Category Archives: Media

DCU Online Flash — Concept Art and Screenshots Reveal Wally West

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Sony has just released character designs and a bio of the Flash in DC Universe Online, and Newsarama has the scoop. The Flash has previously appeared in demos and screenshots of the upcoming MMORPG, but I don’t recall seeing the design artwork before…or the character biography.

Flash design for DC Universe Online

The surprise here is that Jim Lee’s design is still recognizably Wally West’s costume with the V-shaped belt, rather than Barry Allen’s. Considering that DC has been re-focusing the Flash franchise around Barry Allen, I would have expected them to use him for their next flagship game. And besides, Geoff Johns is writing both Flash: Rebirth and the storylines for DCUO. On the other hand Mortal Kombat vs. DCU used a costume that was closer to Wally’s than Barry’s, and called him Barry Allen. The biography is quite specific, though:

The Fastest Man Alive, Wally West easily runs at light speed, vibrates through objects, create explosions through friction – and, when at agonizing top capacity, can manipulate time and bridge dimensions.

The Flash is a time-honored member of the Justice League. The latest in a long line of Flashes, each with their own unique way of tapping into the primal “Speed Force,” Wally is determined to live up to the noble legacies of speedsters such as Barry Allen, Max Mercury, and Jay Garrick.

It’s hard to get more specific than that!

(Speaking of Jay Garrick, the design for his appearance in the game was released last summer.)

Newsarama has more images and details.

Update: jcbagee points to a gallery of more images at Kotaku. In addition to some slightly larger versions of the same images, there are a bunch of screenshots from the game itself, including this one with some (presumably) player-character speedsters:

Flash Group

Oddly enough, the Flash’s eyes seem blue in the renderings…

Update 2: CBR has the same set of images as Kotaku, and the bio.

Rumor: Flash Movie Speeding Up?

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Edit: Thinking about it more, Brandan’s probably right. This was too sketchy to really bother posting. Even if it’s true, I probably misremembered the dates anyway. I’d delete the post, but on the internet that would paradoxically give it more attention.

Not much to report anyway: just someone overhearing a conversation which implied that WB marketing expected to start working on stuff related to the perpetually-in-development-hell Flash movie in the next couple of years, rather than just eventually.

Flash Movie Back From the Dead? Dan Mazeau Rumored on Script

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Hot on the heels of Warner Bros. producer Charles Roven telling Sci Fi Wire that the Flash movie is “shrouded in mystery” but not actually dead, IESB reports that Dan Mazeau, writer of the upcoming Jonny Quest film, is writing a script.

IESB spoke with Roven, who would not confirm the news, but did talk about the character:

I was always a big fan of the comics. I was around for… Gosh, this is embarrassing, you know, the last two Flashes. The Flash that was the policeman and Kid Flash, Wally, and his uncle. Those are the two Flashes that I grew with, so I was excited to have the opportunity to try and see if I could actually translate those characters to the screen.

When the Flash movie was originally announced in 2004, David Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) was going to write and direct. He finished the script, but Warner Bros. thought it was too dark, and took him off the project. Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) was brought as the new director early in 2007, then replaced later that year by David Dobkin (Fred Claus), and the movie was re-positioned to spin out of the planned Justice League film.

Of course, all that fell apart, the Justice League film is basically on hold, and now Warner Bros. actually wants dark films. But rather than resurrect Goyer’s script, they’re apparently going back to the drawing board.

My cynical take: The original script probably featured Wally West as he took over from Barry Allen. With DC repositioning Barry Allen as the primary Flash, they probably didn’t want to muddy the waters with his successor.

Read up on the sordid history of the Flash Feature Film.

Review: Stan Lee’s Lightspeed

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I recently decided to try out Netflix’s instant streaming service by watching Stan Lee’s Lightspeed, the made-for-TV movie about a government agent turned super-speedster. It’s been on my queue for a while, and I figured I’d free up the slot for something else.

Ultimately, I was really impressed — with the service. The image and sound were very clear, even with the window playing fullscreen. I’m annoyed that it’s Windows– and Internet Explorer–only. Aside from that, the only thing I really missed was fine control over fast-forward and rewind.

The movie itself? Cheesy. And what’s worse, dull. I took a break halfway through and wasn’t sure I really cared about coming back to finish it. Heatstroke was better — and I mean that.

The structure’s fine. It starts with the villain, a man with snake-like skin called Python, and a firefight between the villain’s gang, the people in a building, and a SWAT-team–like group called the Ghost Squad. Then it flashes back to the villain’s origin, then jumps forward to the aftermath of the battle and weaves the hero’s origin into the tale of Python’s master scheme. Like many classic stories, the hero’s and villain’s origins are linked.

The effects are decent, if no more exciting than those that appeared on The Flash a decade and a half earlier. Though they do spend more time in daylight. The suit is goofy, but they at least hang a lampshade on its goofiness: he picks it up at a sporting goods store to help protect himself from windburn.

But the movie just isn’t compelling at all.

I started taking notes during the film, but they quickly turned into snarky commentary. So rather than writing a full review, I’m attaching them below the cut. There could be spoilers, so beware.

Continue reading →

Fan “Flash” Movie Trailer Making Rounds

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I’ve seen several mentions today of a supposed teaser trailer for the long-delayed Flash movie — the one that, just a few days ago, we were told had no momentum.

Get the Big Picture has the clip, supposedly recorded on a cell phone during a Watchmen screening, and analyzes why it’s probably not the real deal, but a fan creation. Among other things, the story about how the recording was made just doesn’t add up.

I haven’t watched it with sound yet, but I’m inclined to agree.

Update: Thanks to Brandan, I’ve found a similar post at Slashfilm. No one knows who did make it so far, but it’s obviously not official.