The Flash Super Bowl Trailer Breakdown: The Flash Points To The Future Of The DC Universe

The Flash might be the fastest man alive, but it feels like his movie has been traveling in slow motion ever since it was first announced back in ... October 2014?!

Yes, Barry Allen's first solo adventure has taken almost a decade to make his way to theaters — even longer, if you count previous attempts to make a movie about the Flash. Turbulent times in the DC Extended Universe and a global pandemic kept "The Flash" locked away in development hell for years, and when star Ezra Miller began making headlines for all the wrong reasons, many wondered if the movie would be released at all.

Now, we're just a few months away from "The Flash" landing in theaters, about five years after it was originally slated for release. That's kind of fitting, since there was a running gag in the comics about how Barry Allen was chronically late to everything. Following a teaser released at DC FanDome last year, the super-sized Super Bowl trailer for "The Flash" has dropped a whole bunch of bombshells about the story — and the superheroes we can expect to see in it.

"The Flash" has passed through the hands of numerous screenwriters, and a revolving door of directors became attached to the project and then left it before it finally settled with Andy Muschietti. But over the years, one constant in this sea of turmoil was the fact that the movie would be loosely based on the comic book event "Flashpoint." In fact, at one point, that was even the title.

In the "Flashpoint" comic arc, Barry Allen travels back in time using the Speed Force to save the life of his mother, who was murdered by the villainous Reverse-Flash when Barry was a child. However, by saving his mother's life he completely rewrites history — and not for the better. In the new world that Barry wakes up in, Wonder Woman's homeland of Themyscira is going to war with Aquaman's underwater nation of Atlantis. Bruce Wayne was shot dead in the alleyway when he was a child instead of his parents, so Thomas Wayne became a more brutal version of Batman and Martha Wayne became the Joker.

While "The Flash" won't be an exact adaptation of the "Flashpoint" comic arc, DC Studios CEO James Gunn has said that "The Flash" effectively "resets everything," providing a neat segue from the old DCEU into the shiny new DC Universe. So even if Barry does get back to his own world, it might not look quite the same way he left it.

The first actual voice we hear in the new "Flash" trailer is that of Michael Keaton's Batman. The beginning of it plays out in a fashion very similar to the first "Flash" teaser that dropped back in October 2021, with Keaton saying via voiceover, "Tell me something. You can go anywhere. Another timeline. Another universe. So why do you want to stay and fight to save this one?"

As he's saying this, we see footage of his cowl on the floor. If that reminds you of the image of Batman's broken, discarded mask in "The Dark Knight Rises," then you should be prepared for the next shot, which shows Batman's cape fluttering out behind him as he rides what looks like the Batpod motorcycle from Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" trilogy (more on that in a second). Already the trailer is mixing and matching the iconography of different Batmen, in keeping with the multiversal "Flashpoint" thrust.

Keaton's voice comes back in around the 87-second mark, asking the Flash if he wants some help fighting Zod in the defenseless new "world with no metahumans" that he's inadvertently created through time travel. We see the old 1989/1992 Batmobile and bats flying out of the Batcave as Danny Elfman's theme music comes creeping in. When Keaton's face finally appears onscreen, he's wearing a Bat-suit that looks more like the one Val Kilmer wore in "Batman Forever." Maybe this is his revenge for the Keaton-led "Batman Returns" sequel that never happened.

Keaton milks his delivery of the line, "Yeah, I'm Batman," for all it's worth before leaping into action. He's the one who lowers his fist to reveal Superman's cousin, Kara, floating in the sky toward the end of the trailer. But of course, he's not the only Batman in this trailer.

We hear Keaton right from the beginning, but before we see him, Ben Affleck's Batman (technically, his Bruce Wayne) warns Barry Allen about the dangers of mucking around with timelines. There's a shot of Barry and his alternate self walking up on Wayne Manor — the same Wayne Manor that we saw in Tim Burton's "Batman" movies. Burton shot exteriors for Wayne Manor at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, England, while filming for "The Flash" took place at the grand estates of Burghley House (used for exteriors, since it bears a strong resemblance to Knebworth) and Hatfield House (which was used for interiors).

