The Classic DC Comic The Flash Aimed To Honor (Other Than Flashpoint)
After years and years of being stuck in development hell, "The Flash" movie is finally hitting theaters soon. Against all odds, Warner Bros. has managed to carry this seemingly cursed project across the finish line, even if it means having to set aside the Ezra Miller of it all, given the actor's string of public troubles that came to a head last year. In any event, director Andy Muschietti is getting ready to open up the DC multiverse in a big way. Naturally, comparisons have been made to the classic "Flashpoint" storyline from the comics, but there's another classic tale that the film is attempting to honor.
Speaking recently with Black Girl Nerds, Muschietti was talking about some of the inspirations that went into crafting the film, which brings together our current DC Universe kicked off by Zack Snyder in "Man of Steel" a decade ago with several other ones, including Tim Burton's "Batman" Universe, with Michael Keaton reprising his role as the Caped Crusader. Muschietti revealed that he actually looked to honor a wildly important comic from the early '60s. Here's what he had to say about it:
"I think at first it makes justice to something that was sort of set up in the comic books like a thousand years ago, which was a multiverse. It started in the Flash of Two Worlds which was a comic book published in 1961. So it was about time to honor that part of the universe and open that window for future movies."
What is The Flash of Two Worlds?
There has been a lot of multiverse stuff in comic book media over the last handful of years, from "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" on the Marvel side of things. Even "The Flash" TV show on The CW dealt with it a lot, as did the Arrowverse in general. But this concept can trace its roots back to 1961 when "The Flash of Two Worlds" was published. The book, which was written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Carmine Infantino, is credited with creating the concept of the multiverse, with Barry Allen, the most famous Flash, crossing paths with the original Flash, Jay Garrick. It was a monumental concept.
Both Marvel and DC Comics, in the decades that followed, made great use of the multiverse concept to tell a wide range of stories. More recently, this has bled into other media, particularly the movies. It allows studios to capitalize on nostalgia while not interrupting the current goings-on for these big companies. But Muschietti's acknowledgment of this storyline feels more than appropriate. Speaking a bit further, the director explained his approach to tackling the film and its multiversal concepts.
"What we did in this movie was basically combine the idea of a multiverse with a multiverse of cinematic pieces, which was another very exciting thing because DC has created not only a brilliant comic book, but in the world of film a lot of great movies. The idea of being able to combine them and crossing them over was just there to grab and it was great."
"The Flash" is set to hit theaters on June 16, 2023.