The Flash was hailed as "probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made" by James Gunn, a description proudly shared by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. He would later claim that it's the best superhero movie he's watched, though these words have since come back to haunt the DCEU blockbuster.
After tepid reviews which saw the movie score a respectable, albeit disappointing, 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's massively underperformed at the box office, earning in a week what it was supposed to make in a single weekend. Now, The Flash faces a record-breaking second-weekend drop which could see it fall as low as fourth place behind a raunchy rom-com, one of Pixar's most poorly-reviewed efforts, and a movie that's been out for weeks.
It's important to note that plenty of DC fans loved The Flash and managed to overlook everything from the dismal visual effects (supposedly a stylistic decision) to cameos which have proven to be incredibly divisive.
As you'll know from reading my review, I don't believe The Flash is a good movie but neither is it an inherently bad one. Ezra Miller is irritating as two versions of the Scarlet Speedster, the plot is hit-and-miss, and Batman and Supergirl steal the show in a story that's supposed to be about...well, the clue is in the title.
Ultimately, it's a middle-of-the-road effort that, similar to Fantastic Four, Black Adam, and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, is likely to remain a favourite for some, but largely forgotten by the masses.
Filmmaker Andy Muschietti helmed The Flash and, on the day the movie raced into theaters, DC Studios announced that he will next direct The Brave and the Bold, the DCU's Batman reboot which will see the Dark Knight train his son, Damian Wayne, as Robin.
We now can't help but wonder if it's really feasible at this point for the filmmaker to still direct that movie.
At least some of The Flash's failings can't be blamed on Muschietti. Two different regimes at Warner Bros. decided to force new endings on him, while the heinous allegations surrounding Miller are hardly the director's fault. His past credits are undeniably hit-and-miss (IT was phenomenal, the sequel less so) but there's a strong chance he could deliver a solid, if not great, Batman movie.
While it would be easy to nitpick the Caped Crusader's portrayal in The Flash - Ben Affleck's Batman racing into action in daylight and taking an obscenely long time to stop one truck before he was saved by Wonder Woman didn't quite sit right - there's a lot Muschietti did that worked well. Whether it was Batman's badass fighting style or that iconic imagery, his take on Gotham City could be great.
The problem is, Muschietti now brings a lot of baggage with him. He didn't promise fans The Flash would be the "greatest" this genre has to offer, but he's now forever associated with a film which failed to deliver on that promise and will go down as one of Hollywood's biggest flops. During The Flash's press tour, he heaped praise upon Miller again and again, vowing to bring him back as the Fastest Man Alive. He also shared that bizarre defence for the VFX and complained when one huge cameo was spoiled in advance...by him in a previous interview.
When The Brave and the Bold's press tour rolls around, The Flash will keep coming up, whether it's in junket interviews as journalists attempt to learn more about how Muschietti feels about its failings or just articles reminding moviegoers of the director's past work. That immediately puts this reboot at a disadvantage and it's one DC Studios can ill afford.
It's become clear people don't have superhero fatigue, they have DC fatigue. With the DCU half-reboot, half a chance for Gunn to work with the actors he cast in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, it's not the true fresh start we need and the waters are already muddied. One or two flops and Warner Bros. Discovery may well pull the plug on the entire thing. And to go back to that review we mentioned, is it wise to put Batman in the hands of a filmmaker who delivered not the "greatest superhero ever made," but one of the most forgettable and mediocre? The Flash is "meh." The Brave and the Bold can't afford to be, particularly when it's competing with Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise.
Unfortunately, Gunn has irreversibly tied himself to The Flash after sharing such high praise for the movie and repeatedly hyping it up on social media. Now, despite his incredible work in the past (and a week in which he's said very little about the Scarlet Speedster), many fans question his tastes when it comes to DC and worry it spells bad news for DC Studios. He needs to distance himself from the DCEU as much as possible and enlisting Muschietti to take charge of one of his most high-profile releases as an executive...well, it feels like it could be a disaster in the making.
Gunn will soon have to make hard, and likely unpopular decisions, as a co-CEO and while Muschietti doesn't deserve to be placed in director jail, we'd argue he also doesn't deserve another shot at telling a story in the DC Universe. He tried and the odds were undeniably stacked against him, but The Brave and the Bold isn't in need of the sort of nostalgia which was among The Flash's few redeeming qualities; it needs a capable, strong creator who can be trusted to deliver.