How Zack Snyder's Justice League Sets Up The Flash Movie
Zack Snyder's Justice League helps set up Ezra Miller's upcoming The Flash movie as several arcs for Barry Allen is set into motion.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League helps set up Ezra Miller’s upcoming The Flash movie with several important arcs being placed into motion. One of the characters who had their story most affected with the Justice League theatrical cut was Barry Allen, who was depicted differently in Joss Whedon’s film. In the 2017 movie, Barry became more of the comedic relief which was hugely criticized. But with the Snyder Cut, the director got the chance to restore everything that Warner Bros. and Whedon had taken out for their version that came out in 2017. In the HBO Max film, Miller’s characterization, while still light-hearted, was a lot more balanced than previously.
Thanks to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Flash, along with many other characters, got the cinematic treatment he should have had in 2017. While Grant Gustin has portrayed the Arrowverse iteration on The Flash since 2014, the Scarlet Speedster will soon be getting his own film franchise from director Andy Muschietti. Despite the Snyder Cut taking place outside the DCEU, the 4-hour cut helps with Barry’s setup for his standalone film. Even if most (or if none) of the events in the Snyder Cut are referenced in The Flash, there are still multiple key points that Miller’s character goes through that more or less lay the groundwork for his film.
Had Zack Snyder’s Justice League come out in 2017 in its original form, it would have paved the way for The Flash that would have come a few years after it. Despite the fact that the Whedon cut is considered “canon” by Warner Bros., that’s not necessarily the case for Muschietti’s DC film. The Flash will be pulling from the DC storyline Flashpoint while mostly doing its own spin on it. Not only is the plot-driven by time-travel, but it will also include the DC Multiverse. Here are all the ways that Zack Snyder’s Justice League cut sets up The Flash film.
One of the many actors who were removed from the theatrical cut was Kiersey Clemons, who had been cast as Iris West, Barry’s love interest. Not only do Iris and Barry get married in the comics, but she’s also Wally West’s aunt and Bart Allen’s grandmother. Iris has and always will be a crucial part of The Flash mythology and thanks to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Clemons debuted the cinematic version of Iris. While it’s brief, the Snyder Cut does include Barry and Iris meeting each other for the first time and it couldn’t be any clearer than it was love at first sight.
During Barry’s introduction in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the story follows him trying to get a job at a pet store where he and Iris bump into one another. While they still keep eye contact a bit later during Barry’s interview, Iris almost gets into a car accident when bumping into a driving truck that has lost balance. As Barry sees it, he uses his speed to save Iris from getting severely hurt while demonstrating to her that he has super-powers. While she doesn’t say anything after being rescued, Iris’s reaction indicates that she was positively stunned by what Barry had just done. With Clemons set to come back in The Flash, the love story will continue from there.
The Flash will see Barry going back in time to save his mother Nora Allen from being murdered, just like in the Flashpoint comics. But in doing so, he changes the universe’s history and things are a lot different when he comes back to the present. While that will be a huge factor in the story, Zack Snyder’s Justice League gives eager fans a great taste of just how powerful Barry is when he travels in time. Towards the climax, the Justice League actually lose initially when the Mother Boxes complete the Unity and cleanse the Earth so that Darkseid could collect the Anti-Life Equation. However, The Flash was the only hero not present during their defeat and as he witnesses the end of the world, Barry suddenly taps into the Speed Force.
Shocked about what’s happening, Barry realizes that he can undo this but only if he breaks his rule by pushing beyond the speed of light. As Barry begins to run, he starts to undo the damage and rewinds time to several seconds before the Unity had been completed. Thanks to Flash, the Justice League’s deaths are undone and Barry is able to give Cyborg the charge needed to stop the Unity from happening. Not only is Steppenwolf defeated and killed, but the Mother Boxes are disabled as well, thus losing their purpose. If Barry is capable of making this big of a change by just rewriting a couple of seconds in time, imagine the scale The Flash movie will show when he goes back to the night his mother was murdered when he was a child.
While Flash is one of the most powerful superheroes in the DC Universe, Barry is also one of the most intelligently gifted people. Besides saving the world as the fastest man alive, Barry is also a talented forensic CSI for the Central City Police Department. One of the reasons why he pursued a career in that was because his father Henry was framed for his mother's murder. In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Barry is a criminal justice student who is doing everything he can to clear his father’s name, and Henry insists that he gives it up since he doesn’t want to see his son throw his life away.
But the Snyder Cut concludes with setting up Barry’s destined role at CCPD, as he shows up at Iron Heights to tell his father he got a job in the a crime lab. Henry is extremely excited and thrilled that his son has gotten his foot in the door. While Barry’s obviously starting from the bottom, Zack Snyder’s Justice League ending with Flash getting his day time job is another way of laying the foundation for Miller’s next film. It also helps establish the relationship between Barry and Henry as son and father, which is a big part of The Flash comics.
It’s a bizarre notion that Warner Bros. likes to consider Whedon’s Justice League cut as canon when it’s obvious that The Flash movie will not stick to that characterization of Barry. Given what Patty Jenkins has said in the past, DC directors are not regarding the 2017 film as true canon and that might extend to Muschietti. The Snyder Cut was, after all, always meant to set up Barry’s solo film, so if Muschietti chooses to, he can base Barry’s next arc on the HBO Max film.