DC chooses the multiverse

Thanks to the film on Flash, DC Comics will introduce its multiverse, an important part of its identity in the comics.

While we are, this August 21, 2020, on the eve of the DC Fandome convention, first revelations are already falling. Andy Muschietti, the director of Flash (with Ezra Miller), found that Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton were both going to resume their Dark Knight costumes for this movie.

Michael Keaton played Batman in 1989 and then in 1992, in versions signed by Tim Burton. As for Ben Affleck, or “Batfleck” for fans, he donned the costume in Batman v Superman and in Justice League. If he was supposed to have his solo film, the project was ultimately buried. When the film The Batman was announced, with Robert Pattinson in the role, it seemed certain that “Batfleck” would no longer appear onscreen.

The DC multiverse, a very practical narrative tool

These two returns can be explained by the nature of the film dedicated to Flash: this new production will bring Barry Allen into the multiverse. This is an essential aspect of the DC Comics identity: there is a multitude of parallel worlds, referred to as encrypted versions of Earth (Earth-1, Earth-86, etc.). Flash, with its super-speed, has the ability to break down the barrier between these lands and therefore travel there – and often make a mess of it.

The film Flash will therefore start in the homeland of Erza Miller’s Flash and, according to the director, the return of Ben Affleck will allow us to lay down familiar roots before the great journey into the parallel worlds. During the previous films, we have indeed understood that in this world, Batman is a kind of mentor for Barry Allen.

This multiverse has already been introduced in the DC series. Recently, it has even made it possible to link television and cinema: during the event Crisis on Infinite Earths, Grant Gustin’s Flash briefly met Erza Miller’s Flash. If this mini crossover took place primarily in the series and not in the cinema, it is because on the small screen, the DC multiverse has proved its worth, for example by allowing the production to include several versions of a same character. This has allowed DC to create a television universe that is both rich and, whatever may be, cohesive. The multiverse is a very practical tool.

In movies, DC has a little more trouble creating a full universe, and the franchise is seen by many as lagging behind Marvel. Introducing your multiverse may help provide a more eye-catching, complete, coherent universe, and unleash the creativity of the scenarios. In any case, that at least helps to justify the total change of actor, story and tone for the new Batman film; or even, who knows, to justify the fact that the new Suicide Squad partly resumes the same actors as the previous one without being the sequel.