the flash time travel makes no sense

Moments In The Flash That Make Absolutely No Sense

The following post contains spoilers for "The Flash."

Finally, Andy Muschietti's long-awaited "The Flash" arrives in theaters, bringing with it a mix of spectacle and flaws . While it delivers plenty of excitement, the film has an inconsistent storyline, uneven performances, excessive CGI, and an overabundance of half-baked ideas. It contains plenty of enjoyable moments, particularly those involving Michael Keaton's returning Batman , but lacks a cohesive tone and, unfortunately, attempts to mimic Marvel's successful formula, rather than forging its own, unique path forward.

For those unfamiliar, "The Flash" centers around Barry Allen (the controversial Ezra Miller ), a speedster who attempts to change the past to save his mother. However, his actions disrupt history, risking the stability of the world. Joining forces with his younger self, Barry enlists the help of Batman (Keaton) and the enigmatic Supergirl (Sasha Calle) to restore the timeline and avert disaster.

Despite a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Kiersey Clemons, Michael Shannon, Maribel Verdú, and Ron Livingston, "The Flash" contains numerous moments that defy logic and leave viewers perplexed. Here are just a few.

The Batmobile

As explained, "The Flash" intermittently entertains. Director Andy Muschietti clearly loves these characters, but he had to incorporate so many elements into the film that the result is an empty, bloated mess that relies on blink-and-you'll-miss-'em appeals to fan nostalgia. Most egregiously, the film includes Michael Keaton's Batmobile from "Batman" and "Batman Returns" in a highly-publicized appearance, only for it to do ... well, absolutely nothing.

We first see Keaton's Batmobile when the two Barrys visit the Batcave and discover the vehicle concealed underneath a protective sheet. Muschietti provides a lavish reveal for the massive car, and even allows young Barry to take a nap in its driver's seat. Unfortunately, the Batmobile never leaves the Bat Cave, instead yielding to a reworked (and admittedly cool) Batwing for the grand climax. As someone who owned the Batmobile toy as a kid, including that bulky plastic "shield," I found its lack of screen time incredibly vexing. Why introduce such a cool prop if you're not going to at least rev up the engine?

Considering the various updates to the Batwing and Batcave, it makes little sense that the Batmobile looks exactly like it did 30 years ago. At some point, Batman should've traded in his car for a new model, but that would've prevented this clunky bit of fan service from occurring.

Batfleck's costume

The opening sequence of "The Flash" offers a fun glimpse at the Justice League — well, most of them — in action. Barry races to a hospital to rescue a dozen babies from certain death, while Ben Affleck's Batman pursues a group of goons on his "Dark Knight"-inspired Batpod. Overall, this scene provides enjoyable thrills and showcases Batman's vast arsenal of gadgets. However, when the chase transitions to a confrontation on a bridge with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), everything takes a turn for the worse.

In broad daylight, where everyone can see him, Batman greets Diana with a goofy smile that recalls 2017's disastrous "Justice League" while wearing the worst-designed Batsuit in movie history. Bruce's absurd attire looks like it's made out of plastic and is overloaded with components. Moreover, the suit doesn't seem to fit Affleck, sagging in all the wrong places. It's evident that the costume designers wanted to cater to Zack Snyder fans while also appeasing those who wanted a lighter version of the hero, but failed to satisfy both groups. Batman is a billionaire superhero whose entire deal is hyper-competence; there's no way he'd settle for this . Considering that "The Flash" likely marks Batfleck's final appearance, this last hurrah is very disappointing.

Young Barry Allen

Okay, this might seem like nitpicking, but during the first hour of "The Flash," I found myself questioning young Barry Allen's neurotic personality. The concept of two Barrys working together to solve their time travel dilemma in an homage to Robert Zemeckis' "Back to the Future" trilogy didn't bother me. However, I couldn't help but wonder why young Barry was so unhinged, particularly considering that he exists in a timeline where both of his parents are alive and well. One would expect this version of Barry to behave more responsibly. Instead, he acts like an 8-year-old on a never-ending sugar high, throwing temper tantrums, screaming all of his dialogue, and creating more problems than solutions.

At a certain point, I wondered if young Barry's peculiar behavior would play a role in the plot. Would the Flash realize that having both his mother and father around prevented his less-experienced counterpart from maturing? Unfortunately, the elder Barry shows no surprise at his younger self's antics, suggesting that his life remains largely unchanged whether his mother lives or dies. Given the numerous complexities associated with time travel, one would expect a more nuanced approach to this subject. But hey, why strive for logic when the film can instead rely on an endless barrage of eye-rolling gags targeted at younger viewers?

Michael Keaton's Batman

The big draw of "The Flash" (at least for me) was Michael Keaton's return as Batman, reprising his role from "Batman" and "Batman Returns." However, while Keaton does appear in "The Flash" and takes part in a few impressive fight sequences, his part in the story feels arbitrary and rushed. Other than fan service, there's no reason for him to be here. Initially, Keaton's Bruce appears as a grizzled, slightly unstable old man. Soon, though, we learn that Gotham City has become a crime-free utopia, rendering Batman unnecessary. Bruce decides to don the cape and cowl once more when Barry asks for his help, but the transformation occurs far too quickly, leaving the impression that some material was left on the cutting room floor.

"The Flash" eschews other opportunities to explore this version of Bruce Wayne and how he's changed in the 30 years since his last appearance in favor of silly shenanigans, like a spaghetti fight at Wayne Manor. Just as frustratingly, the fate of Vicki Vale, Catwoman, Alfred, and the rest of the characters that populated Tim Burton's Gotham City remain unknown. Keaton's presence feels like a superficial nostalgia play at best, and a cheap marketing ploy at worst. His Batman doesn't have the substance needed to justify his inclusion, and his underwhelming death scene lacks the necessary gravitas.

Barry saves his dad

The ending of "The Flash" left me scratching my head. Early on, we learn that even a small change to history, like moving a can of tomatoes, has ripples across the multiverse. The timeline is so fragile that Barry must go back in time to prevent his past self from saving his mother. However, at the end of the film , we see two puzzling events: First, Barry has a heartfelt conversation with his mom, and then he moves an entire shelf of tomatoes to strengthen his dad's alibi. Surprisingly, the only consequence of these actions is that George Clooney now plays Bruce Wayne.

Wait, what ?

Since Batman's origins predate the death of Barry's mother, why did this small act impact Bruce? Perhaps Barry slipped into an alternate dimension — but wouldn't that mean that yet another version of Barry exists? And why is Batman the only character affected by Barry's actions? In the end, I left the theater feeling indifferent about Barry's choice to save his father, and more concerned about the implications of George Clooney's appearance in the DC Extended Universe.

Furthermore, it seems like Henry Allen (Ron Livingston) had incredibly incompetent lawyers. Wouldn't there be eyewitnesses or other evidence to support his alibi? Couldn't he provide a receipt, or show that his car was in use during the time of his wife's murder? Ah, but who cares — George Clooney is here!

Supergirl's defeat

One of the highlights of "The Flash" is Sasha Calle's Supergirl, a dark and intense take on Kara Zor-El. The character fits right in with the vibes Zack Snyder established for this shared universe, and leaves a lasting impression despite her limited screen time. However, she meets her demise much too quickly.

In "Man of Steel," Superman easily overpowers Zod and his minions. Even after Zod reaches the peak of his powers, Superman defeats him in combat and ultimately takes his life. In "The Flash," Supergirl confronts Zod during his arrival on Earth, before he's had a chance to adapt to Earth's yellow sun. However, despite her immense strength, Supergirl struggles to defeat him. In fact, as Barry discovers, there are no scenarios in which Supergirl or Batman save the planet from Zod.

Is Supergirl significantly weaker than Superman? How does Zod's weapon manage to pierce her invulnerable skin? Why is Kara's heat vision ineffective against him? The film doesn't provide any answers to these — or other — questions, leaving us more confused than captivated. Additionally, it's not clear why Supergirl and Batman don't fly to Metropolis to disable the World Engine, a move that would've thwarted Zod's plans and better integrated Batman into the film's final act.

I'm still grappling with Dark Flash. Supposedly, he's a future version of young Barry who went too deep into the time travel vortex to save Supergirl and Batman. To eliminate Dark Flash, young Barry sacrifices himself, causing the villain to vanish. But if young Barry saw his future self and realized his mistake, wouldn't that immediately erase Dark Flash?

The rules of time travel are confusing, and while I understand the need for some suspension of disbelief, "The Flash" seems to make things up without careful consideration for the consequences. The third act is messy, disjointed, and laden with subpar CGI — despite Muschietti's explanation for the latter , it reeks of reshoots. Here's my theory: Originally, the young boy Barry saves during Zod's attack became Dark Flash, seeking vengeance for his father's death by killing Nora and spiraling into madness thanks to his desire to fix his tragic past. Maybe he wanted to kill Henry instead, but was forced to murder Nora since she was the only one in the house when he arrived.

As it stands, however, Dark Flash's emergence lacks impact and is burdened by logical fallacies and an unsatisfying resolution. It ends the film on a flat note.

Supergirl leaves, then returns

There's another odd moment in "The Flash" involving Supergirl. After escaping the Russian facility, she becomes disillusioned with humanity and flies away. Conveniently, however, she chances upon Zod's army just as they launch their attack on Earth. Zod notices her, and the scene cuts back to the two Barrys and Batman as they attempt to restore old Barry's powers.

Surprisingly, Supergirl returns, deciding that Zod must be stopped. She lifts Barry into the sky to be struck by lightning, bypassing Batman's peculiar bat-shaped kite. The plan succeeds, Barry's powers return, and everyone gears up for battle, slowly flying back towards Zod's army. Meanwhile, the U.S. military somehow manages to hold their own against these advanced beings, despite teetering on the brink of defeat.

The major issue is the lack of urgency our heroes display. While Barry's desire to regain his powers is understandable, the entire team noticeably lacks the motivation to take immediate action. Additionally, neither Supergirl leaving the military nor Zod spotting her and not pursuing her make sense. A better scenario would have been Supergirl fighting, getting overpowered, and returning beaten and exhausted, only for Zod to arrive at Wayne Manor and launch his final assault. As it stands, the final act is too clumsy and chaotic.

Tim Burton-verse

During "The Flash," I couldn't stop wondering whether or not Tim Burton's Gotham City exists in this universe. We see elements from Burton's films, such as his Wayne Manor, various gadgets and suits from "Batman" and "Batman Returns," and Joker's laughing bag. At the same time, Metropolis resembles the one in "Man of Steel," and Barry's neighborhood is entirely ordinary.

So, is this the world where Burton's films take place, or is it an entirely different universe that happens to include another version of Keaton's Batman? If the latter, then why does Danny Elfman's iconic score accompany Keaton's arrival? And why all the references to "Batman" and "Batman Returns"? It doesn't quite add up, and feels like the writers inserted Keaton's character into the story after deciding not to include Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the "Flashpoint" Batman , who would have been a more fitting choice considering the film's location, aesthetic, and plot. If Warner Bros. wanted Keaton's Batman instead, why not have Zod emerge in a world that blends Burton and Snyder's styles? That would have been more intriguing.