"If you were to go into the past," Bruce tells Barry, "you have no idea what the consequences could be." Barry insists that he could fix things, and Bruce says that he could also destroy everything.

That's the last we see of Ben/Bruce, but it's not the last we see of Batfleck in this trailer. Upon closer inspection, that's not the Batpod we saw at the beginning, but rather a slightly different Batcycle with two smaller tires, which Batfleck appears to be riding as it zooms under a police car that's tumbling across the street.

Since Batfleck never got his own solo movie and Keaton's appearance in the shelved "Batgirl" film won't be seeing the light of day, it's nice to see both of them make a return in this trailer as it goes full circle back to Zod's invasion in "Man of Steel" and the beginning of the DC Extended Universe.

Michael Shannon's General Zod made his debut in the first DCEU movie, "Man of Steel," where he memorably and controversially got his neck snapped by Superman. His appearance in the new trailer for "The Flash" is actually the second time he's returned unexpectedly. In "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice," Zod's body was pilfered by Lex Luthor, who mixed Zod's DNA with his own in order to cook up Doomsday in the Genesis Chamber of a Kryptonian ship. It wasn't the most triumphant comeback for Zod, though at least his genetic son managed to exact his revenge by killing Superman. (Superman later returned as well, because no one stays dead in comic books.)

In the new timeline created by Barry's interference with history, Superman isn't around to stop Zod's invasion of the planet. "The Flash" will also feature the return of Antje Traue as Faora, Zod's trusted lieutenant, and it looks like we'll see a war between Zod's forces and Earth's remaining superheroes in lieu of the war between Themyscira and Atlanta from the comics. Fortunately for us fragile humans, there are quite a few superheroes in this trailer.

One twist in "The Flash" that wasn't in the "Flashpoint" comics? There are two Barry Allens in this timeline. Barry-1 runs into his doppelganger, whom we'll creatively name Barry-2, outside his childhood home. Barry-2 looks just as shocked to see Barry-1 as Barry-1 is to see Barry-2, but the two of them team up to figure out what's going on with the timeline and how they can stop Zod from taking over Earth. With so much chaos, having a second Flash around can only be a good thing, right?

Well, not necessarily. First of all, there's still a big question mark over the identity of Nora Allen's killer in the DC Universe. Second of all, it seems unlikely that "The Flash" will simply make Zod the main villain again; been there, done that. Third of all, the fact that Barry-2 is wearing a lot of yellow is a big red flag (so to speak). Yellow is the color of the costume worn by Reverse-Flash, the speedster that killed Barry's mother in the comics. Maybe we're just being paranoid, but it wouldn't be totally surprising if a third act twist revealed that Barry-1's true enemy has been by his side all along.

After the appearance of General Zod in the trailer, Barry realizes, "I created a world with no metahumans. And now there's no one to defend us." In the "Flashpoint" comic arc, the timeline was changed so that Kal-El, instead of being found and raised by the Kents on a nice farm in Smallville, Kansas, was discovered as a baby by the government, raised in tortured isolation, and named "Subject One." The discovery of Flashpoint Superman is recreated in "The Flash," but it's not Kal-El that Barry finds hidden away by the government — it's his cousin, Kara Zor-El.

Played by Sasha Calle in "The Flash," Supergirl is set to star in her own upcoming solo movie, "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow," though its currently unknown if Calle will reprise her role. This is technically a Supergirl from another timeline, but it would make sense to introduce the new official Supergirl here, rather than casting multiple Supergirls for the DC Universe.

It looks like Barry Allen and Batman organize a prison break for Supergirl, and she then returns the favor by coming to Barry's rescue. There's already a Supergirl suit ready to go when Barry finds her, which presumably arrived with her when her pod landed on Earth. In the comics, Kara was evacuated from Krypton at the same time as her cousin, but her pod veered off course and ended up in the Phantom Zone, where she was trapped for many years. Since "The Flash" is mixing and matching different origin stories from the comics, it will be interesting to find out how this version of Kara ended up in such a miserable place.

"The Flash" will finally arrive in theaters on June 16, 2023.