Holy Mother of Multiverses, Batman! That’s what our first reaction was after seeing the epic new trailer for the upcoming DCEU movie “The Flash,” which we can’t help playing on a loop. Considered the final movie of the current DC interconnected universe, aka DCEU, “The Flash,” directed by Andy Muschietti, will highlight the origin story of the titular speedster and revolve around the repercussions of the character’s decision to change a significant event of his past. The trailer showcases new characters, some iconic returning ones, and a glimpse at the expanding DC multiverse, decorated with breathtaking visuals and action sequences. We will try our best to provide a proper breakdown, mentioning the majority of the easter eggs and delineating how they connect with the upcoming DC movie continuity, a roadmap of which was teased by James Gunn earlier this year.
Major Spoilers Ahead
‘The Flash’ Trailer Description
The trailer begins with the Flash, aka Barry Allen, appearing in front of a quiet neighborhood at night. We see the new, shinier suit, and a voiceover begins in the background, asking Barry why he wants to save this particular timeline when he can travel to any timeline and universe. The scene moves from the neighborhood to a stately mansion; a Batman cowl is shown lying on the ground with blood splattered around, and Ben Affleck’s version of Batman rides his Batpod during a chase sequence. Barry replies to the unseen questioner that because in this world his mother gets to live, he is not willing to lose her again. We see a brief sequence from Barry’s childhood where he is shown spending time with his mother; later, a person—presumably Barry’s father—is holding her and seems to be in great distress.
Flash speeds through the streets as we see the young Barry running outside his house and a grown-up Barry arriving at the same time—the background shows a sudden time lapse. In the background, we hear Barry’s voice saying that time has a pattern of repeating itself, which contributes to different people and different worlds getting drawn to each other. Pictures of Barry’s childhood are shown, as well as one where he was growing up and was with his parents. Barry startles a woman from behind, and in the next scene, we see two Barry Allens meeting each other. The new Barry remarks anxiously that the other one has stolen his face. We will refer to this new Barry as Barry II for convenience.
The next segment of the trailer begins with two Barrys standing in front of a mansion set against a gloomy atmosphere. Another voiceover begins with a cautionary warning to Barry that if he were to go into the past, it might have disastrous consequences. A stream of lightning is shown phasing through Barry and touching Barry II. The Flash ring is shown, which opens up to reveal a miniaturized Flash costume. Barry assures Bruce that he can fix things, to which Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne replies that he could also destroy everything. In the next scene, we see a familiar situation as Kryptonians have invaded to terraform Earth, just like it happened during the events of “Man of Steel,” and General Zod is shown battle-ready. Barry remarks in disbelief that he finds it hard to comprehend what is unfolding and that he has broken the universe. He continues, saying his actions have created a world without metahumans, and there is no one to defend them. After a scene showing Superman’s costume, a feeble, broken captive is shown.
The third segment begins with a showing of the Batcave, with a voice asking whether they need some help. Danny Elfman’s familiar composition assists as Michael Keaton’s Batman is revealed, uttering the iconic catchphrase “I am Batman” with a smirk on his face. The next scene shows Keaton Batman swooping down and taking out multiple armed men, resulting in Barry II fainting in excitement.
Multiple different action sequences consisting of Ben Affleck’s Batman involved in a chase scene, Barry running through a cataclysmic situation, a Superman lookalike character flying high above the clouds holding someone, Barry getting electrocuted, and two different Flashes teaming up against Kryptonians are shown. Barry says to Barry II that there might not be a future to look forward to if he can’t undo what he has already done and go back to his timeline. An intense battle between Zod’s forces and the two Flashes, accompanied by Supergirl. Prison guards are shown to surround Keaton Batman and Barry II as the latter asks the former about a possible course of action to escape the situation.
Upon Bruce’s signal, a prison uniform-clad superhuman jumps into action and easily takes down the guards. Barry says the person in question is not Clark, and the superhuman played by Sasha Calle refers to herself as Kara as she is shown inside Wayne Manor, being greeted by two Barrys. A funny ending sequence shows Barry II taking snaps of a mid-flight Kara on his phone as he and Barry are inside the Batwing, flying towards a possibly common destination. Upon questioning, he retorts that their kids are going to see this.
‘The Flash’ Trailer Breakdown And Easter Eggs: Explained
There’s a lot to unpack with the action-packed, beautifully shot trailer, and we will start by addressing the possible narrative course of the movie. As the trailer and multiple previous updates suggest, the movie “The Flash” will revolve around the origin of the speedster and the revered “Flashpoint” series created by writer Geoff Johns and artist Andy Kubert in 2011, both of which are tied closely to the character’s past. During his childhood, Barry Allen lost his mother, who was murdered, and his father was wrongly framed as the culprit and got incarcerated. In order to seek justice for his mother’s death and to free his father, Barry made it his goal to become a forensic scientist, and he also became one. After a lightning bolt struck Barry when he was accidentally doused in chemicals, he gained the powers of superspeed and later used his powers to fight crime under the moniker “Flash.”
In the “Flashpoint” storyline, Barry travels into the past to save his mother from getting murdered, but in doing so, he changes the course of history by triggering a butterfly effect, causing an alternate timeline to exist. In this alternate timeline, the relations between superheroes were chaotic, Bruce Wayne was murdered in Crime Alley, and Thomas Wayne became an over-the-edge, gruff version of Batman. Superman was not the hero we knew and was captured by the government as a test subject, and the entire world was on the brink of collapse. Barry eventually tried to restore the former timeline by “undoing” his actions but instead created an altered new one, which was DC Comics’ New 52 timeline, a massive departure from their previous world-building through the last 70 years (1940–2011). The “Flashpoint” comics ended up rebooting the DC Comics universe.
