THE FLASH Spoilers: Plot Breakdown Reveals Biggest Surprises, Cameos, And Changes Made By DC Studios

THE FLASH Spoilers: Plot Breakdown Reveals Biggest Surprises, Cameos, And Changes Made By DC Studios

Following Tuesday's screening of The Flash at CinemaCon, we have a breakdown of the film's biggest moments and surprises, including the cameos and how much DC Studios has changed the story since being formed.

Feature Opinion
By HamiltonParker - Apr 27, 2023 11:04 AM EST
Filed Under: The Flash

This week, Warner Bros. held screenings of The Flash for both CinemaCon attendees and fanboy bloggers in the UK. Inevitably, Twitter, Reddit, and countless other social media platforms are now packed full of spoilers for the film. 

The cut shown on Tuesday isn't final and more changes are expected to be made in the weeks ahead. Scenes are likely to be cut, and others may be added, but after combing through several plot leaks, we've been able to put together a breakdown that covers everything from The Flash's cameos to the new ending. 

That's right, Warner Bros. and DC Studios have given the Scarlet Speedster's first solo outing a totally different ending which means it no longer sets the stage for Crisis on Infinite Earths or anything DCEU-related. 

To find out more about that and what else happens in The Flash, you just need to tap the NEXT button. 
 

The Flash's Secret Origin

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Shortly after an action-packed opening which sees The Flash team up with both Batman and Wonder Woman, we learn the Scarlet Speedster first gained his powers in 2013 and donned a makeshift costume to help protect Metropolis during General Zod's attack on the city. 

Later, following another failed attempt to clear his father's name after his mother was murdered, Barry contemplates travelling back in time save her.

Despite Batman's protests, he does so, and removes a can of tomato soup from a grocery store, ensuring his mom will have to go elsewhere to find it and thereby won't be home at the time of her murder. Mission achieved, he races back to the present, only to be attacked by Dark Flash and left stranded in 2013 where he meets his younger, powerless self.
 

Batman Returns

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Realising his younger counterpart won't get powers now his mother is still alive, Barry attempts to replicate the moment he was struck by lightning...and it works. 

Unfortunately, it means he loses his speed when he's also struck by lightning and, when General Zod arrives on Earth, there's no Superman to stop him. The two heroes travel to Wayne Manor in Gotham City to seek out his help, but find a new Bruce Wayne (yes, you guessed it, it's the version played by Michael Keaton). 

He initially has little to no interest in helping them, but after deducing that The Flash's actions have caused different timelines to become tangled - the Multiverse is infinite and rather than transforming the DCEU, it appears the hero has created a new timeline - Batman agrees to help them find the Man of Steel.
 

Meet Superman Meet Supergirl

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Batman tracks Superman down to a military base in Siberia, but they don't find Kal-El there; instead, it's Kara Zor-El, his cousin. She was captured as a child and has spent her entire life locked up. 

She initially flees and powers up after being exposed to sunlight, returning to save the two Barry Allens and Batman from the attacking guards.

Back at Wayne Manor, the problem with Zod is getting worse - he's looking to terraform the planet and begins in the desert rather than the city with no Superman to oppose him - and the present day Barry needs his speed. Batman's attempt to electrocute the hero fails, but when Kara flies him into a storm, his powers return. 
 

The Final Battle

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A huge fight ensues when The Flashes, Batman, and Supergirl arrive to confront Zod, but it's a fight that can only end one way: with the deaths of Bruce and Kara. The older Barry figures out that they've reached a fixed point in the timeline, but his younger self (who has developed a crush on Supergirl) refuses to believe it. 

He races back in time to fix things and keeps trying until he eventually vanishes into the Speed Force. Dark Flash returns and we learn the villain is actually that past Barry; after spending years travelling through time without success, he's come to hate his older self for ever changing the timeline and wants to kill him. 

From what we can gather, the present day Barry then races back to undo the moment he saved his mother (that's the only way to fix everything) and is pursued by Dark Flash who is stopped when an earlier version of past self reappears and makes the ultimate sacrifice. In the Speed Force, it's cameo time...
 

The Flash's Cameos

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There's been a lot of talk about The Flash's cameo appearances, but tempering expectations might be best. We've been told that this sequence is very VFX-heavy and may be more akin to seeing the "shape" of these characters rather than the actors themselves. 

With this being an unfinished cut, it's tough to say, but we can share some names with you. There's Christopher Reeve (Superman), Helen Slater (Supergirl), Adam West (Batman), Nicholas Cage as Superman fighting a giant robot spider, George Clooney (Batman), and Teddy Sears (Jay Garrick). 

There may be more, but it sounds like repeat viewings are going to be necessary to catch 'em all. Henry Cavill and Jason Momoa are also used, though we've heard that it's only through footage recycled from Justice League
 

A Cliffhanger...Or Farewell

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Barry does the right thing and puts the can back, ensuring his mother is killed and the timelines are restored. Batman and Supergirl's sacrifices aren't changed, though that timeline may no longer exist. And, even if it does, the Multiverse means there are countless versions of them out there. 

On his way home, The Flash makes one last tweak in order to ensure his father's freedom and the present appears to have been restored. 

However, when he encounters Batman, it's not Affleck's Dark Knight. We only see this Caped Crusader's feet, but it sounds like Warner Bros. either plans to add a huge cameo here as a surprise that won't be spoiled in advance of June 16 or as a way of making it so that Barry could be in the DCU with that Batman.

