What’s Happening With The Flash Movie?

The Flash solo movie has had trouble getting off the starting blocks. While star Ezra Miller was cast well before 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was in production (his Flash makes a brief appearance in that film) or the release of 2017’s Justice League, other elements of the movie, notably those related to script and director, haven’t been as stable. Recently, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (writers of Spider-Man: Homecoming and directors of comedies like Vacation and Game Night) have landed the directing job, with Joby Harold working on the most recent script.

The Flash movie has long been expected to be based on the Flashpoint story from the comics, which tells the story of Barry Allen changing the past to prevent his mother’s murder and ruining the present as a result. It involves the creation of a (temporary) DC Universe where Atlantis is at war with Themyscira and other elements of the world are a little less familiar. On the surface, that doesn’t sound like the kind of story that would be the most natural fit for Daley and Goldstein, who are known for their comedic chops. Despite that, they seem to have a pretty clear vision of how they want the DCEU version of Flash to grow beyond what we saw in Justice League. 

“We love that he is not your traditional super hero, like Batman or Superman who have their shit together and are filled with angst and anguish,” John Francis Daley told Den of Geek earlier this year while promoting Game Night.

“In much the same way that Peter Parker is sort of the entry level way into the Marvel Superhero Universe, they both share that quality that they’re still a little excited to have these powers and they’re newbies and all that,” added Jonathan Goldstein.

Daley describes Flash’s role in the DCEU as “the entry point for the audience,” and it’s here where you can start to see a hint of how Flashpoint might play out on the big screen. “As an audience member if you were gifted with these powers, you wouldn’t immediately use them just to fight in the name of good, you’d play with them and experiment with them,” he said. “I think there’s just something really fun in meeting someone that’s younger who doesn’t have all that extra baggage, having fun with their new abilities.” 

In the comics (and on TV) changing the past is something Barry only attempts after years of frustration. But perhaps by “experimenting” with his powers, Barry changes the past. It’s easy to see Ezra Miller’s Flash, in a moment of youthful enthusiasm, testing his limits, or idealistically thinking he can prevent his mother’s murder without wider consequences. That being said, the idea of an inexperienced Flash testing his powers feels like something that would be more in line with a traditional superhero movie, rather than the branching timeline/alternate reality storyline that a Flashpoint movie would explore. 

But…what if the movie ends up not being based on Flashpoint after all? With the announcement that screenwriter Dan Mazeau is taking on the adaptation of Ernest Cline’s Armada, THR mentions that Mazeau had previously “worked on the Warner Bros.’ Flash movie project when it was titled Flashpoint.” Does this mean that the studio has moved away from the ambitious, difficult, and dark Flashpoint story for their movie, or simply that it won’t be the title of the film? We’ll update this with further developments as we hear them.

At the moment, Flashpoint doesn’t have a release date. The full DC superhero movie release schedule can be found here.