Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Jonathan Levine
Writer: Chad Taylor
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Dave Franco, Lily James, Dacre Montgomery, Dennis Quaid, Cristin Milioti, Winslow Fegley, Alan Kim, Delroy Lindo (voice), Morgan Freeman (voice), Mahershala Ali (cameo)
Plot: On a distant planet, a civilization of highly intelligent apes known as Meta-Gorillas live a peaceful existence that is violently interrupted by an attack for resources by a bloody thirsty group of White Saturians, natives of Saturn. The Saturians show no mercy in their attack and, having always known peace, the Meta-Gorilla population is unprepared for an attack. Martian Manhunter (Mahershala Ali) arrives to assist the Meta-Gorillas before they are completely annihilated. Their leader, Solovar (voiced by Morgan Freeman), speaks in Martian language to thank J’onn for his help. He is able to protect a small portion of them and transports them to a place where they can hide: Earth.
Many Years Later
There is a glow in Barry Allen’s (Dave Franco) eye as he looks down at a diamond ring that glistens under a fluorescent light. He gives himself a pep talk in a mirror and then puts the ring back in his coat as he exits the restroom and returns to the Central City ice rink, which Barry has rented out for a private night given his big plans to propose. Before he returns to the ice, he hangs back for a moment and just watches affectionately as Iris West (Lily James) appears to be having the time of her life. He starts to skate back to her but is distracted by a third skater entering the rink. Barry tells the person that he has it rented out for the rest of the night but the person keeps coming closer and pulls out a jewel-studded baseball bat. Iris looks on curiously as Barry realizes something is afoot but is unable to use his super-speed while in skates. This leads to a chase and fight between Barry and the intruder before that person finally catches up and slams the bat into Barry’s ankle. Barry screams in agony and Iris rushes to help him while the third skater kneels beside him and a feminine voice says “that was for Mick”. They skate away as Iris pleads for assistance.
The following day, Barry is in the hospital for a broken ankle with Iris by his side. Barry holds her hand and looks longingly at her ring finger, showing us he was never able to propose. Cpt. Darryl Frye (Dennis Quaid) enters and tells Barry that he doesn’t want to keep visiting him in hospital rooms. Barry says he is going to try his best make that the case going forward. Frye says that his unit is reviewing footage to try to identify the culprit but the search has been unsuccessful thus far.
Barry then gets an unexpected visitor: his old friend Hunter Zolomon (Dacre Montgomery). Hunter and Barry were in the same accident that gave Barry his powers but Hunter’s injuries were worse. Barry’s eyes light up and he didn’t know that Hunter had woken up from his coma. Hunter doesn’t seem too bothered and jokingly asks “what did I miss?”. He sees Barry’s broken ankle and wishes him a speedy recovery. Barry says that the current prognosis is three months.
A month passes by and Barry has grown frustrated with his injury. He still goes to work everyday and his life is mostly normal, except that he cannot be The Flash on a broken ankle — which drives him a little stir crazy, seeing reports of crime that he cannot assist on. Iris, on the other hand, enjoys having his company more now although she is still unaware of his alter ego. They get into a small argument about Barry’s recent mood but the argument is interrupted when something catches Barry’s eye on the TV. The newscast reports Breaking News on the return of The Flash. They cut to phone-recorded footage of someone who dresses like the Flash but, importantly, is also just as fast. “The Flash” chases down a stolen car and ejects the driver from the seat as he is applauded by onlookers. Barry looks shocked and Iris asks what he is so pressed about, she thinks it is kind of cool that The Flash is back in Central City. Barry snaps out of it and says he thinks it’s cool too, although he is lying through his teeth.
“The Flash” speeds through the city, seemingly having the time of their life. They reach the edge of town and take a breather when no one is around. The Flash removes their mask to reveal Hunter smiling underneath.
Confused? Let’s rewind.
