9 Years Ago, the Arrowverse Screwed Up DC’s Greatest Storyline

The Arrowverse enjoys taking creative liberties, to say the least. The hero who starts it all, Oliver Queen, is nothing like his comic book counterpart, taking to the streets of Star City at night and acting like Batman. The changes extend well beyond Team Arrow’s home, though, as the characters running around Central City also have their own way of doing things. For starters, the Reverse-Flash, on top of killing Barry Allen’s mother, poses as the hero’s mentor, Harrison Wells, in order to get what he needs out of him. A distant relative of the villain, Eddie Thawne, who has no comic book history to speak of, also plays a major role in The Flash.

As much as the Arrowverse wants to do its own thing, there are times when it can’t help but steal from the source material. A great example is when Barry goes back in time to save his mother at the end of Season 2, borrowing cues from the iconic “Flashpoint” storyline. Unfortunately, The CW would have been better off going in another direction because it absolutely botches the arc.

“Flashpoint” Is a Shell of Itself in the Arrowverse

Barry doesn’t have much fun in The Flash Season 2. Another mentor, Jay Garrick, betrays him by revealing himself as Hunter Zolomon, aka Zoom. The speedster serial killer sets his sights on Earth-1 because he believes stealing The Flash’s speed will heal him of his illness. When Team Flash doesn’t go along with his plans, he kicks things up a notch, killing Henry Allen, Barry’s father, to help the hero understand the gravity of the situation. Of course, Zoom loses shortly after and becomes the Black Flash. However, claiming victory doesn’t mean much for Barry because his dad isn’t around to celebrate. The only path he sees forward is going back in time and resetting everything by saving his mother.

Season 3 begins with Barry living in a new timeline, one where he’s happy and living with both parents. Sure, he’s not friends with any of the members of Team Flash anymore, but their lives seem great as well. But Barry soon realizes that he can’t have his cake and eat it, too, as a new speedster, the Rival, threatens to take everything from him. While that set-up seems like the makings of a major arc spanning multiple episodes, The CW makes a huge mistake by reversing “Flashpoint” almost instantly. Barry returns to his regular timeline, and while things are slightly different, he mostly gets away scot-free after a few heart-to-hearts. That’s not how things go down in the comics, but at least the Arrowverse can rest easy knowing it’s not the only one to fumble the “Flashpoint” bag.

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The Flash Movie Does an Even Worse “Flashpoint” Impression

The DC Extended Universe plays fast and loose with the rules. Superman and Batman focus a lot more on helping themselves than saving others, which means the selflessness has to find another outlet. The Flash seems like the obvious choice at first because he still has a light in his eye that’s missing from the other Justice League members. Unfortunately, that light goes out when Barry decides to go back in time and save his mom during The Flash. The changes Barry makes to the timeline cause massive ripple effects, but the movie starts to feel like a cameo-fest about halfway through. Michael Keaton’s Batman returns to aid The Flash in his mission, and instead of Reverse-Flash being the most notable villain in the movie, Michael Shannon’s Zod steps up to the plate.

The Arrowverse isn’t without its issues, but it didn’t try to make “Flashpoint” about anything other than Barry making a selfish choice. The DCEU decides that Barry will take a back seat while an out-of-his-depth Batman fights an army of Krpytonians, which is just the worst way to tell a Flash story. Since live-action DC properties have swung and missed twice with the “Flashpoint” story, it seems unlikely that it will get another chance. But maybe that’s for the best because there are plenty of other adventures involving the Scarlet Speedster that are much harder to screw up.

The Flash is streaming on Netflix.

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