The Flash has gone through many-many creative changes as several directors have helmed and left the film. Seth Grahame-Smith was the first to helm the film, but then in June 2016, Dope director Rick Famuyiwa was announced as the new director for The Flash. But he also left due to creative differences. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein then took on the project and they were coming up with a rather lighter & happier story for The Flash.
It is known that those two directors also left the project as Ezra Miller wasn’t a fan of their pitch, and he worked with writer Grant Morrison to come up with his own pitch. Even this story was not picked up by WB as they hired ‘It’ director Andy Muschietti to work on the story of The Flash. We don’t know anything about the script of the 2022 Flash movie apart from the fact that will involve a Flashpoint story and deal with the Multiverse in some way. What we have found out is the pitch that Ezra Miller and Grant Morrison had submitted to Warner Bros. around late March of 2019.
A new Reddit Post submitted by someone who claims to have worked for WB gives us this “VERY detailed draft of The Flash screenplay,” as he/she states that it was darker and more along the direction of the DCEU that Snyder had taken. Clearly Miller was a fan of it. So, here are the details of the draft in which the story begins a while after Justice League (whichever version you may want to consider):
– The Flash has already been established as a hero in Central City, active for a year and a half in the public eye.
– While it’s not an origin, we’re presented with flashbacks including: the night his mother died, Barry getting struck by lightning, up to him even coming up with various designs of the suit (even a bright red onesie as a nod). There’s even a callback to BvS of that surveillance footage scene in the convenience store seen from Barry’s perspective!
– Barry and Iris are no longer a couple. They tried but couldn’t make it work (more on that later). They’re still close as she’s the only one in Central City who knows that Barry’s the Flash (I wonder how).
– Barry’s still learning about the limits of his abilities and the speed force and the concept of time travel. He even takes it a step further & travels to Keystone, Pennsylvania to speak with a physicist who happens to be an expert on it…
– He meets a… Professor Peter Garrick, who mysteriously knows Barry’s name before he even introduces himself, and basically breaks down how speed can break into time travel. But he also stresses the ramifications of it.
– Barry’s haunted by his mother’s death and a red-eyed monster from that night. His trauma and paranoia in losing another loved one is the main reason he couldn’t make it work with Iris.
– The film’s plot revolves around Barry investigating a murder of a detective and Barry’s mentor, John Alvins, who watched over him as a child. The investigation is botched and the CCPD catches the wrong guy, but Barry could already figure that isn’t the case so he takes it a step further and investigates it as the Flash.
– It’s revealed that Alvins’ partner, Officer Lisa Snart killed him, in order to distract the CCPD while an alpha-level metahuman chase. They were after Sam Scudder aka the Mirror Master, who broke out Lisa’s brother – LEONARD Snart in a prison convoy passing through Central City.
– Snart decides to stay in Central City with Scudder to track down a scientist in hiding; Dr. Howard who experimented on Scudder. (Also, the story takes place around the winter so Leonard’s sporting that winter coat). With the help of his sister, they even rebuild his cold gun.
– Snart and Scudder go on a rampage through Central City to track down Howard and eventually find him. Snart holds him back from killing him, and instead offers to spare Howard in exchange for one small favor.
– Flash eventually tracks them down at their hideout, and finds himself hopelessly outgunned. Scutter’s abilities catch Barry by surprise while Snart freezes Barry’s leg and breaks it, forcing him to run away. On top of that, the Flash is framed for killing Alvins. He barely makes it out alive when chased by the police.
Now this is a classic move as far as superhero movies are concerned. The Flash is an OP character, and something in the story needs to bring in to a level where his villains could over power him. Hence, the leg break situation seems very understandable. So far, the story seems cool. Even if this story isn’t from the draft that Miller and Morrison didn’t submit, but instead the Reddit user wrote it himself, we have to give him credit for his work. What happens next is also a plot point that you’d recognize if you have watched The Amazing Spider-Man. The redditor continues:
– Barry barely makes it alive to Iris at her apartment and she takes care of him and helps him recuperate.
