Does 'The Flash' Movie Honor The Snyderverse?
What will fans of "Zack Snyder's Justice League" think of "The Flash" movie? With DC's rocky history of failing to acknowledge the Snyder cut of "Justice League," some fans are curious how "The Flash" will build off of Ezra Miller's version of Barry Allen that was established in Zack Snyder's film (and later completely ruined by the theatrical cut of "Justice League").
In this video, CinemaBlend's Sean O'Connell and Hannah Saulic explain why they think "The Flash" honors the Snyderverse.
In this video, CinemaBlend's Sean O'Connell and Hannah Saulic explain why they think "The Flash" honors the Snyderverse.
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00:00 100% this is canon to the Snyder Cut.
00:03 I would love Zach to watch this movie. I think he would enjoy it.
00:06 Hey everybody, it's Hannah Sollick, the head of video here at CinemaBlend with
00:16 Sean O'Connell, our managing editor.
00:18 We took a little bit of a hiatus after seeing the Flash because we didn't want to
00:24 accidentally spoil people in false theory videos.
00:28 Yeah, that's true. We knew a lot for a long time and it was kind of difficult to sit on that.
00:34 Question that we got a lot on our reaction, which I'll link to in case you guys didn't
00:38 get a chance to see that, is just sort of how will Snyderverse fans feel about the Flash?
00:44 And I got that a lot on Twitter and Sean, I'm sure you did as well. So I thought we could maybe kind
00:48 of dig into that question a little bit today and still keep it spoiler free. So you're safe to
00:53 watch this if you have not seen the Flash yet. But I will say we are going to talk about some
00:59 things that have been reported. So if you haven't really been following this stuff, don't want to
01:03 know about people who may or may not show up because certain people in the cast went on a
01:07 podcast and told us that they would months before the movie came out. This is not the video for you.
01:12 Come back after you've seen the Flash because it'll still be relevant. But if you, you know,
01:16 kind of follow DC News on the regular and still haven't seen the Flash, I would say you're safe.
01:21 And also this will be edited. So I will make sure that that is the case.
01:24 Terrific.
01:26 She controls.
01:27 So Sean, where do you want to start? I guess just like an overall question of like,
01:33 even though there are so many sort of factions of the Snyderverse fandom,
01:38 in general, how do you think they'll feel about the Flash?
01:41 I think we have to acknowledge that there are Snyder fans who just want to see, you know,
01:46 some more of the world that Zack helped to create.
01:50 Big round table. Six chairs. Right there.
01:53 But room for more.
01:55 And then there are ones that are going to reject the Flash simply because it doesn't have any
02:00 Zack connection. Like Zack's not a producer the way that he was on Wonder Woman. And they consider
02:05 this to be an insult to the world because they're not letting him continue. So we're talking to the
02:09 Snyder fans who just want to come and sort of experience more of, you know, this DC current,
02:15 this current DC world before it goes away as James Gunn is probably going to start rebooting it.
02:19 These are some of her last few moments of life.
02:21 And I'm of the mindset that because Andy Muschietti continues to use
02:24 these actors that Zack put in place, that when we get to moments where they pop up...
02:30 You have fancy friends.
02:31 It's a quote unquote continuation of the Snyderverse. Like it's fun to see
02:36 Ben get more opportunities to play Batman and to get, for us to get more action sequences
02:41 featuring that version of Batman, which I think are actually really great. It is great to watch
02:47 that version of Barry develop to see what they would have done with a solo Barry Allen movie
02:53 and really get to the emotional heart of it.
02:54 I could fix things. You could also destroy everything.
02:58 It just feels so cohesive with like the stuff that we saw specifically in Zack Snyder's Justice
03:03 League, not just like the theatrical cut of Justice League.
03:06 Can I keep this?
03:06 Sort of the same humor that's happening in like the pet shop is exactly what you're getting.
03:12 Yeah.
03:12 And he's...
03:13 Yeah.
03:14 And I love seeing Alfred. Okay, so when we saw it, we didn't know Alfred was going to be in it
03:20 because that hadn't been in any of the marketing. So that was such a pleasant surprise when you
03:24 heard his voice and saw him pop up on screen. It was just so much fun.
03:29 Absolutely.
03:29 Yeah.
03:29 Yeah.
03:30 Well, I'll put on the team.
03:32 And I think that these are... It's not just like casting choices, but it's character development
03:38 that started in those movies.
03:40 Yes.
03:40 Whether it be the way that Ben is playing Batman and Bruce Wayne specifically, all of the decisions
03:47 that Ezra is making. Yes, we talked about Gaal is in the movie and she appears during a pivotal
03:53 action sequence.
03:54 Yes. And Ben Affleck spoiled that on the Smart List podcast like months ago.
03:57 Yes, he did.
03:58 No.
03:59 He revealed this. Yes.
04:00 It happens.
04:02 So now she's been in Shazam and she's been in The Flash. And again, this is the Wonder Woman
04:08 of those movies and the Wonder Woman of that universe. And so I think people who love those
04:12 movies, how do you not get excited when you see these people show up in the film? Is it the way
04:16 that Zach would have done it? No, Zach would have probably done it differently. But I do think that
04:20 it's paying homage. It's honoring the choices and the decisions that were made in the beginning of
04:26 those films. So I think those people are going to come out of this really liking The Flash,
04:29 because I don't think that it so drastically shakes up the way that these characters were
04:34 established in those early worlds.
