Despite its titular hero's superhuman speed, the DC Extended Universe film The Flash has had an incredibly hard time reaching the finish line. The movie was announced following the character's introduction in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but the Scarlet Speedster still has yet to have his own movie released almost ten years after the DCEU's birth. The latest blow to the film's release is its star Ezra Miller, and it may necessitate a narrative shift.
Miller's take on Barry Allen has been controversial enough without the actor's own actions making Warner Bros. question the hiring choice. With the latest situation making Miller's future as The Flash incredibly questionable, perhaps it's time that a real Scarlet Speedster enters the DCEU: Wally West.
The DCEU Needs to Dump Ezra Miller's Barry Allen
Many were hesitant about Ezra Miller's being cast as Barry Allen in the DC Extended Universe, misgivings that proved warranted following the release of the maligned theatrical Justice League. Made into a spastic tryhard fanboy who reeked of new director Joss Whedon trying to inject some Marvel Cinematic Universe-style humor into the comparatively dour DCEU, this take on Barry Allen was anything but what comic fans expected of him. Though it could be argued that the boring and dry Barry Allen needed to be spiced up a bit, especially given how serious the DCEU was at that point, Miller's version of the Silver Age Scarlet Speedster was half-past a bridge too far.
Now, there's all manner of contention given Miller's recent actions, which logically should land the actor in legal hot water that even The Flash can't outrun. This apparently has Warner Bros. racing back and forth with what to do for both the third Fantastic Beasts movie, which stars Miller, and the again delayed The Flash movie. The latter still has tons of rumors buzzing around its plot, namely involving retconning certain aspects of the DCEU. Given Miller's sabotaging the movie and the work that Zack Snyder did, for better or worse, it's probably best if the one thing that is retconned or removed in some way is Barry Allen. This means possibly bringing in the one Flash that fans truly want to see on the big screen: Wally West.
How the DCEU Can Introduce Wally West as the New Flash
It's in Warner Bros.'s best interest to sack the erratic Ezra Miller from the DCEU, especially given that the company essentially sidelined Ray Fisher's Cyborg for arguably lesser offenses than Miller's growing list. That leaves the DCEU without a Flash, but if the multiverse is explored in The Flash movie, then it could end with a new Flash under the crimson cowl. It wouldn't be difficult to have Barry Allen sacrifice himself or get lost in the Speed Force to prevent some catastrophe caused by his time traveling, forcing another person to take his place in a changed DCEU. This person should be none other than Wally West, namely the version that comic book fans were introduced to back in The Flash #110 in 1959.
To specify, this should be Wally West, not the New 52 character Wallace West or the amalgam used in The Flash TV show in the Arrowverse. Given how much Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman look like the comics brought to life, Wally West should be the same way. For bonus points, Warner Bros. could cast Michael Rosenbaum (the actor who voiced Wally West in the Justice League and Teen Titans cartoons) as the live-action Wally since he does look quite a bit like the character. This could be a Wally from an alternate universe who's unrelated to the Iris West played by Kiersey Clemons or simply an adult version of her adopted nephew to explain the discrepancy.
It's Wally West, not Barry Allen, who had the wealth of great stories and bits of character development. To this day, Barry's only great stories are Crisis and Flashpoint, the former of which involves his death. A fascinating idea would be a reverse version of Flashpoint, with Wally exiting the Speed Force to a new timeline where he's an adult Flash who's already married to Linda Park and raising two children. The idea of a fully formed family man superhero is something that neither the DCEU nor even the MCU has tackled, and it helps that Wally not only has several past comics with this premise but that it's also his current status quo. DC Comics seems to finally be giving Wally his due again after about a decade of horrific treatment, so perhaps the DCEU should follow suit. Barry Allen, at least in the movie version, had his shot, so why not let a potentially much more interesting character fill his racing shoes?