It’s no secret thatThe Flashmovie under-deliveredon a massive scale, crashing faster than, well, the Flash. There are many reasons, of course, not the least of which is how the film is clearly in the DCEU, the sameDCEU whose fate was decidedbefore the film was even released. One of the more prevailing ones, however, has nothing to do with the character and everything to do with who is playing him:Ezra Miller. Theirwell-documented recent historyhas turned people off, but even before that, Miller was never the best choice, with arguably only one truly great (and decidedly funny) DCEU moment,a brief cameo in DC’sPeacemakerseries. But on TV?Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen/Flash in The CW seriesThe Flashis way, way better. Strike that. He’s the best.
After being struck by lightning, Barry Allen wakes up from his coma to discover he’s been given the power of super speed, becoming the Flash, and fighting crime in Central City.
Where the DCEU Flash Fails
It’s a bold statement, but to understandwhy Gustin’s Flash is the best, one has to understand where Miller’s DCEU Flash fails. But to be fair, that doesn’t all rest on Miller, whose performance as the speedster in bothJustice LeagueandThe Flashare cited as highlights of both films (even our own Collider writers agree,hereandhere). But not everyone was enamored with Miller’s dual-role in the latter, with one reviewer suggesting that Miller’s take on the younger Flash is “incredibly agitating and unlikable,” a statement that has also been shared among many. The uncertainty and lack of self-assuredness on Miller’s Barry Allen fits the character on film, but is an admittedly personal pet peeve. Whatison Miller is how difficult it is to separate the actor from the character, withMiller’s attempts at salvaging their reputation coming too little and too late, and the lack of a firm statement on Miller’s future as the DCU’s Flash hasn’t helped.
Another factor is the DCEU Flash costumes. The suit fromJustice Leaguelooks cumbersome, like it was thrown together. That is the aesthetic thatcostume designerMichael Wilkinsonadmitsto in an interview with Fashionista, but in practice it looks off, with materials that would seemingly be unavailable to a kid with little money. While it’s always been a little suspect how rookie superheroes are able to craft these amazingly tailored suits (Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man suit looks like it would be difficult for an experienced seamstress to make, let alone a high-school student), there’s a level of forgiveness so long as the suit remains faithful to its source. This one simply doesn’t, and although the Wayne Tech suit inThe Flashlooks better, it still looks like an armored bastardization of the more classic, less “yellow-lines-make-me-look-fast-standing-still” suit from the pages of DC Comics.
Where the DCEU Flash Falls Short, Grant Gustin’s CW Flash Shines
From the start,Gustin’s Barry Allen was more confident, more optimistic, more altruistic, just… more. More of everything that the Flash’s comic book history has crafted the hero to be. Miller’s Flash learned nothing from his experiences inThe Flash, a point thatCollider’sAidan Kelleyexplains in detail. Gustin’s Flash did, leading to not only the sacrifice of his own happiness, but having tostand firm in the face of an outraged Cisco (Carlos Valdes), angry that Barry would travel back in time to save his parents, but not Cisco’s brother. Even in some undeniably cheesy and awful episodes and plotlines (Season 7’s Forces, Godspeed, and speed force lightsabersarguably the worst), Gustin doesn’t lose focus of what makes Barry special. The costumes for the CW’s Flash are much closer to how they appear in the comics as well.Every iteration of the costume throughout the entire run ofThe Flashis simple and classic. It’s like the DCEU had to make their costumes “worthy” of the big screen, where the CW proves that less is more when it comes to effectiveness.
Young Barry Allen Runs Through Time With New ‘The Flash’ Hot Toys Figure
The superhero movie is now available on Blu-ray and digital.
Speaking of which, the CW, even on a TV show budget, excelled in making the Flash’s speed come alive, represented through effective “lightning” effects and appearances in real time against slow motion, to show how Barry sees the world at full-speed (likethe infamous baby-saving scene from the movie, but better). Again, it’s an area where the DCEU makes things more bombastic than they need to be.WhereThe Flashseries really excels is in acknowledging the hero’s past. The speedsterdoesn’t have a rich history on film and television, unlike peers Superman and Batman, but what it does have is honored throughout the show. This aspect is best represented withJohn Wesley Shipp’s appearance in the series as Henry Allen, Barry’s father who is killed by Zoom (Teddy Sears). His presence in the show is a nod to his past as Barry Allen/The Flash in the 1990-91 CBS seriesThe Flash, which also brought aboard the Dr. Tina McGee of that series as Dr. Tina McGee of the CW, actressAmanda Pays. Shipp would also end up playing Jay Garrick, the Flash that served as a mentor for Gustin’s Barry, and who wore, in another nod to the character’s past, the “hubcap” helmet of the Golden Age Flash. The only nod that the DCEU Flash made with the past waswith creepy-ass CGI SupermeninThe Flashmovie.
It’s easy to say that Gustin’s CW Flash is better than Miller’s DCEU iteration, but does it mean he’s a slam dunk to replace the embattled actor on the movie screen? Hard to say. Gustin was perfect in the role on television, anddeserves at least some considerationshould Miller be removed from future appearances as the character in the DCU. But television actors don’t often make a successful transition from one medium to the other, while the same is true for film actors in television. Nevertheless, what the CW brought toThe Flash—a self-assured, caring, heroic presence with a “less is more” aesthetic— are elements thatJames Gunnand the DCUwould be wise to make more prominent on film, and in doing so, rescuing a DC superhero with a long history from the one villain he couldn’t defeat:the box-office.
The CW’sThe Flashis available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
Watch on Netflix