04:36 Zach, we lived in a world, hypothetically, where Zach was still making Justice League movies. And
04:41 this movie came out in between the Zack Snyder's Justice League that we saw and his Justice League
04:47 too. I would believe it. Just based on-
04:50 Oh.
04:50 Is she even good at keeping secrets?
04:53 Full disclosure, I have not seen that post-credit scene. So I'm just specifically talking about
04:57 the-
04:58 Moderate.
04:59 No.
05:00 In this sense. So I'm not going to put it quite on the par of Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman,
05:05 because I thought Patty did an incredible job with establishing that universe. But this is on
05:10 par with James Wan's Aquaman for me. It's like taking one of those heroes and giving them a
05:16 solo story that still has connections back to the world, essentially, but doesn't go so drastically
05:22 in another direction. I can't compare it to David Ayer's Suicide Squad, because I thought that the
05:27 studio is so mucked with that. And it doesn't feel like a connection to the DC world the way
05:32 that James Gunn's The Suicide Squad was, because that really felt like it was on its own island.
05:36 But The Flash to me really feels like it belongs in that body of work of like, yeah, they all take
05:42 place in this kind of universe. And they're not quite as good as Zack's movies, but they
05:47 belong as part of the fabric.
05:48 Tell me about this.
05:49 100% this is canon to the Snyder Cut.
05:56 Can you talk about why without telling me exactly what?
06:00 Yeah, I think I can.
06:02 I might be able to do it.
06:02 There's a conversation between Bruce and Barry, and you'll know it when you hear it.
06:06 But I can't. Let's see. What can I say?
06:09 They are discussing an experience that they went through
06:13 that only happened in the Snyder Cut and didn't happen in the theatrical cut.
06:22 And it has to do with Barry using his powers.
06:25 So it's like, how did Barry use his powers in the Snyder Cut?
06:30 Make your own future, Barry. Make your own past.
06:34 Versus how Barry uses powers in the theatrical cut, in Justice League.
06:38 I've just pushed some people and run away.
06:41 And so the fact that Bruce and Barry are talking about
06:44 those powers and how they're being used from the Snyder Cut is like, oh, yeah, this is very clearly
06:50 you're referencing a moment that happened in Snyder Cut.
06:52 And I swear to God, too, there was a second example that now I can't remember that I was like,
06:58 oh, that's a direct reference back to Snyder Cut.
07:01 And it has nothing to do with Justice League, which changed it a bit.
07:05 So, yeah, I don't recall, but I do remember there being something while we were watching
07:10 where I was like, oh, there's a moment where Iris.
07:14 Oh, yeah. Because she references like.
07:17 Yes, that's what it is. I just remembered it in real time. And he was like.
07:20 Essentially, but he saved her life.
07:25 Yeah. In a scene from Snyder Cut.
07:26 I know that. Yeah.
07:28 Yes. But that's again, that's another extremely strong reference to the Snyder Cut to say that
07:34 we are building this universe off the Snyder Cut.
07:36 But there's a time in the movie, in the Flash, which this is a bit of a spoiler,
07:41 but not much. But you do see him as he's running through the speed force.
07:44 Right. He's these sort of.
07:50 It's hard to do. It's hard to do.
07:54 I think we. And some of those some of those parts are from both,
08:01 you know, Snyder Cut and Justice League because the changes aren't that drastic.
08:04 But I truly believe because of the conversation, the conversation is the big one to me,
08:10 that this is a direct continuation and almost like a bold kind of acknowledgement of a D.C.
08:17 project that came out post Justice League of saying, oh, OK, no, the Snyder Cut is the version
08:22 that we're building off of. And that's you think about where we were three years ago,
08:26 like that's unheard of. That's why we love Andy.
08:29 Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
08:31 And so you talk to him. Yeah. And tell us about that answer,
08:34 because you asked him if he'd shown the Flash to Zack yet.
08:37 And I was actually surprised when he said that he hadn't, because I kind of just figured at this
08:44 point out of professional curiosity, Zack might have wanted to at least see it because
08:48 Ezra is someone who he cast in the film and he knows that Ben is in it. And Ben going out and
08:52 saying this is the best work I've ever done as Batman is kind of surprising. And if I were Zack,
08:57 I'd want to figure out what's going on. Maybe he wanted to wait for the finished cut.
09:01 Maybe. And I know he's super immersed in Rebel Moon and I'm sure that's showing up all of his
09:06 time. But what Andy said was. I would I would love Zack to watch this movie. You know, we
09:13 really I think we honored the part of the movie that he created in terms of characters and
09:24 characterizations and cast. So I think I think he would enjoy it.
09:28 So it is like saying, no, I'm not just using the actors that you cast because you saddled me with
09:33 them, but I'm going to continue moving forward with them in a way that their personalities are
09:39 going to continue to reflect off of what you established and we're not so drastically changing
09:44 them. So all the more reason why rational Snyderverse fans can go into this and be like,
09:51 I will say this is great. Yes. And anyone who's looking for answers to the larger questions of
09:57 what does this mean for so and so moving forward and what does this mean for the Snyderverse moving
10:02 forward? I will caution you that you're probably not going to get all of your questions answered.
10:07 In fact, you might even have more questions than you did before you even saw the flash.
10:13 But that's something, Sean, that we'll get into next week with our videos to talk about some
10:19 post-credit scenes and really deep dive into kind of like some theories for what the heck is going
10:25 on. Yeah, you guys are going to have questions. I'm not going to guarantee that we have the
10:29 answers, but we can definitely speculate. I'll get some really good theories for you, though.
10:33 [LAUGHTER]