Warner Bros has brought forward the release date for The Flash, with the movie now set to land in cinemas a week earlier than its previously announced date in 2023.
It’s a rare bit of good news for the superhero epic, which has been hit with multiple delays and controversy since it was first announced in 2014.
While the plot remains largely under wraps, we do know that the movie focuses on the Scarlet Speedster (Ezra Miller) as he tries to change his past by going back in time to alter his mother’s fate – and is thrown into the multiverse as a result.
A trailer for the upcoming movie was previously released at CinemaCon 2022, giving audiences a first look at Miller, who is seen crying, according to Deadline, and says: “Time has a pattern.”
According to the publication, the trailer also shows Michael Keaton as his own version of Bruce Wayne, living in Wayne Manor with long hair and a beard. In one scene, he can be seen standing in front of seven iconic Batman suits.
“You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts,” Keaton says in response to whether he’s in on a plan to save the multiverse alongside Miller’s title character – a homage to his line from the original 1989 Tim Burton film.
The trailer also gave audiences a first look at Sasha Calle’s Supergirl and Michael Shannon’s Zod, according to reports.
New Flash trailer was just shown at CinemaCon featuring:
— Matt Ramos (@therealsupes) April 27, 2022
– Michael Shannon as General Zod
– Several Batman suits
– Ends with Keaton saying: “You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts!” pic.twitter.com/xvpnoxKIq0
Keaton’s Batman won’t be the only version of Bruce Wayne featuring in The Flash, which explores a multiverse of DC Comics heroes. Alongside Keaton, Ben Affleck will be reprising his role from 2017’s Justice League.
The news took fans by surprise and has fuelled speculation that more actors from DC’s rich cinematic history could reappear, including Brandon Routh’s short-lived version of Superman.
Speaking to Geek House Show, the Legends of Tomorrow star voiced his enthusiasm for the idea, after recently returning to the iconic Superman suit for The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.
“I mean, yeah, I think that’s always a possibility,” he said. “Of course, they’re bringing in Michael Keaton, which I’m excited about. And some other people from the past DC projects. I think it’s very exciting.
“It worked really well in Crisis On Infinite Earths, and I was extremely proud and honoured to be a part of it and to reprise my Superman. So it’s absolutely a possibility – you can do anything! Everybody lives and dies all the time in those things.”
While we still have some time to wait before The Flash speeds into cinemas, read on for everything you need to know about this much-anticipated chapter in the DC Extended Universe.
The Flash release date
Unfortunately, there’s quite a while to wait.
The Flash will now premiere in cinemas on 16th June 2023, a week earlier than its previously announced 23rd June 2023 release date.
The release date has likely been pushed forward by a week to avoid Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which finally announced that it will premiere on 30th June.
The film was originally slated to premiere in cinemas in November 2022.
The movie was then brought forward to 3rd June 2022 as part of Warner Bros’ response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, before being delayed again by a year.
After months of delays and pre-production, The Flash finally began filming on 26th April 2021.
Fans have already had to wait a very long time to see a standalone film, with Miller having already signed on as long ago as 2014 – so by the time we see the movie, it’ll be almost a decade since the star agreed to play the character. Talk about patience!
Of course in that time the character has appeared in other DC films, but it can surely only be good news that he’s finally getting his own movie.
The Flash cast
![""]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2017/11/SuperFlash-d60cfdf.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"\"")
As stated, Ezra Miller will take on the lead role of Barry Allen / The Flash. Billy Crudup has had to pull out of the role of Barry’s father Henry due to scheduling conflicts and has been replaced by The Conjuring’s Ron Livingston, who will be joined by Pan’s Labyrinth actress Maribel Verdú as Barry’s mum Nora.
Kiersey Clemons has been confirmed to return as Barry’s love interest Iris West. Clemons shot scenes for Justice League that were ultimately deleted from the theatrical cut, but were reinstated in the infamous Snyder Cut which has now been released.
There is now a little bit more clarity surrounding those behind the camera. Andy Muschietti, who helmed both parts of the recent big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s IT, will direct from a script by Christina Hodson (Bumblebee) – after a string of other names had previously been attached to the project.
And in August 2020 some very surprising news broke about some other stars who would be appearing in the film – with former Batmen Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton both set to reprise their roles as the Caped Crusader.
