Warner Bros. announced the Justice League movie months back which has just been released. It assembles the greatest DC superheroes under one roof against the larger threat (Steppenwolf). But along with an ensemble movie, it also announced solo movies for Aquaman, Shazam, Flash and Wonder Woman. At SDCC, Warner Bros. dropped a bombshell when it announced Flashpoint movie as part of the DCEU.
Geoff Johns (DC writer cum producer) said:
“There’re elements in it that we’re going to be playing into that we couldn’t do anywhere else”.
It was exciting because of two reasons – Firstly, DC fans have been waiting for a solo Flash movie for a long time and secondly, it’s one of the greatest comic-book event of all time which totally altered the DC universe. It will adapt DC comic story arc written by Geoff Johns. When Barry Allen runs back in time and saves his mother, he creates an alternate timeline where he never becomes Scarlett speedster and DC universe’s foundation is shaken to the core. Wonder Woman and Aquaman become competing warlords fighting to control the planet with their respective armies.
In addition to Flashpoint turning the life of ‘The Flash’ upside down, it totally changed the comic-book universe of other DC characters as well including Batman and Joker. When Flash travels back in time to save his mother, he completely messed up the timeline and as a result, changed the backstory of the Wayne family. In the new timeline, Bruce Wayne ends up getting killed and his father Thomas Wayne becomes the Dark Knight while Martha Wayne goes insane and turns into female Joker.
Ezra Miller is very excited about the project but slightly downplayed the delays and exodus of directors etc. Here’s what he said:
“The development of the project has been a little Barry Allen-like in its mercurial tendencies. But it looks more promising and more exciting than any of the other stages of development that we’ve been in.”
He added:
“What fans understand when they hear Flashpoint would be almost like hearing a word like ‘Crisis.’ We start to understand that our precious DC universe will inevitably be torn asunder to an endless, headache-inducing fabric of multi-versality. The DC Hyper-Extended Multiverse, as I plan to call it. Quote me!”
In an interview Ezra Miller was asked about what he thinks about Thomas Wayne making it to the ‘Flashpoint’ and here’s what he had to say:
“Oh, hell yeah. I think he’s amazing, and I think he would fall right into what is becoming a very, very serious ensemble of actors. I’m so excited about Kiersey Clemons. I’m so excited about Billy Crudup. I just couldn’t be more stoked about the names involved so far.”
Here’s what he said to ComicBook:
“I think that the emotional arc of the Thomas Wayne stuff in Flashpoint is one of the illest parts. And to see that different manifestation of Batman and his whole different style.”
He added:
“And I love the reality that you have this universe that is so inverted from the one that we know. And this one factor remains the same, but in this flipped way. Batman is steady, but it’s going to be the result of a different side of the same tragedy with Thomas Wayne instead of Bruce, and that’s dope.”
The Justice League movie was supposed to be the first proper outing on Barry Allen as a forensic scientist and not as a speedster Flash. In fact, the plan was not to call him by that name in the movie. He will simply be Barry. He has to first realize his powers, earn it, work hard for it and then probably in Justice League sequel, he will fully embrace his superhero persona. But all those scenes were cut from the final draft.
In Flashpoint, fans will most certainly see Flash in action but in Justice League, he won’t be wearing that superhero moniker. It is one of the greatest comic-book events where Barry Allen aka ‘The Flash’ runs back in time and saves his mother, he creates an alternate timeline where he never becomes Scarlett speedster and DC universe is altered forever.
Here’s what Ezra Miller said to Chris Van Vliet
“Barry is just Barry at this point and there’s even a scene that was cut from the movie where he is going on and on and on trying to figure out who he should be, and what he should call himself, so yeah he doesn’t have a superhero name yet.”
In DC comics, Barry Allen was first introduced in October 1956 in Showcase #4. He was a replacement to original Flash Jay Garrick from 1940’s comics. The Flash TV series on CW is one of the most exciting shows in the superhero genre. Initially, in the Iris West’s blog, he is referred to as Streak, when he went to Kara’s (Supergirl) Earth, he was referred to as ‘The Blur’.
According to latest scoop, Flashpoint movie will go ahead only if Justice League is a major blockbuster at the box-office. The report is suggesting that studio has slowed down the search for a new director as they want to see how well Justice League performs globally before moving forward. According to Justin Kroll of Variety, Flashpoint and other recently announced movies may be put on hold if Justice League underperforms. Here’s what he said:
“I’ve been tracking a lot of movies, specifically Flashpoint. I’ve heard they’ve slowed their (director) search down to see how Justice League does. I don’t know if they’re giving everyone their own movie now. Aquaman’s already shot so we’ll see. Obviously (Cyborg) is not happening anytime soon, neither is Man of Steel 2… I’ve heard, ‘Let’s see how this movie does before we go forward with all those other movies.”
Well, the Justice League movie has been released and it has got mixed reactions at best and negative reviews at worse. The opening weekend box-office numbers are not very encouraging for the DC and rotten tomatoes score is just 39% at present. It is likely to dip further which will affect film’s box-office collection. But the silver lining is that Ezra Miller as ‘The Flash’ was just phenomenal. He was a great comedic relief and his character arc (although rushed) was satisfying. Thus, WB might just allow Flashpoint to go ahead and wrap up the production. It is expected to be released somewhere in 2020. CHEERS!
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