When The Flash drops Season 3 on viewers next month, the changes will come fast and furious. Or perhaps not so furious, since Barry will get to experience adult life with both of his parents alive and together. That particular element is indeed at the core of the biggest different between the CW drama's take on Flashpoint and the original arc in the comics. Here's what co-creator and executive producer Andrew Kreisberg says about the alterations made from page to screen.
The stakes in the comic book in Flashpoint were global and the stakes in this episode are very much just about Barry, his existence, and the people that he loves. . . . Most of the changes are to Barry's life and him being at the nexus of these changes. He's put all of the people that are in his life --- Joe, Iris, Cisco, and Caitlin --- and spun them into different ways.
It's always an issue of scale when it comes to getting comic book stories onto television, and many (including me) were surprised when Flashpoint was broached at all, given how pivotal it is to the character's comic history. But I guess Kreisberg and the rest of the creative team figured they wouldn't ever be able to do the world-crashing story arc in its fullest capacity on TV, and decided to craft it for the small screen in a way that best honored Grant Gustin's Barry Allen, a man whose emotional fractures begin and end with family matters. (No Urkel jokes.)
Because the stakes are stacked only as tall as The Flash can handle, a shorter timeline for the narrative will be tackled, and Kreisberg pins it to a single episode in his interview with EW. In the past, it sounded like it would span at least two or three episodes, but perhaps that will include the specific aftermath that will lead to the double dose of big bads (plus all the other mega-villains).
So instead of having a bunch of other DC superheroes going through major changes and problems - Kid Flash is here as the exception - The Flash will instead port those troubles onto Barry's friends and family, keeping all of the choices personal. Can he possibly live in a world where he isn't chummy with Joe and doesn't have a wealth of shared history with Iris? Here's what else Kreisberg said.
[Barry will be] coping with [the fact that] he may have traded his happiness for his friends. He begins to see that the cost of him getting his happy ending might be too much to bear.
If anybody deserves a happy ending, it's Barry, but I guess he will also be pretty happy to have all of his friends back. While it would certainly be GREAT if The Flash introduced Thomas Wayne, we know that isn't going to happen. (Or is it?) But as far as how far-flung Barry's timeline-warping decision was, the biggest effect will be felt by Arrow's Diggle. That guy just can't catch a break sometimes. But I bet he will when Supergirl comes to town.
The Flash returns to The CW for its life-changing Season 3 on Tuesday, October 3, at 8:00 p.m. ET. To see when all your other favorite shows are coming, head to our fall TV schedule.
