The Flash movie has gone through a protracted development process, but DC fans were given new hope this summer with the news that Ezra Miller remains attached to the film, with Andy Muschietti as the latest filmmaker in talks to direct. Miller’s last appearance as Barry Allen was in 2017’s Justice League, but as is the case with all of the League’s members, the role he served in the superhero ensemble deviated heavily from what Zack Snyder originally intended.

Snyder stepped down from Justice League in May 2017 in the aftermath of a family tragedy, with Joss Whedon being brought in to direct reshoots. Far from simply completing Snyder’s intended vision for the film, the reshoots morphed Justice League a vastly different movie than it had been under Snyder’s direction. Since the film’s theatrical release, calls for the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League have been persistent among DC fans. Snyder himself has heavily teased the contents of his cut of the film on social media, while more and more of the cast and crew have joined the chorus calling for the release of the “Snyder Cut”.

The significant changes made to Justice League are most clearly exemplified by how each character’s role in the film changed as a result of the reshoots - and from what we know about the Snyder Cut, Barry Allen was changed a lot. Here’s what we know about what the Flash’s original role in Justice League entailed.

He Had More Backstory, Including Iris West

Although Miller had made cameos as Barry Allen in Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, Justice League marked the first significant appearance of the Scarlet Speedster in the DCEU. For what was effectively Barry Allen’s debut as a major character in the franchise, Snyder intended to take audiences into his backstory (as was also his intent for Aquaman and Cyborg). That included an introduction to Barry’s major love interest from the comics, Iris West, played by Kiersey Clemons.

While the full extent of West’s role in Snyder’s version of Justice League is unknown, her appearance involved being rescued from a car accident by Barry early on in the film. Snippets of the scene in question can be seen in the trailer released for the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, while an unfinished version of the scene featuring her rescue later leaked online. Furthermore, with the scene also severing as a major showcase of Barry’s superspeed, it’s entirely possible that this scene served as the introduction of both characters in the film. Ultimately, Iris West was omitted from the theatrical version altogether, and her character’s removal took a crucial piece of Barry Allen’s character development with it.

Flash Was Always Supposed To Be Funny, But Not Like Whedon Made Him

Justice League was always intended to carry a lighter tone than that of Batman v Superman. Per Deborah Snyder, The Flash and Cyborg were meant to serve as major components of the lightened tone of Justice League, which she described as “more inclusive”. Yet despite Justice League always being on track to be less dark than its predecessors, the reshoots not only lightened the tone of the film well beyond Snyder’s original intent, but injected far more humor than he’d meant include as well.

Barry Allen was always meant to be a happy-go-lucky member of the League, and a source of much of the film’s humor under Snyder’s direction. However, the Joss Whedon-directed reshoots added elements such as Barry scribbling on a surly character’s face while visiting his father in prison, along with falling into Wonder Woman’s breasts during the tunnel battle, and the character’s Pet Sematary quips during the Superman resurrection. Barry Allen may have been envisioned as a cheerful character who would help facilitate the lighter tone of Justice League right from the start, but the reshaping of the film led to his portrayal in the theatrical version leaning far more heavily into broad comedy.

He Was A Batman Fanboy

Barry’s relationship with his fellow heroes was significantly different under Snyder’s direction, and among the most altered was his relationship with Batman. Ezra Miller himself described Barry Allen’s role in Justice League as being that of a fanboy meeting his heroes for the first time. Barry also held a particularly strong admiration for Batman, as seen in the sequence in Barry’s apartment in the reel released for the 2016 San Diego Comic Con. Not only is the lighter tone for Justice League already clearly visible, but Barry’s enthusiasm for joining the League and asking if he can keep Bruce’s Batarang signals his hero worship for Batman, along with setting up Bruce Wayne for a mentor role for the young recruit.

Barry’s giddiness for joining the League and his high esteem for Batman are still present in the theatrical version, but it takes a very different path. This is seen early on with Barry’s quips about brunch in the apartment scene, which are a clear addition from the film’s reshoots. Furthermore, Batman’s role as a mentor to the Scarlet Speedster is more muted, save for the inclusion of his “save one person” line of encouragement to Barry - another product of the reshoots. While Barry still holds Batman in high regard in the theatrical version, his fanboy worship of the Caped Crusader plays a much lesser role in the film than what Zack Snyder envisioned.

Flash Had A Bond With Cyborg

In addition to his admiration for Batman, Barry was also to form a significant bond with Cyborg. As revealed by Ray Fisher, Barry and Victor Stone would come identify with one another due to both gaining their respective powers from lab accidents, and both finding themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their understanding. Not only were The Flash and Cyborg meant to form a tight bond over the course of Justice League, their friendship was also further intended to set up Victor Stone for an appearance in Barry’s solo movie.

Ironically, the only major remnant of Barry and Victor’s bond in the theatrical version is itself a reshoot. Specifically, the scene involving Barry and Victor exhuming Superman’s body from the grave. Furthermore, Zack Snyder would later release an image from his cut of the film showing Barry, Victor, Arthur, and Diana at Superman’s grave, suggesting that the retrieval of Kal-El’s body played out very differently in the “Snyder Cut”. In any case, the brotherhood Snyder intended for The Flash and Cyborg proved to be another element of Justice League left out of the theatrical release of the film.

Flash Time-Traveled For The First Time in Justice League

While audiences got their first look at the Speed Force in Batman v Superman, it was in the form of Barry’s future-self warning Bruce of the Apokolips invasion to come in the film’s Knightmare sequence. Meanwhile, Justice League was to see Barry learning to time-travel for the first time, and this would have played a major role in the film’s climactic battle. Specifically, after Superman and Cyborg fail to stop the Mother Boxes from forming The Unity, Barry would travel back in time for them to prevent Steppenwolf’s victory.

Ultimately, Victor would enter the Mother Boxes to stop The Unity, leading Darkseid to tempt him into joining forces with Apokolips with a vision of his body restored and his mother and father by his side. However, Snyder’s time-travel elements would be completely jettisoned from the theatrical version of Justice League, with the climax seeing Barry getting a Russian family out of danger while Superman carries a nearby apartment complex to safety. When asked on Vero regarding the family’s role in the film, a seemingly perplexed Snyder simply responded with “What Russian family?”, only further illustrating the drastic nature of the changes made to the film’s third act.

As with every change made to Justice League, the significant alterations to role of the Flash can only been discussed in terms of what’s been made public, and there could very well be much more to Barry Allen’s original role in the film than what is known at present. With each revelation made to how much the film’s theatrical incarnation diverged from Zack Snyder’s vision, the rallying cry for the “Snyder Cut” is only likely to grow louder, especially with the increasing number of cast and crew members voicing support for it. The final say on the release of the “Snyder Cut” ultimately rests with Warner Bros., as Snyder himself has pointed out, but until the studio gives the greenlight, the full scope of Barry Allen’s original role in Justice League, along with the “Snyder Cut” itself, will continue to remain the subject of intense speculation.

Next: Justice League: Every DC Character Cut From Zack Snyder’s Original Version

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