'The Flash' Will Feature The Birth Of The Cinematic Multiverse, And Batman Makes Barry Allen A New Suit [DC FanDome]

The Flash has been the subject of two television shows, multiple video games, and several movie appearances over the years, but the Scarlet Speedster has not received a solo live-action film...yet. That's about to change in 2022 with Warner Bros.' The Flash, which will see It and It Chapter Two director Andy Muschietti put the spotlight directly on Ezra Miller's socially awkward iteration of Barry Allen.

At DC FanDome today, Andy was joined by his sister and producer Barbara Muschietti, writer Christina Hodson, and Miller himself to talk about the future of this character, who we haven't seen since his goofy appearance in 2017's Justice League. Here's everything you need to know about The Flash DC FanDome panel.

Miller, who seemed very much like a younger, skinnier version of Jack Black on this panel, spent most of his screen time dropping random "Flash Facts" that oddly had very little to do with The Flash or this movie. But there was plenty of concrete information about the new film that has us curious about the possibilities of what it could mean within the larger DCEU.

"Telling the story of one of the greatest superheroes of the DC world is a challenge, but the most important thing is that it gets to your heart," Andy Muschietti said. Miller agreed: "You meet Andy, and you immediately can understand why he's the perfect choice for this movie. It's his compassion, his priority in this film in finding the heart of the story."

But while the heart has to be there, it naturally needs to look amazing, too. "I'm excited to see Andy's version of the Speed Force," Hodson said. "He happened to have done some doodles that I may or may not have taken and kept. They are literally unlike anything I've ever seen before." That sounds like it could be a very cool thing indeed, since Hodson has steeped herself in Flash lore and has seen plenty of bonkers art in comic book runs like Flashpoint.

Hodson pointed out that Flash's abilities allow him to stand alone in the realm of DC. "Batman lost his parents, Superman lost his planet, Harley Quinn lost her egg sandwich, but Barry, because he's got this ability to go back and manipulate time, he's the only one who can actually go and change his own personal story."

Muschietti, who referred to this as "a time travel story," added on to that: "His mother was murdered, his father was trained and incarcerated, and all his journey from then was a man trying to make things right...the script really capture his loquacity, his personality...he's someone who has the power of changing events of the past, but by doing so, can deteriorate the very fabric of the space-time continuum."

"Time travel isn't simple," Hodson warned. "It's not always a straightforward case of, 'go back and change one thing, and another thing changes in the future.'"

Miller once again confirmed that this movie is kicking down the door to the multiverse and ushering in a chaotic new energy for the DCEU. "This film is immensely important, because if you look around the DC Universe, obviously you have all of these characters that exist within their own bubbles. We even have now multiple iterations of the same story. This movie, by opening that door that Flashpoint did in the comics, all of these stories and characters can start to collide...it blows our minds, the levels of possibility that exist within the context of this character, this story."

(Interestingly, the footage from DC properties that was shown over that last quote included some shots from HBO's Watchmen, perhaps hinting that some of those characters could, maybe, potentially, be involved in some way.)

"The cinematic multiverse is going to be born out of this movie," Hodson said. "It's born out of Barry's story."

Filming hasn't begun yet, but Muschietti did unveil two pieces of concept art from the movie. In addition to the image at the top of this page of Miller's Flash and Michael Keaton's Batman fighting together, there's also a closer look at The Flash's new suit:

"As you can see, it's more organic," Andy Muschietti explained. "You can see light embedded in it. It has been built by his friend Bruce Wayne, this time."

The panel ended on a bit of a silly note, as all the talk about the multiverse took a turn toward the goofy with Muschietti saying he wants to see Flash cross over with Game of Thrones to decrease the amount of time it takes to get from Winterfell to King's Landing. (He clearly didn't watch the last few seasons, when that journey basically happened in a flash without Barry Allen's help.) As for Miller, he jokingly said he wanted to see The Flash encounter Nicolas Cage – not the version of Superman that Cage never ended up playing for Tim Burton back in the day, but "Nicolas Cage the person, in this world, who I believe probably does have the ability to transcend spacetime."

The Flash speeds into theaters on June 3, 2022.