Why does Zod attack Metropolis?

"The Flash" makes extensive references to Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel," even recreating moments from the film, like Zod's attack on Earth. However, "The Flash" often fails to provide context for these scenes, and includes moments that defy previously established logic. In "Man of Steel," Zod recognizes Metropolis' significance to Kal-El and specifically targets the city to hurt him. This leads to the film's divisive finale.

In "The Flash," Zod's World Engine hovers over Metropolis and causes chaos, but the film fails to provide a clear explanation for why he chose that location. Considering that Zod was guided to Earth by Supergirl's beacon, it would've made more sense for him to focus on her location. Logically, the climax of "The Flash" should have taken place in Russia, not America.

Further, the film doesn't address how the codex ended up in Supergirl, or whether Jor-El intentionally used his son as a distraction. Zod explains that he killed the infant Kal-El while trying to extract the codex from his body, only to discover it was in Kara all along. The lack of answers to these questions and the glossing over of finer details is perplexing, rendering "The Flash" more confusing than satisfying.

The future of the DCEU

As mentioned earlier, in the closing moments of "The Flash," George Clooney returns as Batman, while Jason Momoa makes a post-credits appearance as Aquaman. However, the future of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is uncertain, particularly with James Gunn promising a full-on reboot of Warner Bros. DC properties. 

If there is another "Flash" movie in this continuity, will Clooney reprise his role as Batman? Will Gal Gadot continue as Wonder Woman? Will Nic Cage end up playing Superman? "The Flash" could have served as a satisfying conclusion to the Snyderverse, but it feels like more of a reset, leaving room for potential sequels. Setting up stories that we're probably not going to see is an odd and confusing choice, given that Warner Bros. knows that Gunn and Peter Safran's new take is just a few years away.

Overall, "The Flash" is a perplexing mess, throwing various ideas at the wall in hopes of finding one that sticks. It's an enjoyable and visually vibrant film, but ends up caught between the past and future, running in place without a clear direction.

THE FLASH: 5 Things About The Movie Which Make Absolutely No Sense - SPOILERS

No matter how you feel about The Flash , there are some glaring issues and more than a handful of creative decisions which, ultimately, make zero sense. Here's our breakdown of the movie's worst moments...

The Flash has arrived in theaters and something tells us this will be a movie which fans either love, hate...or love to hate! 

No matter how you feel about the latest (and perhaps final) DCEU movie, it's fair to say there's a great deal about the Scarlet Speedster's first big screen solo outing which simply makes no sense. That was largely inevitable in a story about time travel and the Multiverse, but those are far from its only issues. 

In this feature, we're taking a deep dive into certain nonsensical moments, attempting to figure out what the heck was going on and ultimately why it didn't work in a movie that, while fun at times, has a lot of issues. Even if you loved this blockbuster, we think you'll agree these creative decisions made zero sense. 

Take a look through this spoiler-filled breakdown by clicking on the "Next" button below.   

5. Another Batman Returns

The Flash does a pretty good job of explaining that, when you travel back in time, rather than creating a divergent timeline, a new one is formed. That's why the reality Barry Allen finds himself lost in isn't his past, but an alternate path on the wider Multiversal map. 

Now, we get that changing things so that his father is exonerated is what creates a world where George Clooney's Bruce Wayne is Batman, but what was the point? Aside from being a splashy cameo meant to cover up the fact Michael Keaton once stepped out of that car, there's absolutely nothing gained from this scene.

If Clooney ends up being the DCU's Batman, we'll happily rescind that statement, but the actor wearing a business suit isn't exactly akin to the Batsuit! The whole thing also proves The Flash learned nothing about the devastation his actions caused when he created a timeline where literally everyone died.  

4. Everything About Young Barry Allen

On the one hand, you could assume that The Flash 's intention here was to show us how normal Barry would have been had his mother lived. It shouldn't be down to the audience to fill in gaps like that, however, and while we don't need everything spelt out...why the f*** is this younger Barry apparently a simpleton?

In the present day, Barry is an awkward weirdo with no friends and confesses to being a 28-year-old virgin. His past self, on the other hand, has the world's most annoying laugh, the personality of a stoner from an early 2000s comedy, and heck, may even have a genuine brain injury given his behaviour. 

This could be a case of bad acting on Ezra Miller's part or the result of a juvenile screenplay from a writer who assumed this would leave everyone splitting their sides. Younger Barry isn't a dumb 18-year-old kid, he's a buffoon, making his eventual transformation - we'll get to that - all the harder to actually buy into.   

3. Batman And Supergirl's Deaths

The Flash coming to the conclusion that he can't save the timeline he's created is actually a pretty solid moment in the movie. After all, it forces him to acknowledge that by changing the past, he's created a reality full of death and destruction (which doesn't stop him from changing the past again a few moments later). 

In that respect, Supergirl and Batman's respective deaths make sense...mostly. They basically become MacGuffins, with a Girl of Steel too weak to defeat General Zod and a Dark Knight who we see die twice mostly due to his own stupidity. 

Originally, these two would have returned in place of Clooney, leaving them both a permanent part of the DCEU. General audiences won't know that, though, and now get to watch a movie where the two best characters die horribly and never get any sort of satisfying send-off. Batman kind of does, but Supergirl is cheated.  

2. Dark Flash

The younger Barry, all of a sudden more serious than stoner, decides to try again and again to stop Batman and Supergirl from dying. Along the way, he starts suffering some pretty nasty injuries, including being impaled by Kryptoniant debris. 

When we finally see Dark Flash, it's a much older Barry who has somehow become covered in that armour. It may also be a result of all the time he's spent in the Speed Force, but like his motivations, the villain's appearance is poorly explained and we're left to assume he's somehow become covered by those shards. 

Dark Flash reveals he pulled Barry out of the timeline to create a paradox which would mean he could help him save the day...despite knowing it wouldn't work? It's typical time travel nonsense, but to throw this character into the mix for all of two minutes when Reverse-Flash was right there is beyond baffling.   

1. The Cringeworthy Cameos

The Flash has undergone so many changes in the past year, it's become hard to know what was originally planned for the Speed Force. We're assuming the cameos were a last-minute addition, anyway, as that's the only way to explain the appalling video game graphics used to resurrect Christopher Reeve and company. 

The coolest of these cameos shows Nic Cage as Superman battling a giant spider and the intention was obviously to deliver some fan-pleasing moments here. However, the fact they all look so fake ruins that and the idea of worlds colliding ends up feeling like a rip-off of the MCU's incursions. 

That's unlikely the case (the imagery is similar to Crisis on Infinite Earths ) but it is how many moviegoers will likely perceive it. Regardless, what could have been a celebration of the DC Universe which set up the new DCU feels ghoulish, artificial, and adds little to the story The Flash is attempting to tell.   

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‘The Flash’ Review: DC Makes a Solid Multiverse Film but a Poor Time Travel Story

Andy Muschietti finally brings the lightning-fast superhero to the big screen in his own adventure, with mixed results.

Over the last few years, movie-going audiences have been inundated with multiverses. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is currently making a dent at the box office, following up on the also-excellent Into the Spider-Verse , Marvel has been playing with the possibilities of multiple timelines for years now, and Everything Everywhere All at Once won the Best Picture Oscar earlier this year. Not only is the multiverse as a storytelling tool a way for characters that seemingly could never meet to finally come together, but it’s also a way to indulge in extreme fan service—which can be a good or a bad thing.

What Is 'The Flash' About?

The Flash , which has been in some form of development since the 1980s, is DC’s first major dip into the multiverse, and with the company’s long history of superhero projects, there are plenty of opportunities to dive into the past decades of beloved characters, heroes, and the stories that could’ve been. But The Flash isn’t just a multiverse story, it’s also a time-travel story. Based on the Flashpoint comic book storyline, The Flash ’s story has Barry Allen/The Flash ( Ezra Miller ) not only experiencing another timeline, but going back in time to do so. While The Flash is quite enjoyable as a multiverse story, the film’s biggest issues come from this time travel aspect, which sets up its own rules and then disregards them when it’s convenient.

The Flash finds Barry Allen as the self-proclaimed “janitor of the Justice League,” cleaning up the smaller messes while the other heroes handle the bad guys. In the opening scene, Allen’s The Flash has to rescue a maternity ward full of babies from falling out of a building, while Batman ( Ben Affleck ) chases after the true villains, in a scene that can’t help but remind of Christopher Nolan ’s Batman films—with Affleck riding a motorcycle reminiscent of that trilogy. But more important to him than his superhero duties is Barry’s desire to get his dad Henry ( Ron Livingston ) out of prison for the murder of Barry’s mother Nora ( Maribel Verdú ) when Barry was a child. Despite the help of Bruce Wayne with some security footage, it looks as though Henry is still going to remain behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.

RELATED: How Many Multiverses Are Too Many Multiverses?

But one night, Barry realizes he can run fast enough to actually go back in time, and if he can’t help his dad in the present, maybe he can go back and stop his mom’s death altogether? Despite Bruce saying that any changes in the past could have massive implications on the future, Barry wants his family back together and goes back to save his mom. While he is able to reunite his family, his choice has a huge impact on this reality, as he meets that timeline’s Barry, has to ensure that this alt-version also goes through the same incident that turned him into The Flash, and deal with the threat of General Zod ( Michael Shannon ) on this world.

For DC, who has had a shaky reputation in recent years with the DCU, the multiverse is kind of a perfect idea for this company that has been putting out live-action superhero stories since the 1950s. There’s a rich history of beloved characters and even more comic iterations to explore, which is what The Flash does so well. In the multiverse that Barry finds himself in, Bruce Wayne is not played by Affleck, but instead, heralds the return of Michael Keaton as Batman. In this world, Batman has cleaned up Gotham, and now, Bruce is bearded and living in a messy mansion without the assistance of Alfred. It’s great to see Keaton return in this role, and he seems to be having a ton of fun revisiting the cape and cowl, and director Andy Muschietti —like with the opening’s homage to Nolan—does his best to make this version of Wayne Manor feel like it’s straight out of Tim Burton ’s films. Keaton works as a mentor to both Barrys, and caps off his time as The Caped Crusader in a way that is a satisfying, welcome return for the character.

The Flash also has quite a bit of fun playing with these alternate-universe possibilities. In addition to Keaton, Miller is also quite excellent as the dual Barrys, bringing a sense of humor to this role while never undercutting the emotional stakes at hand in terms of trying to save his family. The Flash also introduces us to Supergirl, played by Sasha Calle , who has been trapped in a prison for years and shows her fury at the human race in a way that makes sense for this character. It was understandable for people to be mad about the DCU’s handling of Superman’s anger in the past, but with Supergirl, this rage is a practical reaction to this character’s experiences. Calle plays Supergirl as her own thing, not tied to the mannerisms or behavior of Superman, which makes her a character that feels both familiar and unique.

'The Flash' Is Best in the Smaller Moments

The Flash also does a nice job of exploring the mentorship within this universe. Affleck and Keaton both handle Barry(s) in their own ways, and with their shared loss of family, this connection is inherently touching in how it's handled. Similarly, it’s a joy to watch the original Barry teaching the new Barry how to use his newfound powers, and coming to some realizations about himself and his own annoyance. It’s because of these bonds and these characters that The Flash is most interesting when it's a character drama and not a superhero film.

