The Flash movie can do for the DC Extended Universe what Spider-Man: No Way Home wasn’t fully allowed to do for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shared universes, when they grow big enough, can get a bit complicated. Storylines and characters have to be connected and maintained within the same timeline, but the joy of the multiverse is that changes can ultimately be made to shake things up.

The Flash movie will include Supergirl, two versions of Batman — Michael Keaton’s and Ben Affleck’s DCEU Bruce Wayne — and speculation suggests Gal Gadot will reprise her role as Wonder Woman as well. Similar to Spider-Man: No Way Home including previous versions of Spider-Man and their villains, the long-delayed The Flash film looks to bring the various intersections of its own multiverse together. However, whereas No Way Home was a nice walk down memory lane, revisiting beloved characters from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man movies and cleverly bringing the Sony universe to the MCU, the repercussions of the film’s storyline didn’t significantly alter anything for Marvel’s Phase Four.

Related: DCEU Rumors Hint How The Flash Movie Will End Differently Than No Way Home

However, The Flash movie is gearing up to adapt the “Flashpoint” storyline from the comics, which sees the titular speedster running to the past to save his mother from being murdered. While it’s still unclear what aspects of the comics arc the film is adapting, The Flash seems to be using this particular story to reboot (or overhaul) the DCEU altogether, which could rearrange or permanently change character arcs and the plot of every movie that preceded it, including Justice League and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s not uncharacteristic for "Flashpoint" to make changes to known story aspects considering the comics — and The Flash TV show to a much lesser extent — used it to do the same thing, relaunching the DC comics universe to usher in The New 52 era.

The Flash with his various variants

Evidence of The Flash doing as much is apparent in Keaton reprising his role as Batman for the upcoming Batgirl movie starring Leslie Grace. It's possible the DCEU film will either open the gates to the multiverse or rework the shared universe to streamline the newer films to fit into one linear timeline of events. Whatever the case, the outcome of The Flash’s storyline could prove to be a crucial change to both the DCEU’s past and future. Spider-Man: No Way Home, on the other hand, was never going to make any major changes to the MCU’s canon. While the consequences of Peter Parker’s actions resulted in significant changes to his personal life, the issue of his identity won’t reflect on the MCU as a whole.

Everything will proceed as planned and Sony's Marvel characters returned to their universes, their borrowed time up. Even Avengers: Endgame didn’t alter very much of the established storyline despite the Avengers' time traveling shenanigans. In The Flash movie, however, it's possible there will be major alterations to the DCEU’s overarching story and characters. It would be a bold move to have the Scarlet Speedster completely upend the DCEU's previous status quo, but perhaps a major shake-up thanks to time travel might be exactly what the DCEU needs as Warner Bros. begins introducing new characters into its live-action sphere to forge a way forward while still acknowledging its previous movies.

Next: The Flash Movie Costume Upgrade Was Teased In Crisis On Infinite Earths

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