The powers that be at ATT/Warner have seemingly begun to once again commit to the DC Cinematic Universe, with Wonder Woman 1984 just waiting to land *somewhere*, working on another Aquaman and prepping for Black Adam. 

But maybe the most intriguing offering is the upcoming Flash movie starring Ezra Miller, “Flashpoint”. 

It’s an adaptation of a comic event that led into “The New 52”, a very regrettable era in DC comics history stretching from roughly 2011 thru 2016 or so. It’s largely acknowledged now as a huge mistake and they’ve kinda disregarded the whole mess. 

Now that’s not to say the Flashpoint comic was bad, nor does that mean the movie will be bad.

The basic thrust of the story is that the Flash races back through time to save his mother from being killed when he was a child. This of course screws up the timeline and the you’ve got multiple realities mashing about as Flash tries to fix things. Such a movie could soar or crash very easily, so fingers crossed that they’ve got a good script in place.

Evidently Ben Affleck likes the script because he signed up to appear once again as Bruce Wayne, but I’m not sure if he’ll be Batman. Alternate realities, yo! 

And again, let’s hope that ol’ Ben actually sticks with his decision this time. He’s been flipping and flopping on returning to the role more than a captured marlin on uppers.

And there’s a rumor that Jeffrey Dean Morgan may reprise the role of Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s father. In Batman V Superman, Morgan plays Bruce’s father, who, along with his mother, who shall remain nameless, gets killed, leading to young Bruce taking the oath and changing his life for good. In the Flashpoint comic, the alternate reality that the Flash ends up in, it’s young Bruce that gets killed in the alley that night and Thomas, who takes the oath. so we’ll see if this actually happens in the film. It’s possible this was part of the plan all along, otherwise, why have Morgan only do a two minute cameo flashback in BVS?

But what’s even more exciting to me is the fact that Michael Keaton is *also* going to be appearing AS BATMAN. He’s IN.

I think the circumstances and reasons are possibly thus: 

Number one, both Affleck and Keaton were interested in returning to the roles back when the CW tv shows did their Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries. But the CW absolutely could not afford them, sadly. 

Number Two, Keaton ROCKED a costume again when he starred in Birdman, which was a kind of sideways look at Keaton’s past as Batman, very cleverly done. Amazing film. During which, when they were building the Birdman costume, they used the old molds from the ’89 Batman costume. And it still fit. That has to pump you up a bit. He was excited and rightfully so. 

Number three, Keaton has also been very much on a new high in his career with the aforementioned Birdman, Spotlight, as well as his take on the Vulture in the Spider-man franchise. I think he’s having fun.

Now sure, you’re thinking that hey, didn’t they eliminate all the other earths in the Multiverse back during the tv Crisis series? Well, no, as even at the end, to accommodate Stargirl and the Titans and Doom Patrol shows, they said other earths had begun to appear again, so yeah, Multiverse. It really is DC’s stock and trade.

A shame Marvel might just do it better with next year’s “Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness”.

But you never know. 

DC has the built in excuse to do whatever films they feel like with the same characters appearing in different films at the same time. It hasn’t really hit in full force yet but it’s coming. 

By the time Flashpoint comes out, the first of a new Batman trilogy will have premiered with Robert Pattinson in the lead role, as a kind of year two Batman, early in the game, and although you could easily say it takes place in the early 2,000’s, and thus a younger version of the Affleck Batman, right now they’re just saying it’s a separate reality. (A lot of directors really don’t like to share)

It’s kind of like the Joker. You had the wonderful Jack Nicholson in ’89, possibly the definitive version by Heath Ledger in Dark Knight, the rather unimpressive gang banger in the even less impressive Suicide squad, and of course the rehash version that kinda rips off King of Comedy and Taxi driver. The people who really liked the Phoenix Joker film tend to be the people who hadn’t seen the movies it regurgitates rather shamefully. 

But all of them are just more never ending extra alternate realities etc.

Whatever. 

I’d just like them to be good. 

Fingers crossed.