The Flash movie has been making huge strides in building buzz for the long-awaited Barry Allen solo film. Besides the fact that the film would be loosely adapting elements from the acclaimed graphic novel Flashpoint, not much else was known about the plot's details, or which other DC heroes may be featured in the film. Then, up went the Batsignal.
It was previously confirmed that The Flash was attempting to secure Michael Keaton to reprise his Bruce Wayne for a supporting role in the film. This, of course, meant The Flash would be diving deep into the multiverse, an important staple of DC's comic book canon.
Then, another bombshell, this time in the form of Ben Affleck's Batman also being confirmed to appear in The Flash. And The Flash's director has a lot to say about what that means for the future of the DCEU.
NEWS
In a report from Vanity Fair, The Flash director Andy Muschietti spoke in length about what all the Batmen mean for the future of DC's films, and the multiverse. The article states:
So far, the multiverse approach has helped DC both differentiate itself and revisit the same characters without being accused of rebooting or erasing recent favorites. DC TV shows such as Arrow, Batwoman, Black Lightning, and Supergirl have done crossover events, and a few months ago the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline laid the groundwork for the multiverse concept, with Miller’s movie Flash making an appearance in that story by coming face-to-face with the TV Flash played by Grant Gustin.
Muschietti then brings up his own thoughts on the matter, saying:
“This movie is a bit of a hinge in the sense that it presents a story that implies a unified universe where all the cinematic iterations that we’ve seen before are valid. It’s inclusive in the sense that it is saying all that you’ve seen exists, and everything that you will see exists, in the same unified multiverse.”
WHAT THIS MEANS
Ezra Miller's Flash showing up in Grant Gustin's Flash series was a huge moment for DC fans. However, nobody knew whether the cameo was a throwaway appearance, or if The Flash film would actually reference the existence of the multiverse. That is, until all the recent news of supporting roles from Batman's greatest hits confirmed that The Flash would indeed open up DC's multiverse in an unprecedented way.
Muschietti definitely understands the gravity of the multiverse, acknowledging that now every beloved adaptation of DC's characters do exist as an alternate universe within the world of the DCEU. This completely opens up the possibilities to the sandbox that DC's films are now allowed to play in. They're no longer confined to the canon and characters of their universe, and any iteration of any character can now show up in any film.
The extent of how much the future of the DCEU utilizes the multiverse will still be an unknown for a long time to come, but at least the groundwork is being laid by a director who knows the importance of it. And now fans can look forward to the possibilities of Robert Pattinson's Batman meeting Henry Cavill's Superman, Joaquin Phoenix and Jared Leto coming face-to-face, or Warner Brothers greenlighting an Into the Batverse film.
MCU Writer
