When Zack Snyder enlisted Jeffrey Dean Morgan for a cameo role as Thomas Wayne in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, who would’ve thought that he’d just stumbled backwards into casting the perfect Dark(er) Knight for an eventual Flashpoint movie? I mean, lots of fans wished for such a thing and the memes have long been out there, but that didn’t mean any of us were prepared for the Flash’s solo movie to be rebranded as such this past summer at San Diego Comic-Con.
Naturally, anyone remotely familiar with the source material has been jumping for joy at the notion of Morgan playing an alternate take on Batman. If this were to pan out, it would be quite the milestone because no character other than Bruce Wayne himself has yet to take up the mantle on the silver screen, despite several others having done so in the comics.
Let’s bring you all up to speed, though, before going any further. In 2011, Geoff Johns penned a five-issue miniseries titled Flashpoint that saw the Scarlet Speedster go back in time to save his mother. In doing so, he royally screwed up the timeline, creating a world filled with darker heroes. Eventually, he (kind of) set things right, thereby allowing DC to do a line-wide reboot in the form of the New 52.
In the time since, this arc has been quite faithfully adapted as an animated movie, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and served as loose inspiration for season 3 of The Flash TV series. But even with those existing, seeing it realized with a massive Hollywood budget is enough to make any one of us hyperventilate.
As expected, WB is waiting to see how Justice League performs at the box office before proceeding with any more ensemble pieces, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep our fingers crossed. In fact, actor Ezra Miller recently expressed his own excitement when it comes to bringing the Barry Allen – Thomas Wayne dynamic to the big screen:
“I think that the emotional arc of the Thomas Wayne stuff in Flashpoint is one of the illest [parts]. And to see that different manifestation of Batman and his whole different style.
And I love the reality that you have this universe that is so inverted from the one that we know. And this one factor remains the same, but in this flipped way. Batman is steady, but it’s going to be the result of a different side of the same tragedy with Thomas Wayne instead of Bruce, and that’s dope.”
And if you were wondering what he thinks about the possibility of working alongside Morgan, well, he seems to be in agreement with the rest of us:
“Oh, hell yeah. I think he’s amazing. And I think he would fall right into what is becoming a very, very serious ensemble of actors. I’m so excited about Kiersey Clemons. I’m so excited about Billy Crudup. I just couldn’t be more stoked about the names involved so far.”
Right now, Flashpoint lacks a concrete release date, but a 2020 debut is expected if all goes according to plan. As always, keep watching this space as more develops.