hit by a sort of lightning bolt, probably somehow catalyzed by Batman. In fact, during the trailer, we see how both Barrys enter into superheroic action, with apparently identical powers but lightning trails of different colors (blue and yellow).
The scenes are staggered compared to the timing and chronology of the film: for example, we see the two Barrys approaching the Wayne villa, and then the “original” Berry talking to Bruce Wayne played by Ben Affleck about going back in time to “fix things” being warned against being able, instead, to further complicate them, as will promptly happen. Probably the premises of the film will see some catastrophe that Barry will try to avoid, perhaps aware of what happened in the crossover that took place with the television Flash or simply of his ability to alter the timelines as happened in Zack Snyder’s version of the Justice League. Or, probably, the reference will be veiled, to avoid making a television event or the “alternative” version of the film with the supergroup “too” canonical. Going back in time, we will never see againBatfleck and, for the rest of the film, there will be Michael Keaton’s Batman, which will then be replaced in The Brave and the Bold, probably.
In addition to the characters that appear in the trailer, we don’t know if we will see other “already known” ones again. In the original plans, more or less all the characters of the Justice League seen in the cinema should have been present, but the vicissitudes of the saga and the more or less turbulent abandonment of some of its interpreters (such as the catch relating to Henry Cavill or the tussle between Warner Bros. and Ray Fisher) prevented this. Some scenes with some characters (such as Wonder Woman or Aquaman) are said to have been filmed and then cut; the fact is that some changes were made necessary by force majeure, including the replacement of Clark Kent with his cousin Kara.
“I demolished the universe, I created a world without metahumans,” says Barry, about the changes created by his travel through time. Now, that the butterfly effect creates upheaval is simple, it is not very clear, however, how it is possible that he erased the metahumans since they existed well before the breaking point to which he returns, since it is a few years compared to to the history of the world, and therefore Atlanteans and Amazons, for example, should still exist, just as Superman doesn’t exist but the Kryptonians do exist. Zodd arrives on Earth to carry out his terraforming project exactly like in Man of Steel, but he won’t find Kal-El to face him; what happened to the man of steel? It is not known whether he escaped the ruin of his people, but his cousin Kara did. who, however, did not receive the loving care of an adoptive family like that of the Kents, but ended up in a study detention facility in the snow (is it North America? Or even Russia?). Curious element: in Man of Steel there is an easter egg that suggests that, in addition to Klark, another Kryptonian had also managed to escape: it could/should have been a hook to be exploited later for Supergirl, but never exploited until today (that of the serial CW is another character) but it could be the right time…
The scene in the Batcave is interesting, in which the two Barrys meet the Batman of that world: Barry I is interested but not intimidated to see him, while Barry IIhe is almost shocked to meet a superhero. It is a Batman different from the one Barry I know, and here a small double doubt of narrative coherence arises: why are Barry and Zodd physiognomically the same in the two timelines and not Bruce Wayne? Moreover, this Batman is also older than the other: how is that possible? In the original comics, it made sense because he was Bruce Wayne’s father, and in some ways, it would have been more sensible to cast, as some rumors have indicated for some time, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played Thomas Wayne in The Flashback of the tragic alley robbery seen in Batman v Superman.
This was not the case, making nostalgia win over coherence, just like in Spider-Man: No Way Home, going to recover (a little out of time?) Michael Keaton, who in the meantime was also Birdman and the Vulture, for a curious twist of fate (and casting). Moreover, even though many do not know it or pretend to ignore it, the two Batman starring Michael Keaton is in continuity with the next two by Schumacher, who saw Val Kilmer and George Clooney in the role of Bruce Wayne. Should we assume, therefore, that the whole thing happens two decades after Batman and Robin, pretending that we are always facing the same character?
After all, even if it is a minor character, Barry’s father has undergone a recasting, from Billy Crudup to Ron Livingston… the two Batman starring Michael Keaton are in continuity with the next two by Schumacher, who saw Val Kilmer and George Clooney in the role of Bruce Wayne. Should we assume, therefore, that the whole thing happens two decades after Batman and Robin, pretending that we are always facing the same character? After all, even if it is a minor character, Barry’s father has undergone a recasting, from Billy Crudup to Ron Livingston… the two Batman starring Michael Keaton are in continuity with the next two by Schumacher, who saw Val Kilmer and George Clooney in the role of Bruce Wayne. Should we assume, therefore, that the whole thing happens two decades after Batman and Robin, pretending that we are always facing the same character? After all, even if it is a minor character, Barry’s father has undergone a recasting, from Billy Crudup to Ron Livingston…
In the trailer we see a lot of action scenes, many without context, others related to the rescue of Kara from his prison and the fight against Zod. There is the possibility, however, that Zod is not the real villain of the film. Here we enter the field of speculation, but there is the possibility that, at the end of the film, Barry I realizes that he has to cancel the same timeline he wanted to save, and that of course Barry II opposes it, leading the two to a confrontation ” fratricidal” which will lead to the upheaval that will be the basis of the DC Universe, while allowing Blue Beetle and Aquaman to exit without too many jolts, being untied.
