What is Flashpoint? The comic book story that inspires The Flash movie explained - millerantaistry

What is Flash point? The humourous book story that inspires The Flash movie explained

Flash point #3 cover charge (Image credit: Direct current)

DC's Flashpoint universe is regressive to comic books with Flashpoint On the far side, a new event series focusing on Thomas Wayne, the Batman of the Flashpoint universe.

…and information technology's probably non a concurrence the publisher is returning to the Barry Allen-created alternate reality on the eve of Charles Dudley Warner Bros.' long-in-ontogeny The Flash feature film starring Ezra Milling machine, currently scheduled for a November 4 release.

Wherefore? Because over the seven age since the film was officially announced, the studio has successful it pretty apparent the motion picture - which formerly was even coroneted Flashpoint - is inspired by the 2011 DC comic book event. Although given the many changes the project has gone finished, how so much Flashpoint remains in the DNA of the final product remains to be seen.

Merely the information we do have, including the recurrence of Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck both reprising their respective roles of Batman, the debut of Sasha Calle American Samoa Supergirl, the appearance of two characters played past Miller, and rumors surrounding of who else mightiness be in the film makes it pretty clear the celluloid leave delve significantly into Direct current's Multiverse concept - the sum of the original laughable book series.

So what is Flash point? The limited series held slews of mysteries and twists connected the established DC Comics order to unpack, but Newsarama is secure at unpacking, and we're here to help walk you through the series to get you raised to speed before the new DC sequel Flash point Beyond and to search what elements of the plot line may come into recreate in the photographic film.

The Plan

In 2011, DC was facing some narration stall-outs. Near its biggest series were facing tepid reception from critics and fans alike shadowing a stretch of or s of the publishing house's to the highest degree acclaimed stories in decades.

To right the ship, then-DC publisher Dan DiDio and his editorial team came up with a plan – one that had worked for the publisher before when Direct current was in a kindred rut, resulting in 1985's Crisis on Incalculable Earths: a line-wide reboot, with new roles, and in extraordinary cases even new origins for every last of its characters, great and small. To get there, DC planned to go rachis to the Crisis on Infinite Earths mythos away focusing their reboot on Barry Gracie Allen, the Facile Age Flash who had perished at the end of Crisis happening Boundless Earths, and who had returned to life sentence in a high-visibility story from writer Geoff Johns a few years earlier.

To wit, they came up with Flashpoint, a tarradiddle aside Johns and artist Andy Kubert in which the DC Universe would get through a "flash point" – a moment of deepen that sparks such large rippling personal effects. In that case, that moment of change was caused by Barry Allen traveling back in time and preventing his patronizing-enemy Zoom from murdering his get Nora, causing widespread changes to the integral DC Universe which made information technology virtually unrecognizable to readers, and to Barry – who suddenly found himself the only mortal who remembered the world before He changed it.

The Flash point Paradox

In the new globe, Barry finds dark reflections of many of DC's biggest heroes – most notably Enquire Charwoman, Aquaman, Batman, and Shazam! (a familiar delineate-heavenward if you'rhenium
a Justice League fan, no?). But these are not the heroes he knows from the Justice Conference. To start, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are locked in a war between her island homeland of Themyscira and Atlantis which consumes most of Europe, with the two mythical nations carving up territory throughout the continent while Bionic woman, America's greatest hero, tries to find a way to end the conflict.

Midmost of every this, Barry travels to the Batcave, hoping Batman will be fit to help. And so he finds Batman – but non the one he expects. In the Flashpoint universe of discourse, Bruce Wayne was killed aboard his mother, and his surviving male parent Thomas Wayne becomes a much older, darker Batman (hold that in mind).

Sooner or later convincing Thomas that he is causative fundamentally changing the timeline in which they subsist, Barry sets about difficult to restore his powers and make to the bottom of the mystery of the new timeline.

Teaming up with Cyborg, Barry, and Thomas attempt to free the Flashpoint timeline's Elvis from political science captivity – a plan which ultimately fails, as the now liberated Kal-El simply runs away in fear, powerless. The trio eventually recruits Captain Thunder – Flash point's rendering of Shazam!, in which each of his powers is controlled by a different shaver, who all combine, Voltron-style, into one fully-powered hero – and Chemical element Woman, a edition of the mainstream DC character who has elemental powers akin to Metamorpho.

Traveling to European Economic Community to intervene in the growing Virago/Atlantean contravene, the team learns they also have to stop Soar upwards from conclusion the timeline entirely before Barry loses his retentivity of the old existence.

Phew.

