The Flash finally arrives in theaters this June, and while we know many of you would be happy to see the movie lost in the Speed Force, Warner Bros. has invested way too much money in this thing to pull a Batgirl now. Reshoots have been taking place sporadically over the past six months or so, meaning there's a chance it will even tie into the new DCU.
Once upon a time, the plan had been to set the stage for a Crisis on Infinite Earths movie, but that's unlikely to happen under the DC Studios regime. We're intrigued to see where the story goes, though, especially after merchandise leaked online (we'll get to that) offering a first look at "Dark Flash."
With Reverse-Flash not part of this story, this Dark Flash now looks set to be The Flash's big bad. DC Comics continuity can often be confusing, but we've compiled an in-depth breakdown of this character to bring you up to speed with what role he's likely to play (we even head into spoiler territory thanks to a plot leak...).
For a better idea of what to expect from Dark Flash, simply click the "Next" button below!
5. Who Is Dark Flash?
After the death of Barry Allen, Wally West become the DC Universe's new Flash. In 1999, we met Dark Flash for the first time, a speedster who appeared after Wally and his wife went missing. Dishing out lethal justice, he was eventually captured and unmasked...as Wally.
"Walter" was a Flash from an alternate timeline who joined forces with Savitar and killed the Speed Force professor before levelling up his powers. After meeting Wally and Linda - who had been left stranded in his reality - he travelled to their world after they seemingly died in front of him. In other words, he was an older, twisted version of The Flash we all knew.
Despite finding redemption, the longer he remained in that timeline, the more damage that occurred and he was forced to return home (a decision that freed Wally and Linda who, in actuality, were trapped in time and not dead).
With all this in mind, it seems likely that The Flash's Dark Flash is a future Barry Allen, albeit one who has become corrupted somehow. However, we think he'll have more in common with another speedster...
4. Is This Actually Black Flash?
Introduced in 1998, Black Flash is essentially the Speed Force's version of Death and travels through time and space to take speedsters to the place their powers originated from once their time is up.
Barry Allen served as Black Flash for a time, and given the villain's monstrous appearance, it seems the movie is definitely pulling inspiration from this twisted speedster. In fact, we anticipate some sort of amalgamation between the three, with "Walter" replaced with a future Barry who has become the monster you see above.
We know from officially released plot details that, when the Scarlet Speedster travels back in time, he creates a new world (which has a Supergirl instead of Superman and Michael Keaton's Batman in place of Ben Affleck's Dark Knight).
Why would that prompt "Death" to chase him down? Well, for some insights into that, we actually need to look back at The CW's The Flash TV series!
3. What The Movie May Have In Common With The TV Show
The Flash premiered the same year the movie was announced and will, coincidentally, end the year it comes out. In that show's early years, we were introduced to Hunter Zolomon, a.k.a. Zoom.
After travelling across the Multiverse to kill various iterations of the Fastest Man Alive, Zoom was punished by the Time Wraiths and transformed into Black Flash. As a result, he became a weapon of sorts for the Speed Force tasked with hunting down and killing any speedsters who attempted to change the past.
We have to believe this "Dark Flash" has been given a similar mission, with Barry's actions making him the target of a monster that has no other choice than to set things right.
While this feels very similar to what we've seen on the small screen, making this creature part-Dark Flash and part-Black Flash opens the door to some very exciting possibilities. However, his role may not be as big as you think.
2. What The Plot Leak Tells Us
Reshoots are bound to have changed things, but a plot leak for The Flash shared by a reliable source last year shed a lot of light on what we should expect. For starters, it won't really have a lead villain outside of General Zod, with this movie retelling the events of Man of Steel, replacing Superman with Supergirl and getting rid of Henry Cavill's Kal-El.
The idea had been to write him out of reality, later bringing the actor back to be part of that Crisis movie. Those plans aren't likely to play out in the new DCU, and this action figure may only exist to give children someone to pit the heroes against.
No, we haven't got this far to tell you Dark Flash isn't in the movie!
When Barry decides to travel back in time to save his mother, he's pursued by this creature through the Speed Force after encountering a Time Vortex. Dark Flash doesn't reappear until the end of the movie when the hero decides to make things right, and it's then we learn the monster is a future Barry who was corrupted after believing he could control time.
However, he vanishes because that future will never come to pass.
1. Chances Are That's Ezra Miller In The Suit
Like us, you're probably hoping a big name actor has secretly been cast as Dark Flash, serving as a surprise villain who pursues our heroes throughout The Flash.
As we've established, that seems unlikely. Instead, we can look forward to a lot of Ezra Miller. As well as playing the present-day Scarlet Speedster, the actor will portray Barry's younger self right when he gets his powers. That Flash dons a painted Batsuit which we're hoping looks better than what you can see below.
If Dark Flash really is a future Barry whose mastery over time turned him into a monster, then expect Miller to pull triple duty in this adventure as two heroes and a villain. Hey, it could have been worse: at least they're not making that younger Barry the Reverse-Flash!
The whole thing sounds a little weird, but a mashup of Black Flash and Dark Flash definitely has some potential.