The Flash wasn’t the box office hit Warner Bros. was expecting, but those numbers won’t be a problem for the upcoming DC Universe reboot.
The Flash’s box office was a major disappointment for the DC Extended Universe, but it won’t matter at all for the upcoming DC Universe. Although the DCEU will no longer be DC Comics’ connected universe on the big screen, it still has a couple of titles to release, and among them was The Flash. After various delays, Andy Muschietti’s long-awaited The Flash was finally released on June 2023, but it was a major box office disappointment, while critics and audiences continue to be divided on the movie’s quality.
The Flash follows Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), who after finding out that his powers allow him to go back in time, decides to use them to travel to the past and save his mom. Barry succeeds, but when he tries to return to his timeline, he ends up in one where metahumans don’t exist, Superman never arrived at Earth (and instead his cousin, Kara Zor-El, landed here), Bruce Wayne was completely different, and his variant had no powers. The Flash was key in rebooting the DC Universe to make way for this new era, and while its box office wasn’t the big hit the studio expected, it won’t have an impact on James Gunn’s DC reboot.
James Gunn’s DC Universe Can Properly Distance Itself From The DCEU
The DCEU went through many problems since its beginning in 2013 with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. Still, Warner Bros. continued its efforts to build a connected universe of DC Comics characters and stories, but it lacked consistency and, ultimately, failed to connect with the audience. James Gunn’s reboot with the DC Universe is aiming at doing what the DCEU couldn’t, building continuity and story across live-action movies, TV, animation, and video games. Although some characters from the DCEU will be part of the DC Universe, it can easily and properly distance itself from the DCEU.
Launching the DC Universe will be Superman: Legacy, directed by James Gunn. Superman: Legacy will follow a younger version of Superman during his days as a reporter at The Daily Planet, while also exploring his journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human family. As such, Superman: Legacy won’t have Henry Cavill back as the title hero, and instead, David Corenswet has been cast. Superman is one of the biggest characters in DC Comics, and with it introducing a new actor as Clark Kent, the DC Universe is making a huge statement by kicking off with Superman: Legacy. The DC Universe is showing how different and new it is from the DCEU, and its success will make the path easier for the rest of the planned projects.
Joker & The Batman Prove Movies Outside The DCEU Can Be Big Hits
The DCEU didn’t succeed as expected, but that doesn’t mean that other projects based on DC Comics characters and storylines are also doomed to fail. Movies like Todd Philipps’ Joker and Matt Reeves’ The Batman have succeeded way more than any DCEU movie, and they are completely separate from the DCEU. Of course, their success was thanks to their quality, but it was clear to the audience that they were, in no shape or form, linked to the DCEU. This showed that there is interest in DC movies, just not from the DCEU anymore. The Flash ended up in a difficult position as it was tied to the DCEU’s complicated past and was half-in and half-out of the DC Universe, which made it quite confusing.
The DC Universe, then, has nothing to worry about when it comes to the potential consequences of The Flash’s box office failure. James Gunn has made sure to make it clear that the DC Universe and the DCEU are not the same, and very much like with Joker and The Batman, the audience is open to more DC Comics stories from different universes, and the DC Universe can succeed despite the failures of the DCEU.
