The Flash is finally out in theaters, marking the end of the long, laborious journey to bring a movie of that title to the silver screen. Seeing as the Ezra Miller vehicle is all about how one alternate decision can create an entirely new timeline, it’s worth celebrating the film’s arrival by ruminating on a wildly different version of The Flash we almost got back in the day, one that would’ve changed the face of superhero cinema as we know it. A Flash movie starring Ryan Reynolds.
Warner Bros.’ first really serious attempt to make The Flash began in the mid-2000s, with The Dark Knight‘s scribe David S. Goyer attached to write, produce, and direct. Skipping over Barry Allen, this film would’ve instead focused on his successor, Wally West. Goyer intended to cast his Blade: Trinity colleague Reynolds as the Scarlet Speedster. However, the project ultimately fell apart when Goyer exited over creative differences with the studio. Ironically, this all happened in the run-up to the 2007 writers’ strike, just as 2023’s The Flash is releasing amid the current one.
As shared in a TikTok video by moviemaniacs, Reynolds reflected on how much he used to want to play the character while speaking during the Deadpool panel at 2016’s San Diego Comic-Con. “Early on, I wanted to be the Flash,” Reynolds recalled. “I always liked the Flash, [he’s] such a fun character. You know, that ship has passed. I think we can all agree that’s never gonna happen.”
Much like Barry Allen bringing his mom back to life resurrected Michael Keaton’s Batman and birthed Supergirl, Ryan Reynolds becoming the Flash could’ve had transformative effects on both the DC and Marvel universes. For starters, if it was a success it might’ve kickstarted the DCEU years earlier, meaning it would’ve beaten Marvel Studios to the punch. At the very least, we wouldn’t have got 2011’s Green Lantern.
Aside from that, it also probably would have precluded Reynolds from becoming Deadpool, thereby altering the destinies of both Fox’s X-Men universe and the MCU, given that Deadpool 3 is one of the franchise’s upcoming tentpoles. It’s tempting to wish we got to see Ryan Reynolds as Wally West, but the untold changes, both good and bad, it would’ve wrought are almost too big to comprehend.