Muschietti described Affleck’s role as “a very substantial part of the emotional impact of the movie” while speaking to Vanity Fair, adding. “The interaction and relationship between Barry and Affleck’s Wayne will bring an emotional level that we haven’t seen before.
Affleck spoke to Variety about the film and said: “It was a really nice way to revisit that as the prior experience had been difficult.”
![""]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/01/Michael_Keaton_Batman-54f2567.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"\"")
Meanwhile, Keaton will recreate his Batman from Tim Burton’s 1989 movie and its 1992 sequel, with Muschietti describing it as a “substantial” part – and one of a number of the alternate-dimension heroes who would feature as we’ve seen before. Speaking of reprising the role, Keaton said to Collider:
“[It was] weirdly and ironically easy. A little bit emotional. Just a rush of memories. Without giving anything away, which I can’t, basically the first shot, not of the entire movie but let’s say the introduction [of Batman], is so good that when we walked on and started talking about a couple of shots and the angles, I went ‘whoa, this is big. This is great.’ I don’t even mean for me. Just the imagery, it’s great. And reminiscent, to some degree, of Tim Burton.”
It seems like The Flash will be stuffed full of superheroes – as well as the two Batmans, The Young and Reckless star Sasha Calle will make her debut as the DCEU’s Supergirl.
What’s more, new The Flash footage has teased the return of Michael Shannon.
The actor was last seen as Zod in 2013’s Man of Steel, but a trailer shown at CinemaCon 2022 reportedly teased his return in the DC multiverse movie.
It’s not known when the full trailer will be released to the public, however, so fans will have to wait for more information about Shannon’s return.
The multiverse angle has prompted rumours that several more alternate versions of DC superheroes could appear, however – from a different dimension Wonder Woman to Brandon Routh’s Superman. Even Smallville’s Tom Welling has admitted that he is open to appearing after he reprised his role as Clark Kent in the recent Crisis on Infinite Earths event.
One person that will not be appearing, however, is Ray Fisher’s Cyborg. He was originally set to feature in the film but has since been removed and he stated that “despite the misconception, Cyborg’s involvement was much larger than a cameo”.
What is The Flash movie about?
According to previous announcements, the film will follow events of the Flashpoint comic, which sees the creation of an alternate timeline due to the Flash attempting to travel back in time to save his mother.
Miller has gone on record to say that “our precious DC universe will inevitably be torn asunder to an endless, headache-inducing fabric of multiversality” which certainly sounds, erm, intriguing.
And we now know a little bit more about the multiverse that will reportedly be explored in the film, with director Andy Muschietti claiming that the movie is, “a bit of a hinge in the sense that it presents a story that implies a unified universe where all the cinematic iterations that we’ve seen before are valid.
“It’s inclusive in the sense that it is saying all that you’ve seen exists, and everything that you will see exists, in the same unified multiverse.”
Muschietti further added that the film will explore the relationship between The Flash and Batman, telling Vanity Fair, “It’s Barry’s movie, it’s Barry’s story, but their characters are more related than we think.
“They both lost their mothers to murder, and that’s one of the emotional vessels of the movie. That’s where the Affleck Batman kicks in. I’m glad to be collaborating with someone who has been on both sides of the camera, too. He understands.”
As for filming, the movie shot in multiple places but most interesting to us is that Gotham City scenes were filmed in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Unfortunately, further details about the plot have not yet been made official, so it’s still anybody’s guess really – but it’s probably safe to expect a whole lot of running!
Is there a trailer for The Flash?
Sadly, we are still waiting for an official trailer but we did get a teaser at the last DC Fandome event. It’s really toying with our emotions when it comes to seeing Michael Keaton in the batsuit again.
As detailed above, Warner Bros released a brief trailer for the upcoming movie at CinemaCon 2022, giving audiences a look at Miller’s Barry, Sasha Calle’s Supergirl and Michael Shannon’s Zod, according to reports.
However, it’s unknown when the full trailer will be officially released, so fans will have to wait for more information.
For more DC watching, you can pre-order Zack Snyder’s Justice League on Amazon. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide or visit our Movies hub for all the latest news.
The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now – subscribe now to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast.