SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Last Saturday, I saw the latest DC Comics superhero movie called ‘The Flash’, starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/the Flash. I enjoyed this film. I found ‘The Flash’ a fascinating instalment in the ‘DC Extended Universe’ film series, and it’s intriguing how DC Studios did their own version of a multiverse story. 🙂

I think it’s fair to say that the ‘DCEU’ has been a mixed bag of a collection of DC superhero movies. Not that I’ve found any of the films disappointing and unentertaining. They have had merit in their own way, but their consistency hasn’t been great, and most of the films have been underwhelming.

It’s quite a mess, especially when the ‘DCEU’ has been trying to compete with the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ film series. With that said, ‘The Flash’ has been very interesting in its attempt to match to the same success of a multiverse story that ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ had, but with varying results. 😐

In the film, Barry Allen/the Flash attempts to travel back in time and prevent his mother’s death. Unfortunately, it brings unintended consequences, as he ends up in a parallel universe where he meets another Barry Allen, teams up with Supergirl instead of Superman and he also meets Batman.

By that, I mean he meets Michael Keaton as Batman from 1989’s ‘Batman’ and ‘Batman Returns’. It was nice to see Michael Keaton return as Batman, as he’s my favourite actor to play the character. It was interesting how he fitted into this version of reality where Barry somehow changed the timeline.

As I understand it, Michael Keaton’s Batman replaced Ben Affleck’s Batman (who also appears in this movie) and it seems that parts of the Tim Burton Batman universe bled into the ‘DCEU’ version of reality. This is evident, since the events of ‘Batman Forever’ and ‘Batman & Robin’ aren’t mentioned.

I’d still like to think that Michael Keaton has the ability to regenerate into Val Kilmer and George Clooney in the original ‘Batman’ film series, but then again, Bruce Wayne’s changing faces could be a result of the ‘DCEU’s Barry Allen/the Flash tampering with history and reality. Intriguing possibility. 🙂

It gets confusing when the film ended with Barry meeting up with George Clooney as Bruce Wayne from ‘Batman & Robin’. Meaning Barry’s attempt to change things back to the way they were before he changed history didn’t work, since George Clooney has now replaced Ben Affleck in the ‘DCEU’. 😐

As well as Ezra Miller and Michael Keaton, the film also features Sasha Calle as Supergirl. It was interesting to see this parallel universe have Supergirl in it instead of Superman. It’s also intriguing that Superman is played by a Latina actress with dark hair, as usually, Supergirl is a blonde woman. 🙂

Michael Shannon returns to play General Zod in the movie. This is a parallel version of General Zod from ‘Man of Steel’, and it’s interesting how the parallel version of events from ‘Man of Steel’ are played out in this film. There’s also Antje Traue who returns as Faora-Ul from the ‘Man of Steel’ film.

There’s Ron Livingston as Henry Allen, Barry’s father; Maribel Verdú as Nora Allen, Barry’s mother; and Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, a journalist and Barry’s love interest. It was nice to see Iris West in ‘The Flash’, having seen her previously and lately in Zack Snyder’s 2021 version of ‘Justice League’. 🙂

There’s also the return of Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Temeura Morrison as Thomas Curry, Arthur Curry’s human father from ‘Aquaman’ (though this is a parallel universe version of him), Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry a.k.a. Aquaman in a post-credits scene.

It was nice to see DC superhero characters from alternative universes make silent cameos in the film, including Henry Cavill’s Superman, Christopher Reeve’s Superman as well as Helen Slater’s Supergirl from the 1984 film, Adam West’s Batman from the 1960s TV series, and Nicolas Cage’s Superman. 🙂

In case you didn’t know, Nicolas Cage was meant to play Superman in a film directed by Tim Burton called ‘Superman Lives’ before it was abandoned. There’s also George Reeves’ version of Superman from the 1950s films. It was so interesting to see these parallel versions of DC superhero characters.

‘The Flash’ has been an enjoyable and fun instalment in the ‘DCEU’ film series. I don’t think it’s great and I prefer ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (both of them) as a multiverse story. But I appreciate the attempt DC Studios makes in trying to do a multiverse story, especially with featuring the Flash in it.

I think seeing Barry Allen be sick during the film was unnecessary and I didn’t like it when one of his teeth fell out at the film’s end. 😐 Also, just to say, I’m disappointed Michael Keaton’s Batman and Ben Affleck’s Batman didn’t get to meet in the film, as I hoped they would. That would have been amazing, wouldn’t it?

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