Hunter is lying in a hospital bed, in a coma. He wakes up suddenly and the first thing he sees is a news story about The Flash on his TV. He goes through stages of acceptance upon learning of the months of his life that he missed. At first, he is a bit upset that no one has come to visit him. But once he is able to start rehab, he discovers that he has abilities that he never had before: super speed, the same that Barry was left with. He initially keeps this to himself but grows annoyed at the adulation that The Flash receives around Central City. So when The Flash is notably absent for an extended period of time, Hunter creates a costume of his own — similar but slightly off — and poses as The Flash.
He stops small crimes but, unlike Barry, adds an extra level to his “heroics”: he films it all on his phone and uploads it to a TikTok account made specifically for his adventures as The Flash. He labels himself as the first superhero influencer. His crime-fighting antics are interspersed with super-speed pranks and visits to places only achievable by someone with his powers.
Barry rolls his eyes as he scrolls through the videos on his phone. He is interrupted by a call from Iris. She informs him that they have new plans for next weekend: they will be babysitting her nephew while her brother and his wife are out of town.
At work, Barry voices his frustrations about The Flash’s new attitude to Captain Frye. Frye is similarly displeased, although for different reasons than Barry. Frye questions the intentions of someone with superpowers who only seems to be out for clout. Barry makes a joke about The Booster Gold Story but it goes over his boss’s head. Frye says that they will be monitoring this Flash situation closely and, if things worsen, they might have to take action. He then asks Barry how things are with the fiancee and he lets his mentor know that they will be babysitting her nephew next weekend. Frye gives him a look and Barry asks what the look is about. Frye says that it sounds like a test as Iris is going to be watching closely to see how Barry is with kids.
Hunter’s latest online stunt is a trip to the center of the Broome Forest, a highly protected land near Central City that is in the middle of a dispute between environmentalist and lumber companies that want to use the trees. He breaks the sound barrier and stops in his tracks when he enters a full-functioning city in the middle of the forest, just with no humans in sight. Instead, the city is populated by the Meta-Gorillas from earlier in the film. The gorillas give a disapproving look at the intruder and Hunter looks nervous but keeps his phone’s camera rolling as his livestream viewers increase exponentially. Suddenly, an ape larger than the others emerge, clearly a leader of the group: Grodd (voiced by Delroy Lindo). He checks to see what the commotion is and, upon seeing an intruder has entered the city, demands his troopers to apprehend the intruder. Seeing the apes rush towards him, he rushes out but drops his phone upon his exit.
A training montage begins as Barry tries to rehab his ankle to return to full strength so he can take back the mantle of The Flash. He struggles but things are looking up. He arrives back at home and is greeted by a hug from Iris’s sweet nephew Wally (Winsow Fegley). Wally quickly releases the hug as he is grossed out by Barry’s sweatiness. Iris laughs and Barry says he can’t help it, he just got back from a workout! He asks Wally what he wants to do this weekend and Wally’s immediate response is Wonder World, Central City’s resident theme park. Barry says they’ll have to ask Aunt Iris and they both turn to her. She is unsure but they both give her puppy dog eyes and she says they’ll go. He asks if he can bring a friend and she says yes, if that friend’s parents are OK with it.
Back in the forest city, a council of apes convene to discuss the Flash incident. Grodd is irate as this now means that humans know of their existence and more will come. Solovar, the more peaceful-minded of the two, says that they should approach this carefully. They have went years without clashing with the humans and the actions of one person shouldn’t mean that they rush into it now. One of Grodd’s luitenants enters with Hunter’s phone and says they know the origins of this human and they can retaliate in an instant. Solovar is able to convince the rest of the council that they should let things die down but, on his way out, Grodd tells them to remember the Saturians.
Similarly, Cpt. Frye attends a meeting of Central City’s various powerbrokers to discuss the footage from Broome Forest. Representatives from various lobby groups attend as well, including environmentalists, animal rights activists, and others. An expert zoologist who works at the local zoo testifies that they have never seen an ape species like the ones seen in the video. Frye says that they should study them closer to see if they pose a threat to their citizens. The zoologist advises against this as they are obviously extremely rare and they should not risk extinction. The city’s mayor vetoes this opinion and sides with Frye, saying they will go the Forest to study these apes.
