The long-in-development Flash movie has finally hit theaters, and it signals a new start for the DCU on screen. Warner Bros. is using this film to close the door on the superhero reality that started with Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel and created a new world. Using some time travel loopholes explained in the film, we will see some of the actors continuing in their roles while others will be recast and move forward. This film not only has easter eggs for the DC films we’ve seen over the past decade but just about any DC property to happen since the characters began showing up on the big screen. What Flash easter eggs did we find within the movie?
Warning!!!! There will be spoilers for The Flash!!!!
Bruce Wayne’s Armor Collection
When the two Barrys are making their way through Wayne Manor looking for Bruce, they stumble upon a room full of ancient suits of armor. Each one is from a different culture and has a unique look. We’ve actually seen this collection before in the ’89 Batman. Knox and Vicki Vale are snooping around Wayne Manor during a dinner party. They entered the room and noticed the odd armor selections on display. Knox begins to make fun of them just as Bruce enters behind them.
Joker’s Last Laugh
The Barrys are looking around the Batcave to see what they can use to go look for Superman. The younger Barry comes running up to the older Barry with a green satin bag. He exclaims that the bag laughs. This comes from the ’89 Batman. After Joker falls to his death from the top of the cathedral, we see a crowd surrounding his body. An eerie laugh is repeating over and over. Commissioner Gordon opens his jacket to find a green satin bag that keeps laughing.
‘89 Bat Symbol
When we see Bruce Wayne finally decide to don his bat suit once again, he opens a vault in his study to reveal his costumes. There are multiple versions to choose from, but if you look at some of the costumes in the back, you may notice some of the bat symbols are different. In the ’89 film, the bat symbol Keaton wore on his suit slightly differed from the one fans are used to seeing. It had two extra points along the bottom for the symbol bat legs. When we got to Batman Returns, the symbol had been changed back to what everyone is used to. Here we see he uses different logo variations depending on the type of suit he is using. A small but interesting Flash easter egg.
Red Daughter
The Barrys and Batman decide to rescue Superman from his Russian prison. When they arrive and fight their way inside, we learn that Kal-El isn’t being held in confinement, but rather, it’s his cousin Kara Zor-El. They have been storing her in this underground fortress to prevent her from absorbing the sun’s rays. They are weakening her and preventing her from escaping from her captors. This plot point is borrowed from two different, well-known comic stories.
In Red Son, Superman crashed his ship into Ukraine instead of Kansas. The Russian Government raises him to become their most powerful weapon. This alternate timeline story shows an American scientist named Lex Luthor dedicating his life to bringing down the Russian threat and saving America.
Meanwhile, in Flashpoint, which a lot of this movie is based on, we see Barry save his mother from being murdered, but it throws the future into disarray. In that reality, Superman was captured by the American Government and kept in a lab away from the rays of Earth’s sun. Instead, he is blasted with rays of a red sun which weakens him. Flash and other heroes rescue him, and he finally gains the power we’re used to seeing. These two plots seem to have been mashed together for this version of Supergirl, and they work well together.
Slow Kryptonians
When our heroes all show up to take on Zod, the younger Barry is worried that he won’t be able to take on the Kryptonian soldiers. Older Barry tells him that they are fast but that they are faster. This is a nod to an issue of the comics where Superman and The Flash raced each other to see who was, in fact, the fastest man alive. They teased this as the end of the theatrical version of Justice League as Barry and Clark start the race, but we never see who wins. This would indicate that Barry won.
George Reeves
As the Barrys are trying to figure out a way to win against Zod’s army in the time sphere, we learn that they are tearing reality apart. Through tears in their reality, we can see other realities. The first one we see has a black and white Superman that is easily identifiable as George Reeves. He would play Superman on the TV series that ran for a few seasons.
Jay Garrick Flash
When the camera pans down on this black-and-white reality with the George Reeves Superman, we see an older flash running in the time sphere. This version wears a helmet with wings on the side and a leather jacket as part of his costume. Jay Garrick was the original Flash before Barry Allen took up the mantle.
Christopher Reeve And Helen Slater
Another reality we get a glimpse of shows Superman landing on top of a building. A bright light behind him obscures his face. As he steps forward, we see that it is Christopher Reeve as Superman. He famously played the character in the late 70s and 80s movies. As he looks ahead at the tears in reality, a woman flies up and lands next to him. This is Helen Slater as Supergirl, who had her own film in 1984. It’s fitting these two appear together as Christopher Reeve was supposed to appear in the film in a cameo as Superman, but he dropped out. They finally get to share the screen together.
Nicolas Cage
Tim Burton was supposed to make a Superman film in the 90s, but it was scrapped before cameras started rolling. Burton had cast Nicolas Cage in the role as he is a massive fan of the character. Filmmaker Kevin Smith had written a version of the film before Burton had come on. The producer insisted that there be a giant spider for Superman to fight. When Burton took over, that script was dropped, and he wrote his own. Here we finally get both things together on screen. We see a giant spider enter the scene, and a long-haired Superman battles it. Small spiders try to overtake him, but he uses his heat vision to blast them away. We then see that this is the Nicolas Cage Superman. An incredible Flash easter egg that is worth the price of admission alone.
Adam West
Because you can’t just have . . . three Batmen in this film, they had to add another. We get a look at the Adam West Batman’s reality as well from the ’66 Batman TV series. In the background, we can even hear a Joker laugh from the Caesar Romero version of the character. Everyone matters in this jump around the DC Multiverse.
George Clooney
In what is a “hell has frozen over” moment, Barry finally resets the timeline and returns to the present. After he attends his dad’s trial, where he is set free, he gets a call from Bruce Wayne. He pulls up in a car and steps out. Barry seems confused as it’s not the Bruce Wayne he knows. The camera then shows that George Clooney is reprising his role as Bruce from the 1997 film Batman & Robin. Clooney has stated before that he felt he ruined the franchise and never intended to play the character again. My how things change when the Multiverse is involved.
What Flash Easter Eggs did you spot? Let us know in the comments below.
Originally published at https://www.joblo.com/the-flash-easter-eggs-heavy-spoilers/
