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”. He described “Flashpoint” movie as a “Batman story” which further excited the base.
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.
Secondly, in addition to Flashpoint turning 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 (to be played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) becomes the Dark Knight while Martha Wayne goes insane and turns into female Joker.
Ezra Miller is very excited about the project and said: “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.”
But despite all the excitement, it would be a shame if WB squanders the potential of possible Flash-Cyborg team-up movie. The chemistry between the two in Justice League was awesome but even before watching them two together, there were rumors of Barry Allen-Victor Stone team-up movie as it’s the most logical thing to do. In this way, DCEU can evenly spread the amount of time and narrative among the members of Justice League.
There is a small role of Cyborg in Flashpoint where he will help Batman and Flash locate Superman who is captured amidst global war between Wonder Woman and Aquaman. But this would be like repeating the same mistake all over again where there are too many heavyweights and too little time.
It would have been better if DCEU first build friendship between Barry Allen and Victor Stone who never became Cyborg at the first place. He is a brilliant science student who helps Barry unlock his speed powers and restore the timeline. There is no need to remove Thomas Wayne’s storyline but that should be a side-show instead of the main event. In this way, all the characters will be given equal importance and screen time.
Since the announcement of the movie, many directors have left the project citing creative issues and lack of faith in the team. It’s important that a serious director gets formally attached to the project as soon as possible. There was a possibility of Phil Lord and Chris Miller to come on board, but according to Variety both can be ruled out as they are in the process of directing Artemis, a feature adaptation of Andy Weir’s latest novel.
Justin Kroll of Variety wrote on his twitter:
“For those wondering this Artemis news pretty much take L&M out of running for Flash. That script was turned in yesterday to studio. Bob z still being considered but studio will take meetings with other filmmakers, in no rush to make announcement.”
But guess what…who is in the running for the project? It’s none other than Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future fame). Apart from him, Sam Raimi has passed the project and Matthew Vaughn is more interested in Superman but studio feels that his visual style would work well with Flash.
Ezra Miller 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.”
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 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 in mid-thirties 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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