Whatever the case, Keaton’s Batman has seemingly been out of commission for a while (we see glimpses of a bloodied batsuit and a long, grey-haired Wayne opening a secret passageway. While his main suit does indeed look like an updated version of the Batman ’89 costume, we get a glimpse of some of his others…
A couple of notable ones here: note that the one on the far left has two gun holsters, which indicate that it could be drawing a little comics inspiration from the no-longer-canon Batman: Year Two comics story. The bat-logo on it looks like a slightly stylized version of that from the 1966 Batman TV series, which might indicate it’s from early in this Batman’s career. But it’s also worth pointing out that the Thomas Wayne version of Batman wasn’t averse to carrying a pair of 45s. Or maybe it’s just a tribute to key Batman inspiration, The Shadow, who certainly never shared the Dark Knight’s aversion to firearms, and routinely blasted baddies into the hereafter with a pair of automatics. There’s also one with a comics-accurate blue-and-grey color scheme, which hopefully we’ll get when the new DCU Batman and Robin movie, The Brave and the Bold, hits in a few years. But I digress…
Why are there two Barry Allens?
Who is this apparently un-superheroic version of Barry Allen tagging along for the ride? Is this merely the Barry of a version of the timeline where Nora Allen wasn’t murdered, Henry Allen didn’t go to prison, and Barry lived a normal, un-powered life? It would seem so (and it also appears that he’s a bit younger than “prime” Barry, possibly still living at home, having a teenage-style bedroom and longer hair), which might indicate that this timeline is actually chronologically set in 2013, which would line up with the Man of Steel imagery and General Zod stuff in the trailer. But there’s another, creepier possibility…
Is Reverse-Flash The Secret Villain of The Flash movie?
The fact that when we first meet this Barry he’s wearing a yellow hoodie and headphones does call to mind key Flash rogue, Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash. I wrote about this in more detail here back in 2021 when the first footage from this movie hit, but the short version is: what if this isn’t an alternate Barry at all, but rather Thawne in disguise?
It also appears that neither Barry has their speed powers for a chunk of the movie. In the case of the “second” Barry (let’s set aside the Thawne theory for the moment), it’s because he wouldn’t have them yet at this point in the timeline, anyway. But in the case of “prime” Barry, well, in the Flashpoint comics, one of the side effects of his altering the timeline was the loss of his powers, powers which are only restored via a painful lightning harnessing trick with Batman’s help (which we also seem to glimpse in the trailer).
Why is General Zod back?
We hear Barry say something to the effect that his actions created a world without metahumans. And since in the DCEU (which this movie is still part of) didn’t really go “public” with metahuman activity until the events of Man of Steel (and funny enough, The Flash will be released right around that movie’s 10th anniversary), then it would make sense for that to be the point where things first really start to diverge noticeably how things are supposed to go. If Clark Kent doesn’t emerge from his low-key lifestyle to fight off Zod and his Kryptonian army, then Zod wins, and that’s the end of Earth.
