DC Studios' first Flash design was finally revealed amid the Scarlet Speedster's ongoing DCU absence. Having just wrapped up a nine-season run in The CW's Arrowverse in 2023, followed shortly after by the DCEU's The Flash, the Justice League's beloved speedster is in a precarious position ahead of his DCU debut. Sadly, the Flash was omitted from the DCU's original Chapter 1 slate and remains absent years later, sparking controversy among some fans, especially as stranger projects, like Clayface, move full steam ahead.
Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios are making their presence known at Annecy Festival with a brand-new banner highlighting their upcoming slate (via Discussing Film). Excitingly, that animation spotlight included a glimpse at Jesse Quick, a version of the Flash, in her superhero suit in an upcoming TV series.
The female Flash will co-lead the way in DC Super Powers, a kid-friendly Elseworlds series in which she and other young heroes attend the Alliance School for Heroes under Principal Martian Manhunter. The Annecy Festival art also unveils the first look at the speedster's fellow students, Black Lightning and Plastic Man, although she will be joined by Terra, Aquagirl, and Guy Gardner/Green Lantern.
Of course, DC Super Powers' Flash isn't Barry Allen or Wally West; she is Jesse Chambers, aka Jesse Quick, the daughter of a Golden Age speedster who learns her father's equation to tap into the Speed Force at a young age.
In The CW's Arrowverse, Violett Beane played Jesse Quick, the daughter of Earth-2's Harrison Wells, and got her powers in The Flash Season 3 from a recreation of the particle accelerator explosion that created metahumans across Central City.
The Flash concluded with Season 9 in May 2023, to be followed just one month later in June 2023 with the Ezra Miller-led DCEU flick of the same name, which flopped disastrously at the box office ahead of James Gunn's DCU reboot and has led to the character's absence from DC Studios thus far.
DC Studios briefly unveiled its first-ever Flash costume in Creature Commandos in a vision of a potential future conjured by Wonder Woman villain Circe. The DCU's deceased Scarlet Speedster on a spike is Wally West, who many have speculated will carry the Flash mantle, not Barry Allen, in the main timeline.
Release details surrounding DC Super Powers are still unclear, but news and updates could emerge from the Annecy Festival in the coming days, perhaps including the identity of DC Studios' first Flash actor.
Why James Gunn's DCU Is Holding Off on The Flash's Debut
DC Studios' decision to utilize Jesse Quick, not Barry Allen or Wally West, in the kid-friendly Super Powers is a strange one. That said, it may also be a smart way to separate the Elseworlds series from previous Flash blunders - both in the DCEU and The CW show's latter seasons - and what's to come in the main DCU.
Even with Superman already getting a sequel in Man of Tomorrow and reboots already in the works for Batman and Wonder Woman, there is still no word on other crucial Justice League superhero introductions. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn confirmed last summer that the Flash won't speed into frame anytime "in the next two years," likely pushing his debut into 2028 or even further beyond.
While Gunn has no public plans to introduce the Flash outside of Elseworlds projects, the perfect HBO Max series for his DCU debut was recently announced. The studio is moving full steam ahead with a true-crime-inspired show starring Skyler Gisondo's Jimmy Olsen as he investigates the Flash villain Gorilla Grodd, making the Justice League speedster's inclusion a no-brainer.
That may be tough to pull off, as the series (rumored to be called American Villain) is expected to shoot soon, and the DCU still has no Flash actor, even though a clear Wally West contender recently emerged. Regardless, it would be wrong to center a show on Grodd without an inkling of his archrival, so perhaps a faceless red blur could be shown clashing with DC's evil ape to tease the Flash's existence.
It's too soon after The Flash's nine-mile CW sprint for a DCU TV show, and, equally, not enough time has passed after the DCEU blockbuster was a financial disaster to consider a new theatrical movie. That sets up the Scarlet Speedster to either debut in an animated show, to be introduced in a supporting role in another hero's story, or to be kept on the DC Studios shelf for at least several years.