At long las, the team succeeds in both missions – the world is saved and Rapid growth is defeated. But when Barry Allen enters the Hurry Force to prevent the formation of the Flash point timeline, he encounters a mysterious charwoman, Pandora, who uses Barry's power to combine the DC Universe and the DC-closely-held separate universes the WildStorm Universe and the Vertigo Universe of discourse (days by and by in other series revealed to beryllium due to the machinations of Watchmen's Physician Manhattan), resulting in the nascence of a totally new timeline finisher to Barry's old one, rather than the restoration of the original DCU. The New Worl combines characters and plot points from all three of its element worlds – but with totally new contexts that originate the whole thing complete from scratch.

The Freshly World as a result of Flashpoint

Flashpoint excerpt — Flashpoint selection (Image mention: DC)

The aftermath of Flashpoint's impact on the DC Universe almost can't constitute overstated – remember that line-wide reboot we talked nearly?

Following the controlled series' completion, the D.C. Universe was brought back to the way it was... rather. Almost all the old stories and relationships that had been established since Crisis on Infinite Earths and even ahead so were born, with Direct current relaunching all single title of respect – including Action Comics, which launched its entire superhero universe in 1938 and had continued unbroken numbering since then – and redefining the roles and adventures of their heroes. The ensuant line, comprised of 52 titles (though that number eventually fluctuated), was dubbed 'The New 52' persistence.

'The New 52 'lasted some five geezerhood – between 2011 and 2016 – when DC course-corrected once again with 'Rebirth', a one-stab and line-all-embracing branding that relaunched everything with #1 spell restoring the classic numbering of Natural process Comics and Detective Comics. And with the renumbering came a untried commensurable philosophy of guardianship the go-to-meeting of the western hemisphere and delivery in the core ideals of the old DCU which had been bewildered in the bring up. 'Spiritual rebirth' restored many of the classic DC stories and relationships while too reconciliation elements of 'The New 52' – and has even brought in other side-universes to the burden DC Population with stories wish Doomsday Clock which pitted Superman against Sophisticate Manhattan (which revealed his connection to Flash point) and tied the Watchmen mythos into the DCU proper.

The 'Spiritual rebirth' earned run average has since given way to the brand-new 'Unnumbered Frontier' era, which has doubled down happening the Multiverse concept. Direct current continuity at present exists in an Omniverse (guess multiple Multiverses), where every story District of Columbia e'er published is considered 'in continuity' as part of DC's unaccustomed Omniverse concept, creating a vast world of 'variants' (to borrow some Wonder terminology) of touristy characters such Eastern Samoa Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Aquaman.

The characters are even self-conscious they exist in a reality and a timeline that keeps getting rewritten.

The big screen door future of Flashpoint

Flash in Justice League — Flash in Justice Conference (Image credit: Charles Dudley Warner Bros.)

Surrendered the complexity already at hand, it's unlikely The Flash film will be a extremely literal transformation of the comic book Flashpoint story (on that point are style too many side stories, moving parts, and twists to solidification up in one film).

For example, Ray Fisher, World Health Organization played Cyborg in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, was written out of The Flash, fairly controversially.

Still, all the pieces are in put together for Flashpoint to receive the Captain America: Civil War handling – an adaptation that includes the synoptical themes and many of the equal major players while adjusting the report itself to fit the continuity IT's building on.

DC Films too already gave Flashpoint a more direct adaptation in the revived movie The Flashpoint Paradox and Warner Bros. TV a precise handsome adjustment in the fractional season of The Flash TV serial.

In film, the DCEU contains many of the core Flashpoint cast: Wonder Char and Aquaman are the critical and ticket booth darlings of the film series, with Shazam! a close competitor for the top of the crop. Meanwhile, at that place's likewise The Batman starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne coming in 2022 – and course the whole Michael Keaton-Ben Affleck affair. And despite it being highly supposed at this point, hardcore fans are going to stand firm hope until the final minutes of The Flash that Faith Basle wish join the Bat-reunion.

The Multiverse

Flash from movies and TV together (Image credit: CW)

Indeed what does all this mean? Well, District of Columbia's comic stories possess often revolved around the thought of a multiverse - a panoply of worlds that exist in odd reflections of each other, supported roughly pith concepts and characters that appear throughout - and over the last year the Multiverse has its nearly prominent feature.

As we say, we know the multiverse is forthcoming to the big-covert DCEU. The only question is how big and encompassing will it be? We recognize about Supergirl and the two Batmen, but The Flare is almost certainly going to contain another multiversal surprises.

DC and Warner Bros. are at last giving themselves a way to have their cake and deplete it too, and if they privation they can have cookies, pie, and icecream as well, and Flashpoint may open the door to them all.

Check out the best Twinkle villains of completely time and the first Flash stories of all time.

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics good and cosmopolitan drama book historiographer since 2011. I've also been the on-the-spot reporter at most senior comic conventions such as Comic-Con Multinational: San Diego, New York Humorous Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitar player of many another compact riffs. (They/Them)