It’s been so long since “The Flash” movie was announced — 4 years! — that it almost feels like *we’ve* all traveled through time to get to this moment. But nope, you arrived here the normal, linear way (you’re old lol) — unlike Barry Allen, who really screws up pretty much everything in the universe by time-traveling.
But no hard feelings, because in doing so, he also brought Michael Keaton’s Batman back into our lives. Yay! And you can see for yourself in the first trailer, uploaded by a fan ahead of the official release, right now.
Yeah yeah, for now all we get to see is the back of Keaton’s bat-head, but Keaton’s unmistakable voice sets the scene for us. Miller’s Barry Allen can “go anywhere you want, any timeline, any universe,” Keaton’s Batman explains. “Why do you want to stay and fight to save this one?”
“You changed the future,” Keaton continues alongside footage of Barry presumably doing just that. “And you changed the past.”
Then we hear footsteps, followed by dim lights revealing the”Batman” 1989 version of the batsuit. “You in?” asks Barry. Batman doesn’t reply but in case anyone cares, we definitely are.
Of course, we can tell things are wildly screwed up, not only because Keaton’s Batman is in the picture, but because there are at least two different Barry Allens (Barrys Allen?) asking for his help. Whoops.
Loosely based on the 2011 DC Comics crossover event “Flashpoint” — previously announced as the film’s title at Comic-Con 2017 — in “The Flash,” Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen travel back in time to prevent the death of his mother. But changing that one thing ends up changing everything, as Barry learns when he returns to the present. His old reality gone, Barry is trapped in a new universe where Gotham City protected by Michael Keaton’s Batman, now 30 years older, as TheWrap exclusively reported last year.
Along with Keaton, who plays the caped crusader for the first time since 1992, the film will also feature Ben Affleck’s version of Batman, alongside Ron Livingston as Barry’s father. Sasha Calle also co-stars as Lara Lane Kent, daughter of Clark Kent and Lois Lane who serves as the Supergirl of her era.
Aside from all that, “The Flash” is also expected to formally fold the so-called DC Extended Universe of movies into the DC Multiverse. That concept was originally created in 1961’s “The Flash of Two Worlds” to explain various contradictory changes the company’s characters experienced over decades; in that case, establishing the Barry Allen and Jay Garrick versions of The Flash as existing in different universes.
DC revamped the concept several times since then, most famously in 1985’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” which drastically reduced the number of alternate universes and also rebooted some of DC Comics’ biggest characters. But for those keeping score, “Flashpoint” also served as a continuity reboot — something we expect will also happen to the current so-called DC Extended Universe.
Worth noting of course that the DC Multiverse has already begun. It was formally introduced in The CW’s “Arrowverse” franchise, with “Supergirl” and “Black Lightning” expressly established as being in separate universes from “Arrow,” “The Flash” and “Legends of Tomorrow.” But most recently, during The CW’s crossover event “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” movies such as “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League” were confirmed as part of the Arrowverse multiverse when Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen encountered Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen.
Directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Christina Hodson (“Birds of Prey”), “The Flash” is scheduled for Nov. 4, 2022.
