While speculation continues to swirl around the big screen role of Batman – thanks to the seeming inability of Ben Affleck and Warner Bros. to make an actual commitment on that casting – the release of Justice League has focused attention once more on the proposed Flashpoint, which remains in-development. These two points of discussion are inextricably linked, because any Flashpoint adaptation worth its salt would include an alternative Batman – and this is exactly what Ezra Miller and Geoff Johns have been teasing.
Miller is currently emerging from a tense Justice League release as one of the high points of that film – giving us his first real outing as Barry Allen, also known as The Flash. We’ve seen glimpses of him in the role before – in Suicide Squad and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice – but this is his first opportunity to really flesh out that performance, and it’s certainly whetting the appetite of audiences for his own solo movie. But, while the Barry Allen-centred project in the DC Extended Universe began life as The Flash, a lengthy, turbulent development process has led to that movie being reshaped as an adaptation of the Flashpoint story arc from DC comics, which was written by Johns.
In addition to having written the core Flashpoint comic book story arc – which led directly into the DC re-launch The New 52 – Johns is Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, Co-Chairman of DC Films, and Co-Runner of the DC Extended Universe. This means that fans can be excited about the accuracy with which the Flashpoint movie will reflect the detail of the source material. The reason that’s exciting is because the story sees Barry Allen switch into an alternate timeline in an attempt to save his mother, and in doing so finds that timeline to be a disturbing version of reality, in which Batman is Thomas Wayne – motivated by the murder of his son, Bruce.
In conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Geoff Johns confirmed that the Batman aspect of the Flashpoint story will be an important part of the movie.
“There’s elements in it that we’re going to be playing into that we couldn’t do anywhere else. The scale of it, the Batman story of it all.”
This comment will undoubtedly increase speculation about the possible involvement of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played Thomas Wayne in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. While there’s still no word on if he’ll reprise the role here, Miller remains optimistic about the film finally coming together.
“The development of the project has been a little Barry Allen-like in its mercurial tendencies. But it looks more promising and more exciting than any of the other stages of development that we’ve been in.”
Flashpoint has yet to confirm a director for production, and has been pushed back from a 2018 release to a possible 2020 arrival – but now that Ezra Miller’s interpretation of The Flash is becoming a fan-favourite, we can hopefully expect to see this project become a higher priority for Warner Bros.
Published: Nov 17, 2017 12:13 pm