No, The Flash Does not Actually Reset the DC Universe

DC’s try to repeat Marvel’s field workplace domination with a shared universe of its personal has been off the rails for for much longer than it was on them–if certainly it ever actually was on them–and The Flash has lengthy been speculated as a technique to soft-reboot the general franchise utilizing time journey. And even after seeing the film you could be tempted to suppose that is what occurred right here.

However you would be incorrect. In all probability.

Warning: This text incorporates all the largest spoilers from The Flash.

The essential rundown of The Flash goes like this: After heroically rescuing a dozen infants that had fallen out of a hospital window, Barry Allen ranges up and may now run so quick that he goes again in time. So he runs again to his personal childhood and prevents his mother from dying, after which tries to return to the current. However he cannot fairly appear to get there–and then a darkish determine knocks him out of the Velocity Power and again into actuality.

He is previously, across the time of the occasions of Man of Metal. Common Zod reveals up searching for a lacking Kryptonian–Kara, aka Supergirl, on this universe–and in any other case there are no superheroes who may have any probability of standing as much as Zod and his minions. No Marvel Lady, no Aquaman, no Cyborg. And no Flash, since this youthful Barry was going to go on a date with Iris West as a substitute of being within the place the place he will get his powers. However Outdated Barry fixes that.

So within the battle towards Zod and the opposite Kryptonians, now we have two Flashes (one among whom is model new), a Supergirl who’s been in Russian jail for a very long time, and a Batman who’s a long time older than the one Barry used to know.

The great guys do not win this one. Zod kills Supergirl, Batman crashes the Batwing and blows up, and Youthful Barry decides to check out time touring. However nothing he does works. Supergirl all the time dies, and Zod all the time kills everybody on Earth. Youthful Barry tries for a really very long time, though–long sufficient that every one of actuality in each universe is beginning to break down, as we see demonstrated by goofy CGI orbs, filled with previous Batmen and Superpeople, crashing into one another within the Velocity Power.

Our predominant Barry pleads with Different Barry to cease, however he will not pay attention. Finally, nonetheless, one other model of that Alt-Barry, from earlier in his infinite cycle of failing to cease Zod, pops into the Velocity Power, hears these pleas, and takes out his older self. This kills all variations of Barry from this non-Justice League universe, and permits Zod to extinguish the complete human race in that universe. And with nobody left to attempt to save, Barry is free to attempt to return to his previous timeline.

It initially looks as if possibly he succeeded, however the cracks present fairly shortly: His dad, in jail for allegedly killing Barry’s mother, wins his attraction primarily based on proof that did not exist within the previous timeline. After which when Barry tries to have a chat together with his previous pal Bruce Wayne, he discovers he undoubtedly nonetheless is not dwelling. As a result of on this universe, George Clooney is Batman.

The post-credits scene offers us one further main nugget of data: Aquaman exists right here, and he is precisely the identical because the Aquaman we already knew.

It is a actually open-ended story, and so it isn’t doable to say with any certainty what all this implies proper now. However it appears fairly clear what it would not imply: that we have landed within the everlasting new dwelling of the DC movieverse. Whereas it is conceivable that Clooney, who performed the half in Batman & Robin, would don the cape once more for a task the dimensions of those Keaton and Affleck had in The Flash, there’s nearly no probability he is really this franchise’s Batman of the long run. Whereas plans can change, DC co-boss James Gunn mentioned a pair months again that they need anyone for his or her subsequent Batman who hasn’t played the part before, and Clooney is certainly not that.

However, Clooney could be a reasonably good identify to rebuild the franchise round. And whereas he is definitely mocked Batman & Robin–which is, fingers down, the worst Batman film, loads of instances over the previous three decades–that would not preclude him from attempting it once more with a wholly completely different set of creatives.

Realistically, although, if Clooney have been again as the brand new Batman to interchange Ben Affleck within the DC movieverse, we might most likely learn about it from real-world information sources.

So what is the deal right here? For now: nothing in any respect. The Flash doesn’t mirror any type of change in the established order of the DC franchise past the introduction of the multiverse. That is not a small factor, but it surely would not really, you realize, change the state of actuality past this movie. Ben Affleck’s Batman wasn’t written out of existence, for example–the universe Barry got here from continues to be there, with no Flash.

So what we really find yourself with the Clooney bit, actually, is a sequel tease that offers The Flash the air of a reboot of Sliders, with Barry having to hop from dimension to dimension in hopes that his subsequent bounce takes him again dwelling. It is an amazing concept for a film, frankly, and one that would have massive ramifications for the way forward for the DC Prolonged Universe.

That is type of the punchline with The Flash: It would not by itself change something concerning the better DC franchise past offering a framework that may enable future motion pictures to dramatically change the established order if the studio needs them to. It isn’t like Marvel’s Loki, the place the introduction of the multiverse was itself an inciting incident for the better story of Kang the Conqueror. The Flash, in contrast, is merely setting issues up in order that the new-look DC Studios can begin no matter new massive plot it needs in a while. It opens the doorways to many potential new paths, but it surely’s ready for anyone else to determine which one we’ll take.

Within the meantime, they do not need you to sweat all these things an excessive amount of, which is what the Aquaman cameo within the post-credits scene is about. Within the scene, Barry tells Arthur about how regardless that he is met all these completely different Batmen, each Aquaman is precisely the identical. Simply so you realize that when Aquaman and the Misplaced Kingdom comes out later this yr, you need not fear about which universe it is happening in–it’s the identical both method!

Not sweating all that is most likely one of the best concept for all of us, because it’s too early for brand new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran to have gotten their general plans underway in full in a method that we are able to see–every DC film popping out this yr was in manufacturing earlier than these two took over. So we’ll have some time to attend earlier than we get any concept of what is actually occurring within the DC Universe. Probably till we see the rumored Batman film that may reportedly be below the care of The Flash director Andy Muschietti.

The comedian guide story on which that movie will likely be primarily based, The Courageous and the Daring, introduces Bruce Wayne’s son, Damian, as Robin and inheritor to the position of Batman. If Clooney goes to stay round as Bruce past this cameo, this can be a believable one-movie story for him that would go away us with Damian Wayne as DC’s predominant franchise Batman. And in that sense, this Batman movie may function a direct sequel to The Flash, and it will even be the franchise reset that we thought The Flash was going to be.

However there are too many items in movement, and we do not know sufficient about any of them but.