The Official Flash Thread - Part 2

[lixdexia]

That's the whole point. Barry is a kind of boring character and I think they should get someone who will bring some fun to the table. I like Wally better as a character but I am almost positive that Warner Bros. at this junction wants to start us off with Barry Allen. If we have to get a Barry movie they might as well make his character a bit more entertaining.

just like they did with hal jordan by casting ryan reynolds. it's almost a foregone conclusion

 

[Octoberist]

I think of all else, he should be portrayed as the nice tech guy with a good sense of humor. Think of Alan Tudkyk's character in 'Firefly'; If you eliminated the serial killer aspect, then Michael C. Hall's Dexter (his public persona around citizens) would be a good call.

I'll admit that even in the current run, Barry is way too serious. It's the other characters that make his world interesting.

 

[Airwings]

Morningstar: You make it sound that Bradley Cooper would play himself. But isn't he an actor? And what do actors do?
The answer is that they play characters. Exactly, they PLAY them. They don't ARE the character.

If we are going to be that kind of picky, why don't go as far as cast a test pilot as Hal Jordan? Or a young photographer as Peter Parker? Or a scientist as Bruce Banner?

This kind of thing is going too far these days. An actor's real-life personality only suitable for playing certain roles? And that is becoming more and more of a rule today. What is wrong with the role? This is not what we called type-casting in older days, this is type-casting 2.0
Before it was the studios/producers/directors that decided what kind of roles a certain actor could play. Today it's the audience that have most opinions about this, and they don't want to see someone play a character far from their own personality. Because of internet, I guess.

 

[Panthro]

Why can't Barry have some charisma going for him?

 

[Timstuff]

Something interesting I learned about Flash's costume while watching behind-the-scenes features for Justice League is how they wanted to avoid making Flash look like "a giant tomato." Red is a difficult color to photograph and broadcast, and since Flash's costume is completely red, they made sure to make his costume have a reflective quality so that they could always illuminate him from the edges, which allowed them to make his suit darker while still looking red.

This differs a fair bit from his first DCAU appearance in the Superman series, where he was shown as having a matte red costume. His costume usually looked much louder. It was more difficult to frame shots with him in it back then, since his costume would naturally compete with whatever else was in the shot for the viewer's attention.

Perhaps for the movie's costume, they should consider going a similar route as the costume from the Daredevil movie. It doesn't have to look protective since Flash can move at lightning speeds, but I like the material they used and think that it would work well if applied to The Flash's costume. It was made of leather (or a leather-like material) that in direct light was red, but when indirectly lit gave qualities very similar to how Flash looked in the Justice League cartoon. Obviously, Flash's world is a lot lighter than Daredevil's, but I think some of the techniques and materials applied to the suit and how it was photographed could carry over very well to Flash.

 

[JAK®]

They should use this material for Flash;

 

[Timstuff]

Tron Legacy was another great achievement on the "skin-tight costumes that don't look like crap" front. Even more impressive is that they actually had room to fit all the electronics for light piping in there without making the costumes bulkier.

 

[lixdexia]

i think the tron legacy suits are the perfect model to follow for the flash. i hope they even do the lighting route, making the symbol and lightning trim glow as he goes into superspeed and then dull back to normal as he slows down

 

[Airwings]

lixdexia: Really good idea with the glow there
And I kinda start to like the suggested leather suit rather than spandex. But I could be wrong, and the Daredevil connection turns to be a bad idea.

 

[Timstuff]

The light-up lightning sections could probably just be rotoscoped in with Flash's costume, since there's a lot less than on the Tron suits and it pretty much only ever shows up when he goes supersonic.

 

[Octoberist]

I just want WB to get a darn director pronto. It seems like Fox is trying to get Duncan Jones for 'Wolverine'. I hope not! Than my other choice of Shane Black was taken by Iron Man 3.

My other choices NOW would be James Gunn (who would have been great for Deadpool) and Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless)

 

[The Morningstar]

But he's being portrayed as a square in the comics now.

