Does 'The Flash' Movie Honor The Snyderverse?
What will fans of "Zack Snyder's Justice League" think of "The Flash" movie? With DC's rocky history of failing to acknowledge the Snyder cut of "Justice League," some fans are curious how "The Flash" will build off of Ezra Miller's version of Barry Allen that was established in Zack Snyder's film (and later completely ruined by the theatrical cut of "Justice League").
In this video, CinemaBlend's Sean O'Connell and Hannah Saulic explain why they think "The Flash" honors the Snyderverse.
In this video, CinemaBlend's Sean O'Connell and Hannah Saulic explain why they think "The Flash" honors the Snyderverse.
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00:00 100% this is canon to the Snyder Cut.
00:03 - I would love Zach to watch this movie.
00:04 I think he would enjoy it.
00:06 (upbeat music)
00:08 - Hey everybody, it's Hannah Sollock,
00:14 the head of video here at Cinema Blend
00:16 with Sean O'Connell, our managing editor.
00:18 - Flash!
00:19 (people cheering)
00:21 - We took a little bit of a hiatus after seeing the flash
00:23 because we didn't wanna accidentally spoil people
00:26 in false theory videos.
00:28 - Yeah, that's true.
00:29 We knew a lot for a long time
00:32 and it was kinda difficult to sit on that.
00:34 - Question that we got a lot on our reaction,
00:36 which I'll link to in case you guys
00:38 didn't get a chance to see that,
00:39 is just sort of how will Snyderverse fans
00:43 feel about the flash?
00:44 And I got that a lot on Twitter
00:45 and Sean, I'm sure you did as well.
00:47 So I thought we could maybe kind of dig into that question
00:50 a little bit today and still keep it spoiler free.
00:52 So you're safe to watch this
00:54 if you have not seen the flash yet.
00:56 But I will say we are going to talk about some things
00:59 that have been reported.
01:00 So if you haven't really been following this stuff,
01:02 don't wanna know about people who may or may not show up
01:05 because certain people in the cast went on a podcast
01:07 and told us that they would months before the movie came out.
01:10 This is not the video for you.
01:12 Come back after you've seen the flash
01:13 because it'll still be relevant.
01:15 But if you, you know, kinda follow DC News on the regular
01:18 and still haven't seen the flash, I would say you're safe.
01:21 And also this will be edited.
01:22 So I will make sure that that is the case.
01:25 - Terrific.
01:26 - She controls (beep)
01:29 - So Sean, where do you wanna start?
01:31 I guess just like an overall question of like,
01:33 even though there are so many sort of factions
01:35 of the Snyderverse fandom.
01:37 In general, how do you think they'll feel about the flash?
01:41 - I think we have to acknowledge that there are Snyder fans
01:45 who just wanna see, you know, some more of the world
01:48 that Zack helped to create.
01:50 - Big round table, six chairs right there.
01:53 - But room for more.
01:56 - And then there are ones that are gonna reject the flash
01:58 simply because it doesn't have any Zack connection.
02:01 Like Zack's not a producer
02:02 the way that he was on Wonder Woman.
02:04 And they consider this to be an insult to the world
02:07 'cause they're not letting him continue.
02:08 So we're talking to the Snyder fans who just want to come
02:11 and sort of experience more of, you know, this DC current,
02:15 this current DC world before it goes away
02:17 as James Gunn is probably gonna start rebooting it.
02:19 - These are some of her last few moments of life.
02:21 - And I'm of the mindset that because Andy Muschietti
02:23 continues to use these actors that Zack put in place,
02:27 that when we get to moments where they pop up.
02:29 - You have fancy friends.
02:30 - It's a quote unquote continuation of the Snyderverse.
02:34 Like it's fun to see Ben get more opportunities
02:37 to play Batman and to get,
02:39 for us to get more action sequences
02:41 featuring that version of Batman,
02:43 which I think are actually really great.
02:45 It is great to watch that version of Barry develop,
02:48 to see what they would have done
02:50 with a solo Barry Allen movie
02:53 and really get to the emotional heart of it.
02:54 - I could fix things.
02:55 You could also destroy everything.
02:58 - It just feels so cohesive with like the stuff that we saw
03:01 specifically in Zack Snyder's "Justice League,"
03:03 not just like the theatrical cut of "Justice League."
03:06 - Can I keep this?
03:07 - Sort of the same humor that's happening
03:09 in like the pet shop is exactly what you're getting.
