Spoilers for the Flashpoint comic.
Official concept art for the upcoming The Flash film
Laying our cards squarely on the table; it is truly a tricky one when it comes to this film. On the one hand, we are ecstatic that The Flash film is finally in production, and we cannot wait for its arrival in cinemas in 2022. On the other hand, however, to say that we are not at the least bit worried about the consequences that The Flash might have on the current DCEU would be far from the truth.
Simply put, the reason we feel somewhat anxious about this film is due to the source material that it draws its inspiration from. For anyone who has ever picked up a comic book, you would have certainly come across the critically acclaimed miniseries Flashpoint. For those of you who remain uninitiated, the 5-issue series tells the story of Barry Allen waking in his day job in a strange alternate world whereby his mother was never murdered, Aquaman and Wonder Woman are at war with each other, Superman is a severely emaciated prisoner of the American government, and Batman is Thomas Wayne. As it turns out, it was not Eobard Thawne’s Reverse Flash that created this alternate timeline, but the fault was on Barry Allen himself, as it is later revealed that the superhero attempted to go back in time to prevent his mother’s death, resulting in the creation of the Flashpoint timeline.
Now, we know what you are about to say: “what in the blue beetle is going on in our minds to think that such an awesome story could ever damage the current DCEU?”
Well, the answer is simple, kind of.
It is not so much the storyline that The Flash film draws from that has us perturbed. Rather, it is the understanding of the reason why the comic existed in the first place that has us worried.
You see, dear reader, while the Flashpoint is indeed one of the best modern comic book stories ever written, the cause for its existence was in its purposeful indirect usage to reboot the DC Comics timeline. This momentous event in the comics allowed the publisher to restructure narratives and subsequently remove characters from continuity at the time that they had deemed unprofitable.
Hence, if the film follows closely to its source material, it could very well mean the axing of Henry Cavill’s Superman, Ben Affleck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman in favor of reimagining the DCEU in a whole new image. Granted, the latter two characters mentioned above will nevertheless be getting their sequel films released at some point after The Flash movie, but that would still leave the first two characters’ film sequels up in the air.
Thus, you can see why we are undoubtedly conflicted about this film. That being said, we sincerely hope that we are proven wrong in our assumption.
Catch The Flash in cinemas on November 4th, 2022.
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