Who is? Wally? That doesn't surprise me. DC have made no attempt to hide their contempt for Wally West.

 

[The Morningstar]

Morningstar: You make it sound that Bradley Cooper would play himself. But isn't he an actor? And what do actors do?
The answer is that they play characters. Exactly, they PLAY them. They don't ARE the character.

If we are going to be that kind of picky, why don't go as far as cast a test pilot as Hal Jordan? Or a young photographer as Peter Parker? Or a scientist as Bruce Banner?

This kind of thing is going too far these days. An actor's real-life personality only suitable for playing certain roles? And that is becoming more and more of a rule today. What is wrong with the role? This is not what we called type-casting in older days, this is type-casting 2.0
Before it was the studios/producers/directors that decided what kind of roles a certain actor could play. Today it's the audience that have most opinions about this, and they don't want to see someone play a character far from their own personality. Because of internet, I guess.

Because Bradley Cooper is known for being a wise ass, obnoxious guy, but who is kind of charming. That is pretty much exactly how Wally West would be described.

You think Bradley Cooper is popular because of his acting ability? No, he's popular because he's a likable wise ass. Putting him in a role where he can't be a likable wise ass is redundant.

 

[The Morningstar]

Why can't Barry have some charisma going for him?

Because that isn't how the character has been written since his inception. He's a really nice guy, a great hero. But he's a boring dolt.

I think it'd be a further insult to the Wally West character for DC to go "Hey we won't make a movie about Wally, we'll make it about Barry, but give him Wally's personality!"

Why just not make the movie about Wally?

 

[HighFivingMF]

Because that isn't how the character has been written since his inception. He's a really nice guy, a great hero. But he's a boring dolt.

Tony Stark has to be the most boring *****e to ever be written into a comic, and they got RDJ of all people to play him.

 

[Savage]

Tony Stark has to be the most boring *****e to ever be written into a comic, and they got RDJ of all people to play him.

Huh. I always thought RDJ was a good choice because of how much he was like comic book Tony Stark. This is the first time I've even heard Stark described as boring in any incarnation. I mean, yeah, the charming playboy thing is cliche these days but Tony Stark is immediately who I think of when I see it.

Also never thought of Hal Jordan and Barry Allen were boring either but I noticed people find characters that are relatively human boring. There's really nothing all that tragic about these characters an I guess that turns people off. It's why Superman has lost a lot of his popularity these years. It's all about dark pasts and trauma now.

 

[terry78]

I think unless the writers play their personas to the hilt fans don't really get them. Superman is supposed to be this paragon of truth and justice, Batman is all moody and angry and well prepared, Wonder Woman is a female warrior who can be brash and still care about the plights of humanity, and so on. Everyone else is technically a blank slate that new writers can just stick with whatever persona traits they want.

 

[Savage]

Then I guess it's no surprise that the entire reason I like Hal Jordan and Wally West is because of Geoff Johns. I'm gonna have to see what his Barry Allen is like and what these characters were like before he wrote them cause all over the boards people claim they're boring.

You have a point there and maybe all characters just need their defining writer to pave the way for others in term of characterization. Batman had Denny O'neal after years of being a joke and it could be that Geoff Johns just so happens to be the one to make Hal Jordan badass.

 

[Timstuff]

Who is? Wally? That doesn't surprise me. DC have made no attempt to hide their contempt for Wally West.

Nope. Despite DC's best efforts, Barry is perpetually portrayed as being boring and lame, and their solution to not having him outshone by Wally is to simply not show Wally at all.

 

[The Morningstar]

Huh. I always thought RDJ was a good choice because of how much he was like comic book Tony Stark. This is the first time I've even heard Stark described as boring in any incarnation. I mean, yeah, the charming playboy thing is cliche these days but Tony Stark is immediately who I think of when I see it.

Stark always had the playboy *****e but with a heart of gold thing going on, but he was a bit of a stiff, really. RDJ injected some charisma into the character.