When Frye exits City Hall, he is inundated with reporters asking about the news that his department have put out a warrant for The Flash’s arrest. He confirms this news and says that The Flash is putting the citizens of Central City at risk by his actions, chief among them his violation of the Merrimac Forest.
Frye and Central City police officers traverse through the forest to the city in the center. Meanwhile, the apes sense the humans coming and Grodd quickly prepares them to defend their city. Solovar, however, has different ideas and says, as their leader, he will negotiate with the humans by himself. This angers Grodd. Solovar leaves their community and makes his way towards Frye and crew. They pull up their guns in case Solovar gets aggressive but he puts his hands up and reveals that he speaks English. He says his kind mean no harm and Frye requests that his men take him in so that he can be studied. Solovar, seeking to avoid conflict for his people, agrees and goes with the humans back to the Central City Zoo, where he will be housed temporarily.
The next day, Barry, Iris, Wally, and his rambunctious friend Peter (Alan Kim) pull up to Wonder World. The two boys are in awe when they see all the rides. Iris to Barry and he is just as enthused. She bites her lip, happy to see how happy he is after the last few months. Barry sees an alert on his phone about the arrest warrant for The Flash but he chooses to ignore it for now and try to enjoy the day.
In the forest, an angry Grodd convinces his soldiers that the humans captured Solovar and that this is the first step in their attack on the Meta-Gorillas. This is like the attack on their home planet all over again. Their peaceful ways failed then and they will fail again. They’ve observed the human ways; keeping any animal species below them as subservient. It is time for this proud species to show their superiority. His speech has riled up the Meta-Gorillas and he tells them to prepare to strike.
Grodd and his army of Meta-Gorillas descend from the Broome Forest and towards Central City. When they reach the city, their first target is the Central City Zoo to free Solovar. When they reach him, Solovar tells Grodd that they need to return to the Forest before this escalates. This angers Grodd, who decides to keep Solovar in his cell and instead free the other animals from their enclosures. Guests at the zoo begin to hide and flee as the various animals begin to spread, eventually leaving the zoo and out into the city.
Hunter, upon seeing the news, feels guilt and, despite the warrant out for his arrest, suits up as The Flash to help protect the city. However, not long after he leaves his place, he falls into a trap. It is revealed that it was set up from the ice skater at the beginning. She tells Flash “I thought I already dealt with you once” before knocking him out with her baseball bat.
Barry and Iris stand in line for The Mastodon, Wonder World’s biggest rollercoaster. Wally and Peter are in front of them and their car launches off onto the coaster’s summit. Iris uses this break from the kids to say that she loves how much Wally looks up to Barry. As Barry responds, they hear commotion from throughout the park. At first they worry something is wrong with the coaster but it soon becomes clear what the true problem is: zoo animals and the Meta-Gorillas have begun overtaking the park. As lions, tigers, and apes rummage through the park, Iris turns worriedly towards Barry but is shocked to find he is gone. Soon thereafter, The Flash suddenly emerges to protect the helpless visitors. Capt. Frye and a large contigent of the CCPD have arrived to try and apprehend the apes but this makes things even worse. One of his officers asks what to do about the Flash but Frye tells them to focus on the animals first and foremost and then they’ll deal with the Flash.
Hunter, a bit groggy, wakes up to find the ice skater, Golden Glider (Cristin Milioti), standing above him with his mask removed. They both look equally confused. She asks who he is and he says he’s The Flash. She shakes her head and says she thought Barry Allen was the Flash. Hunter is obviously surprised to hear this and isn’t sure how to respond. She asks if he knows who Mick Rory is and he genuinely doesn’t know considering he was in a coma during Rory’s time as Heatwave. She says the Flash ruined her boyfriend’s life and, by extension, hers as well. A breaking news report on the TV catches her eye and she sees that The Flash is fighting the Meta-Gorillas at Wonder World. She points her bat at the TV and tells Hunter “there’s my Flash”. She leaves him tied up and says she’ll deal with him later as she heads out to the theme park.
