Disturbing the fabric of reality and time seldom leads to good outcomes, and the film The Flash (2023), is a great example of it. With the director as Andy Muschietti, this Ezra Miller starring film premiered earlier this month on June 16th, 2023.
The development of a film revolving entirely around The Flash was long in the making but had faced many setbacks due to director changes and not having a proper storyline. What started in 1980 finally ended up being visualized by 2018, although other films were prioritized over The Flash’s release.
Back at the San Diego Comic-con of July 2017, it was revealed that the new Flash movie would likely be based on the comic book “Flashpoint,” where Flash goes back in time to save his mother but ends up creating a much more complex situation.
Filming finally began in April 2021 in England, and the movie pretty much completed its filming by October of the same year. When it finally premiered this year, The Flash was met with good reception as it not only featured DC’s usual great action scenes but also had tons of humor and skilled acting throughout its run.
The movie might seem as fast-paced as Flash, but it still manages to leave its audiences pondering over its entertaining plot. As we’ll be talking about the entirety of the film, this is your warning for upcoming spoilers.
The Flash 2023: What Happens In The Film?
After saving Gotham from yet another catastrophic situation (Baby Shower), Barry returns to his old home and recalls his happy childhood with his mom Nora and father, Henry. In the past, after Henry was off to buy a can of tomatoes for Nora, the Allen house is attacked by burglars that end up stabbing Nora, killing her instantly.
Henry arrives just in time to see Nora dying, but neither he nor Barry can do anything to save her. What’s worse is that Henry gets wrongfully imprisoned for Nora’s murder, and there’s no alibi to support what truly happened.
After running off far away to cool his mind, Flash sees that he can go back in time if he runs really fast, and this gives him a way of saving his mother’s life. Despite Ben Affleck‘s Bruce warning him not to play with time, Barry ends up going back in the past but is suddenly pushed out of the speed force by a mysterious silhouette.
Barry realizes he had traveled back to 2013, just a day before he initially got his powers. The Barry of this timeline is very different, and when the future Barry tries to take young Barry to the same lab where he got his powers, the future one ends up losing his own powers.
General Zod makes a comeback, and in the future, Barry knows what’s about to go down; he searches for Superman but is unable to find him. The only other superhero that exists aside from him is Batman (Michael Keaton‘s), so they find him and try to convince him to help the Barrys find Superman. After they arrive in Russia, they don’t find Superman but do find Kara, who eventually helps future Barry get back his powers and also helps in the fight with General Zod.
The Flash 2023: Ending Explained
Right at the ending scenes of the film, where the climactic fight between General Zod, Kara, Batman, and Flash takes place, we see that no matter how many times young Flash goes back in time to prevent Batman’s and Kara’s death, they inevitably end up dying.
Young Flash traveling back in time multiple times also causes the different multiverses to collapse, which shocks older Barry, and he does his best to stop young Barry and make him understand that it is an unchangeable event in every timeline; The point where the spaghetti strands intersect.
Just as they’re arguing, a dark figure that originally knocked older Barry out of the speed force appears, and they soon find out that he is just an older version of the 2013 Barry who was still trying to prevent Batman’s and Kara’s death.
This darker version of Flash does not want older Flash to go back to the timeline where his mom was dead, but the present Barry eventually realizes that some things are meant to happen, no matter how heartbreaking they are. He goes back in time and removes the canned tomatoes from his mother’s cart, placing them on a higher shelf.
When he returns to his original timeline, Barry finds everything to be going normally. It was the day of his father’s hearing, and since he had placed the canned tomatoes on the upper shelves, the CCTV was able to capture Henry’s face, thus supporting his alibi.
Barry believes everything is back to normal, but when he sees Bruce Wayne stepping out of his car, instead of Ben Affleck, it is George Clooney‘s Batman (Batman & Robin, 1997) who steps out. This shows that Barry’s little change led to a butterfly effect that caused a different Bruce to be in existence.
The Flash 2023: The Future of DCEU
The Flash shows a wide variety of timelines in the film, as we see Nicholas Cage‘s Superman, the 1952 George Reeve Superman, as well as many others that have played the roles over the years. This opens up a plot for the possible recasting of our Snyderverse characters in the upcoming films. The theory of Barry creating another timeline where we see new actors portray the existing DC characters is believable, which is what made The Flash such an important movie in imagining the future of DC films.
The post-credits scene further adds to the rumors, as Aquaman seems to be unchanged despite it being a different timeline, showing that although some new actors will be cast in newer films, other DC roles will be played by the same actors. The Flash 2023 movie now leaves space for a new and refreshing DC world that will unfold in the coming years.
Also Read: Top 60 Shows Like The Flash That You Should Not Miss [Updated 2023]
