The Flash (2023) is a superhero film adapted from DC Comics, directed by Andy Muschietti and starring Ezra Miller and Michael Keaton. The film is part of the DCEU and was released by Warner Bros.. Runtime: 2h 24m. Rated PG-13. Audience rating: 6.7/10.
What is The Flash (2023) about?
Barry Allen travels back in time to prevent his mother's death but alters the future beyond his imagination, arriving in a world without metahumans that needs a very different kind of hero.
Released in 2023, The Flash was directed by Andy Muschietti and produced under the Warner Bros. banner. The film occupies a significant place within the DCEU — contributing to the ongoing narrative and mythology of that cinematic universe.
The film features lead performances from Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, among others, anchoring a story that adapts characters first brought to life in DC Comics. Its source material gives the film a foundation rooted in decades of published storytelling, which Muschietti and the creative team interpret through a cinematic lens.
Its 6.7 rating reflects a film that divided audiences — appreciated for its ambition and spectacle by some, criticized for pacing and execution by others. Its place in the genre remains a frequent discussion point.
What happens in The Flash (2023)? — Full Plot
We open in Gotham. Bruce Wayne is on a separate mission. Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is in Central City, struggling with his life: his father is on death row for a murder Barry knows he didn't commit; his job at a forensics lab is going badly; his apartment is messy; he's lonely. His mother Nora was killed when he was a child. Henry Allen was wrongfully convicted.
Barry, in a moment of grief, runs faster than he's ever run — faster than the speed of light — and accidentally travels back in time. He learns the Speed Force allows him to manipulate timelines. He plans to return to 2004 and prevent his mother's murder.
Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) warns him not to. Time travel has consequences. Barry doesn't listen. He runs back to 2004, places a can of tomatoes in his mother's grocery cart (her shopping habit was the reason she was murdered — the murder was unrelated to her, the random victim) and returns to the present. He has changed the past. He has been gone for two seconds. He has caused untold damage to the timeline.
Barry returns to the present. He's still in his mother's house. He hits a wall as another version of himself — younger, less-experienced — runs through the kitchen. There are now two Barry Allens. The timeline has split. The younger Barry (still 19) thinks he's just woken up. The original Barry has aged into his 30s. Both Barrys are confused.
The two Barrys investigate. They discover this timeline is different: General Zod (from Man of Steel) is invading. Henry Allen is alive — actually freed by Barry's intervention. Bruce Wayne is dead. There is no Superman. The Justice League never formed. The world is about to be destroyed by Zod's terraforming attack.
The two Barrys recruit Bruce Wayne — the 1989 Keaton Batman from this alternate timeline. They locate Supergirl (Sasha Calle) — the only surviving Kryptonian in this universe, imprisoned by the Russian military. The team — two Barrys, Keaton's Batman, Supergirl — attempts to stop Zod. They fail. The world is destroyed. Barry has to go back to the moment he intervened in his mother's death and undo his original mistake. He cannot. He keeps trying.
The film closes with Barry accepting his mother's death. He places the can of tomatoes back where it was. The timeline corrects. He returns to a slightly-different present — where his father has been freed and his mother is still dead. He encounters a slightly-different Batman — George Clooney's, briefly, from his 1997 Batman & Robin role. The multiverse has officially blurred. James Gunn's 2025 DCU reset begins from this point.
The Flash grossed $271 million globally on a $200+ million budget — a commercial failure for Warner Bros. The film's box-office collapse, combined with Ezra Miller's ongoing legal troubles during the press tour, effectively ended the Snyder-era DCEU. James Gunn's Superman (2025) reset the franchise to a new continuity. Keaton's Batman has not returned in subsequent films.
Who stars in The Flash (2023)?
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What are some facts about The Flash (2023)?
The Flash released in 2023, placing it within the 2020s era of comic book cinema — a decade that saw superhero films become the dominant force at the global box office.
Directed by Andy Muschietti, the film was produced by Warner Bros. and adapts source material from DC Comics.
The principal cast features Ezra Miller and Michael Keaton, with key supporting roles played by Sasha Calle, Ben Affleck.
The film belongs to DCEU — the DC Extended Universe, Warner Bros' connected superhero continuity.
The Flash carries an audience rating of 6.7 — a middling reception but one that hasn't prevented its cultural footprint.
The DC Comics source material for The Flash has been in continuous publication for decades, giving filmmakers a rich well of storylines, character arcs, and iconography to draw upon.
Modern superhero films like this one use a mix of practical effects and digital VFX, with entire sequences often shot against volume walls or LED stages pioneered by shows like The Mandalorian.
The Flash is catalogued on Movies on Comics among our collection of 162 comic book films spanning 48 years of cinema — from Richard Donner's 1978 Superman to the present day.
