Having already cameoed in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash, is finally making his full debut in Justice League next month, and ever since Warner Bros announced its initial lineup of DC Extended Universe movies back in 2014, the Scarlet Speedster has been expected to lead his own cinematic adventure. However, this particular project has gone through several setbacks in the years since then, and as of this past San Diego Comic-Con, now the Flash movie has morphed into an adaptation of the Flashpoint comics storyline. But now it's rumored that Warner Bros and DC are holding off on searching for someone to helm Flashpoint until after they sees how Justice League performs. According to Variety's Justin Kroll:
So I've been tracking tracking various movies in this world director-wise, specifically Flashpoint. I've heard they've slowed that search down to see how [Justice League] does.
Warner Bros has a number of DC movies in various stages of development, from Shazam to the recently-announced Deathstroke. Flashpoint would be one of the larger endeavors, because although it stars Flash as its principal protagonist, the original storyline featured many other notable DC characters, like Wonder Woman and Aquaman. That places the Flashpoint movie closer in scale to Justice League then it would a solo movie like Wonder Woman. Hence why according to the rumor that Justin Kroll passed along on the most recent Meet the Movie Press episode, Warner Bros is reportedly slowing down on looking for a director until after Justice League's release. If this information is legitimate, presumably Justice League's critical and commercial reception will determine if the DC and WB brass want to continue striving to get Flashpoint underway sooner rather than later, or if it will be de-prioritized.
Published in 2011, Flashpoint saw Barry Allen waking up in a alternate, more apocalyptic version of the main DC timeline, with changes including his mother still being alive, Thomas Wayne fighting crime as Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman waging war and Superman being held prisoner by the U.S. government. This event also led directly into the New 52 reboot. Flashpoint has already been adapted as an animated movie called Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and The Flash TV series loosely adapted the storyline in its Season 3 premiere, though the consequences of this alternate timeline being created played out across the rest of the season.
The Flash movie has dealt with two major setbacks in the directorial realm. In late 2015, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies writer Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to write and helm the feature, but he dropped out in April 2016. A few months later, Dope's Rick Famuyiwa was tapped as Grahame-Smith's replacement, but then he departed the project in October 2016. As of this past May, Robert Zemeckis and Matthew Vaughn were among the names in consideration to oversee the Fastest Man Alive's movie, but it sounds like we'll have to continue waiting for at least a few more months until a new name is officially announced. But hey, the third time's the charm, right?
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on how the Flashpoint movie is coming along, and in the meantime, you can see Ezra Miller's Flash race back to the big screen when Justice League is released on November 17.
