A New Trailer For The Flash Will Debut During The Super Bowl
The Flash might be the Fastest Man Alive, but whatever momentum his upcoming movie had behind it has been somewhat stalled by release delays, the overall change in creative direction at DC Studios, and the many real-life controversies involving the film's star, Ezra Miller. Despite all that, "The Flash" is hoping to get back in the game — almost literally — with a new Super Bowl promo that will bring Warner Bros. back to the big game for the first time in 17 years.
A new report from The Wrap indicates the studio will air its new "Flash" promo during Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, February 12, 2023. Presumably this will be a trailer, since the following Friday, a new trailer for "The Flash" will be attached to the theatrical release of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" from rival superhero movie purveyor Marvel Studios.
According to the report, Warner Bros. hasn't had a presence at the Super Bowl since 2006, when it was promoting movies like the Vertigo Comics adaptation "V for Vendetta." Anyone who's not a football fan and thinks the best part of the Super Bowl is the commercials now has added incentive to tune in (or at least check in here at /Film when the trailer goes online). That's provided you're still interested in "The Flash," of course, which may not be a given for everybody.
One thing "The Flash" does have going for it is that it may wind up being our only chance to see Michael Keaton return as Batman. Keaton's voice and the back of his Bat-ears were seen in last year's DC FanDome teaser for "The Flash." But that was back when the movie — a curious June 2023 holdover from the former DC Extended Universe — was still on target for a November 2, 2022 release.
DC's bumpy road
Keaton was supposed to appear in "Batgirl," too, but unfortunately, that movie won't be seeing the light of day, despite having been filmed already. Also not moving forward right now is the "Batman Beyond" movie that "The Flash" screenwriter Christina Hodson was developing.
"The Flash" was originally slated to hit theaters way back in March 2018, and since then, Ezra Miller has had numerous arrests and legal issues related to burglary, harassment, on-camera strangling, and other incidents. Miller is just one of the many things that have gone wrong with this movie between 2004 and 2022.
DC has had some good individual films, but it feels like any attempts at replicating the success of Marvel's shared-universe formula has been a bust. As much as I've enjoyed James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad" and his "Guardians of the Galaxy" films, "Peacemaker" struck me as slightly more self-indulgent in some of its extended dialogue bits. And there's a part of me that's just over the whole superhero craze and questions whether Gunn and Peter Safran's decision to recast Superman, nix "Wonder Woman 3," and seemingly swing for a hard reboot — rebuilding the DC Universe from scratch — is really the right choice this late in the game.
While I'm no big Snyderverse fan, I was hoping Henry Cavill would be like Hugh Jackman, who had various solo and team movie misfires as Wolverine before he finally got a standalone film that did completely right by the character with "Logan." It's been almost ten years now since "Man of Steel," and when I think about the possibility of another decade of DC movies, it just makes my brain numb. You mileage may vary, but either way, look for a new "Flash" promo to come speeding your way on Super Bowl Sunday.