The trailer, right off the bat, indicates the inspiration of the aforementioned narrative from the very first scene by showing Barry standing in front of, judging from his teary-eyed reaction, surely his household. The background voice in this segment is of Michael Keaton’s Batman, who asks Barry about all the timelines and universes he could travel, and why he is busy saving this one. The answer is said by Barry himself, as he wants to preserve the timeline where his mother lives and is not willing to lose her again. This clarifies his initial course of action in the movie as being to change the past event of his mother’s death. The sequences with his mother show the deep bond Nora Allen shared with his son, rightly contrasted with the tragic moment in the next scene where she is shown to be fatally wounded and in the arms of Barry’s father, Henry.
A young Barry watches helplessly as the tragic event shapes his life and choices thereafter. It actually makes sense that after gaining the powers of superspeed and traveling through the time stream, he will try to save his family, and this will also constitute the emotional backbone of the movie. The chase sequences with Ben Affleck’s Batman suggest a substantial role for him in the present timeline, and it’s fitting that Barry confides in him regarding his tragic past. Out of all the Justice League members, Batman will relate most to the tragedy of the childhood trauma of losing parents. However, as events in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” have shown, Barry was capable of altering the course of the time stream, a feat as insanely powerful as it is dangerous. Therefore, an apprehensive Bruce is right to warn him of the possible consequences beforehand. Also, the classic Flash ring from where Flash gets his suit is given to Barry by Affleck’s Bruce in the movie, as updates suggest.
Barry changes the past, and the photographs hint that he grew up with his parents in this timeline. However, things have been complicated even more as his alteration has contributed to the said butterfly effect, resulting in the absence of any metahuman. In this timeline, a different version of Barry is present (Barry II), who is as nerdy as the former (as the “Pacific Rim” and “I am Legend” posters in his room suggest) but doesn’t have any superpowers. To add insult to injury, the events of “Man of Steel” are getting repeated in this timeline as the despot Kryptonian General Zod has appeared to terraform the planet, and there is no one to stop him.
In this timeline, Tim Burton’s movie version of Batman (“Batman,” 1989), played by Michael Keaton, is the only superhero that can help the duo. As they approach him, the iconic music plays as the cue, and after 34 years, once again, we see Keaton’s iconic Caped Crusader utter the famous line with as much self-assurance as ever. I can’t blame Barry II; we would have fainted, also. Keaton’s Bruce touches on his childhood picture with his parents as a form of reconnection, which implies that Barry has shared his past with him, making him sympathize with his predicament. A blood-splattered Keaton cowl suggests some grisly action is taking place inside Wayne Manor.
However, averting a Kryptonian crisis is a bit too much to ask of Keaton Bats as well. Therefore, keeping in sync with the comics storyline, in the movie, we will find Kara Jor-El, aka Supergirl, being held as the captive test subject, and her prison outfit, as well as the settings, suggest it might be a covert Russian prison. Being away from sunlight has made Kara almost skeletal, as shown initially. After breaking out of prison, Kara gets empowered by the sun and springs into action. There will be a distinct difference between Kara’s and Clark’s psychology, as Kara in this timeline never got to adjust to living in the world with humans or got the ideal upbringing like the latter. Her interaction with Zod will be interesting, and perhaps her friendship with Barry is what drives her to fight alongside him. Be it the CW Arrowverse or the movie universe, Barry and Kara’s friendship remains constant.
The scene where lightning is shown to flow through Barry to hit Barry II suggests Barry is replicating his own accident to give the power of super speed to Barry II. This is once again repeated in the trailer as Batarang conducts electricity and flows it through to electrocute Barry. The new Flash suit resembles the New 52 version costume of the character, with patterned lines moving over the entirety of it and glowing during the action. This suit is also something Affleck Bruce gifts Barry, and as we know, the duo shares a special bond since the “Justice League.” In the movie, Zod and Faora-Ul will once again wreak havoc on Earth in their effort to terraform it, but from the recent buzz and rumors, we speculate there might be a secret antagonist involved in the endgame.
The biggest and most obvious name that comes to mind but probably won’t appear is Reverse Flash, aka Eobard Thawne, aka Professor Zoom. The psychotic supervillain, famously known as the archenemy of the Flash, was responsible for Nora’s murder in the first place, so it will make total sense if the character is at least teased in the movie. Barry II saying something about someone stealing his face gives a nifty “Face/Off” reference, but more than that, it is a reference to Reverse Flash from the first season of the CW Flash series, who stole the appearance of Doctor Harrison Wells.
Rumors of a villainous Dark Flash are also doing the rounds, and toy leaks have almost confirmed his appearance too. The different color patterns of the lightning in Barry and Barry II probably indicate different stages of connection with the Speedforce (blue/white being the strongest, red/yellow being a beginner in comics), but it can also be an arbitrary choice to help the audience distinguish between the two. We also see Barry trying nifty new tricks, like creating a mini tornado during the fight, showing how much he has grown into his superpowers.
Keeping in sync with the comics, the ending of “The Flash” will act as a soft reboot for the live-action DC Universe, as DCEU ends and the much-anticipated journey of DCU helmed by James Gunn begins. Another aspect very well guarded in the trailer is the multiverse travel of Flash, which is rumored to tease and showcase the vastness and unification of DC’s live-action universe through the last 50 years in full glory. And it is very appropriate that the multiverse is tied to Flash in his first movie, as the concept of the multiverse in pop culture was introduced by none other than the Scarlet Speedster himself.