03:12 - Yeah, yeah.
03:13 (laughs)
03:14 (fanfare)
03:14 - And I love seeing Alfred.
03:16 Like, okay, so when we saw it,
03:18 we didn't know Alfred was gonna be in it
03:20 because that hadn't been in any of the marketing.
03:21 So that was such a pleasant surprise
03:23 when you heard his voice and saw him pop up on screen.
03:27 It was just so much fun. - Absolutely.
03:29 - Yeah.
03:29 - Yeah.
03:30 - Well, I'll put on the team.
03:32 - And I think that these are,
03:34 it's not just like casting choices,
03:35 but it's character development that started in those movies.
03:39 - Yes.
03:40 - You know, whether it be the way that Ben is playing Batman
03:45 and Bruce Wayne specifically,
03:46 all of the decisions that Ezra is making.
03:49 Yes, we talked about Gaul is in the movie
03:51 and she appears during a pivotal action sequence.
03:54 - Yes, and Ben Affleck spoiled that
03:55 on the "Smart List" podcast like months ago.
03:57 - Yes, he did.
03:58 - No.
03:59 - He revealed this.
04:00 Yes.
04:01 - It happens.
04:02 - So now she's been in "Shazam" and she's been in "The Flash"
04:05 and, you know, again, this is the Wonder Woman
04:08 of those movies and the Wonder Woman of that universe.
04:10 And so I think people who love those movies,
04:12 how do you not get excited when you see these people
04:14 show up in the film?
04:16 Like, is it the way that Zach would have done it?
04:18 No, Zach would have probably done it differently.
04:19 But I do think that it's paying homage, you know,
04:22 it's honoring the choices and the decisions
04:25 that were made in the beginning of those films.
04:26 So I think those people are gonna come out of this
04:28 really liking "The Flash" because I don't think
04:30 that it so drastically shakes up, you know,
04:33 the way that these characters were established
04:35 in those early plots.
04:36 - No, I mean, like, if Zach,
04:37 we lived in a world, like, hypothetically,
04:38 where Zach were still making "Justice League" movies
04:41 and like this movie came out in between
04:43 the Zack Snyder's "Justice League" that we saw
04:45 and like his "Justice League 2," like, I would believe it.
04:48 You know, like just based on--
04:49 - Oh!
04:50 (trumpet fanfare)
04:51 - Is she even good at keeping secrets?
04:53 - Full disclosure, have not seen the post-credit scene,
04:55 so I'm just specifically talking about the--
04:57 (record scratch)
04:58 - Sequence.
04:59 - Moderate. - No.
05:00 - In this sense, so I'm not gonna put it quite on the par
05:03 of Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman,"
05:05 'cause I thought Patty did an incredible job
05:07 with sort of establishing that universe.
05:10 But this is on par with James Wan's "Aquaman" for me.
05:13 You know, it's like taking one of those heroes
05:15 and giving them a solo story that still has connections
05:18 back to the world, essentially,
05:20 but doesn't go so drastically in another direction.
05:23 Like I can't compare it to David Ayer's "Suicide Squad"
05:26 because I thought that the studio's so mucked with that,
05:28 you know, and it doesn't feel like a connection
05:31 to the DC world the way that James Gunn's
05:33 "The Suicide Squad" was 'cause that really felt
05:35 like it was on its own island.
05:36 But "The Flash" to me really feels like it belongs
05:40 in that body of work of like, yeah,
05:42 they all take place in this kind of universe
05:44 and they're not quite as good as Zack's movies,
05:46 but they belong as part of the fabric.
05:48 - Tell me about this.
05:49 - 100% this is canon to the Snyder Cut.
05:56 - Can you talk about why without telling me exactly what?
05:59 - Yeah, I think I can.
06:01 - I might be able to do it.
06:02 - There's a conversation between Bruce and Barry,
06:05 and you'll know it when you hear it,
06:07 but I can't, let's see, what can I say?
06:09 They are discussing an experience that they went through.
06:14 (laughs)
06:16 That only happened in the Snyder Cut
06:20 and didn't happen in the theatrical cut.
06:22 And it has to do with Barry using his powers.
06:26 So it's like, how did Barry use his powers
06:29 in the Snyder Cut?
06:30 - Make your own future, Barry.
06:33 Make your own past.
06:34 - Versus how Barry uses powers in the theatrical cut
06:37 in "Joss's League."
06:38 - I've just pushed some people and run away.
