The Flash Movie Will Reportedly "Lend Clarity" to DC's Future Justice League Plans

This afternoon brought shocking news to DC fans as Warner Bros. announced that the previously announced New Gods movie and the Aquaman spin-off The Trench were no longer moving forward. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news and with it offered some more bits of information about other DC projects. Next year will be a major one for the World of DC on film as WB has planned to release four movies in 2022 starting with The Batman in March, Black Adam in July, The Flash in November, and Aquaman 2 in December, and one of them could tease what audiences will expect from the Justice League on the big screen.

Buried in their report, THR notes that "DC is plotting its films and shows to share the same universe" and that their key to getting this across to audiences will be in The Flash movie. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise to DC readers considering the Scarlet Speedster's proclivity for multiverse storylines, but the trade notes that the film "will tackle the multiverse and is said to also lend clarity to the future of the Justice League." They note that not all are multiple Batmen set to appear (Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton have so far been attached) with newcomer Sasha Calle also starring as Supergirl.

It's unclear just how this movie will help establish "the future of the Justice League" unless a full blown redo of the concept is being considered. There is precedence for a superhero team featuring heroes from across the multiverse though as Grant Morrison's The Multiversity introduced Justice Incarnate to the DCU. Perhaps WB wants to make a new Justice League movie with heroes from across their live-action multiverse, especially since Robert Pattinson's Batman will seemingly be separate from all of it.

The recent success of Zack Snyder's Justice League will no doubt cause a little bit of confusion with regard to the superhero team. Even though audiences saw the theatrical cut in 2017, the popularity of the extended version further set-up stories and a team of heroes that will seemingly not be explored. Not only has DC shot down any inclination of further movies from Snyder (the director himself has also said it's unlikely) but it's also unclear how Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck will be involved with their characters moving forward.

It was previously reported that Cavill had been in talks with DC for a new deal to appear as Superman in various projects but nothing has come up since then to confirm it, in fact it was reported earlier this year that a planned Superman cameo in the Shazam sequel had to be axed. Furthermore Ben Affleck publicly retired from the role before, only to be coaxed back for The Flash. In other words, that movie is going to have to do A LOT of heavy lifting to tell the movie going public about what the plan is for the Justice League.

The Flash is currently scheduled to open in theaters on November 4, 2022.