At long last, the first full-length trailer for The Flash is finally out in the open for the world to see, and it looks as though James Gunn may not have been lying when he said it was one of the greatest superhero movies he’d ever seen.
Turning the first decade of the DCU on its head, Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen creates multiversal chaos that sees Michael Keaton return as Batman, while Sasha Calle’s Supergirl steps in to battle the threat of Michael Shannon’s General Zod in a timeline where there’s no such thing as Henry Cavill’s Big Blue Boy Scout.
Ben Affleck is also there to connect the film to DCU canon as the main mythology’s Bruce Wayne, but it’s one of the more subtle Easter Eggs hidden in the background of the trailer that’s largely gone unnoticed. Back in 2007, I Am Legend teased a Batman v Superman crossover in the overgrown apocalyptic ruins of New York.
Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman was attached to pen the clash of costumed titans set to be directed by Wolfgang Petersen, but even if it didn’t end up happening for another decade under a vastly different guise, The Flash hasn’t forgotten where the seed of seeing DC’s heaviest hitters interacting originated.
There’s also a Pacific Rim: Uprising one-sheet spotted on the walls of Barry’s sanctuary, which may or may not be a nod to director Steven S. DeKnight’s long stint as a writer and director on Smallville. DC hasn’t forgotten its roots, then, but even the most dedicated of fans may have missed the nod first time around.