The Flash works best when it’s centered on Allen’s desire to reunite his family, and it’s the character moments that really stand out here. Having two Barrys discuss the possibilities of the multiverse with a dirty Michael Keaton Bruce Wayne is far more interesting than the big, superhero action scenes that have become expected in the third act of DC films. The screenplay by Christina Hodson , with story by John Francis Daley , Jonathan Goldstein , and Joby Harold , is great in the smaller moments and muddled when it becomes a “superhero film.” Because of that, The Flash often feels too stuffed with ideas that not all of them are given justice. Throughout the film, Zod is almost an afterthought, and the final fight—like many DC films—often feels like a kid slamming overly-CGI’ed action figures at each other. This packed story also hurts the smaller moments, as the film also attempts to give Allen a love interest with Kiersey Clemons ’ Iris West, a journalist and former classmate of Barry, but there’s just not enough time to make her anything more than just a tool for Barry’s realizations.

Speaking of the film’s CGI and special effects, it’s almost distracting in its quality throughout The Flash . Muschietti attempts to make Barry’s running at high speeds look as cool as it can, but there’s never any weight to it, and it never feels like anything more than an actor running through a world that simply doesn’t exist. And while it’s great to see Keaton back as Batman, the overreliance on special effects in any big fights makes it clear that he was never even close to the set for these moments. But it’s not just when the fights are huge that this becomes apparent as, even in smaller scenes, the falseness of a character being added to a scene they clearly weren’t in is distracting. This is at its most awkward when Barry goes back in time and sees the multiple possibilities, which turns all the opportunities into realities that look like PlayStation 3 characters—not to mention some fairly questionable usage of likenesses.

'The Flash's Exploration of Time Travel Just Doesn't Work

But the biggest flaw in The Flash is how the film explores its time travel. The Flash takes its time to set up the rules, using Back to the Future as a constant and easy reference point (in this alternate timeline, Eric Stoltz played Marty McFly, while Michael J. Fox starred in Footloose ), and even utilizing some of that film’s imagery for its own story. Without spoiling The Flash ’s ending, the film both wants to have its emotional realizations, while also still giving this character a happy ending in a way that undermines the lesson Barry is supposed to be learning in the first place. In the end, he’s still making the same mistakes, without seemingly realizing that he hasn’t grown in any way. It’s an awkward choice that in many ways damns the story overall—a false hero’s journey that never learns its lesson.

The Flash clearly wants its audience to get caught up in the excitement of multiverse adventures, returning superhero favorites, and fun antics of Barry Allen, to the point that they never consider that the time travel aspects make absolutely no sense, and only hurts the larger story in the way that it’s handled here. Thankfully, those antics are enjoyable and hard not to get excited about, but unfortunately, this isn’t a story that holds together on a narrative level. Cameos and fan service are fine to have, but the story has to be there to back them up, and it’s not quite there with The Flash .

The Flash comes to theaters on June 16.

The Flash: How Does Time Travel Work In the DC Movie?

Answering the questions batman's pasta couldn't..

Warning: Full spoilers follow for The Flash movie.

The Flash is the latest in a long line of blockbuster movies to deal with the concept of time travel. And one thing that hasn’t changed since the days of Back to the Future and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is that time travel gets very confusing, very quickly. Even Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne and his bowl of pasta could only do so much to straighten things out.

So how does time travel work in The Flash? What exactly is a fixed point in time? And what happened to characters like Keaton’s Batman and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl once Ezra Miller’s Barry restored the timeline? Let’s try and settle these questions once and for all.

The Flash: Every Cameo in the DC Film

Making Sense of Batman’s Pasta Metaphor in The Flash

The Flash relies on Keaton’s Bruce Wayne to illustrate the rules of time travel by using a bowl of pasta as a visual aid. Essentially, reality exists as a mass of different strands of time (or noodles of pasta) that flow alongside each other and sometimes crossover or intersect. With so many strands flowing in and out of one another, it’s all but impossible to know where one timeline begins and ends. That’s why Barry’s trip back in time is so dangerous. He’s meddling with forces his mind can’t fully comprehend.

The movie makes it clear that time travel doesn’t have a linear effect on the timeline. A time traveler doesn’t simply create a branching timeline when they change a historical event. Rather, their actions reverberate forward and backward across time, causing rippling changes in both directions, past and future. That’s why Barry’s trip back to 2001 caused changes that extend back even further, such as bringing Keaton’s Batman into his world and causing Kara Zor-El rather than Kal-El to crash on Earth. Move one pasta noodle in the bowl and the other noodles twist and warp alongside it.

The DC Timeline: What Are Fixed Points?

The Flash’s use of time travel also hinges heavily on the concept of fixed points in time - events that happen the same way in all timelines and can’t easily be altered. Barry becoming the Flash is a fixed point. A Kryptonian coming to Earth is a fixed point. Bruce Wayne’s parents being murdered is a fixed point. Even though Barry altered time, these key events still happened, if not in quite the same way as in the original timeline. This concept is similar to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s “canon events,” which explains why nearly every version of Spidey was bitten by a radioactive spider and mourns the loss of a loved one like Uncle Ben.

Alternate Universes vs. Alternate Timelines

One concept the movie perhaps doesn’t convey as clearly as it should is the idea that alternate universes and alternate timelines are not the same things. The DC Universe exists as a myriad of possible timelines, each created when a key event happened differently and one noodle becomes two. The comics refer to this bundle of timelines and possibilities as Hypertime.

The DCEU - or DCU or whatever you want to call this universe now - has at least three different timelines where Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton and George Clooney’s Batman sprang into existence. We never get a firm explanation for why there’s so much potential variation in terms of Batman’s appearance, yet Aquaman is apparently the same in every timeline. Perhaps a lot depends on when the Waynes meet and get married.

The multiverse, on the other hand, is something different. The worlds of the DC multiverse don’t exist as a jumbled mess of pasta noodles, but as a more orderly structure where each version of Earth vibrates at a different harmonic frequency. Timelines can sometimes be radically different from one another, but ultimately they’re bound by the same basic rules and series of events. There’s no limit to how different alternate universes can be from one another. They might have alternate versions of characters like Flash, Batman and Superman, or those characters may not exist at all. Each alternate universe has its own set of timelines and its own fixed points.

Barry doesn’t actually travel to another universe in The Flash. He sees other universes in the climax when he races through the Chronobowl and catches glimpses of Christopher Reeve’s Superman, Adam West’s Batman and the others. But those other universes remain separate and distinct from Barry’s own. He merely creates a different timeline when he races back in time and steals the can of tomatoes, one that draws in fragments of other timelines and distorts into something new. And he eliminates that timeline when he goes back and fixes his mistake, though the ending with Clooney’s Bruce Wayne makes it clear Barry hasn’t fully restored his original timeline.

Was Michael Keaton’s Batman From the Tim Burton Movies?

The distinction between alternate timelines and alternate universes raises some interesting questions about the nature of Keaton’s Batman in The Flash. Why does the movie treat so many other classic cinematic heroes - Reeves’ Superman, West’s Batman, Helen Slater’s Supergirl, Nic Cage’s Superman (though he never really got the chance to be classic), etc. - as denizens of alternate universes but Keaton’s Batman is instead part of a divergent timeline? Does this mean the world of Tim Burton’s Batman movies doesn’t exist as its own, distinct universe?

Past DC stories indicate that the Burtonverse does indeed exist as a separate branch of the vast DC multiverse. According to a map featured in Dark Crisis: Big Bang , both Keaton’s Batman and Reeves’ Superman exist on Earth-789 of DC’s comic book multiverse. The Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, meanwhile, suggests that the Burtonverse is Earth-89 in DC’s live-action multiverse and features a cameo from Robert Wuhl’s Alexander Knox .

However, The Flash argues that the Burtonverse is merely an alternate timeline within the scope of the DCEU, not its own, distinct universe. This kind of discrepancy is nothing new for DC. In the past, Frank Miller’s iconic graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns has been treated as both an alternate future timeline and a separate universe. Perhaps we should assume the Burtonverse exists in more than one form - both as its own branch of DC’s vast multiverse and a potential alternate timeline that intersects with Barry Allen’s own timeline.

So when it comes to the question of whether Keaton’s Batman as seen in The Flash is the same character as the one from 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, the answer seems to be open to interpretation. It could all be the same Batman, or there could be another version of Keaton’s Bruce who exists independently of the DCEU and its tangled timelines. It’s left to fans to decide which is true.

The Fates of Batman and Supergirl

In the climax of The Flash, the two Barrys hit a major roadblock when they discover that Batman and Supergirl’s deaths are another fixed point in time. No matter how fast he runs, Barry can’t stop his new friends from being brutally killed during Zod’s attack. That truth is what ultimately drives Past Barry insane, as he spends decades in the Speed Force trying to prevent the inevitable and morphs into the Dark Flash.

This is what prompts Present Barry to finally accept that some things can’t be changed and undo his time meddling. He restores the DCEU to how it previously existed (give or take one Bruce Wayne), but we never actually see Calle’s Supergirl or Keaton’s Batman after that point. The film doesn’t definitively reveal what happened to these characters after the timeline was fixed. Barry fixing his mistake means that he untangled the timelines he previously fused together. Presumably, Kara and Bruce are back in their original realities as if nothing happened. They may not have any memory of meeting the two Barrys in the first place.

Unfortunately, this also means Kara is almost certainly doomed. Unlike her cousin, who spent a lifetime absorbing the sun’s yellow radiation, she isn’t strong enough to fend off Zod’s forces, even with Batman and two Flashes backing her up. There’s no reason to assume she’d fare better without them as allies. In her normal timeline, Kara is likely destined to always fail against Zod, assuming she ever even breaks free from the prison on her own.

As for Batman, his fate may depend entirely on whether his and Kara’s timelines were meant to be separate or not. If the arrival of the Kryptonians in 2013 is an inevitable part of his reality, then Batman is probably also destined to die defending Earth. But if his regular timeline was never meant to have Kryptonians or speedsters at all, then we can assume Keaton’s Bruce simply lives out the rest of his days eating pasta in Wayne Manor. We’ll leave it up to you as far as which is the better fate for this lonely hermit of a Batman.

How the Batgirl Movie Fits In

Making things more confusing is the fact that both Calle and Keaton were once expected to have recurring roles in the DCEU. DC had been developing a Supergirl movie starring Calle , while Keaton was reportedly being positioned as a Nick Fury-esque figure appearing in several future DC movies . That includes the now-canceled Batgirl movie and the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Clearly, the intent was originally to have both characters survive the events of The Flash and remain in play even after Barry repaired his timeline.

Based on what little we’ve seen of Batgirl, it seems Keaton’s Batman was meant to be an aged mentor to Leslie Grace’s rookie Barbara Gordon , almost akin to a Batman Beyond movie without the futuristic setting. It’s worth noting that Warners was at one point developing an actual Batman Beyond movie starring Keaton as well. But we know the film wasn’t set in the Burtonverse, as it featured J.K. Simmons reprising the role of Commissioner Gordon. Instead, Batgirl appears to have been set in a post-Flash DCEU where Keaton’s Batman has permanently replaced Affleck’s Batman.

