After years of delays, director changes, script changes, and the lead actor going on an actual crime spree that we’re just supposed to forget about for some reason, WB and DC’s big-screen adaptation of The Flash is finally hitting theaters to surprisingly positive pre-release buzz. And while I am excited for the film, if only to see the end result of such a tumultuous production cycle, one thought keeps crossing my mind. Are we really doing this again?
See, 2023’s The Flash is primarily inspired by the 2011 comic book storyline Flashpoint. The story sees Barry Allen use his super speed to travel back in time and prevent his mother’s murder, only for his actions to have unintended ripple effects across the space-time continuum, creating a post-apocalyptic universe wherein, among other changes, the Atlanteans and the Amazons are in the middle of an all-out war. With the help of some alternate timeline allies, Barry is able to reset things back to relative normalcy, but not without a few other changes once he gets back.
Flashpoint set the stage for that year’s line-wide DC Comics reboot, The New 52, and received critical acclaim and solid sales numbers upon first release. At this point, it often feels like the publisher believes that Flashpoint is the only major storyline Barry Allen has ever had, continuously pushing it as the landmark narrative for the character. This push means that Flashpoint being the basis for the new movie feels not just tired, but redundant; as part of said push already involved adapting Flashpoint into other media. Twice.
The first adaptation, 2013’s Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, is an animated film that follows the events of the comic fairly closely. After enlisting the help of his fellow Justice Leaguers to stop Reverse-Flash from destroying Central City, Barry Allen starts running before mysteriously waking up at his desk at CCPD. Things only get weirder from there: no one knows who The Flash is, Barry no longer has his super speed, and his mother is still alive.
Their heartfelt reunion is unfortunately short-lived, as Barry soon discovers that this timeline’s Aquaman and Wonder Woman are the leaders of warring nations and their conflict will soon destroy the planet. To stop this, Barry recruits Thomas Wayne as an older, grizzled Batman and a few other alternate Leaguers to restore his speed, figure out who changed the timeline, and get things back to normal before the end of the world.
Like its comic book storyline, Flashpoint Paradox was used to reboot the often inconsistent DC Animated Movie Universe into a single shared continuity based on the New 52. And as a movie on its own, it holds up remarkably well. The twist where Barry thinks Reverse-Flash changed things only for it to be his own fault feels unnecessary and your mileage may vary as to how interesting “post-apocalyptic DC” still is as a concept in 2023; but it’s paced well, the action is great, the emotional beats work, and it sports a terrific voice cast ranging from veterans like Kevin Conroy as Batman to then newcomers like Justin Chambers as Barry Allen.
The second Flashpoint adaptation came in The Flash live-action TV series, which starred Grant Gustin as the titular speedster and recently wrapped up a landmark 9-season run on The CW. The Flash primarily tackled the Flashpoint storyline in Season 3’s opening two-parter, a pair of episodes titled Flashpoint and Paradox respectively. The first episode, Flashpoint, kicks off three months after Barry ran back in time to save his mother at the end of Season 2.
In those months, Barry has been living a seemingly idyllic lifestyle. He has a good home life with both of his parents, has kept his job as a CSI at CCPD, successfully trapped the Reverse-Flash in a speed dampening cage, and recently worked up the courage to ask out his longtime crush, Iris West. He doesn’t even have to worry about superhero stuff anymore since in this timeline Wally West, Iris’ brother, has taken up the mantle of The Flash.
Sadly, this life is not meant to be. Barry starts to forget about the original timeline for reasons he doesn’t understand and Wally West soon finds himself overwhelmed by a new evil speedster called The Rival. Barry steps into help, recruiting a billionaire Cisco Ramon and an ophthalmologist Caitlin Snow along the way. While they do manage to successfully defeat The Rival, Wally sustains critical injuries during the fight, leading Barry to free Reverse-Flash and reset the timeline back to normal; leading into the second episode.
As Paradox opens, Barry is disheartened to discover that the reset timeline still isn’t quite the same as it was before. Barry and Iris’ kiss during the Season 2 finale never happened, Barry has a new partner at work and they can’t stand each other, Iris and her father Joe are no longer on speaking terms, and Cisco’s brother Dante is dead. Additionally, Arrow‘s John Diggle now has a son instead of a daughter, establishing that the Flashpoint event affected both The Flash and Arrow.
Barry keeps trying to mend the emotional wedges between his friends and family without telling them about Flashpoint, but to no avail. Cisco in particular is angered by Barry’s refusal to run back in time to prevent Dante’s death. Barry almost does exactly this before he’s stopped by Jay Garrick, played by 90s TV Barry Allen, John Wesley Shipp, who has a heart-to-heart with him about living with mistakes and how attempting to fix time travel with more time travel is a terrible idea. Barry then comes clean about creating Flashpoint and the team is ultimately able to reconcile, defeat the villain of the week, and set up the new status quo for the rest of the season.
Also Read: The Flash Review – Overhyped Fan Service
Flashpoint and Paradox may not be masterpieces of television and there are some obvious changes from the comics in terms of scale and the characters used, but like the best of The Flash TV show, and most of The CW’s extended Arrowverse line-up, they are pure fun from start to finish. The emotions are big, the characters are likable, the stories are digestible yet still stimulating, and the entire cast all seem to be having a great time. Plus, the super-suits and speed sequences look shockingly great despite clearly being made using roughly $20 and a few collective hopes and dreams.
With all that said, I think it’s clear why the arrival of 2023’s The Flash leaves me with a sense of fatigue. This movie had a massive opportunity to do something different and open the eyes of audiences to the limitless potential of this character; something that’s especially important to nail given it’s his first solo feature. Why not try a “Flash vs. The Rogues” or other sort of street-level movie like was originally planned? Or how about a Flash/Cyborg buddy movie like Rick Famuyiwa wanted to do before leaving the project?
Instead, that opportunity has been completely wasted and The Flash movie is starting the character’s solo journey with a story that should be ending it and is already overexposed as is. Will The Flash be a good movie? I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet, but I will admit that the trailers have looked surprisingly impressive. What I do know is that I love The Flash as a character and personally I think there are much more compelling directions to take a film adaptation than doing a twice-adapted storyline over again.
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