But the point is different with legacy characters like Flash. Why bother using one character, but giving him the other characters personality? In this case giving Barry Wally's personality?

Just use Wally.

Also never thought of Hal Jordan and Barry Allen were boring either but I noticed people find characters that are relatively human boring. There's really nothing all that tragic about these characters an I guess that turns people off. It's why Superman has lost a lot of his popularity these years. It's all about dark pasts and trauma now.

It's not really about dark pasts and trauma. It's about charisma. Barry Allen, has zero charisma. Like I said, he's a really nice guy, a great hero, but he's the kind of guy your parents like, the kind of guy who you wouldn't wanna go to a party or a bar with.

Hal Jordan? Ehhh... I find him to be a boring cardboard cut out cliche of a superhero. Hopefully Reynolds does a RDJ on him and injects him with some charisma.

I'd put it this way, a 100% accurate to the comics portrayal of Barry Allen would not be engaging enough to carry a blockbuster movie.

Nope. Despite DC's best efforts, Barry is perpetually portrayed as being boring and lame, and their solution to not having him outshone by Wally is to simply not show Wally at all.

Well yea, DC Editorial make no attempt to hide their contempt for Wally, simply because they are a bunch of raging Barry Allen fanboys.

I thought bringing him back was a mistake, not because I don't like the character, but because it's like bringing Uncle Ben or Captain Marvel back. Barry had probably the most heroic death in comic book history. But he's back now, because a fanboy ran DC.

 

[Savage]

Stark always had the playboy *****e but with a heart of gold thing going on, but he was a bit of a stiff, really. RDJ injected some charisma into the character.

But the point is different with legacy characters like Flash. Why bother using one character, but giving him the other characters personality? In this case giving Barry Wally's personality?

Just use Wally.

The problem with that is, despite him being a fan favorite, a lot of people (including myself) just see him as Flash II. It's like starting a Batman franchise with Dick Grayson or Wonder Woman with Donna Troy. Wally is Kid Flash. He was just Barry's replacement. He's my favorite of the Flashes yet that's just what he is to me. Now that Barry's back it's kind of a "What do we do with this one?" situation. Doesn't work quite as well as having four earth Green Lanterns. Those guys have already established a corps.

With that said I can see them going the JLU route and flat out replacing Barry with Wally like the guy never existed. That was a solution that always bothered me. They did the same thing with Green Lantern by making Kyle Rayner the first.

I think Barry can be interesting but he doesn't have to be a wise ass to do it. The everyman can be very endearing. Regular guy, regular relationship and life he tries to keep together, hometown hero and practically a mascot. The whole celebrity hiding behind the facade of an average man works for him better than it does Superman, imo. I'd like to see that on screen. I feel like this is something I can go on about for some reason cause I keep typing.

 

[Flash Facts]

You're probably in a very small minority there. Especially because technically Barry is "Flash II".

Most people don't even know there are multiple Flashes. Most likely when they think of the Flash they think of a guy who runs fast, wears red, is flirtatious, and makes jokes.

Also, unfortunately, a number of them call him Flash Gordon as I was reminded while listening to a podcast just yesterday.

 

[Savage]

If you want to get technical "Flash I" isn't even from the same universe. Same with "Green Lantern I" and "Superman I".

 

[lixdexia]

the problem with doing a wally movie instead of a barry movie is that while barry is integral to wally's story, wally isn't to barry's.

 

[Savage]

Exactly. If you're going to start off with Wally then, unless you go with a completely different origin, he's gonna have to end up in that lab and get those powers somehow. JLU made him a forensic scientist which is just...weird to me since I'm used to him being a mechanic of average intelligence (and they've shown him to be sometimes even foolish on that very show so that really clashed).

I'm pretty sure I've had this exact conversation/ argument before but I'd personally prefer to see things done in order. Barry then Wally. Jay got shoehorned into that family so his fitting is about as awkward as putting Power Girl in a Superman movie. If he's even in there, unless the legacy is a big part of the story I doubt we'd see him powered. Like Alan Scott appearing in GL powerless or something.