A hero characterized by his blinding speed doesn’t do much to reach theaters at a snail’s pace. But that’s the way things are DC: takes a pinch of internal crises in the study, adds a good stream of polemics at the expense of the behavior of Ezra Miller, and you will have as a result Flash, a film announced in 2014 with a view to 2018, has ended up being released in the summer of 2023.
Directed by Andy Muschietti (Item), replacing at least six previous candidates, the film hits theaters on the eve of the widespread reboot of the DCEU which will be borne by James Gunn. It is, then, the swan song of that DC Universe that was born in the man of steel under the aegis of Zack Snyder, and who introduced us to the scarlet sprinter in the ill-fated League of Justice (2017).
Besides with Miller, Maribel Verdu (as the mother of the superhero), sasha street as Supergirl and Isabelle Bernardo as Iris West, the tape will present familiar faces in DC movies. Among them, michael shannon As the General Zod… and an epic duel between two versions of Batman: that of Ben Affleck and that of a michael keaton who returns to the Batcave 31 years after Batman returns.
What do you need to know about Flash before watching his movie? How many different versions of the hero have there been, and which ones have made it to the screens? What are his powers, and Why are they so important to understanding the changes in the DC Universe? Questions we will answer below.
Flash: versions of the superhero
As we already know from League of Justice, the Flash we see with the face of Ezra Miller is Barry Allen, one of the most canonical versions of the character… and the second to appear in cartoons. Because the first Flash of comics was Jay Garrick, adventurer who debuted in 1940 and who will ring a bell for his outfit inspired by the Greek god Hermes.
In 1956, during the so-called ‘Silver Age’ of superheroes, the second incarnation of Flash appeared, the one we will see in the movies. And in 1986, for reasons best left unexplored at the moment, readers were able to see how their assistant Wally West (Kid Flash) he changed his yellow uniform for that red jumpsuit with wings on the hood, to become the third comic Flash.
To avoid fuss, we will focus on Barry Allen as Flash. That is, in the version of the character with which the artist Carmine Infantino made comics history 67 years ago, last drawing him in 1985.
Flash: that’s how he got his powers
When it comes to assigning powers to their characters, the writers and cartoonists of the classic comic they abide by the law of “to see if it strains”, taking advantage of the youth of its reading public to strain origins of the most absurd.
In this way, Jay Garrick (the first Flash) became the fastest man on Earth after inhaling heavy water vapors during a smoke break in his laboratory. The way Barry Allen became his successor was more politically correct, but just as crazy: when he was working as an assistant in a forensics lab, our man was covered in chemicals that had been struck by lightning.
The irony, in this case, is that Barry stood out as a methodical and conscientious type, something that made him late everywhere to the despair of Iris West, his girlfriend.