– Their once tumultuous relationship begins to blossom once again as they actually spend more time with one another. Naturally, she doesn’t buy that the Flash did anything wrong and writes pieces online in defense of him much to Barry’s dismay (no negative attention wanted).
– Meanwhile, “Captain Cold” and Sam Scudder (now in his armor) go on bank sprees while the Flash, public enemy, is nowhere to be found. They deliberately avoid killing any officer or anyone at all.
– Paralleling his father’s situation as he was framed too, Barry goes to confide in his father in jail. But on the TV, Scudder’s KIDNAPPED Iris with Snart sending a public message to the Flash to make a choice to stop him from leaving or save Iris. Naturally, he picks Iris and is forced to get back in the suit.
– In a violent confrontation on the bridge, Flash finds himself surrounded by police while trying to take down Scudder and is forced to fight both of them. Iris is killed in the crossfire.
– Impulsive and in rage, Barry runs fast enough in order time travel to save Iris but lands in an area of the speed force which is much more frightening than he anticipated.
– In the speed force, he glimpses a familiar red-eyed demon briefly before being attacked by a zombified version of a… Flash?
This Zombiefied version of a “Flash” isn’t properly revealed. But we’ve watched enough of The Flash to know that it is none other than Black Flash. As some of you may have suspected, Professor Peter “Garrick” has a crucial role to play in the story. And you’ll be able to figure one what that role is right about now:
– All of a sudden, he’s saved by another speedster that happens to be in the speed force. Who is revealed to be… Professor Garrick? At least a slightly younger version. In his own Flash suit.
– Going by Jay, who doesn’t recognize Barry at all, guides him out the speed force.
– Barry successfully manages to travel one day into the past to save her, easily takes down and arrests Scudder and captures Lisa Snart, exposing her. He even builds himself a new suit.
– With nowhere left to go, Snart lures Flash into an abandoned subway tunnel, injecting himself with an untested dose of Howard’s formula as his Plan B to give him abilities.
– Now a metahuman, he’s able to manipulate colder temperature and freeze objects. This leads to an epic battle with the Flash. His speed is weakened by the cold so Flash has to contend with other options in beating him, to which he does in a physical brawl, to which he’s barely successful.
– Unfortunately for Snart, the cold temperatures overwhelm his body as he’s unable to suddenly adapt to them, and it ends up killing him.
– Flash is proven innocent thanks to help from Iris. Barry and Iris are finally back together. Happy times.
– With the truth revealed, Barry meets with Professor Garrick again. Garrick is deliberately vague with his words, but assures him that two speedsters cannot exist at the same time, meaning that Jay is powerless.
– It’s heavily implied that Jay Garrick is from another timeline or universe all together as there hasn’t been a history any existence of any other Flash. But it’s deliberately left ambiguous.
– Garrick gives him a ring for his new suit, assuring him that… “I don’t need it anymore.”
– And FINALLY, he warns Barry not play with the fabric of space and time as it can create some kind of…. paradox.
– The final scenes show Lisa Snart in jail swearing to avenge her brother and vows revenge on Flash for killing him. And Barry sitting with his father, revealing to him that he’s the Flash and assures him that his mother’s killer is still out there.
As I’ve mentioned above, this draft seems very descriptive. It is has the makings of a good first movie, but it also has similar elements to The CW’s The Flash (which has run for 6 seasons so there were always going to be a lot of similarities). The dark move of Iris’ death is nice, but as I just stated, it has happened in The Flash (specifically in Season 1). The unique part in this story is Leonard Snart becoming a meta human.
Like it or hate it. We know for a fact that this story won’t be happening as WB is looking to take the direction of the Multiverse & Flashpoint at the same time. Let’s see if they can successfully pull off aligning Michael Keaton’s Batman Universe with the DCEU.