But now Warner Bros. Discovery is moving in a completely different direction with the DC line, and the Batgirl movie isn’t likely to ever see the light of day . The Flash will probably be the last time we see Michael Keaton wearing the cape and cowl. It’s just as well the film gives the Caped Crusader a fitting sendoff.

For more on The Flash, check out every cameo in the new DC movie and learn how Keaton's Batman went from flop to phenomenon .

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter .

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The Flash has the only movie multiverse that makes real sense, and I can prove it

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The Flash may not have rebooted the DC multiverse , but it has one thing going for it. Of all the multiverse movies out there — the Spider-Verse , Everything Everywhere All at Once , Avengers: Endgame , Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — there’s only one that’s using the best version of the multiverse ever invented by comics.

And that’s no faint praise. The idea of superheroes has been intertwined with parallel earths for over 60 years. That’s 60 years of innumerable writers, editors, and artists exploring every narrative nook and cranny of that combination, with a correspondingly huge number of contradicting explanations of how it all works.

Can you or can you not time-travel to change the past? What’s the difference between a parallel universe and an alternate timeline? What the hell even is a “pocket dimension”? When comics sit down and try to hash out the rules, it’s almost always prescriptive. But The Flash ’s version of the multiverse, ripped from the pages of some of the nerdiest comics ever made, is descriptive .

Instead of mandating how a superhero multiverse should work in an ideal setting, it takes a realistic look at how superhero multiverses actually work in practice, and fits itself around that.

And it’s called Hypertime.

Wait, don’t leave, I promise Hypertime is cool

If you’ve read this far, you probably have an idea of how the Superhero Multiverse works. A multiverse is a collection of universes, all at least slightly different, and never interacting with each other. (Except for how the protagonists of stories are constantly interacting with them.)

Some worlds are different because of something that happened in their past (see: Loki on Disney Plus). Some worlds are just different for no particular reason (see: Spider-Verse). But forget about teasing out the difference between “parallel earth” and “alternate timeline” — in superhero cosmology, they’re essentially interchangeable. The “what if?” question itself includes the concept of linear time, and changes to the past having an effect on the present. “What if this one thing was different? What would have happened next?”

[ Ed. note: The rest of this piece contains some minor spoilers for The Flash .]

But in The Flash , the notion of cause and effect gets thrown right out the window when Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne throws a bunch of cooked spaghetti on a table. He does this to explain how a relatively isolated change — The Flash’s mother was never murdered — could have created a timeline in which Batman was a completely different person.

Timelines split off in moments where things could have gone one way or another, Bruce says. But, like floppy strings of spaghetti, they can bend back toward each other, too. By changing the past, The Flash knocked his timeline around until it touched a bunch of different spaghetti strands. Strands where Superman never made it to Earth, and Eric Stoltz played Marty McFly.

And that’s Hypertime, baby!

What is Hypertime?

Hypertime is a concept credited to comics creators Mark Waid and Grant Morrison that seeks to provide an explanation for the many contradictory versions of the story of the DC Universe.

Classically, fictionalized time travel likes to imagine time as an endlessly branching tree, with a branch for each way that events could have happened differently. But Hypertime supposes that time is like an endlessly forking river. And the thing about rivers is that they can flow back into themselves.

A fork of a Hypertime river could contain one river where the minor supervillain Catman met his untimely end in the belly of a hyper-intelligent gorilla, and one river where the whole gorilla thing was actually a metaphor/bad dream. The former river is a thing that really happened in DC Comics. And you could say that the rivers flowed back into each other when writer Gail Simone decided to use Catman in her first Secret Six miniseries anyway.

And if the death of a minor villain is a little stream, then parallel Earths with their own full histories are mighty rivers, with tributaries cleaving off and feeding back in as characters and events are remembered, forgotten, prioritized, and deprioritized. Do we really need an explanation for why Cyclops’ eye beams are setting things on fire in this story, when we all know that canonically they’re not incendiary? Can we just say we’re getting a little flow from the stream where Cyclops’ eyes shoot lasers instead of “beams of pure force”?

“But!” you cry. “If the details of the setting can change without explanation, then the reader will become confused or lose interest because events don’t seem to stick or ‘matter.’”

And I’ll look down and whisper, “No. They won’t. Because you just described the experience of reading superhero comics.”

This is the zen of long-running comics universes, which, until the extremely recent advent of digital offerings like Marvel Unlimited and a healthy market for collected editions , was a decadeslong ongoing story that was simply impossible to read up on. This is what I tell people who are worried they don’t know enough comic book continuity: Don’t worry about it .

Sometimes, Batman is a guy with five former Robins and three former Batgirls, and he almost got married to Catwoman once . Sometimes, Batman has only ever had two Robins and one Batgirl, and he almost got married to the Phantasm once . Sometimes Batman is an old man who comes out of retirement and he has one Robin, who is a girl . Sometimes Batman is an old man who mentors a teenager named Terry into being the new Batman. Sometimes Batman is a Lego dude. And I think it’s pretty clear that we’re cool with all of that!

Even if we’re just talking about the main DC Comics universe, Batman has been at least three different Batmans with three slightly different histories. And before Marvel Comics fans get in here and tell me that Marvel doesn’t do this because Marvel doesn’t have reboots, Marvel’s lack of reboots arguably makes Hypertime an even better explanation for its continuity than DC’s.

It may be technically true that the Magneto of today is the same Magneto who was once regressed back to a baby and had to grow up again. It may be technically true that the Punisher served in Vietnam. It may be technically true that a cosmic creep once impregnated Captain Marvel with himself, had her give birth to him, grew up in a single day, and then brainwashed her into falling in love with him.

But you won’t find a single Captain Marvel comic talking about that these days, because it was a terrible story that everyone desperately wants to pretend did not happen. Hypertime is the perfect version of the multiverse because it’s not describing linear continuity at all. It’s describing how superhero universes actually operate.

Deep down, underneath all the promises, comic book continuity is forged by creative people choosing to use the bits they like and ignore the bits they don’t like. The fundamental forces of cause and effect in comic book universes aren’t subatomic; they’re just creative decisions. Which is why Hypertime is particularly perfect for a superhero “universe” so loosely connected as to have almost no connections at all — like the movies in Warner Bros.’ DC Films stable.

Can Jason Momoa’s Aquaman hang out with the Batman played by Ben Affleck? What about Michael Keaton? George Clooney? Robert Pattinson? What about whoever they pick to star in Batman & Robin ? If the story is good... does it really matter? That may be the most powerful thing about The Flash introducing Hypertime right before Warner Bros. takes things in a very different direction. It doesn’t matter how the studio’s new multiverse works — whether it has parallel earths, or alternate timelines, or Elseworlds .

Hypertime — and therefore, The Flash — encompasses them all.

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10 Things About The Flash's Power That Make No Sense

Superhuman abilities and inherently nonsensical, but, when held under the magnifying glass, The Flash's powers seriously don't add up at all.

The Flash has always had a place as a top-tier superhero. Most of this is evidenced by his affiliation in the Justice League. He is a world-class hero known the world over, and the likes of Batman and Superman consider him to be their equal. Yet, there are so many things about the Flash's powers that don't make sense.

RELATED: 5 Marvel Villains The Flash Could Defeat (& 5 He'd Lose To)

We know that superhero abilities are almost always inherently nonsensical, but here are 10 reasons why The Flash's powers really don't make sense.

10 How Can Barry Turn Off His Speed When His Body Can't?

In the the comics ,  it is made very clear that his speed works at a molecular level in his body. He has regenerative powers that heal him almost immediately after injury, and he needs to consume a certain amount of food for his body to function properly—you know, like just about everyone.

That part is understandable, but what doesn't make sense is that, if his body is working so quickly, how is he not in a constant state of slow-motion? Surely, he couldn't slow his body's molecular structure down. Could he?

9 Can He Fly?

Barry is shown throughout the comics being able to make large leaps from building to building using his Speed Force, but numerous times in the series he has stated that he couldn't fly. The amount of wind his speed picks up should allow him to propel himself off the ground easily, even though the comics and even TV show sometimes contradict that. However, on multiple occasions, he is seen running off cliffs of jumping out of skyscrapers to save people only to safely land on the ground.

8 How Does The Speed Force Land Him At The Right Point In Time?

Time travel rules have always hindered the Flash in the comics , partly because the writers seem to make up the rules as they go. Fans have seen Barry Allen travel back in time on numerous occasions, and he always seems to land at the exact spot and moment to which he wants to go.

RELATED: The Flash: 5 Best Versions Of The DC Hero (& 5 Worst)

How exactly does Speed Force work? Does it have a clock and calendar telling Barry where to get off at? Wouldn't the fear of getting lost in time be the reason a speedster wouldn't try such a feat?

7 If Barry's Speed Comes Directly From The Speed Force, How Does Training Help?

Some people can run fast, while others, no matter their physical strength, are unable to do so, primarily because of biological restraints. For those in real-life that do run fast, they have to constantly train to stay in peak condition. For those that can't run fast, they can train all day and never gain the ability. So, if Barry Allen's speed comes from the Speed Force, then how does improving his muscle strength exactly make him run faster when that isn't the source of his power?

6 How Can He Vibrate Fast Enough To Have Objects Pass Through Him?

Luckily for fans, Barry Allen can do more than just run incredibly fast. If that was his only power, he would be one of the lamest superheroes in not just the DC universe, but in the entirety of the comic world. Over the years, various comic book writers have given him some pretty impressive powers, and one of these powers is his ability to vibrate so fast enough that objects can go straight through him. If this sounds like a ludicrous power, it is probably because... well, it is.

5 How Does His Body Not Break Under The Force Of Friction?

Going fast is fun whether it's a race car, a plane, or Sonic the Hedgehog. Going fast without protection from the wind is not only not fun, but it can be deadly. No one would survive being tied to the wing of a jet due to the sheer force of friction pressed upon the body.

RELATED: Arrowverse: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Flash & Arrow's Relationship

It would crumple a human a million different ways, so how does Barry's body withstand the friction of him running beyond light-speed? Does the Speed Force create a protective force field around him?

4 How Do Those He Saves Survive His Speed?

So, it is one thing for Barry Allen to be able to withstand the immense amount of friction generated by his speed, but it's another for the people he's carrying to do the same. Even if it could be explained away that, because Barry Allen is a meta-human he could withstand such trauma, that still doesn't explain how normal people can. The speed at which he travels would certainly be deadly for anyone else, rendering his heroic attempts totally pointless.

3 How Does Barry Forget Learned Moves?

Anyone who has followed The Flash over the years knows that   Barry gets amnesia every single time he faces a new villain—so much so that he forgets everything he has learned. Knowing full well that he is incapable of stopping a villain head-on, he will still approach them only to be defeated, forcing his team to have to come up with some new move to help him overcome the odds. What is so frustrating about this is that he doesn't even try the moves he already knows.

