The DC Universe has been on an emotional rollercoaster the last couple of months. James Gunn and Peter Safran were named the heads of DC Studios, Black Adam 2’s not going forward after a disappointing box office run, and Henry Cavill’s no longer our cinematic Superman. However, despite all the tough news lately, DC still has an exciting film slate for 2023. At the center of that heroic slate is The Flash which is finally racing to theaters next June. While we’re just six months away from the film’s release, marketing for this multiverse epic has been quiet. However, that looks to change soon as Warner Brothers is planning to air the film’s first trailer during Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023. This comes exclusively from The Wrap who also say that the new trailer will then be shown in front of Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which hits theaters the following Friday on February 17.
This makes a lot of sense as superhero blockbusters have always been known for their ads at the “big game”. You can go as far back as 2005 with Batman Begins or as recent as this year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to find prime examples of great Super Bowl marketing. There’s no word on what this upcoming trailer will show, but we’re probably going to get a major sense of what this Flash story is all about. From all the marketing fans have received so far, The Flash looks to be heavily inspired by the Flashpoint comic storyline. This saw Barry Allen aka The Flash going back in time to save his mother before his arch-rival The Reverse-Flash murders her. Because of this, Barry alters the DC timeline and gets trapped in a world where Bruce Wayne was murdered, Thomas Wayne became a murderous Batman, and Martha Wayne became The Joker.
While the latter involvement of the Wayne family isn’t being incorporated into this particular film, it will see Ezra Miller’s Flash go to Tim Burton’s Batman universe to meet Michael Keaton’s version of The Dark Knight. In the small teaser shown at DC Fandom 2021, Keaton narrated that trailer as we saw very similar shots to the comic book panels of Barry saving his mother in Flashpoint. This was before multiple versions of Miller’s Flash, along with Sasha Calle’s Supergirl, are seen in Keaton’s famous Batcave.
