Last Week's "10 Must Haves..." Can Be Viewed Here
The Flash is one of DC Comics most popular superheroes; the fact that he hasn’t received a feature film and Marvel’s Quicksilver will appear in not one but two feature films is downright shocking. But with a DC Cinematic Universe on the rise, it is inevitable that we will see The Fastest Man Alive (see what I did there) on the big screen. Unlike Batman or Superman, The Flash is a tricky superhero to tackle. While his powers are freaking awesome, the general audience might not care, so here is a 10 step Bible on how to make The Flash movie. So enjoy part four of my “10 Must Haves…” series. Thanks To
SnapperCarr who gave me some good ideas on what to change from the original article.
1. Barry Allen
While Barry Allen is neither the first Flash nor the last, he is however the most popular and has had the greatest number of stories. Like Hal Jordan, Barry Allen is the version of The Flash that most people know, having such great storylines like
The Flash: Rebirth and many more. Barry Allen is a great friend of Hal Jordan, which would be interesting to see the duo on the big screen together. One thing Barry Allen is more famous for is his death. His death was an emotional and controversial moment in comics, killing off such a major character like The Flash was ballsy and it worked. This characteristic proved that Barry is willing to give his own life to save the rest of the team, something that is a
must for a
Justice League movie.
2. Finding The Right Director
Finding the right director for a film like
The Flash is crucial, as it will make or break the film as a whole. There are many candidates for the director’s chair, but only one person will get the job (unless Warner Bros’ hirer the Wachowski’s). With Zack Snyder directing
Man Of Steel, it is time to find a director who is visually stunning and can tell an emotional and action packed story all at the same time. Cue Michael Bay… I’m joking, don’t crucify me. Could you imagine Michael Bay directing Beast Boy the movie? Anyway back to The Flash, for the director of the film my personal pick would be Duncan Jones. Known for directing such brilliant films like
Moon & Source Code, Duncan’s tone and camera work would be excellent in a Flash film.
3. Embrace The Character
The Flash’s character is a bit unrealistic, in fact he is unrealistic but so is the entire Superhero genre. That being said, Warner Bros’ should embrace The Flash’s unrealisticness if they want this film to succeed. When WB’s made
Green Lantern they tried to tell a gritty and dark story with a character who isn’t gritty and dark, The Flash isn’t a gritty and dark character, so making a gritty and dark story really isn’t needed. The Flash can run really fast, that’s his super power, don’t change that. While I am not implying that Warner Bros’ should change the entire origin of The Flash, but just change a few things.
4. You Can Be Original But Don’t Forget To Take Things From The Comics
The Flash has some fantastic storylines, my personal favourite is
The Flash: Rebirth which could be used in a potential sequel, but for the first film we need an origin story with a villain that is you know, evil. The Flash doesn’t have the greatest of villains; I mean he has a villain that is a damn Gorilla. That being said, a majority of The Flash’s storylines take place after Barry Allen has become The Flash, so with the first film I recommend you be original. Come up with a story that will bring an audience in whilst taking elements from the comics and TV shows. One thing that the comics have that the film does
not need, is Jay Garrick. It would confuse the audience, something a Flash film does not need
5. Budget
I would be the one to argue and say this is the reason why a Flash movie hasn’t been made. I mean seriously, The Flash is a visual character; his look and abilities would not look right if they weren’t done on a budget that can withstand the character. I mean sure, we could have had a Flash movie in 2007, but CGI and SFX have only gotten stronger since, so I believe now is the
right time to bring the character to the screen. Like
Man Of Steel, Warner Bros’ should expect The Flash to be the beginning of a huge franchise, and rightfully so. This is why I believe budget is one of the most important parts in making a Flash movie, if WB’s give whoever the director is, a budget of $250 million, we might get a good Flash movie, but if WB’s gave a director a budget of $175 million, we might have a better film. If the director has less money to use on effects and CGI, the director and crew must focus on story and character development, something superheroes films have been missing as of late.
