The Flash Reboots The DCU, But Can It Avoid Flashpoint's Massive New 52 Misfire?
Warning: This post contains spoilers for "The Flash."
After years of production, Andy Muschetti's "The Flash" is finally coming to theaters and charting the future course of the DC Universe on film. Rather than being an origin story, the movie — starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen aka the Flash, Sasha Calle as Supergirl and Michael Keaton as Batman — adapts one of comic book history's most controversial and far-reaching events ever: "Flashpoint."
The 2011 comics story, by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert, shook DC continuity to its core, leading to an altered reality becoming the main DC continuity. Similarly, this version of "Flashpoint" will kill the Snyderverse, resetting the universe per the creative minds of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
This could be good. It could be great. The "Flashpoint" reset of the comics, though, had some serious problems that this film adaptation needs to learn from.
The "New 52" reboot that followed in the wake of "Flashpoint" made significant mistakes, from odd character changes, to compressed timelines that made little sense, and fractured storylines that left readers baffled. In the comics, the entire event is considered a mixed bag, and while there were highlights from the era — including Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's run on "Batman" — the overall initiative should serve as a major warning about how not to re-construct a rebooted universe. Now, as Warner Bros. gets ready to follow its lead, it needs to learn the unfortunate lessons taught by the "New 52," because the new DCU can become something great — but only if it pays attention to how its comics equivalent stumbled.
The comics Flashpoint isn't the movie's Flashpoint
Importantly, the movie version of "Flashpoint" is quite different from the one in the comics.
In the comics, yes, Barry Allen famously goes back in time to prevent the death of his mother at the hands of the Reverse-Flash. The Flash successfully saves his mom, but his actions change the future, creating an all-new reality different from his own. In this dark "Flashpoint" universe, it's Bruce Wayne who gets gunned down in Crime Alley, leading his father to become a murderous Batman while Martha becomes the Joker. Meanwhile, the Amazons and Atlanteans engage in a colossal war causing severe damage across the globe. A young Kal-El is captured by the government and experimented on, never rising to be the hero he was meant to be. And Barry Allen, without his family tragedy, never becomes The Flash.
This state of affairs can't stand, of course, so the comic's emotional finale sees Barry reverse most of the changes he made. You can't put everything back into place, though, so the world is reset into a timeline referred to as the "New 52."
Without going into spoiler territory, 2023's "The Flash" takes a similar story but applies it differently. The Flash's time-traveling effort to save his mother instead leads to timeline fractures which see him encountering an all-too-alive General Zod (Michael Shannon), a Batman different from the one he knows (but still Bruce Wayne), and a different Kryptonian, Supergirl, in place of Henry Cavill's man of steel. However, while the pieces are different, the end goal is the same, as James Gunn has long made clear that The Flash exists to reset the timeline ... which, given the history of the DCEU thus far, is admittedly very needed.
The DCEU's messiness is why The Flash is happening
The current DCEU, on its last legs ahead of James Gunn rebooting the live-action universe into the retitled DCU, had some incredible highs, but never could escape its messy nature.
While the live-action films should have felt like one connected universe, there was a lack of any consistent tone throughout the projects. The world of "Shazam" and "Batman vs. Superman" felt like two totally polar opposite realities, one filled with bleakness and the other defined by with eager hope. "Suicide Squad" and "The Suicide Squad" took two totally different approaches to Task Force X. While different projects should have different tones, the DCEU didn't just feel disjointed, but like it was actively fighting against itself in portraying what a world of heroes and villains looked like. That's not even getting into the awkwardness of Joss Whedon's theatrical cut of "Justice League" being the canon version, even though it's a far less natural fit for the universe as a whole than Zack Snyder's definitive cut.
The DCEU has been plagued by continuity errors, making the universe feel not very cohesive. One scene in "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" features the revelation Wonder Woman has been in hiding since the late 1910s, but in "Wonder Woman 1984," she clearly showed her face in public. In "Batman v. Superman," Batman clearly kills people, but in "Peacemaker," the titular antihero is told that Batman doesn't kill.
So yes, a DCEU reboot makes sense. However, the DCU needs to take a long, hard look at where the "New 52" went wrong.
The worst changes of The New 52 need to be avoided
As mentioned earlier, when the events of "Flashpoint" concluded, the DC Universe recreated itself under the "New 52" banner. With it came major changes, new origins, redesigns, and romantic pairings, the DC Comics Universe readers knew got totally reset — and people weren't happy..
