Beware the Dark Flash!
While The Flash screened for critics and theater exhibitors at CinemaCon last week, everyone else is left to speculate about its story and surprises until its June 16 release. That’s why fans are buzzing over a trailer for the Japanese market that seems to reveal the movie’s real villain.
The Japanese Flash trailer contains a shot of Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen — one of them anyway — wearing a spiked black costume. This appears to pinpoint the identity of “Dark Flash,” a reimagined take on the comic book specter known as “Black Flash.” Merchandise for the film includes Dark Flash figures, which are indeed a black version of The Flash with spiky textures.
The same shot appears smoothed out in the American trailer. DC fans might have their own Spider-Man: No Way Home moment here, when foreign language trailers of No Way Home barely hid the inclusion of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.
But who is Dark Flash? And what purpose could they have in The Flash?
Who is Dark Flash?
Dark Flash is the DC cinematic version of Black Flash, who hails from the comics. Less of a supervillain and more of a ghoulish entity, the Black Flash is basically the Grim Reaper for DC speedsters.
When an individual tapped into the Speed Force that powers characters like the Flash reaches their end, the Black Flash comes for them to take them back to the Speed Force, where they become one with the power source. It was created by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, and Ron Wagner, and debuted in The Flash #138.
There are no definitive origins for Black Flash. They’re simply an extension of the Speed Force as an avatar for its darker nature. Importantly, two men have “become” Black Flash: Barry Allen (in The Flash: Rebirth) and Eobard Thawne, aka Reverse-Flash, who was turned into Black Flash upon acquiring the zombie Black Lantern ring during the events of Blackest Night.
What Does Dark Flash Mean for The Flash?
If we had to guess, Dark Flash could be an amalgamation of all the versions of Black Flash in the comics, which would serve as an avatar of the Speed Force collecting on doomed speedsters.
It could also be Barry Allen. Given that The Flash is set to loosely adapt another major comic book story — the 2011 series Flashpoint, in which Barry runs back in time to alter his own origin story and create a totally new DC Universe — Barry could run into “himself” in this new timeline, and that Flash might turn rogue to become Dark Flash and kill Barry.
Fans won’t have to wait long for answers, as The Flash has some serious pre-release buzz that may or may not eclipse the legal controversies that surround its lead. In that way, it’s almost fitting The Flash stars Ezra Miller battling a worse version of themselves.
The Flash will race into theaters on June 16.