6. Find The Right Tone
As I said earlier, The Flash is unrealistic. But so is a madman wearing a bat suit and an alien from a dead planet, so it seems we are all on the same page. When making The Flash movie, Warner Bros’ must be very careful with the tone of the film. The last thing I want is a
Green lantern version of The Flash where we have dark and gritty meets
Gossip Girl. The Flash’s comic book series, is very similar in tone to that of the Marvel films or
The Amazing Spider-Man. If DC and Warner Bros’ want another successful franchise they would use
The Amazing Spider-Man &
X-Men: First Class as ideal tone setters.
First Class had one of , if not the best tone for a comic book movie I have ever seen, it was perfect. So DC and Warner Bros’ use
First Class as an inspiration so to say. Of course this film would tie in with
Man Of Steel, so the tone would have to be similar, and honestly I think
First Class had a very similar tone to that of
Man Of Steel, so no problem there. Obviously this movie would be set after
Man Of Steel so, the world in which The Flash lives should be a post Superman world.
7. Captain Cold Must Be The Villain
Captain Cold is one hilarious villain. I mean seriously, his name is horrific. But he has a badass premise. I mean he can freeze you and then you’re dead. How do you make someone like Captain Cold cool? You update him. Captain Cold could be an assassin who is hired by someone to kill Barry Allen, how cool would it be to have an assassin who just freezes you and then you’re dead. He’d be the most dangerous foe on the face of the Earth. Or we could go the typical
New 52 style. While not a bad thing, Captain Cold’s origin in the
New 52 is quite an emotional one, which could be used to the films’ advantage. Captain Cold has potential to be the next Doctor Octopus on the big screen; he is so bizarre that it just might work.
8. A Badass Soundtrack
Now if anyone knows me, you’d know I’m a huge
Tron Legacy fan. I adore that film; it is honestly one of the most underrated Sci-Fi films I have ever seen. One thing that I love about it is its soundtrack. Whoever came up with the idea of Daft Punk doing the music for a Tron film deserves a lifetime supply of pats on the back? Now when I read a Flash comic book, for some bizarre reason I always picture Daft Punk playing when The Flash is running or when he is fighting, something about Daft Punk’s music and tone, fit so well with The Flash, so why not let Daft Punk do the score? I mean it’d attract a lot of sales (
Tron Legacy’s soundtrack sold over 80,000 copies in Australia and France alone) I don’t think any fan would not love Daft Punk scoring a Flash movie, it’s a match made in heaven.
9. The Costume
The Flash’s costume is one of the coolest and best looking costumes in all of comic book history, the all red with the bright yellow boots, it’s iconic stuff. Does that mean it’ll translate well to the big screen? Well maybe, actually it depends which suit you use. The new 52 Flash suit is really cool, I love the look of it, it’s beautiful. That’s the sought of thing I want on the big screen.
Man Of Steel had a very realistic and dark Superman suit, which will obviously get updated in sequels and such, so I think creating a Flash costume should be very simple. Take the new 52 suit, add a bit of Nolan’s army Batman suit on it and boom, we have a good looking Flash suit.
10. No Bradley Cooper
For the last time fanboys, Bradley Cooper isn’t going to play The Flash. He never has and never will. Does that mean we will never find the right person to play Barry Allen? Wrong sir! I have found him, actor Charlie Hunnam. Charlie is appearing in this year’s
Pacific Rim and looks to be one of the strong points of the film. Having already worked with Warner Bros’ on
Pacific Rim I think Charlie is one of the names being mentioned when talking about The Fastest Man Alive. In the comments below let me know who you think would play an awesome Flash*. (*= No Bradley Cooper or Ryan Gosling)
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So that wraps up another exciting edition of “10 Must Haves…” I hope you guys are enjoying them as much as I am enjoying writing them. So with
Man Of Steel being a huge hit and a sequel being fast tracked (rumor has it that
MOS 2 will come out next year!) I ask the question, what should I do next? The first option is JUSTICE LEAGUE, the second is MAN OF STEEL 2 and the third and final one is TEEN TITANS. So comment below and let me know what I should do next, if you have the time you can
click here to check out my
Batman reboot cast, it's pretty cool so check it out. Anyways, I'm Khan and I'm out for now!