2 Why Doesn't He Just Throw Lightning Bolts At His Enemies?

Barry has never really mastered his own strength. One crucial mistake he always seems to make is trying to overpower his enemies instead of hitting them from a distance.

RELATED: Flash: 10 Storylines That Would Make Better Movies Than Flashpoint

Barry Allen isn't Batman; he doesn't have the melee skills to knock out his enemies, but he does have lightning bolts. Why doesn't he just sit on a distant building and strike them like Zeus on Mt. Olympus? It probably wouldn't make for great television, but roasted villains would make a city safer.

1 If The Speed Force Is Alive, Then Why Does It Allow Speedsters To Exist?

The Speed Force is the juice that keeps speedsters running. Fans have seen the Speed Force taking action against Barry for his crimes against time, but it never seems like it wants to drain him of his powers. The very existence of speedsters endangers the Speed Force, so why not destroy the speedster, or at least take away his or her powers instead of constantly reprimanding speedsters for their actions? After all, it would be wise to avoid giving people power if they are just going to abuse it.

NEXT: Dragon Ball: 10 Things About Vegeta That Make No Sense

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Common sense media reviewers.

Intense, long superhero adventure explores loss, teamwork.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The biggest messages are about importance of team-

Barry and Batman (in any timeline) are selfless an

Most main characters are White (Ezra Miller, Ben A

Several different forms of violence, including the

While holding the Lasso of Truth, Barry says he un

One prominently featured (but humorously deployed)

On screen: Mercedes, BMW, iPhone, Apple, Mac, Puma

Adults drink occasionally (wine or beer). A charac

Parents need to know that The Flash is part of the DC Extended Universe and is based loosely on the comic Flashpoint , when Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller) travels into the past of an alternate timeline to prevent his mother's death. That decision wreaks timeline havoc, so Barry must work with his…

Positive Messages

The biggest messages are about importance of team-building and working with others for the greater good, plus recognizing when you must let go/sacrifice a personal desire for the sake of the common good. Barry is shown (both by his younger self and the alternate Batman) how to come to terms with the fixed moments in time that he can't change and why the totality of people's childhoods and pasts, including their pain and trauma, inform who they become. The power of rescuing those who are defenseless/innocent, regardless of their background (or even whether they're human), is also a message. Themes of courage, self-control, perseverance, and teamwork.

Positive Role Models

Barry and Batman (in any timeline) are selfless and brave, but they also have to learn to communicate, to work together to highlight each other's strengths, to defer to one another depending on circumstances. Kara Zor-El is a strong role model who's willing to fight for humanity after being saved by Barry and Batman. Both Barrys have to come to terms with their limitations and how their superpower has the ability to save -- but also to destroy.

Diverse Representations

Most main characters are White (Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, etc.), and most are men. Lead actor Miller is nonbinary and plays a male character. Two female superheroes: Wonder Woman (Israeli actor Gal Gadot, briefly seen), and, more prominently, Supergirl/Kara Zor-El (Sasha Calle, who is of Colombian descent). Barry's mother is a White Spanish-speaking woman (her nationality is unnamed, but actress Maribel Verdú is from Spain). Barry's love interest is Iris West (Kiersey Clemons), a Black reporter with a small but important supporting role.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Several different forms of violence, including the disturbing recollection of Barry's childhood trauma: his mother's death from a fatal stab wound, his innocent father going to prison for it. Batman and The Flash engage armed thieves in a tank in a street pursuit that leads to explosions, injuries, and presumed deaths (fairly high body count). At one point, The Flash has to save several newborn babies and their nurse, who've fallen from a high-rise hospital that's crumbling into a sinkhole. Although they all survive (as does a therapy dog that also fell), it's a tense scene. A mysterious villain throws Barry out of his known timeline into an alternate universe, wreaking havoc on the timelines and forcing Barry to relive Zod's invasion of Earth. Barry, Barry, and Batman use their combined forces to rescue a Kryptonian being who's tortured and starved by the Russians, leading to a huge shoot-out and multiple injuries/deaths. Other large-scale violent scenes similarly involve a battle between the Justice League forces and evil aliens (Zod's lackeys). (Potential spoiler alert !) Heartbreaking scenes involving Barry and his alternate Barry and Barry and his mother at the end of the movie.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

While holding the Lasso of Truth, Barry says he understands what sex is but has never had it. He's interested in Iris, but they don't do more than briefly have a beer together. The alternate-timeline Barry has an obvious crush on Kara. Wonder Woman and Batman stare at each other lingeringly. Nonsexual partial nudity in a sequence when the second Barry realizes that using superspeed can leave him naked. His entire torso, legs, sides, and butt are visible. He covers up his genitals with cookware, hands, etc.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

One prominently featured (but humorously deployed) "Who the f--k is this?"; frequent use of "s--t," plus "d--k," "bats--t," "big scrotum," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

On screen: Mercedes, BMW, iPhone, Apple, Mac, Puma shoes, Twinkies, Kikkoman soy sauce. Off-camera merchandising includes apparel, games, toys, etc.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults drink occasionally (wine or beer). A character does a shot of unspecified liquor at a bar.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Flash is part of the DC Extended Universe and is based loosely on the comic Flashpoint , when Barry Allen/The Flash ( Ezra Miller ) travels into the past of an alternate timeline to prevent his mother's death. That decision wreaks timeline havoc, so Barry must work with his alternate younger self, as well as other members of the Justice League who exist in that timeline, to fix it. Expect lots of comic book-style action violence, including explosions, military-grade weapons, lethal alien technology, and, of course, Bruce Wayne/Batman's cache of high-tech vehicles, weapons, and gadgets. The body count is fairly high. The movie also explores mature themes about how trauma and the past shape people and shouldn't be tampered with. Language is occasionally strong, with "s--t" used the most frequently, plus "d--k" and one humorously deployed "f--k." There's not much romance, though it's clear Barry is interested in Iris West (Kiersey Clemons), and two other characters briefly make eyes at each other. Nonsexual partial nudity includes a funny sequence in which the second, younger Barry realizes that using superspeed will cause his clothes to fall off, leaving him naked in public spaces. He uses his hands and other available accessories to cover his genitals while his torso, side, and buttocks are visible. Characters drink occasionally. The movie's biggest messages are about the importance of team-building and working with others for the greater good, as well as recognizing when you must let go/sacrifice a personal desire for the sake of that good. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Best DC Movie I've Watched In My Opinion

Bro this movie is fine...., what's the story.

THE FLASH begins with The Flash/Barry Allen ( Ezra Miller ) helping Batman/Bruce Wayne ( Ben Affleck ) with a catastrophic situation at a hospital and feeling like the "janitor of the Justice League." Eventually, Barry has an epiphany: He should use his superspeed to revisit the past and stop his beloved mother's death. But when he does that and then returns to the future, he ends up in an alternate timeline where another, much less awkward and more laid-back version of him exists and is still 18. While in this alternate timeline, the original Barry realizes that a familiar villain poses a threat to the other Barry's world, so he trains the younger Barry and then sets out to convince that timeline's Batman (a considerably older and retired version played by Michael Keaton ), to join their cause. Together, the three attempt to find Superman but run into even more complications.

Is It Any Good?

This time-traveling, nostalgia-filled adaptation of Flashpoint is entertaining and benefits from Keaton's standout supporting performance. The two Barrys are amusing to watch, particularly because the original Barry is fairly socially awkward, while the younger Barry is somewhat spoiled and easygoing (having not been burdened by his mother's death and father's subsequent false imprisonment). The two develop a surprising chemistry as they try to track down Batman and Superman and do something that seems impossible. Three memorable female cast members also offer impactful supporting performances: Kiersey Clemons as Iris West; Maribel Verdu as Barry's mother, Nora Allen; and newcomer Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El (aka Supergirl). But this is definitely the story of the two Barrys -- and, later, their camaraderie with Batman.

Andy Muschietti directs, based on Christina Hudson's script, which ramps up the pop-culture references and nostalgic bits. There are several jokes about how the original Barry's time travel has created a world in which all of the Brat Pack actors swapped signature movie roles. Keaton's appearance is also nostalgic, of course, and there are a host of Easter eggs and cameos that will make audiences either applaud, laugh, or roll their eyes, depending on how they feel about the sentimentality of the sequence. While Miller's two roles complement each other, it's difficult to talk about the actor without acknowledging the many accusations and criminal allegations that have been made against them. The DC Extended Universe is reportedly not going to recast the role, even though all the time travel makes the Flash an easy character to consider for that strategy. And a few of the scenes are a bit cringey to watch given the nature of the charges against Miller, but ultimately they're largely outshined by the movie's crowd-pleasing elements.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the popularity of superhero movies like The Flash . Why do you think these larger-than-life comic book characters so often enthrall viewers?

Discuss the prevalence of superhero movies featuring multiverses and alternate timelines. What are the advantages and limitations of time paradoxes?

Do you consider Barry or any of the other Justice League members to be role models ? How do they demonstrate character strengths like teamwork and courage ? What do they learn over the course of the movie?

Do you prefer individual superhero stories or team-based adventures? What are the pros and cons of an ensemble movie?

Has the news about star Ezra Miller's arrests, allegations, and mental health impacted your thoughts about this movie? When and why should an actor, filmmaker, or artist's personal life affect the audience's treatment of their art?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 16, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : November 14, 2023
• Cast : Ezra Miller , Sasha Calle , Michael Shannon
• Director : Andy Muschietti
• Inclusion Information : Non-Binary actors, Queer actors, Female actors, Latino actors, Female writers, Asian writers
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Superheroes , Friendship
• Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance , Self-control , Teamwork
• Run time : 144 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sequences of violence and action, some strong language and partial nudity
• Last updated : March 18, 2024

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Screen Rant 1x6d52

Now that 'The Flash' is exploring time travel - with some shocking twists - we explain what happened, what didn't, and what comes next. 6z3xr

[WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for  The Flash  Season 1, Episode 15]

The producers of establish Barry Allen's special link to time and space , but rather than tip-toeing into the fiction, viewers were thrown into the deep end (alongside multiple season finale-worthy twists).

Needless to say, time travel tends to bring confusion and hard questions with it, so we thought it wise to offer a bit of comic book science and theory behind Barry's unique form of time travel, and what the writers may be building toward as part of Harrison Wells' mysterious "endgame. " Be warned: major SPOILERS  for episodes both past (and possibly future) lie ahead.

Eobard Thawne Revealed 3b22m

By this point, anyone curious about the Reverse-Flash  has done enough digging to know that the first man famed in the role was Eobard Thawne of the 25th Century. Though the villain's story has changed over the years, he's generally seen as a brilliant scientist and fan of legendary hero Barry Allen, whose adoration drives him to replicate Barry's powers and suit, and travel back in time to shape Barry's legacy through...  extreme means.

Seeing as Harrison Wells shared a similar moral flexibility when it came to helping Barry become more of a hero (and his knowledge of the future), many have suspected Wells was actually Thawne in hiding. That notion was proven accurate over the first half of the season, with "Out of Time" finally including Wells' confession that he is Thawne, removed from his own time and place (presumably the future, though not explicitly stated).

