Though there are alternate timelines involved, The Flash is technically set in the universe established in Zack Snyder's films, and director Andy Muschietti recently confirmed that his movie "honors" what came before in the soon-to-be defunct(?) DCEU.
"I would love Zack to watch this movie," he told CinemaBlend. "I think we honored the part of the movie that he created in terms of characters and characterizations. And cast. So, I think he would enjoy it."
We're not sure if Snyder has watched the film yet, but Muchietti has now revealed that he did reach out to the Justice League director to reassure him that The Flash will be respectful to the world he helped create.
"I talked to Zack," Muschietti tells Total Film. "But it wasn't technical or narrative or anything. I just wanted to reach out and say, 'Hey.' Because we haven't met before, and I just wanted to tell him that we would be respectful to the stuff that he did before."
"Man of Steel obviously is foundational to this movie because the big threat of Zod coming to Earth is a big twist in this story," he adds. "And it's something that most DC fans know very well, and that's one of the great things that can form the narrative of this movie."
Though it may seem hard to believe given how much time has passed and the recent rebooting of Warner Bros.' shared DC Comics-based universe with the dawn of the DCU, a lot of fans are still hoping to see the "SnyderVerse" restored in some form. While the chances of that happening are pretty much non-existent, The Flash does (somewhat) leave the door open for more stories set in the previous era.
Do you plan on seeing The Flash opening weekend? Let us know in the comments, and check out a new international poster Muschietti shared to Instagram.
"Directed by Andy Muschietti, The Flash features Barry Allen traveling back in time in order to change events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to help. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian…albeit not the one he’s looking for.
Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?"
The Flash is produced by Barbara Muschietti and Michael Disco, with a screenplay by Christina Hodson, and a screen story by John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein and Joby Harold, based on characters from DC. Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Double Dream/a Disco Factory production of an Andy Muschietti film.