06:40 - And so the fact that Bruce and Barry
06:43 are talking about those powers
06:45 and how they're being used from the Snyder Cut
06:48 is like, oh yeah, this is very clearly,
06:50 you're referencing a moment that happened in Snyder Cut.
06:52 And I swear to God too, there was a second example
06:55 that now I can't remember that I was like,
06:58 oh, that's a direct reference back to Snyder Cut,
07:01 and it has nothing to do with "Joss's League,"
07:03 which changed it a bit, so.
07:05 - Yeah.
07:06 I don't recall, but I do remember there being something
07:09 while we were watching where I was like, huh.
07:11 - Oh, there's a moment where Iris-
07:14 - Oh yeah, 'cause she references like-
07:17 - Yes, that's what it is.
07:18 I just remembered it in real time,
07:20 and he was like.
07:21 (dramatic music)
07:22 Essentially, but he saved her life
07:25 in a scene from Snyder Cut.
07:26 - Yeah, but he doesn't want her to know that, yeah.
07:28 - Yes, but that's again,
07:29 that's another extremely strong reference
07:32 to the Snyder Cut to say that we are building this universe
07:35 off the Snyder Cut.
07:36 But there's a time in the movie, in the flash,
07:39 which this is a bit of a spoiler,
07:41 but not much, but you do see him
07:43 as he's running through the speed force.
07:45 (dramatic music)
07:48 Right, he's sort of.
07:50 It's hard to do, it's hard to do.
07:54 - I think we.
07:55 - And some of those parts are from both,
08:01 you know, Snyder Cut and "Joss's League,"
08:03 'cause the changes aren't that drastic.
08:05 But I truly believe because of the conversation,
08:08 the conversation is the big one to me,
08:10 that this is a direct continuation
08:12 and almost like a bold kind of acknowledgement
08:15 of a DC project that came out post "Joss's League"
08:19 of saying, oh, okay, no, the Snyder Cut
08:22 is the version that we're building off of.
08:23 And that's, you think about where we were three years ago,
08:26 like that's unheard of.
08:28 - This is why we love Andy. - That's pretty crazy.
08:30 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:31 - And you talked to him, yeah,
08:33 and tell us about that answer,
08:34 'cause you asked him if he'd shown the flash to Zack yet.
08:38 - And I was actually surprised
08:39 when he said that he hadn't,
08:41 because I kind of just figured at this point,
08:44 out of professional curiosity,
08:46 Zack might've wanted to at least see it,
08:47 because Ezra is someone who he cast in the film
08:50 and he knows that Ben is in it,
08:51 and Ben going out and saying,
08:52 "This is the best work I've ever done as Batman,"
08:55 is kind of surprising.
08:56 And if I were Zack, I'd wanna figure out what's going on.
08:59 - Maybe he wanted to wait for the finished cut.
09:01 - Maybe, and I know he's super immersed in "Rebel Moon,"
09:04 and I'm sure that's chewing up all of his time.
09:07 But what Andy said was.
09:08 - I would love Zack to watch this movie.
09:11 I think we honored the part of the movie
09:18 that he created in terms of characters
09:23 and characterizations and cast.
09:26 So I think he would enjoy it.
09:28 - So it is like saying,
09:29 "No, I'm not just using the actors that you cast
09:32 because you saddled me with them,
09:34 but I'm going to continue moving forward with them
09:36 in a way that their personalities
09:39 are gonna continue to reflect off of what you established,
09:42 and we're not so drastically changing them."
09:44 So all the more reason why rational "SnyderVerse" fans
09:49 can go into this and be like, "This is great."
09:53 - Yes, and anyone who's looking for answers
09:55 to the larger questions of what does this mean
09:58 for so-and-so moving forward,
10:00 and what does this mean for the "SnyderVerse" moving forward,
10:03 I will caution you that you're probably not gonna get
10:06 all of your questions answered.
10:07 In fact, you might even have more questions
10:09 than you did before you even saw the flash.
10:13 But that's something, Sean, that we'll get into next week
10:16 with our videos to talk about some post-credit scenes
10:20 and then really deep dive into some theories
10:23 for what the heck is going on.
10:25 - Yeah, you guys are gonna have questions.
10:27 I'm not gonna guarantee that we have the answers,
10:29 but we can definitely speculate on some really fine ones.
10:31 - I'll get some really good theories for you, though.
10:33 (laughing)
10:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]