The rest of the comic canon seems largely intact: it was comic writer unlock the full power of the Speed Force so that he can manipulate it for his own purposes. Thawne confirms as much to Cisco Ramon, once his hoax is uncovered.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT:  The Cisco/Wells scene also hints at several key changes to Thawne's motives and methods. For starters, he claims he traveled to the Allen household to kill  Barry , not Nora. But it's worth noting that Thawne doesn't clarify  which Barry he was hoping to kill fifteen years prior: the boy, or The Flash (or what happened to cause him to kill Nora).

Thawne's Powers 5d5n52

Since Thawne uses the term 'Speed Mirage' more than once in the episode (to describe two very different phenomena), it's worth explaining just what he's demonstrated for Cisco. Claiming to 'be in two places at once' isn't quite accurate, since speedsters are capable of being just about anywhere at any time. Instead, this seems to be the same ability Barry used in the comics to keep his civilian identity beyond suspicion.

By standing in street clothes, then changing into his uniform and standing elsewhere - endlessly repeated (what fun!) - onlookers were fooled into seeing both men at once. Despite Thawne referring to his double as "an after image" (presumably a false title, since neither is the 'true' Thawne), the flickering between the two seems to imply the same ability is being put to use here.

Thawne's technique in dispatching Cisco without a mess - vibrating the molecules of his arm into those of his colleague's heart - is also a comic book nod. It may seem a vile superpower, but it's also confirmation that Barry may, at some point in the future, learn to vibrate his own molecules at a high enough frequency to phase through solid objects .

It's just as important to point out which powers Thawne  doesn't have compared to Barry. And in order to understand just what happens to Barry at the episode's close, the real source of those powers must be clarified (easier said than done). For now, take Thawne's words at face value: Barry's speed and connection to its direct source are far superior to Thawne's flawed substitutes .

But as Eobard Thawne's powers are apparently fading, Barry's powers are growing exponentially.

____________________________________

Next Page: Barry's Time Traveling Explained 1s5424

What happened to barry 3o1461.

Explaining the science here isn't easy, so for the time being, we'll outline what took place, and explain the comic book fiction and fictional physics as we get to them. The time travel begins easily enough, though: Barry, running at high speed, witnessing a ghostly vision of himself, before it disappears, leaving him to regain his bearings. Only when Barry is forced to run faster than he ever thought possible, with thousands of lives on the line, is the meaning revealed, as he moves fast enough to tear a hole through time itself, exiting a day earlier.

The science here is sketchy enough as it is, but since Barry already discussed this possibility with Professor Martin Stein, we'll offer a brief refresher:

Obviously, Barry succeeded in Professor Stein's theoretical mission to punch a hole into the "superhighway" that us normal humans can't even observe. For all intents and purposes, Barry's connection to the extra-dimensional 'Speed Force' is the on-ramp in question; in fact, it may be more accurate to call it the superhighway itself, going by the amount of power it carries in the DC Universe.

The show provides a faithful depiction of how the Speed Force works, as it relates to time travel: Barry runs until drawing a sufficient amount energy, at which point he tears out of the observable world, and is free to travel backward - not necessarily  through some instantaneous wormhole, but on the Speed Force "highway" spanning all of time.

In this case, that meant Barry pushed beyond his limits, resulting in a rift torn open into Central City a day earlier, through which Barry emerged. Fans should pay attention to the fact that he 'emerged' into a quieter world, where his speed was maintained without so great an effort. If the implication is being made that Barry was still transitioning back into the timestream ("taking an off-ramp"), then it makes sense why he appeared as a ghostly apparition to the first Barry.

Are There TWO Versions of Barry? 471z6d

Here's where things get complicated. And though decades of "Flash" writers have led to some unique additions to the mythology, coming up with one explanation is nearly impossible. First, let's begin with the evidence offered in the episode itself. Viewers may have overlooked the details present when Barry first glimpses his ghostly doppelganger, mainly that the other Barry simply dissolves.

When Barry later runs back to this moment, it is the initial version of Barry that can now be seen as a foggy reflection, before it dissolves (with a hushed sound effect, no less). The question of whether there are now two  Barry Allen's in Central City is answered in that moment, as Barry slides to a stop without a running mate.

It's impossible to guess what the writers have in mind, but we'll again emphasize the evidence: viewers aren't meant to assume that two real, tangible, identical versions of Barry Allen were running side by side. All "Flash" writers seem to agree that travelling through the Speed Force allows speedsters to observe the timestream outside, but breaching it is something different (though it's believable that Barry could catch a glimpse  into the Speed Force from outside).

The Flash mythology is as steeped in mysticism as it is science, so it wouldn't be out of character to simply say that the future version of Barry dissolved because its time hadn't yet come. When it did, it was the past version of Barry that gave way instead. The intrigue of the visuals alone grants the writers some leeway, so for the time being, it's probably best to consider the Speed Force as all-encoming; boundless. There is only one Speed Force, it is bonded with one Barry Allen, and it can't be 'copied.'

Early previews of episodes show what looks to be Barry fighting himself , but until an explanation is given for that outcome, fans should try to accept that  The Flash 's notion of time is more fluid than usual. It's also possible that alternate universes or timelines are spawned by Barry's travel, but not much is impossible when time itself bends to his will.

The Problem 556w31

The notion that all of history and time is predestined can be both confusing and comforting. In "Flash" comics, the belief that time is both set and free-flowing are both explored - and the show already seems to be doing the same. Thus far, a number of self-fulfilling time loops seem to be in play - namely Thawne's attempt to kill The Flash instead creating him. In the original comics, Thawne was only driven mad with rage when he learned that he would one day become the Reverse-Flash.

But where Thawne's malice may or may not have been fated, he seems to have accepted that killing Nora Allen was destiny, not a mistake. But Barry Allen's power over time has already been hinted at.

Pictured above is a frame from before and after Barry's trip through time. The larger points - dogs barking, woman shouting at  a cab - are meant to imply Barry will relive the same day over again, but these images reveal the early evidence that time can be changed in completely unpredictable, seemingly meaningless ways. As fans watched Cisco being killed, Joe tortured, and yes, the Barry/Iris kiss, the ending twist implied Barry would now have the chance to prevent the tragedies - while possibly also sacrificing his big moment with Iris.

So, do these changes mean we're witnessing Barry's arrival in an alternate universe? Or does a mere entry/exit on the "superhighway" cause ripples in the actual world? We can't say just yet, but we  do know Barry's time tripping can change the past and the future. A notion which leads to something much, much, bigger...

Flashpoint 4u3g5a

If Barry really is determined to save his mother's life when fate brings him back to that night, then seeing the side effects of time travel beforehand is wise. When Barry managed to accomplish the feat in the pages of DC Comics, it led to a war that threatened to destroy the world - so even if the TV version is somewhat smaller, the point is made, all the same.

For those who missed out on "Flashpoint," it began with Barry's decision to throw caution to the wind and save his mother from Thawne - but soon came a high price to pay. Without her death, Barry was never struck by the lightning bolt that would make him The Flash, and the change rippled out into the Justice League and a host of other DC characters, leading Wonder Woman's Amazons and Aquaman's Atlanteans into an apocalyptic war.

And it was all Barry's fault.

Where writer Geoff Johns had brought Barry back to life after vanishing decades earlier (in the same crisis glimpsed in Wells' future newspaper), "Flashpoint" turned him into one of its worst, if unwitting, villains. It also provided Thawne with his greatest victory: Barry so damaged the timestream by changing his fate, that Thawne was shaken loose from it, no longer relying on Barry's unlocking of the Speed Force for his own powers.

In the end, Barry was willing to sacrifice his mother to return things to normal (an attempt that resulted in a new continuity, known as DC's 'New 52' relaunch). That's a massive comic storyline to adapt for The Flash TV show, but the writers have shown they're more interested in telling fantastic stories than drip-feeding fans for no real reason.

Few twists could top "Out of Time" for a season finale, but having Barry's mother survive, and the world fall to pieces because of it? That would do the trick.

We hope that clears up some of the mind-bending physics and time travel paradoxes witnessed in recent episodes of The Flash . If you have any questions or theories on where the show's headed, be sure to add them in the comments.

The Flash  returns next Tuesday @8pm with "Rogue Time". Check out a preview of the episode below:

The Flash Review: An Epic Time Travel Adventure

By Jonathan Sim

After the box office flop of Shazam: Fury of the Gods, the DC Extended Universe is back in a flash. The Flash is one of those superhero movies that has been in development for so long it’s hard to believe it’s actually coming out. It’s been passed through an absurd number of writers and directors over the years. Nevertheless, it has been integrated into the DCEU, with Ezra Miller reprising their role as Barry Allen/The Flash from Justice League. The film is written by Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey, Bumblebee) and directed by Andy Muschietti (It).

The Flash is an excellent time-traveling adventure film with humor, emotion, and joy. The film appropriately plays its opening logos in super speed in a crimson hue. Like all good superhero movies, it begins with the hero on a smaller standalone mission where they save the day. This movie opens with an epic action set piece with The Flash and Batman ( Ben Affleck ). It’s great to see these two fight alongside each other again with Batfleck back in action. The sequence also has some CGI babies reminiscent of Son of the Mask, which feels a little goofy along the lines of a Saturday morning cartoon, but it’s still fun.

The emotional core of the story exists with Barry’s parents. His mom was killed when he was a child, and his father was accused of the crime. Barry discovers early on that he can run faster than the speed of light, meaning he can turn back time. He wonders if he can use time travel to travel to the past and save his mother. The film follows his attempt to save her and the repercussions of his actions in a time-travel story that feels perfectly suited for the character. It’s a marvelous experience to watch this story unfold, with turns that will take you by surprise.

The best thing about The Flash is how Barry’s goal is tied to his emotional trauma. He wants to use his superpowers to right the wrongs he has experienced but ends up digging a deeper hole for himself. Although the emotions largely disappear during the second act, they are prevalent during the first and third acts and are the catalyst for the film’s events. There is one line of dialogue that feels like an obvious setup for a third-act payoff, but beyond that, the movie is superb at taking the story in dark, emotional directions.

Multiverses are in style these days. With Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel has been exploring the concept. Hell, the 2022 Oscars Best Picture winner was multiverse movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. It was only a matter of time before DC took their shot at the multiverse, using time travel to bring Barry Allen into the world of Tim Burton’s Batman. There’s something truly special about seeing Michael Keaton in a role he hasn’t played since 1992 as we explore Wayne Manor and the Batcave, accompanied by Danny Elfman’s famous musical score. This movie will put a smile on the faces of anyone who loved Batman (1989) and Batman Returns.

The film’s biggest fault lies in the villain department. The movie recycles the conflict and villains from Man of Steel , complete with bringing back Michael Shannon as Zod. It relies on your knowledge of that other movie to feel Zod’s presence as a villain because he barely appears in the first two acts. Furthermore, Zod is known to be Superman’s adversary, which makes his appearance in a movie led primarily by The Flash and Batman strange. It makes the most sense when he faces off with Kara Zor-El/Supergirl ( Sasha Calle ). Supergirl is a welcome addition to the DCEU, and she makes the most of her limited screen time.

