A major, yet soft, reboot of the DCU is on its way, thanks to DC Studios co-leads James Gunn and Peter Safran. But, before that happens, Warner Bros. has several old regime films to release.
The biggest of the bunch is undoubtedly Ezra Miller’s The Flash. Despite the trouble the actor got into lately, the hype for the upcoming blockbuster is only growing.
A good chunk of that excitement is likely due to the return of Michael Keaton's Batman—a dream come true for many fans. Sadly, while original plans seemed to give him a big role going forward in the DCU, Gunn’s new plans have seemingly scratched that.
For his first solo movie, Barry Allen will be going up against one of Superman’s biggest villains, General Zod, in an alternate 2013. However, Michael Shannon won’t be the only bad guy to give the Flash grief. He’ll also have to deal with a dangerous speedster, one who has some formidable abilities.
The Evil Speedster Gets New Powers
Thanks to Buzzfeed, fans learned that the speedster villain in the upcoming The Flash movie has some unique powers.
According to a description from the Abrin 2023 Toy Fair in Latin America, it was revealed that "Dark Flash... steals the soul of speedster heroes:"
"Two collections of different sizes will be launched but with the same characters: two versions of the Flash, Batman, and the villain, Dark Flash - who steals the soul of speedster heroes."
Back in August of 2021, The Direct exclusively reported that Miller's leading hero would go up against a different Barry Allen, one known as "Dark Flash."
Earlier this year, more information about the mysterious villain was revealed. An official description for the licensed action figures pointed out this "Dark Flash" as having a mangled face and wearing a bulkier black Flash suit—one covered in spikes emerging from it.
The best look at the character can be seen on recently showcased Funko Pop!s for the upcoming DCU project. Dark Flash's look matches up with the earlier visual descriptions but doesn't look to be a direct translation of someone from the comics.
Barry Allen and His Speedsters
It’s not unsurprising that Barry Allen will be facing off against an evil speedster in The Flash. After all, a majority of his rogue’s gallery fits into that category.
It seems that this movie’s superspeed villain will be fairly original for the film. Black Flash is maybe the closest it gets, but even then, they aren’t all too similar.
Previous promotional footage showed off another Variant of Miller’s Barry, so could he be destined to have a fall from grace? Or is another version of Allen waiting to be revealed?
What is strange is that the creatives behind the film chose not to use Reverse Flash, who is the titular hero's archenemy on the comic page. They could have easily brought Eobard Thawne in.
Perhaps Warner Bros. felt they shouldn’t use him because The CW’s series, The Flash, already explored and utilized the character dozens of times.
However, Reverse Flash is such a big deal that if the Scarlet Speedster continues to be a part of James Gunn’s new DCU, the heroes’ antithesis is bound to show up eventually.
But those thoughts only lead to a bigger question: Will Ezra Miller’s Flash even be sticking around, or will the character go on to be recast, given all of the crazy criminal incidents the star has been involved with over the years?
Sadly, fans still have lots of waiting to do before those answers become clear.
The Flash arrives in theaters on June 16.