Grodd, looking out upon the chaos, smiles when he sees The Flash. “You. I will make an example of you and your people,” he says loudly. Barry is still not full strength so he finds himself not as fast as he usually is. A scared coaster attendant abandons their post at The Mastodon and cowers for cover, leaving the current riders suspended in air. Iris, seeing the fear on her nephew’s face, yells to him that everything will be OK as they are probably safer up there then down here. She then yells for Barry, frustrated at his sudden disappearance. The Flash notices the suspended coaster and heads in that direction to help Wally, Peter, and the rest. However, this also leads the Meta-Gorillas in that direction and they begin climbing the coaster at Grodd’s orders to apprehend The Flash. Barry tries to fight them off as he rescues the riders one-by-one, also needing to keep his delicate balance on the narrow steel tracks.
Grodd finally launches himself into the air and pounces at full-strength onto the tracks, causing one portion to snap in half. Iris watches in horror as the cars holding the remaining riders begins to slide down and free fall. Barry, recovering from Grodd’s attack, rushes to catch the cars mid-fall and help them land safely. He gets his hands on the final car, holding Wally and Peter, and lifts them up into his arms. He goes to take them to Iris looks up to see Golden Glider coming his way. She hits him once again in the ankle and he drops the kids. However, they are caught in mid-air by Hunter, who is in costume but without his mask — choosing to let the whole world sees who he is. He takes the kids to safety and Iris rushes over to be with them as she looks on confused at the two Flashes. Hunter and Barry team up to defeat Golden Glider, who is apprehended by CCPD officers.
Barry, meanwhile, stops in his tracks when he hears a voice inside of his head. It is the voice of Solovar, who tells Barry telepathically to listen to him closely. He instructs Barry on Grodd’s weaknesses and says that Grodd should be his singular focus, as once he is defeated then Solovar will be able to convince the other Meta-Gorillas to stand down. “Barry! Come back to help!” he hears as he snaps out of the mental conversation to an exhausted Hunter. What Hunter said goes over Barry’s head but Iris read Hunter's lips and immediately realizes that Barry is The Flash. Barry instructs Hunter on Solovar’s gameplay and the two of them follow his instructions to defeat Grodd. Upon seeing their new leader defeated, the Meta-Gorillas are confused and Solovar uses that opportunity to speak to them telepathically and de-escalate.
As zookeepers corral the wild animals, Frye instructs his CCPD officers to arrest the Flash. They first go to Barry who puts his hands up as he does not want to be a fugitive. However, Hunter steps in front and says that he is The Flash they are looking for. He is the one who started this conflict and he should take all of the blame. Barry uses this opportunity to rush out and change back into his civilian clothes. He watches on disappointed as the officers arrest Hunter. Meanwhile, Barry runs up to Iris and the boys and says he’s sorry that they got separated but he is happy to see they are safe. She doesn’t say anything but gives him a look to let him know that she knows of his heroics and squeezes his hand.
The Meta-Gorillas are taken into the Central City Zoo, where Solovar is able to negotiate a special habitat for them in hopes of an eventual return to their home (the forest or beyond). Grodd requests to be held in isolation, away from Solovar. Solovar, meanwhile, telepathically thanks Barry for his help.
A few days later, Iris and Barry are trying to pick a movie to watch for date night. Now that they are done babysitting, Barry jokingly asks if he passed the test. Iris asks what test and he explains how Frye thought last weekend was her testing him. She laughs at the ridiculousness and says for him to stop thinking about things too deeply. She points down at her engagement ring and says she thinks that means he passed every test. Multiple police sirens go blaring by outside their window and Barry looks conflicted, wanting to be here in the moment but also hearing his hero duties calling. He gives her the sad puppy dog look that he did earlier and she smiles, telling him to go ahead. "Go out and save the world." They kiss and he suits up.
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