It turns out that we almost got a Flash movie from the creators of Into the Spider-Verse that would have been a fantastic experience.
The DCEU was always rough for many viewers. However, 2023’s The Flash was pretty much the nail in the coffin for the franchise. The film was a disaster with critics and audiences alike, mostly for its convoluted plot and numerous reshoots. Somehow, DC managed to take a property seemingly perfect for a movie and fouled it up.
Among the many early treatments for the film was one pitched in 2015 by Chris Miller and Phil Lord. At the time, the pair were coming off the monster success of The Lego Movie, giving them the credentials needed to do a take on the Fastest Man Alive.
Speaking to Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast to promote their new hit film Project Hail Mary, the pair finally broke their long silence on their Flash treatment. Miller said that he and Lord had “a very elaborate treatment” for the film.
Lord added, "It's a good idea that I am afraid to not be able to use someday. That's all I'll say."
This just adds to the agony of Flash fans in how this never came to be. With their amazing work for the Spider-Verse films, not to mention The Lego Batman Movie, Lord and Miller would have been perfect to craft a comic book adventure worthy of the Flash. Given that the CW show airing at the same time already proved the character could work in live action, Warner Bros. not giving them a shot is appalling.
Why we needed Lord and Miller on The Flash
The saga of The Flash dates back to the 1990s, with numerous attempts at a big-screen movie. It kicked up in 2016 when Zack Snyder introduced the character in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, played by Ezra Miller. Miller would then play the character in Justice League.
The film's saga is worthy of its own book. It underwent numerous rewrites and then reshoots as plans for it to link to the DCEU kept changing. In the end, fans got a film in which the Flash himself was almost a secondary character to the return of Michael Keaton’s Batman and to Sasha Calle as a new Supergirl, with a convoluted time-travel/alternate-reality plotline.
By the time the movie crashed and burned at the box office, Warner Bros. was already changing plans for the DCEU, leading to James Gunn’s new direction. We don’t know which direction this will take with the Flash or whether it means the character returns at all.
The Flash just has so much potential for a movie; it’s amazing it hasn't worked. This is a character with generations of speedsters, several great heroes taking on the role, and one of the best rogues galleries in all of comics. That’s without mentioning plotlines of time travel and the like that can add up to an astounding film. The CW series was expert at utilizing all that, so it makes no sense that a big-screen film can't replicate the success.
With Lord and Miller's track record, recruiting them to revive their old treatment would be a great move by Warner Bros. It can redeem that past attempt and do justice to the character. It’s unclear if it will happen, but hopefully, the Scarlet Speedster takes off on the big screen someday.