Or left in yet another timeline in the Multiverse separate from the DCU! DC Studios has certainly made some major changes...
 

The Flash's Original Ending

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For the most part, the film itself played out in very much the same way in the pre-DC Studios cut. 

In that version, however, Dark Flash was more of a spectre haunting Barry in the Speed Force and he learns he'd have eventually become that monster had he not fixed time. It's Batman's death that prompts him to fix things in this cut and there's just hope back in the present Henry Allen could one day be freed from prison. 

Bruce's car pulls up, but it's Keaton who steps out. Supergirl joins them and the movie ends with them asking Barry how they're still there. With that, Cavill's Superman would have been written out of reality alongside Affleck's Batman, hence why we'd have seen Keaton in Batgirl and beyond. 
 

Crisis On Infinite Earths

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The Flash now has a far more definitive conclusion, with the door open to either leaving this Barry in a new timeline we never visit again or bringing him into the DCU.

CinemaCon attendees didn't get any post-credits scenes, but this previous cut saw Barry helping Momoa's Aquaman get home after a drunken night out. Returning to his apartment, the Fastest Man Alive received a video message from Affleck's Caped Crusader in which he pleads for help from the timeline he's been left stranded in.

With that, the stage would have been set for a Crisis on Infinite Earths event, a film no longer happening with DC Studios in charge. Cavill and Gal Gadot's new scenes, shot last year before DC Studios was formed, are also gone. So too are any direct references to the SnyderVerse. 
 

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grif
grif - 4/27/2023, 11:43 AM
sounds like a trainwreck
WruceBayne
WruceBayne - 4/27/2023, 6:28 PM
@grif - it sounds fine.
Matador
Matador - 4/27/2023, 11:45 AM
This just sounds [frick]in retarded goes in a circle jerk with himself.

GhostDog
GhostDog - 4/27/2023, 11:46 AM
This sounds dumb, to be honest
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 4/27/2023, 11:50 AM
Barry [frick]ed up the timeline and made a new DCU. This is how they keep what they want (Gunn’s crew, Ezra, the fastest pedo alive, Miller) and replace who Gunn doesn’t like (Gadot, Cavill).
99OPTIMISTPRIME
99OPTIMISTPRIME - 4/27/2023, 11:54 AM
Spike101
Spike101 - 4/27/2023, 3:44 PM
@99OPTIMISTPRIME - oh yes please 🙏
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 4/27/2023, 4:11 PM
@99OPTIMISTPRIME - That's Bruce
mountainman
mountainman - 4/27/2023, 11:55 AM
It sounds like it has Dr Strange 2 levels of cameos. Hopefully one day, there can be a truly wild multiverse movie out there (besides Spider-Verse and No Way Home).

Secret Wars had better to all out. Lou Ferigno Hulk. Fox X-Men and FF. Sony characters. Japanese spider-man. Alternate silver age 616 versions (from Richard Grant Lokis world). Nick Cage Ghost Rider. Wesley Snipes Blade. Agents of SHIELD. Netflix Marvel characters. Somehow show the animated universes. Really big with lots of cool cameos.
Odin
Odin - 4/27/2023, 12:09 PM
@mountainman - I know it's not exactly a superhero movie, but what about Everything Everywhere All at Once?
mountainman
mountainman - 4/27/2023, 12:11 PM
@Odin - Wild multiverse movie for sure. But I was mainly referring to Marvel and DC that have decades of lore and projects to pull from.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 4/27/2023, 1:32 PM
@mountainman - the problem with going all out in the real world is scheduling and actually having to pay all of these people. Endgame was said to be a logistic nightmare and that was just in universe people.

Also, people actually have to be interested in reprising those roles on top of everything else
mountainman
mountainman - 4/27/2023, 1:34 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Good points and I get it. But with the multiverse, you could at least get other actors to play the roles and still make it feel bigger. Maybe not the crazy cameo fest that I listed above, but alternate takes on key characters would feel a lot bigger than Dr Strange 2 that just felt small.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 4/27/2023, 5:23 PM
@mountainman - if Dr Strange goes crazy with the cameos then secret wars doesn’t feel special. I like that we’re getting corners of the multiverse so far then let secret wars go crazy with it.

I won’t even be mad if secret wars is lite on plot and just crazy on cameos(kidding)
mountainman
mountainman - 4/27/2023, 5:44 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Valid point. Personally, I had less of an issue with the lack of crazy cameos than I did with the overall lackluster plot, weak character arc for strange, how lame the Illuminati was, and what they did with Wanda. The characters they chose for the Illuminati were fine enough, but it would have been nice for them to not be so lame in execution.
TheManWithoutFear
TheManWithoutFear - 4/27/2023, 12:00 PM
We see the new Batman's feet? How will that work. They have to somehow make it clear to the audience that it's not Affleck or Keaton without showing who it is? Weird.
MotherFuckerJon
MotherFuckerJon - 4/27/2023, 12:02 PM
Eh..still be a pretty cool movie. If for nothing else atleast the cameos.
Odin
Odin - 4/27/2023, 12:13 PM
That original plan of having DCEU with Keaton as retired Nick Fury-Batman and Supergirl, but no Superman at all, still sounds so incredibly bad. Did WB executives actually go like: "Hey, that CW universe, where they constantly have to step around the fact that we don't let them use any of the A-list characters in a proper manner. Let's just do that on the big screen."
DocSpock
DocSpock - 4/27/2023, 12:23 PM
@Odin -

You are right. This is why their whole DCFU burned down.
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