However, The Flash gives you the epic superhero action you’re looking for, especially in the final act. The movie is filled to the brim with fan service. The way Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was a treat for Spider-Man fans , The Flash is sure to be a wonderful experience for fans of DC movies and heroes. Audiences will cheer when they see what Muschietti has been cooking. Miller is excellent and funny as the hero, and Keaton steps back into his former role with ease. This is a must-watch movie for DC fans, and it puts aside a bigger action finale for a more emotional conclusion. This movie is pure entertainment and emotion, with a lot of surprises that superhero fans won’t want to miss.

SCORE : 9/10

As ComingSoon’s  review policy  explains, a score of 9 equates to “Excellent.” Entertainment that reaches this level is at the top of its type. The gold standard that every creator aims to reach.

Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our  The Flash   review.

Jonathan Sim is a film critic and filmmaker born and raised in New York City. He has met/interviewed some of the leading figures in Hollywood, including Christopher Nolan, Zendaya, Liam Neeson, and Denis Villeneueve. He also works as a screenwriter, director, and producer on independent short films.

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The Flash: How Does Time Travel Work In the DC Movie?

Answering the questions batman's pasta couldn't..

Warning: Full spoilers follow for The Flash movie.

The Flash is the latest in a long line of blockbuster movies to deal with the concept of time travel. And one thing that hasn’t changed since the days of Back to the Future and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is that time travel gets very confusing, very quickly. Even Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne and his bowl of pasta could only do so much to straighten things out.

So how does time travel work in The Flash? What exactly is a fixed point in time? And what happened to characters like Keaton’s Batman and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl once Ezra Miller’s Barry restored the timeline? Let’s try and settle these questions once and for all. 

Making Sense of Batman’s Pasta Metaphor in The Flash

The Flash relies on Keaton’s Bruce Wayne to illustrate the rules of time travel by using a bowl of pasta as a visual aid. Essentially, reality exists as a mass of different strands of time (or noodles of pasta) that flow alongside each other and sometimes crossover or intersect. With so many strands flowing in and out of one another, it’s all but impossible to know where one timeline begins and ends. That’s why Barry’s trip back in time is so dangerous. He’s meddling with forces his mind can’t fully comprehend.

The movie makes it clear that time travel doesn’t have a linear effect on the timeline. A time traveler doesn’t simply create a branching timeline when they change a historical event. Rather, their actions reverberate forward and backward across time, causing rippling changes in both directions, past and future. That’s why Barry’s trip back to 2001 caused changes that extend back even further, such as bringing Keaton’s Batman into his world and causing Kara Zor-El rather than Kal-El to crash on Earth. Move one pasta noodle in the bowl and the other noodles twist and warp alongside it.  

Their actions reverberate forward and backward across time, causing rippling changes in both directions, past and future.

The dc timeline: what are fixed points.

The Flash’s use of time travel also hinges heavily on the concept of fixed points in time - events that happen the same way in all timelines and can’t easily be altered. Barry becoming the Flash is a fixed point. A Kryptonian coming to Earth is a fixed point. Bruce Wayne’s parents being murdered is a fixed point. Even though Barry altered time, these key events still happened, if not in quite the same way as in the original timeline. This concept is similar to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s “canon events,” which explains why nearly every version of Spidey was bitten by a radioactive spider and mourns the loss of a loved one like Uncle Ben.  

Alternate Universes vs. Alternate Timelines

One concept the movie perhaps doesn’t convey as clearly as it should is the idea that alternate universes and alternate timelines are not the same things. The DC Universe exists as a myriad of possible timelines, each created when a key event happened differently and one noodle becomes two. The comics refer to this bundle of timelines and possibilities as Hypertime.

The DCEU - or DCU or whatever you want to call this universe now - has at least three different timelines where Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton and George Clooney’s Batman sprang into existence. We never get a firm explanation for why there’s so much potential variation in terms of Batman’s appearance, yet Aquaman is apparently the same in every timeline. Perhaps a lot depends on when the Waynes meet and get married.

The multiverse, on the other hand, is something different. The worlds of the DC multiverse don’t exist as a jumbled mess of pasta noodles, but as a more orderly structure where each version of Earth vibrates at a different harmonic frequency. Timelines can sometimes be radically different from one another, but ultimately they’re bound by the same basic rules and series of events. There’s no limit to how different alternate universes can be from one another. They might have alternate versions of characters like Flash, Batman and Superman, or those characters may not exist at all. Each alternate universe has its own set of timelines and its own fixed points.  

Barry doesn’t actually travel to another universe in The Flash. He sees other universes in the climax when he races through the Chronobowl and catches glimpses of Christopher Reeve’s Superman, Adam West’s Batman and the others. But those other universes remain separate and distinct from Barry’s own. He merely creates a different timeline when he races back in time and steals the can of tomatoes, one that draws in fragments of other timelines and distorts into something new. And he eliminates that timeline when he goes back and fixes his mistake, though the ending with Clooney’s Bruce Wayne makes it clear Barry hasn’t fully restored his original timeline.

Was Michael Keaton’s Batman From the Tim Burton Movies?

The distinction between alternate timelines and alternate universes raises some interesting questions about the nature of Keaton’s Batman in The Flash. Why does the movie treat so many other classic cinematic heroes - Reeves’ Superman, West’s Batman, Helen Slater’s Supergirl, Nic Cage’s Superman (though he never really got the chance to be classic), etc. - as denizens of alternate universes but Keaton’s Batman is instead part of a divergent timeline? Does this mean the world of Tim Burton’s Batman movies doesn’t exist as its own, distinct universe?

Past DC stories indicate that the Burtonverse does indeed exist as a separate branch of the vast DC multiverse. According to a map featured in Dark Crisis: Big Bang , both Keaton’s Batman and Reeves’ Superman exist on Earth-789 of DC’s comic book multiverse. The Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, meanwhile, suggests that the Burtonverse is Earth-89 in DC’s live-action multiverse and features a cameo from Robert Wuhl’s Alexander Knox . 

The Flash argues that the Burtonverse is merely an alternate timeline within the scope of the DCEU, not its own, distinct universe.

However, The Flash argues that the Burtonverse is merely an alternate timeline within the scope of the DCEU, not its own, distinct universe. This kind of discrepancy is nothing new for DC. In the past, Frank Miller’s iconic graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns has been treated as both an alternate future timeline and a separate universe. Perhaps we should assume the Burtonverse exists in more than one form - both as its own branch of DC’s vast multiverse and a potential alternate timeline that intersects with Barry Allen’s own timeline. 

So when it comes to the question of whether Keaton’s Batman as seen in The Flash is the same character as the one from 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, the answer seems to be open to interpretation. It could all be the same Batman, or there could be another version of Keaton’s Bruce who exists independently of the DCEU and its tangled timelines. It’s left to fans to decide which is true.

The Fates of Batman and Supergirl

In the climax of The Flash, the two Barrys hit a major roadblock when they discover that Batman and Supergirl’s deaths are another fixed point in time. No matter how fast he runs, Barry can’t stop his new friends from being brutally killed during Zod’s attack. That truth is what ultimately drives Past Barry insane, as he spends decades in the Speed Force trying to prevent the inevitable and morphs into the Dark Flash.

This is what prompts Present Barry to finally accept that some things can’t be changed and undo his time meddling. He restores the DCEU to how it previously existed (give or take one Bruce Wayne), but we never actually see Calle’s Supergirl or Keaton’s Batman after that point. The film doesn’t definitively reveal what happened to these characters after the timeline was fixed. Barry fixing his mistake means that he untangled the timelines he previously fused together. Presumably, Kara and Bruce are back in their original realities as if nothing happened. They may not have any memory of meeting the two Barrys in the first place. 

Unfortunately, this also means Kara is almost certainly doomed. Unlike her cousin, who spent a lifetime absorbing the sun’s yellow radiation, she isn’t strong enough to fend off Zod’s forces, even with Batman and two Flashes backing her up. There’s no reason to assume she’d fare better without them as allies. In her normal timeline, Kara is likely destined to always fail against Zod, assuming she ever even breaks free from the prison on her own. 

As for Batman, his fate may depend entirely on whether his and Kara’s timelines were meant to be separate or not. If the arrival of the Kryptonians in 2013 is an inevitable part of his reality, then Batman is probably also destined to die defending Earth. But if his regular timeline was never meant to have Kryptonians or speedsters at all, then we can assume Keaton’s Bruce simply lives out the rest of his days eating pasta in Wayne Manor. We’ll leave it up to you as far as which is the better fate for this lonely hermit of a Batman.

How the Batgirl Movie Fits In

Making things more confusing is the fact that both Calle and Keaton were once expected to have recurring roles in the DCEU. DC had been developing a Supergirl movie starring Calle , while Keaton was reportedly being positioned as a Nick Fury-esque figure appearing in several future DC movies . That includes the now-canceled Batgirl movie and the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Clearly, the intent was originally to have both characters survive the events of The Flash and remain in play even after Barry repaired his timeline. 

Based on what little we’ve seen of Batgirl, it seems Keaton’s Batman was meant to be an aged mentor to Leslie Grace’s rookie Barbara Gordon , almost akin to a Batman Beyond movie without the futuristic setting. It’s worth noting that Warners was at one point developing an actual Batman Beyond movie starring Keaton as well. But we know the film wasn’t set in the Burtonverse, as it featured J.K. Simmons reprising the role of Commissioner Gordon. Instead, Batgirl appears to have been set in a post-Flash DCEU where Keaton’s Batman has permanently replaced Affleck’s Batman. 

But now Warner Bros. Discovery is moving in a completely different direction with the DC line, and the Batgirl movie isn’t likely to ever see the light of day . The Flash will probably be the last time we see Michael Keaton wearing the cape and cowl. It’s just as well the film gives the Caped Crusader a fitting sendoff.    

For more on The Flash, check out every cameo in the new DC movie and learn how Keaton's Batman went from flop to phenomenon .

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter .

The Flash: The Movie

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'The Flash' throws off intermittent sparks

Glen Weldon

Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller) is full of running gags. Warner Bros. hide caption

Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller) is full of running gags.

In the comics, the character of Barry Allen, aka The Flash, aka The Fastest Man Alive, occupies a specific role.

Whenever there's any kind of confusing and overcomplicated shenanigans going on — the kind that involve parallel dimensions, alternate timelines, irreconcilable paradoxes, etc. — you can generally find ol' Flash at the center of it all. He's the key.

Makes sense: After all, he was the guy who first discovered that alternate Earths exist, replete with alternate versions of our Earth's familiar heroes and villains ( The Flash #123, Sept. 1961). He was also there in the mix when, decades later, DC decided all those alternate realities had grown too confusing and combined all of their multiple Earths into one ( Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12, Apr. 1985-March 1986). In the years since, the publisher has continually relaunched their multiverse and collapsed it, again and again, as if its vast narrative canon were some sort of space-time squeezebox.

