The following article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home
Barry Allen may be the fastest man alive but The Flash won't be coming to theaters until November this year, meaning that by then Spider-Man: No Way Home would have turned one year old, and yet that film’s lasting impact might still be enough to overshadow DC’s own big crossover event.
The parallels between the two films are easy to draw, whereas No Way Home paid homage to Spider-Man’s history in film by having Tom Holland’s character grow alongside his predecessors; The Flash will also bring together many of DC’s characters by regrouping several actors from different ages, with Batmen Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck leading the way to help Ezra Miller navigate his way in his first solo movie, however, that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
Spiders vs. Bats Is Just Like Apples vs. Oranges
Nowadays, Marvel gets deserved credit for laying the ground for what would become the superhero film genre in the early 2000s mostly thanks to the X-Men and Spider-Man, nevertheless, it was Superman and Batman who first brought comic book heroes to mainstream media. Although with somewhat mixed results, that cycle did give birth to Tim Burton’s Batman movies and Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne, who still to this day humble brags about being the best Batman, a claim few would argue he’s not entitled to make.
The problem is that if The Flash fails as its own epic crossover, that will hardly be Keaton’s fault but more likely down to a lack of history for its titular character, who only got some proper background in the Snyder Cut after mostly being overlooked in Joss Whedon's disastrous Justice League. Holland got two full movies plus shared the spotlight in three Avengers crossovers, while on the other hand, Miller will jump forward with only an hour and twenty minutes of screen time afforded to him by Zack Snyder.
Barry Allen’s upgrade in the Snyder Cut is among the best things in the film's definitive version, but it’s barely enough to make for a true origin story or establish a solid character basis for him, and that is the type of work The Flash will also have to attend to. The same could really be said about Affleck's Caped Crusader, who never really found his footing in the DCEU with the actor still claiming he’s found a new way to play the character in his final outing as Batman.
On top of that, with The Flash’s main villains still unknown, General Zod and Faora-Ul hardly represent la crème de la crème when it comes to antagonists despite the respective actor’s good performances in Man of Steel. After all, hardly anyone would compare Zod to Willem Dafoe’s brilliant Green Goblin or Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock because these are characters capable of generating hype in fans by themselves, they were great before No Way Home and continued to be the main attraction opposite to Spider-Man while the rest of the Sinister Five were mostly bench players.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield had one lackluster movie each in an otherwise memorable legacy, Affleck had one and it comes with an asterisk next to it. This all goes to say that, while Spider-Man: No Way Home served as a closing chapter for an established hero bringing back the franchise’s greatest hits, to build something new; The Flash looks more like a forced mismatch of characters needed to carry out the Flashpoint storyline, though fortunately, it’s this last part that might be the key for the film’s success.
The Flash’s Flashing Bright Side
It’s still a complete mystery whether The Flash will be used by Warner as a way to completely reboot the DCEU in a retcon play that would bring as many pros as cons, but if there’s one thing for sure is that Flashpoint is supposed to at least toy with that possibility. In that regard, the movie could borrow yet another page from No Way Home’s playbook by being both the potential end of an era and the beginning of a new stage for Flash, just like that movie might turn out to be for Spider-Man.
For all intents and purposes, save for Wonder Woman, the DCEU is a flawed product that is only financially viable due to its blockbuster status, but now that Snyder is gone and Warner has no intention of following through with that vision, there’s little incentive to move forward with it in its currents state. Since Affleck is on his way out, The Batman will do its own thing, and all signs point to a new Superman saga of sorts, staying clear of the DCEU mess might actually benefit The Flash.
There’s only so little audiences know about The Flash up to this point and his solo debut could help develop the character as a true icon of his own, especially since he’ll be joined by newcomer Supergirl (Sasha Calle). Though that would still be a bit of an odd move considering the types of plans Warner has for Aquaman, Shazam, and Black Adam, allowing Flash to exist without being burdened by the rest of the Justice League would afford the studio the chance to work on a cleanish slate with a character that nowadays has no business being tied to 2017’s Justice League.
Spider-Man: No Way Home works beyond its epic levels of fan service because it propels the MCU’s Peter Parker to new ground, both within the reality he inhabits when the film starts and the life he’s left with once the credits start to roll. If Barry Allen is meant to emulate Spidey in any way, The Flash has to make up lost time while setting up the future for characters that can exist without the need to fall back on Superman and Batman callbacks in the future and, judging from past precedents, that is no easy task for Warner.
