Spoilers The Flash (2023) -Review and Discussion Thread

[Christopher]

Perhaps. But wer're not looking at in-universe. It's all about audience reaction. Have a character say the thing and so on.

And it's bad writing if you sacrifice in-universe credibility for the sake of getting a cheap recognition reaction from the audience. An Easter egg is fine if it makes sense within the story, because it doesn't break the logic of the characters.

Okay, granted, an intrusive continuity reference can pull you out of the story and get in the way of suspension of disbelief. Even I could tell that the Red Death's use of the line seemed like a self-conscious reference to something, though I couldn't place it. But what I'm saying is that there's an additional reason why the line in The Flash doesn't work, because it breaks the character's own internal logic in a way the Red Death's line doesn't.

 

[Mage]

And it's bad writing if you sacrifice in-universe credibility for the sake of getting a cheap recognition reaction from the audience. An Easter egg is fine if it makes sense within the story, because it doesn't break the logic of the characters.

Okay, granted, an intrusive continuity reference can pull you out of the story and get in the way of suspension of disbelief. Even I could tell that the Red Death's use of the line seemed like a self-conscious reference to something, though I couldn't place it. But what I'm saying is that there's an additional reason why the line in The Flash doesn't work, because it breaks the character's own internal logic in a way the Red Death's line doesn't.

Before we misunderstand each other, I do agree the line didn't work in the Flash. Just that, having the line coming from Keaton's Bruce made more sense to me than Red Death. But yeah, the entire way it played out in The Flash was just weird and didn't make sense.

 

[Set Harth]

Ideally it should be Squirrel Girl saying it.

 

[Markonian]

Now that some time has passed and the strikes shake things up:
Is it impossible that we could see Callie’s Supergirl again?

 

[The Realist]

Now that some time has passed and the strikes shake things up:
Is it impossible that we could see Callie’s Supergirl again?

Impossible? I wouldn't go that far. But given The Flash's failure and Gunn's creative takeover (with his confusing desire to reboot/recast everything except maybe not sometimes? ), I would say it's improbable.

Too bad, too, because I really liked her in the role, and I feel her approach to the character would fit well with the planned DCU film adaptation of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

 

[Christopher]

with his confusing desire to reboot/recast everything except maybe not sometimes?

I don't find that confusing. It's natural enough that there'd be an incentive to keep the parts that are most popular with audiences and change the parts that weren't as successful. It's like when DC did the New 52 reboot (I think it was) -- they radically changed almost everything, but they kept the Batman and Green Lantern continuities virtually unchanged because those were the most popular series and they didn't want to mess with success.

 

[The Realist]

I just posted something in the "Superman" thread if you want to go disagree with that, too.

 

[urbandefault]

Gunn has said that he's using the Flash movie to reset the entire DC movie universe.

That's good enough for me.

 

[Tosk]

Gunn has said that he's using the Flash movie to reset the entire DC movie universe.

That's good enough for me.

Except not really. There's no way Clooney is the Batman going forward.

Unless the reset is that Barry left "our universe" never to return.

 

[thribs]

Looks like he’s made the universe worse to me.

 

[thribs]

Except not really. There's no way Clooney is the Batman going forward.

Unless the reset is that Barry left "our universe" never to return.

There’s that line in the post credits that he tried to fix that but a different person was Batman every time

 

[Tosk]

There’s that line in the post credits that he tried to fix that but a different person was Batman every time

I'm not so sure that's what he's saying. It sounds like he's just describing what happened during the movie to Arthur.

"‘Cause what I’m trying to explain as simply as I possibly can, I promise…They were all Batman. They were all Bruce Wayne."

That said, I buy the excuse that he kept trying off-screen afterwards. Either way, we've shifted universes from here on in.

 

[Christopher]

I just posted something in the "Superman" thread if you want to go disagree with that, too.

I wasn't disagreeing, I was suggesting an explanation that might clarify things for you.

 

[The Realist]

I wasn't disagreeing, I was suggesting an explanation that might clarify things for you.

Just joshin'. You "clarified" two of my posts earlier in quick succession, hence my comment, but it was meant in good humor.

 

[Dee1891]

Gunn has said that he's using the Flash movie to reset the entire DC movie universe.

That's good enough for me.

That movie was Gunn's idea of a franchise reset?

 

[Set Harth]

So we're told that Alberto Falcone has a "highly deadly virus" that he took from... a hospital?
And that if it falls into the water it could wipe out half of Gotham?
Uh, what?
A virus going into the water would be likely to kill a number of people approaching zero, barring edge cases like eating an infected fish. They're acting like it's a chemical weapon as opposed to a virus.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

So we're told that Alberto Falcone has a "highly deadly virus" that he took from... a hospital?
And that if it falls into the water it could wipe out half of Gotham?
Uh, what?
A virus going into the water would be likely to kill a number of people approaching zero, barring edge cases like eating an infected fish. They're acting like it's a chemical weapon as opposed to a virus.

Screenwriters rarely understand how viruses (weaponized or not) work. Its about as realistic as movie and TV cars always exploding just by rolling / flipping down a hill.

 

[Tosk]

A virus going into the water would be likely to kill a number of people approaching zero, barring edge cases like eating an infected fish. They're acting like it's a chemical weapon as opposed to a virus.

Luckily the concurrent hospital scene is extremely realistic, so it evens out.

 

[Guy Gardener]

That movie was Gunn's idea of a franchise reset?

Yes, but the movie was originally supposed to air 5 years ago, so it was already 95 percent finished when Gunn got the top job.

 

[Gaith]

Good news for people who love to ruin holiday family gatherings - The Flash hits Amazon Prime on Christmas Day!