Intense new trailer for The Flash wows the crowd at CinemaCon

Warner Bros. dropped an intense new trailer for The Flash during this week's CinemaCon in Las Vegas, the annual convention attended by movie theater owners from all over the world. The trailer is just as good as the first one, giving us even more of Michael Keaton's Batman and plenty of action, emotional beats, and even a few hints about how it might upend the entire DC Extended Universe going forward.

As we've previously reported, Andy Muschietti (It, It: Chapter 2) signed on to direct the long-planned Flash-centric standalone film in 2019. Ezra Miller's The Flash had already made his DC Extended Universe debut with cameo appearances in Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad in 2016 and as a co-star in 2017's Justice League. And the wider DC multiverse was confirmed when Miller made a cameo in the Arrowverse TV crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019-2020).

Further Reading

Earlier scripts focused on adapting the Flashpoint crossover storyline from the comic books, in which the Scarlet Speedster goes back in time to keep his mother from being murdered, thereby altering the entire timeline. In that alternate world, a young Bruce Wayne is killed rather than his parents. Thomas Wayne becomes Batman, Martha Wayne becomes the Joker, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are bitter enemies, and Superman is a prisoner. Muschietti kept several of the Flashpoint story elements while acknowledging that this would be a different version. And he wanted to include not just Michael Keaton's Batman but Ben Affleck's, too, since he thought Barry's relationship with the latter would make Keaton's inclusion even more powerful.

In addition to Miller, Affleck, and Keaton, the cast of The Flash includes Kiersey Clemons as journalist (and Barry's love interest) Iris West; Michael Shannon as General Zod, reprising his role from 2013's Man of Steel; Antje Traue reprising the role of Zod's second-in-command, Faora-Ul; Sasha Calle as Supergirl; and Maribel Verdu as Barry's mother, Nora Allen. Scheduling conflicts meant Billy Crudup couldn't return as Barry's father, Henry Allen, who was wrongfully convicted of killing his wife, so Ron Livingston stepped into the role. While Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman was also expected to appear, Affleck revealed to IndieWire last month that the scene was cut from the final film.

Per the official premise:

Worlds collide in The Flash when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian... albeit not the one he's looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry's only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?

Warner Bros. released the first official trailer for The Flash during Super Bowl LVII, and Keaton's confirmed return as Batman (from the beloved Tim Burton era) pretty much set the Internet on fire. For many, Keaton was the definitive Batman for decades until The Dark Knight trilogy (with Christian Bale donning the cape) kicked off in 2005. So naturally, it was a thrill to see Keaton and Ben Affleck's Batman from the Zack Snyder era join forces to repair a timeline that was disastrously altered due to some pretty poor decision-making on the part of The Flash.

This is technically an ensemble film. But let's face it, with this latest trailer, we're all mostly geeking out over the new footage of Keaton's Batman: Keaton's Batcycle, bulletproof cape, Batman using said cape as a parachute, and especially the callback dialogue to the original Burton-directed movie: "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts." Both Barrys and Supergirl get their action-packed moments to shine, of course. But the trailer even opens with a Keaton voiceover describing the tragic loss of his own parents and how he donned the Batman cape to try to "right the wrongs of the past, as if fighting crime would bring my parents back."

Barry, of course, actually succeeded in bringing back his parents--at great consequence since he completely broke the universe by doing so. And since this film is expected to reset the DCEU, there's a strong chance we might bid farewell to at least some of these alt-timeline characters, however much Barry insists to his alternate self that "nobody has to die."

Both official trailers are terrific, and early word of mouth suggests that the film will live up to that promise. New DC co-head James Gunn seems genuinely excited about this movie. In January, he told io9 that it was one of the best superhero movies he's ever seen. Deadline Hollywood reports that many exhibitors at CinemaCon seemed to concur, praising the film's heart, humor, and appealing characters.

Critics with early access have also weighed in with raves, praising the cast, "inventive storytelling," and action sequences. io9's Germain Lussier described it on Twitter as "Back to the Future meets Spider-Man: No Way Home with all the humor and heart of the former and action and surprises of the latter." While star Miller has had their share of legal issues of late and skipped the panel, Muschietti praised them as "one of the best actors I've ever worked with."

The Flash hits theaters on June 16, 2023.

Listing image by YouTube/Warner Bros.