What The Flash’s Movie Has To Do to Succeed

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Justice League, in theaters now.

At Comic-Con International in July, Warner Bros. revealed that the planned solo Flash movie had been retitled Flashpoint. Fans lost their collective minds at the prospect of such a groundbreaking comic brought to life on the big screen. We’d already seen an animated adaptation, which didn’t hold back on bending time and alternate realities due to Barry Allen traveling back to stop his mother’s murder. However, some devotees were apprehensive at another live-action take on Flashpoint after The CW offered its own take on The Flash.

But with Justice League, Ezra Miller put his own stamp on DC Comics' Scarlet Speedster. His performance was an easily lovable one; he captured the awkwardness of Barry perfectly, and it was interesting to see him use humor as a defense mechanism during times of stress. So with all that in mind, it’s time to look to the future to his solo movie and what it should include.

Reverse Flash

Eobard Thawne, aka Professor Zoom, aka the Reverse-Flash. While Matt Lescher and Tom Cavanaugh have both brought the villain to life on the television series, it’s time for a truly terrifying version of the classic nemesis to our screens.

Although Thawne was once obsessed with The Flash and idolized him, his mind was quickly warped, and he became a ruthless killer. Barry’s mother is just one of many people that the Reverse-Flash has murdered in his villainous career. A really intriguing way of bringing Thawne to the screen would be to focus on the relationship between Barry and the villain, rather than just the crimes he commits. Treat him like the Hannibal Lecter of the DC Universe. He is a serial killer after all, so DC should capitalize on that. Sure, speedsters fighting has the potential to be a visually fantastic spectacle, but the emotion at the heart of the story should be the part gripping the audience.

Non-Speedster Characters

When The CW brought Flashpoint to the The Flash, fans wondered whether they’d be able to do a faithful version of the comic book story, in particular how it affected other DC characters. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. There was no Batman, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, or even Captain Thunder. It used Kid Flash and the Rival as the main costumed characters and that was about it. It was a disappointing adaptation of a brilliant storyline, and although it serviced the show in a decent way, it only shared the bare bones of Flashpoint.

But with a cinematic version, where Warner Bros. could use all of the Justice League characters it has access to, we could actually see a truly faithful adaptation. All the key characters have already appeared in Justice League, and the supporting members of the story have popped up in other films. Gal Gadot is seemingly confirmed to appear as Wonder Woman and Jeffrey Dean Morgan constantly avoids questions about appearing as the Thomas Wayne Batman. It could act as Justice League 1.5; similar to how Captain America: Civil War included plenty of Avengers, Flashpoint could use many Justice League characters in the same way. Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to see Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa duke it out as Atlantis and Themiscyra plunge the world into war? That has the potential to be incredible.

[valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Next%20Page%3A%20The%20Speed%20Force']

An Emotional Journey for Barry Allen

During Justice League we were very briefly introduced to the circumstances surrounding Barry’s current situation. We met Henry Allen and learned about his Mother’s murder. And although that was enough of an introduction for an ensemble movie, we’re going to need to see what life was like before the Reverse-Flash murdered Nora Allen. Something that makes the discovery of what happened to her that much more hard hitting for the speedster to deal with. Whether that’s a flashback to childhood memories, or the night of her death. We’ve only seen The Flash briefly twice before Justice League, so we haven’t had a lot of time to get to know him on a personal level. Although he fought against Steppenwolf and his Parademons, Barry hasn’t had a villain that’s been out to get him specifically. We saw him stop Captain Boomerang robbing a bank, so we know he’s come across villains, but he’s not had a powerful metahuman hunt him directly yet. It’ll be interesting to see how he copes with that alongside trying to save his Mother.

Powers + the Speed Force

Run, Barry, Run. We’ve seen Barry use his super-speed and either time travel or a speed force vision during Batman v Superman and Justice League. They’ve covered the basics, it’s now time to show off the wide range of skills and powers that the Speed Force grants him. Whether that’s phasing through objects or blurring his face/voice to further disguise his identity. One of the most enjoyable things about The Flash is that he can have fun with his powers - he actually enjoys being a superhero. We saw that when he saved "just one person" when Steppenwolf was looking for the Mother Box. Saving people quickly became a fulfilling task for Barry, and it’s likely that experimenting with his powers will give him as much joy. In his own film, they need to at least have one full scene of Barry experimenting with all his different capabilities, like throwing lightning or creating a vortex by spinning his arms.