The Flash

Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, Double Dream, and the Disco Factory, it is the 13th film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).

Directed by Andy Muschietti from a screenplay by Christina Hodson and a story by Joby Harold and the writing team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.

The film stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash, who travels back in time to prevent his mother’s death and becomes stranded in an alternate past.

Sasha Calle also stars in her film debut, alongside Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, and Michael Keaton.

Development of a film based on the Flash began in the late 1980s, with multiple writers and directors attached to the project through 2014.

The film was then redeveloped as a part of the DCEU, with Miller cast as the title character.

Multiple directors were attached to the film over the following years, with Seth Grahame-Smith, Rick Famuyiwa, and the duo of Daley and Goldstein all departing the project over creative differences.

Muschietti and Hodson joined the film in July 2019, and pre-production began in January 2020.

The film is influenced by the comic book storyline Flashpoint (2011), featuring other DC characters, such as Calle’s Supergirl and both Ben Affleck’s and Keaton’s versions of Batman.

Principal photography took place from April to October 2021 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden and on location around the United Kingdom.

The Flash premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on June 12, 2023, and was released by Warner Bros.

Pictures in the United States on June 16, following multiple delays caused by director changes, the COVID-19 pandemic, post-production setbacks, and Miller’s legal issues.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its humor, action sequences, and the performances, but criticized the visual effects and third act.

It was also a box-office bomb, grossing $271.3 million worldwide against a budget of $200–220 million.

Barry Allen revisits his childhood home, where he lived with his parents Nora and Henry, before Henry’s wrongful imprisonment for Nora’s murder.

On the day of her death, Nora sent Henry to the grocery store for a can of food that she forgot to buy, leaving her alone in the kitchen where she was killed by an unidentified assailant.

Overcome by emotions, Barry accidentally uses the Speed Force to form a “Chronobowl” and travels back in time to earlier in the day.

Despite Bruce’s warnings of time travel’s unintended consequences, Barry places the can in Nora’s cart at the store, so that his father will not have to leave the house.

As he returns to the present, Barry is knocked out of the Chronobowl by an unknown speedster and arrives in an alternative 2013 where Nora is alive.

He encounters his parents and his past self, and realizes this is the day he originally obtained his powers.

To ensure his past self gains superpowers, the two Barrys go to the Central City Police Department, where Barry re-enacts the event for 2013-Barry to be struck by lightning.

Both end up getting struck by the lightning, giving 2013-Barry powers, but causing Barry to lose his own. As Barry struggles to train 2013-Barry on properly using his powers, they learn that General Zod is preparing to invade Earth.

In an effort to fight Zod, the Barrys attempt to assemble the Justice League but are unsuccessful; in this timeline, Diana cannot be located, Victor Stone has not gained his abilities yet, and Arthur Curry never existed.

They travel to Wayne Manor, hoping to find Bruce, but instead find an alternate variant who has long retired. Bruce theorizes that using time travel to alter history affects events both prior to and after the alteration.

They convince Bruce to return as Batman and help them find Kal-El / Superman. The Barrys and Batman locate a Kryptonian pod discovered in Siberia. Upon arrival, they instead find Kal-El’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, imprisoned in the facility.

They rescue Kara and return to Wayne Manor. Barry enlists Bruce’s help to regain his power once more. The first two attempts fail, prompting Kara to fly Barry into a storm, where he regains his powers.

Kara and Batman join the Barrys to fight Zod and his forces. During the battle, Kara learns that Zod had intercepted Kal-El’s escape pod from Krypton and killed him while attempting to extract the Codex needed to repopulate the Kryptonian species.

Zod reveals that the Codex is actually within Kara. Zod subdues and kills her, then extracts the Codex from her blood; meanwhile, Batman sacrifices himself in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy Zod’s ship.

The Barrys repeatedly time travel to save Batman and Kara but keep failing. Barry realizes that this sequence of events cannot be changed, but 2013-Barry keeps trying. As 2013-Barry travels, the multiverse starts to implode.

The unknown speedster who initially knocked Barry out of the Speed Force returns and is revealed to be an older, future version of 2013-Barry who still believes he can defeat Zod and save his Earth.

He becomes angry when Barry reveals his intention to reverse the changes he made to the timeline by letting Nora die.

The elder 2013-Barry attempts to kill Barry, but instead impales young 2013-Barry, who sacrifices himself to save Barry and wipe his future self from the timeline.

Barry reverts the timeline and comes to terms with his mother’s death; however, he subtly alters the past by moving the tomato cans to a higher shelf.

Returning to the present day, Barry attends Henry’s court hearing, where the security footage now reveals Henry looking up to grab the tomato can, allowing for his exoneration.

Barry is then contacted by Bruce, whose appearance has changed once again as a result of the timeline alteration.