How ‘The Flash’ Should Have Ended

Muzhameer Putra 03/11/2023 3 minutes read

‘The Flash’ is considered one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time. This is mainly because of the main star, Ezra Miller’s controversies and its horrible CGI. But if we’re judging the plot alone, this movie can be considered one of the best superhero stories ever.

*Why, yes, I watched it for the plot… Why did you ask?*

Writing time travel stories, especially in a movie franchise, can be risky. It creates plot holes. The audience will think, “If time travel is possible, why didn’t they do it all the time?”

However, in this movie, the writers overcome this issue by stating ‘time travel is not a solution’.

This message was inserted in the movie from the beginning when Bruce gives wise advice to Barry, “These scars we have to make us who we are. We weren’t meant to go back and fix them. And there’s nothing broken in you that needs to be fixed”.

*Bruce Wayne telling Barry that he shouldn’t go back in time*

That’s a powerful message. Every tragedy we’ve been through made us stronger. Taught us a lesson. If we never had the experience and lesson, how can we grow? We can see that when Barry went back in time to save his mother, his alternate self became a brat, powerless, and immature.

At the end of the movie, Barry learns his lesson. By accepting his trauma as the contributor to his growth, Barry had to go back in time to undo his actions. He was letting his mother die to save the entire timeline. This heartbreaking scene in the mall was written so well.

*I love you, mom. I love you more. I loved you first.*

The movie is perfect… before the scene.

You see, the entire point of this movie is that Barry has to learn that time travel isn’t a solution. That he’s not supposed to go back and fix his past because there’s nothing broken in him. However, at the end of the movie, Barry still changes the past by placing the tomato can high enough that his father’s face is visible to the camera. By doing so, Barry’s father’s alibi is secured and he is acquitted of murdering his wife.

A few minutes earlier in the movie, Barry told his younger self that they were not supposed to go back and change the timeline. But when Barry placed the tomato can higher, this made him some kind of a hypocrite. And it dilutes the entire message of the movie.

*Younger Barry Allen when he was told not to change the past*

I believe the ending can be changed slightly to convey its lesson more properly. If it was up to me, by the end of the movie, Barry shouldn’t have changed the position of the tomato soup. He should go back to the present. He should immediately look for other evidence to protect his father. Thumbprints on the knife, witnesses, or camera footage from other sources. It doesn’t matter. As long as it happens in the present time.

The movie should end with Barry being able to provide credible evidence to prove his father’s innocence. No speed force. No time travel. It was just Barry’s forensic skills that he desired to learn to prove his father’s innocence. It fits the movie’s narrative and it fits the lesson that the movie is trying to tell.

Muzhameer Putra

Author

Student by day, writer by night. If it's cinematic, I'll get it right. I'm a big fan of superheroes, cinemas, science, and history. But most of all, I just love good stories.

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12 thoughts on “How ‘The Flash’ Should Have Ended”

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