The Flash is a feature film in flux. We have been reporting over the years of the different directors who have come and gone since DC and Warner Bros. hired Ezra Miller to play Barry Allen in their burgeoning DCEU. And while Miller is still in the red jumpsuit of the fastest man on the planet, the actor cast to play Barry's father, Henry Allen, apparently has departed the cinematic universe.
Billy Crudup is "dropping off" the upcoming solo movie based on The Flash, according to a source speaking with EW about the ongoing search for the right director. The nugget is buried near the end of the EW story, and it raises a number of red flags as to the direction of the Flash on screen. I mean, Crudup was prominently featured in the most recent trailer for Zack Snyder's planned Justice League movie (see the photo above). Does that mean that plans are massively changing?
Yes and no. As our own Conner Schwerdtfeger pointed out in his theory, having Henry Allen in jail means that he likely was arrested for the murder of Barry's mother, Nora. Only, she was murdered by The Reverse Flash, the Flash's prime antagonist. This could have set up the Flashpoint narrative, where Barry goes back in time to prevent his mother's murder... only to create major problems via a butterfly effect in the DC universe.
The Flash script apparently is being worked on as we speak, because with several names on the potential director's list, the story will have to shift and grow to meet the needs of the storyteller who eventually is brought on board. Recently, names like Robert Zemeckis and Matthew Vaughn have been circled as possible directors for The Flash. What if they don't want to tell the Flashpoint story? What if they have other ideas? Yes, you introduced Billy Crudup as Henry Allen, but from the looks of it, he's in prison in Justice League. The Flash movie could leave him there. By the time we get to a Flashpoint story, DC could recast.
There's a lot still to be decided (and a lot of unknowns on DC's release schedule). Here's what we know for sure. Ezra Miller will once again play The Flash (after appearing briefly in both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice AND Suicide Squad) in Zack Snyder's Justice League, opening in November. The Flash movie won't be in theaters until 2019, at the earliest, as the studio is still circling directors. But when it arrives, Henry Allen likely will be played by someone other than Billy Crudup. Why? We don't know, but we hope to find out one day.
UPDATE: Some sources are indicating Billy Crudup may still be on board for his role in The Flash. No one has spoken out on record yet.
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