Snyder’s casting of Miller was introduced concurrently with plans for Suicide Squad (2016), Surprise Girl (2017), Aquaman (2018), two Justice League movies which might be launched between 2017 and 2019, The Flash in 2018, and Cyborg and a brand new Inexperienced Lantern film in 2020. Half of these clearly didn’t come to go. However within the case of The Flash, it wasn’t from an absence of making an attempt.

After James Wan turned down The Flash in favor of directing Aquaman, Phil Lord and Chris Miller have been employed in April 2015 to jot down and probably direct The Flash. The duo have been contemporary off the success of the 21 Bounce Road flicks and The Lego Film (2014). It might seem Lord and Miller’s therapy was the primary to introduce the concept of time journey in a Flash movie (an idea that will carry all the best way into the 2023 ultimate movie). Nevertheless, the pair quickly departed to direct the ill-fated Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

Later that 12 months, Seth Grahame-Smith (creator and screenwriter of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) was tapped to jot down and direct the movie, working from the story penned by Lord and Miller. Nevertheless, he additionally departed the undertaking in April 2016, citing “artistic variations.” Two months later, Dope director Rick Famuyiwa was employed to rewrite Grahame-Smith’s screenplay and direct the image. Famuyiwa solid his Dope star Kiersey Clemons as Iris West and recommended on social media that the movie can be one thing of a buddy movie between the Flash and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). Gal Gadot, aka Surprise Girl, was additionally anticipated to seem on this model.

Famuyiwa obtained additional than anybody earlier than however in the end pulled out of the undertaking in late 2016 over “artistic variations.” In response to THR, he wished to make a film “with extra edge” than WB supposed. It is usually price noting that at this level the infrastructure and imaginative and prescient across the so-called DC Prolonged Universe was crumbling. Batman v Superman carried out beneath studio expectations when it opened in March 2016, with many (together with the studio) attributing the failure to Snyder’s darkish, borderline nihilistic imaginative and prescient. Plans for doing a Justice League two-parter have been scrapped simply as Justice League was going into manufacturing. That film was being rewritten on the day whereas additionally serving as the actual introduction to Miller as Flash (in addition to Fisher as Cyborg and Jason Momoa as Aquaman). And after enduring a devastating private tragedy, Snyder agreed to step down from Justice League in Might 2017 earlier than in depth reshoots that have been helmed by Joss Whedon.

It’s at this level that the prospect of there ever being a Flash film starring Ezra Miller appeared to dim. In reality, across the identical time as Snyder felt Justice League slipping away, The Flash was positioned “on maintain” as screenwriter Joby Harold was introduced on to do a “web page one rewrite.” By Might 2017, WB and a brand new rising braintrust round DC movies had a shortlist of administrators in thoughts for The Flash: Robert Zemeckis (Again to the Future, Forrest Gump… and extra lately Welcome to Marwen), Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman, Kick-Ass), and even Jordan Peele (contemporary off Get Out, not but an Oscar winner). Later that summer time, it was introduced at San Diego Comedian-Con the movie was retitled Flashpoint and it might instantly contain Barry Allen going again in time to stop his mom’s homicide.

In January 2018, administrators John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Sport Night time and later Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves) agreed to step in to direct Flashpoint and rework the script, with a plan to shoot the image in 2019. Miller, nevertheless, was reportedly not impressed with the comedic course they have been taking the fabric and satisfied comedian author Grant Morrison to jot down a rival model of Flashpoint that will be in direct competitors with the administrators’ imaginative and prescient. Morrison later informed Comicbook.com they solely had two weeks to jot down their rival model and “it was good enjoyable. It didn’t do the job they have been searching for, which was to franchise issues and set issues up, and convey different characters in. It was a Flash story, so it wasn’t the place they wished to go along with the multiverse stuff. And that was the top of it.”