A big problem was that "New 52" rebooted things that people actually liked, instead of patching up problems. Perhaps the biggest error was DC's decision to split up the married Superman and Lois Lane, instead pairing him with Wonder Woman (a poor choice that they later fixed, unlike Marvel's longstanding unwillingness to let Spider-Man grow). Batman got to keep his history, but it was truncated to a seven-year timeline, wherein Bruce Wayne donned the cowl, joined the Justice League in his first year, had three different Robins, and met his aged-up son Damian. Most amusingly, he also evidently went through massive events like "Knightfall," "No Man's Land," "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive," and "Hush" all within the course of a single year. So much happened in such a short time that it made no sense.
The "New 52" also retconned key aspects of longtime characters, such as restoring Barbara Gordon to Batgirl (after years as Oracle) and removing Martian Manhunter as a founding member of the Justice League. Damian Wayne was killed and resurrected. The entire Teen Titans team was a mess, with its main heroes acting wildly out of character. Characters such as Cassandra Cain were given clean slates to their DC histories — which gave writers wiggle room to tell the stories they wanted, but erased defining moments for them and other key characters. Meanwhile, there were few diverse voices or characters to be found, which made the universe feel incredibly stagnant and regressive.
The New 52 ruined DC stories people liked, and created new problems instead of fixing old ones
The "New 52" also changed everybody's costume, with one of the most egregious character reboots being what happened to Lobo. In the reboot, the Czarnian traded in his massive, muscle-bound biker appearance to become much skinner and more stylish. Lobo transformed from an unstoppable killing machine to someone who looks like they'd have trouble going hand-to-hand against a B-list hero. The changes didn't just go skin-deep: DC also nerfed Lobo's personality, taking away almost everything that made the (admittedly) ridiculous bounty hunter fun. The character was unrecognizable from the one fans enjoyed, and for no reason: it was change for the sake of change, instead of a thoughtful reboot.
Lobo wasn't the only one to receive a new, unrecognizable appearance. Raven ended up with a costume that looked like she wore a clamshell over her head. Harley Quinn and Starfire's costumes became dramatically sexualized. Even minor characters such as Hades went from intimidating to downright silly. The overwhelming desire to make The New 52 dark and edgy led to many changes that ripped away what DC fans enjoyed about the universe (and which later got retconned again when DC rebooted with "Rebirth," but that's another story).
In a misguided attempt to make a "modern" DC Comics Universe, the publisher went overboard. And that's what the cinematic DCU has to avoid.
What's different about The Flash rebooting the DCU vs Flashpoint? A few things
Thankfully, "The Flash" movie has goals a bit less lofty than the comics did. However, it must tread carefully, and learn from the past.
Barry Allen going back in time and saving his mother will likely result in the current DCEU ending, to become the new DCU. However, rather than using this as a way to make everything dark and edgy, Gunn appears to be aiming at a more hopeful universe. Also, rather than fracturing things as "New 52" did, it appears the goal is cohesiveness — crafting a reality where upcoming films like "Superman: Legacy" and "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" will feel part of the same universe.
At the same time, comments so far indicate that the DCU won't necessarily gut parts of the previous universe that fans enjoyed such as Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) or Aquaman (Jason Momoa). This reboot doesn't need to change everything like the New 52 ambitiously tried and failed to do — it just also has to make sure every individual franchise within the big one all fits together in a way that makes sense.
What the Flash movie needs to avoid
With "The Flash" following the plot of "Flashpoint," the film will likely end with the birth of a new DC Universe in some form, but the upcoming DCU's existence should come with lessons learned from how "Flashpoint" and the "New 52" incorrectly changed the comics: that means keeping established lore that people enjoy, instead of dumping it, and having all the timelines for each character make sense and connect logically. Also, avoiding an intentionally cynical approach (unless a character demands it) will go a long way.
A lesson for the DCU: don't try to do so much that you end up losing what makes these DC characters great to begin with. Capture the spirit of the heroes and villains, and don't make them snarky edge-lords, or make them act differently than they always have on the page. Unlike the "New 52," do feature diverse voices, characters, and creators. Celebrate what makes the comics great — something largely forgotten during the "New 52." Take creative risks, yes, but do so after you've studied the blueprint of each character and determined what people love about them in the first place.
"The Flash" offers a chance to create something special, something new, and something cohesive. A few years from now, if viewers end up again with a world as similarly fragmented as the past DCEU, then this whole relaunch will be nothing more than another missed opportunity.