The Flash has been there for every expansion and contraction, every cosmic do-over, ever metaphysical mulligan. He signals a cleaning of the slate, a new beginning. He's what biologists call an indicator species, and the precise set of environmental conditions his presence indicates is: Things Are So Screwed Up We Need To Start Over.

So the fact that a live-action The Flash film only arrives in theaters now, even though Warner Bros. Pictures has been trying to make one since the late '80s? And that it comes weighted down with so much baggage, in the form of studio turnover, a ceaseless churn of rewrites and a star surrounded by allegations of abusive behavior and other legal troubles ? And that the state of Warner's superheroic universe is currently so fraught and fractious that it's inspired sweeping regime change, a slate of cancelled projects and promises of a new direction ?

Makes sense. The slate is dirty, it cries out for a dry-eraser.

So does The Flash (the movie) do what the The Flash (the comic book character) famously does?

Yes. Up to a point.

Fast off the starting block

Like most superhero films, The Flash starts off with a drive and focus that inevitably flags over the course of its running (heh) time. This reviewer will confess a weakness for a grounded, hero-rescues-everyday-schmoes-from-danger set piece. I realize that any given superhero film will eventually degenerate into multicolored brawls (or, in the case of mystic superheroes, into actors grimacing at each other across a distance while teams of professionals add Eldritch magicks or laser beams in post).

But show me a character using their powers to whisk a harried restaurant server out of a collapsing building or evacuating a busload of panicking kids off a crumbling bridge and I'm happy. Leave the more esoteric, lore-besotted threats to the very fabric of the multiverse or whatever for another day! Focus on what's in front of you! Save the schmoes!

What if, as is the case in The Flash , the schmoes in question are a passel of CGI babies and a therapy dog hurtling to their deaths? And our hero must figure out a way to pluck them out of the air at super-speed while replenishing his calories such that he's even able to maintain said super-speed? All the better. It's what superhero movies are made for.

On a micro level, screenwriter Christina Hodson's script delivers. Line-by-line, it crackles with nimble jokes, broad winks and clever sight gags. But on a macro level — the level of characterization and character development — things don't so much crackle as fizzle.

The fact that The Flash debuts in theaters so fast on the heels of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is doing the DC film no favors. Leave aside the fact that both movies traffic in multiversal michegoss — that's a surface similarity.

All of the elements that make the Spider-Verse films so memorable and effective — their humor, their heart, their stakes — grow directly out of how real and rounded their characters are depicted. That roundedness and complexity determine the choices they make, and thus drive the plot.

Here, however, it's plot that's paramount, and it kind of forces the characters along for the ride. As a result, there's a flatness to our hero and his allies that precludes us from investing in their fates.

A family plot

The story of The Flash is based on a 2011 comic called Flashpoint (written by Geoff Johns with art by Andy Kubert) in which Barry/The Flash goes back in time to save his mother from the home invasion that killed her. That simple act screws up the DC Universe.

The situation's much the same in The Flash . Barry (Ezra Miller) decides to go back in time to save his mother (Maribel Verdú) from a deadly home invasion. This act brings him into contact with a younger, stoner-bro version of himself (Miller again) as well as a Batman from a different Earth (Michael Keaton, reprising his take on the character from the Tim Burton films) and a super-powered cousin (Sasha Calle) of Superman.

They are forced to band together to save this alternate Earth from an attack by the Kryptonian despot General Zod (Michael Shannon, briefly reprising his dyspeptic take on the character from Zack Snyder's Man of Steel ).

Miller's comic timing is solid, and serves the script's many gags well. But Miller's take on adult Barry is one-note, as is their decision to portray younger Barry as your most irritating college roommate. (That's two notes, I suppose — a simple interval). The movie attempts to frog-march both Barrys through a pair of purely perfunctory, emotional-growth-and-development narrative arcs, but Miller never manages to make either one register onscreen.

Neither does the film accord Calle's Supergirl enough space to become someone we can be bothered to care about; her screen time is given over to Keaton's Batman. It's hard to complain about what Keaton does with that stolen spotlight, but it does reflect the film's willingness to coast on the familiar in favor of putting in the work necessary to create something new.

CG Ay-yi-yi

The film's keystone digital effect, that of both Barrys sharing the screen and interacting with one another, works more seamlessly than it has in any film to date. Credit Miller, sure, but let's also note that the level of technical precision in those scenes — with respect to camera blocking and frame-matching and a slew of other cinematographic factors — are so effortlessly accomplished that you instantly forget you're watching one actor acting against themselves.

When it comes to the film's time-travel CGI, however:

Here's where we are forced to address the (checks notes) "chrono-bowl."

The "chrono-bowl" is an invention of the film, a visual device to depict Barry's time-travel. Basically, he starts running and a series of images begin to rotate around him — scenes and characters from his past. These scenes look as if a Playstation 2 were struggling to render a Caravaggio painting; characters depicted therein regard the viewer from across an uncanny valley that quickly widens into a terrifying canyon. This disquieting effect extends to the glimpses we eventually get of alternate worlds and their alternate heroes.

Now: It's possible, I suppose, to believe this is purely intentional, a stylistic choice on the filmmakers' part. After all, these alternate timelines and universes are comparatively insubstantial, compared to Barry's actual reality, so perhaps it makes sense that The Flash would signal to viewers that they are peopled by men and women who look as if they've just stepped off the Polar Express and Xeroxed themselves 47 times.

That's a generous reading, to be sure. But it's precisely that kind of overgenerous benefit-of-the-doubt that this often funny but ultimately confounding film requires. Barry's constant need to consume calories is the film's go-to gag, and it's no wonder: Like its main hero, The Flash doesn't hide how hungry it is to be seen as worthy, even though it spends much of its time running on empty.

Screen Rant

10 things that make no sense about the arrowverse speedsters.

Whether its continuity or blatant disregard for the story arc, here are 10 things that make no sense about Arrowverse speedsters.

Since 2013, The CW show The Flash has made the Scarlet Speedster and his lore popular to new fans. For the first time in over 20 years, Barry Allen was in the spotlight again, retaking his cowl as The Flash and once again gracing us with his presence in the form of Grant Gustin. 

RELATED:  15 Things That Make No Sense About The Flash

As much as fans love the show, Flash comic book fans have picked apart and trashed the show named after their favorite hero. Whether it’s the inaccuracies to the Flash lore, the overdone CGI, or the mishandling of major flash characters, there is something that really makes the fans mad. That’s the inconsistencies and confusing rules of speedsters in the Arrowverse . Here are 10 things that make no sense about the speedsters on the CW.

One minor inconsistency that doesn’t really affect our portrayal of the show but demonstrates lazy writing and lack of continuity, is gravity. Since the first season, the one thing speedsters couldn’t do was fly or be able to float in any way. Barry almost died because of this fact and he also used it to his advantage while fighting Savitar. 

But all is defied in Season 5 when a power dampened Barry is thrown off a building with his loving wife Iris jumping after him. In a matter of seconds Iris took off the handcuffs to give Barry his speed back and the zoomed out of danger, defying gravity. Now it could be played off with Barry getting faster or maybe him being close enough to the building to run on it but chances are it was just a minor detail the writers missed.

Barry Inconsistent Feats Of Speed

On the show, Barry has been able to accomplish amazing feats with his speed, traveling through time, going through objects, even lending his speed to people for a short period of time. Every season Barry has gotten faster whether it was a help or his own experience but even so Barry has shown very inconsistent feats of his speed. Sometimes it’s within the same season, other times it’s literally within the episode. Often times it’s to move the story along, but like gravity, it’s often just lack of attention to detail or lack of continuity. 

The most inconsistent was in season 3 when Barry spent half the season getting faster to move 30 feet to save Iris from Savitar. Having time traveled and able to run on the water should’ve made him more than fast enough to get the speed he wanted without the unnecessary training.

Wally Unable To Open Speed Force Portal

Barry isn’t the only speedster with speed inconsistencies. Wally West (Kid Flash) gets his powers and immediately starts training with Barry, quickly catching up and even surpassing his mentor. With Barry being slower why is he still able to open speed force portals when Wally lacks the ability? 

RELATED:  The Flash: 5 Reasons Wally West Is The Best Flash (& 5 Reasons Barry Allen Is)

It might be explained away by saying Wally wasn’t mentally prepared to do it but opening a portal should have more to do with his physical skills than his mental ones.

 Time Travel Rules

One of the most heavily discussed topic s and inconsistencies about the show is the time travel. As Flash fans know, time travel plays a huge role in the comics so it’s only natural it has a similar impact on the show. One would think the writing team would be able to keep a consistent way of traveling but as we’ve seen in seasons, the concept changes. It even contradicts the rules of time travel from the Legends of Tomorrow , who spend just about every episode traveling through time.

The fact Barry still hasn’t learned from his many time travel long adventures makes him a bit foolish given it has almost never worked in his favor.

Noras Time With The Team

Speaking of time traveling inconsistencies, Nora’s very presence in season 5 is as contradicting as it gets. One of the major rules of time travel is to never associate yourself with people from the past as knowledge could change the future and in tune with their destiny. But Nora spends almost a year with team flash, consistently causing trouble and even replaying the same hour 52 times to save her friends. 

Another rule of time travel is that the moment never goes back to the way it was (remember the old coffee mug demonstration). So how exactly was Nora able to continue to live a consequence-free life after altering the timeline 52 times?

Barry’s fighting skills (Lack of)

Another big problem that Flash fans have with the show is their portrayal of Barry. In just about every episode he’s getting thrown around or beat up by the villain, only to be saved in one way. 

Now Barry Allen is nowhere near Batman or Green Arrow level of fighting but he’s got enough moves to take on most of his rogues without breaking a sweat. In the show, it seems like it’s the other way around.

It was understandable in the first season when Barry was still new to being the Flash and was inexperienced but currently, in season 6 he’s still getting his bottom handed to him.

Speedsters Lack Of Mind Control Protection

One of Barry’s or any speedster's abilities is their ability to perceive fast movements to be able to run at lightning speeds. This means Barry’s brain moves at 1000s of miles a minute which should make him immune to mid control right? Well, you would think but it’s not the case in this situation.

RELATED:  The Flash: 10 Scenes That Never Fail To Pull On Our Heart-Strings

Barry nearly gets killed by Gorilla Grodd, gets taken over and almost kills the Green Arrow, and currently got take over by Bloodwork to become the Black Flash. 

It’s safe to say this ability didn’t transfer well from the comics.

Barry’s “Fastest Man Alive” Title

Nowadays any casual DC comic reader knows that Barry Allen is not the fastest man alive. He’s second to Wally. But in the show, in just about every episode he introduces himself as the fastest man alive yet he spends every season trying to get as fast as his villains. First Thawne, then Zoom, then it was Savitar who were all significantly faster than Barry.  Maybe he should retire the title.

Why Eobard Thawne is Harrison Wells Again

Perhaps the most blatant of the inconsistencies is Eobard Thawne somehow wearing Harrison Wells face again. we know there are a different Wells every season and he’s a regular but how did we miss that he’s somehow a Wells again. Does that mean Eddie Thawne died for nothing? Does it mean the timeline changed somehow? There's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

NEXT:  20 Things Wrong With The Flash We All Choose To Ignore