The Flash: What Makes Flashpoint Terrifying

The upcoming DCEU movie The Flash could incorporate some elements of horror that derive from the Flashpoint comics story. Having been subject to a level of director swaps, behind-the-scenes issues, and all-around delays that few DC movies have been, The Flash has done a quite remarkable about-face in the past year or so. With the boarding of director Andy Muschietti in 2019, The Flash would finally seem to begin to get rolling, but given the suspended animation it's long been in, many understandably still maintained skepticism before allowing themselves to actually get excited.

Fast-forward to today, and The Flash has brought both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton out of Batman retirement, while positioning itself as perhaps the most crucial lynch pin of the DCEU's future and unfolding multiverse. At this point, The Flash is now generating a level of anticipation that it arguably hasn't seen since it was first announced, with the movie also being set to act as its own specific version of Flashpoint. Meanwhile, comments that Muschietti has put forth could offer a bit more of a picture of the approach that the film will take.

Answering a fan question for the second day of DC FanDome, Muschietti stated that The Flash would be "a great epic adventure," while it would also be in certain ways "terrifying." While he didn't get into specifics on the latter point, Muschietti's description of the tone that the movie will take on could relate to some key aspects of Flashpoint. Not surprisingly, it all goes back to the time-travel side of of the story.

One area that Muschietti may be referring to is the murder of Barry's mother Nora Allen, along with his father Henry being wrongfully imprisoned for it, with the possibility that The Flash might portray this is an event of true terror for the young Barry to witness. It could also be the plan to emphasize the lasting emotional scarring that this would leave on Barry. Muschietti's IT movies were themselves heavily predicated on the long-term impact of childhood trauma seen in Stephen King's novel, and it could be his intent to really zero in on this aspect of Barry's backstory while portraying it as genuinely terrifying, as it doubtlessly would feel to any child going through such a horrendous experience.

The other possibility is that The Flash might present the altered timeline that Ezra Miller's Barry creates through the lens of a horror movie. In Flashpoint, Barry's rewriting of history leads to massive changes to the future, such as Thomas Wayne becoming Batman. Putting a bit of a horror spin on the apocalyptic consequences of Barry's actions could end up adding something unique to what the story is widely known for, as well.

It should be noted that Muschietti has previously emphasized that The Flash is not an outright horror movie like his IT films were. Nevertheless, his latest description of the film does hint to a touch of terror being strategically incorporated into the movie in areas where it can enliven the story. When all's said and done, what Muschietti has in mind for The Flash could give it enough leeway to add just the right amount of terror that he has spoken of into its take on Flashpoint and the ramifications that come out of it.

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