How The Flash Is Different In The Justice League Snyder Cut

Zack Snyder’s Justice League restores what the filmmaker had planned for Ezra Miller’s The Flash as his arc and portrayal differ from the theatrical cut. Ever since 2016, the DCEU has slowly been building up to the cinematic treatment of The Flash with Barry Allen first popping up in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While Snyder had a specific arc set out for Barry in Justice League, his character was one of the characters to be affected by the reshoots and rewrites by Joss Whedon in 2017. But thanks to the four-hour Snyder Cut, The Flash, amongst everything else that was retooled in the theatrical film, got restored to properly show the director’s overall vision.

Had Zack Snyder’s Justice League been released in 2017, it would have likely lined up with The Flash movie that would have come a few years after. But since the Snyder Cut is set outside the DCEU, Miller’s solo film will most likely not connect too much with the HBO Max film. It depends entirely on what director Andy Muschietti does as Barry’s feature will be doing its own adaptation of the Flashpoint storyline. Although it’s safe to assume that The Flash won’t tie in too much of what went down in the theatrical cut of Justice League from 2017.

But with the Snyder Cut including all of the filmmaker’s intentional plans for The Flash, it’s clear just how different Barry’s journey was compared to the Whedon version. Here’s everything that’s new about The Flash in Zack Snyder’s Justice League and how different it was from the 2017 movie.

Flash Isn’t Comedic Relief

The Flash has always been one of the more light-hearted characters of the Justice League and in the DC Universe overall. But there’s still a sense of groundedness to Barry in almost all interpretations of him within the last few decades. In Whedon’s Justice League, Miller’s character was more depicted as a comedic relief rather than having a balanced tone. While he was the youngest new recruit, Barry’s behavior was beyond light-hearted and instead increasingly goofy in almost all of his scenes. One of the biggest examples is when Batman first tries to recruit him and Barry has a monologue about how he doesn’t understand the concept of brunch. In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Miller’s Barry has a better foundation of being an excited young man that also takes being a superhero seriously.

Iris West Interaction Is Reintroduced

One of the biggest and most important characters in The Flash mythology is Iris West, Barry’s ultimate love and an important member of the Flash Family. Kiersey Clemons was cast as her ahead of The Flash movie and would have made her DCEU debut in Justice League. But Iris ended up being cut from the theatrical version. However, Zack Snyder’s Justice League included Clemons’ introduction as Iris as part of Barry’s entry point in the film. While their meeting is brief, fans got to see Barry and Iris meet for the first time and the immediate spark between them. Iris also becomes the first person Barry saves in the Snyder Cut after she almost gets severely hurt when she gets into a car accident. Clemons will reprise her role in The Flash where the love story will continue to be fleshed out.

Flash’s Inappropriate Moments Are Gone

Whedon’s Justice League may have increased Barry’s comedic tone, but it also came with some incredibly inappropriate and awkward moments. One of them is the problematic scene between The Flash and Wonder Woman where she is sexualized. During the reshoots, a sequence was made where Barry during the first battle saved Diana but then fell onto the top of her chest. Another awkward aspect that was nowhere to be seen in Zack Snyder’s Justice League was Flash’s strange way of running with his arms flapping around. Instead, Barry’s running looks more controlled in all of his scenes as The Flash.

The Flash’s Epic Moments & Time Travel

While The Flash will see Barry time-travel, Zack Snyder’s Justice League beat them to it. In the climax, the Justice League actually loses as the Mother Boxes completed the unity and cleanses the Earth. But Barry manages to tap into the Speed Force just in time and push himself to rewind the event to give them a second chance. That scene becomes one of the highlights of the whole Snyder Cut as it demonstrates just how powerful The Flash is with his speed. That element is completely gone in Whedon’s film, as Snyder revealed recently that Warner Bros. didn’t want The Flash to demonstrate any of his time travel abilities. The time travel aspect was removed and replaced with Barry having a moment with the Russian family as well as a race with Superman in a post-credits scene.

Barry Allen Gets A Coming Of Age Story

Even though The Flash film will go more in-depth with Barry’s evolution, Zack Snyder’s Justice League kicks off his own coming-of-age story. Because of the changes Warner Bros. demanded of Barry’s arc, there was never an empowering moment for The Flash. His role was simply to be the goofball in the new team, but the Snyder Cut erases all of that. When Barry starts out in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, he’s excited to be joining a team of other super-powered people. But throughout their journey together, Barry progressively matures as he gets a proper taste of the consequences of being a superhero and the danger that’s out there. From helping revive and temporarily fighting Superman to running back in time to save the whole planet, Barry finds himself in this story. Barry also gets his job at Central City Police Department’s crime lab, setting up his future as a CSI.

The Knightmare Flash Returns

The final and perhaps biggest difference for Barry between the theatrical cut and Zack Snyder’s Justice League is the Knightmare Flash. This long, extended scene was filmed with a handful of actors earlier this year as viewers got a new glimpse of the future where Darkseid had conquered the planet. Since Barry’s DCEU entry began as the Knightmare Flash, it was only appropriate of the Snyder Cut to end Barry’s time in the film on that version. Barry is seen here as one of the remaining heroes who are working with Batman to try and defeat Darkseid and the corrupted Superman. This time, viewers get a better look at his Knightmare armor that Barry wore in Batman v Superman when he came to Bruce to warn him of the future.

The last that is seen of Barry is him getting into position to fight Superman as the mind-controlled Kal-El finds the team. That might, unfortunately, be the last fans ever see of Knightmare Flash as Warner Bros. isn’t proceeding with any follow-ups to Zack Snyder’s Justice League in the form of Justice League 2. Since The Flash will be utilizing the Multiverse and time travel, it remains to be seen how the continuity for the DCEU will look exactly by the end of the film. But it’s still shocking to see how much of Barry’s original arc got taken out in the theatrical cut.

From everything that was added back into the Snyder Cut, The Flash got a solid character journey where he joined a team as well as demonstrated just how powerful he is. It’s bittersweet in a lot of ways since this will probably be the last time Snyder gets to play with this version of Ezra Miller’s DCEU hero. The differences are and always will be significant and thanks to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Flash got his proper cinematic due, even if took over four years to get there.

About The Author

Andy Behbakht
(1033 Articles Published)

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Andy is a senior writer at Screen Rant as he has covered the world of entertainment journalism since 2010, including superhero/comic book media. In addition to his work as a reporter, Andy co-hosts The Flash Podcast while running and producing the entire DC TV Podcasts network. He is also the founder/editor-in-chief of The Marvel Report since Fall 2015. Andy has previously written for sites such as FanSided, KSiteTV, TV Fanatic, It’s Just Movies, Heroic Hollywood, TV Overmind, and more.

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