Six Years Plus Leading to the DC Film

Today is a momentous day for fans of DC speedster the Flash. Six years, six months, and four days since the announcement that Ezra Miller would be playing the character in a Flash solo film, production has officially begun on that movie.

How do we know the exact length? Because to mark this latest news, we decided to go back into the io9 archives and look at the long, long road The Flash has taken through production. Four different directors have worked on the project before the man filming today, Andy Muschietti (It). More writers than you can imagine have had their input on various scripts. Characters have been added, characters have been deleted, the tone has shifted from light to dark and back again. It’s been a wild ride. Freaking Michael Keaton is reprising his role at Batman in this thing, we think. And he might not be the only Batman? That’s how bonkers it’s gotten.

So, below, check out the not-so-brief history all leading up to today, the start of production on DC’s new film, The Flash, which will hit theaters in June of 2022.

October 15, 2014: The beginning. Ezra Miller is cast as the Flash. It’s also revealed he’ll get his own solo movie set for release in 2018, and appear in 2017’s Justice League.

October 5, 2015: Seth Grahame-Smith is hired to write and direct The Flash, which is aimed at a release date of March 3, 2018. At the time, the film had a story developed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

April 29, 2016: Seth Grahame-Smith departs the film due to creative differences. A sign of things to come.

Summer 2016: Production begins on Justice League, which will see the debut of Ezra Miller as the Flash.

June 2, 2016: Rick Famuyiwa (who has since directed episodes of The Mandalorian) is hired to replace Grahame-Smith on the film.

August 16, 2016: News breaks that after Justice League, Cyborg (Ray Fisher) will play a big role in the Flash solo film which, at that point, was scheduled to come out March 16, 2018.

October 31, 2016: Happy Halloween! Another director has left The Flash. Famuyiwa departs the project over, you guessed it, creative differences.

January 25, 2017: Writer Joby Harold is hired to write a new take on the Flash.

July 22, 2017: At San Diego Comic-Con, it’s revealed that Flash will be an adaptation of Flashpoint.

November 27, 2017: Ezra Miller debuts as the Flash in Justice League. The film fails to meet expectations and has its whole own set of problems.

January 16, 2018: More new directors! Game Night helmers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein are in talks to make a Flash movie that would be a little lighter in tone than the Snyder DC films.

March 4, 2018: Daley and Goldstein publicly acknowledge their deal, making it official.

June 13, 2018: As expected with their hiring, it’s revealed Daley and Goldstein are using Back to the Future as their touchstone for their Flash film.

October 15, 2018: The Flash movie is delayed about a year because lead actor Miller has to make the new Fantastic Beasts films.

February 24, 2019: Ezra Miller still seems confident his Flash movie will happen, and be worth the wait.

March 16, 2019: Ezra Miller reveals that he and writer Grant Morrison are working on a new, darker, take on The Flash, which clashes with the direction the current film has taken.

July 2, 2019: The true beginning of the final version of The Flash. Andy Muschietti is hired to replace Daley and Goldstein, and Birds of Prey’s Christina Hodson is revealed as the new writer of the film.

December 11, 2019: Another new release date for The Flash. This time July 1, 2022.

January 9, 2020: Muscheitti confirms his Flash movie is still adapting Flashpoint, just in a different way

January 16, 2020: Ezra Miller’s version of The Flash shows up and meets Grant Gustin’s Flash on TV. A huge moment in seeding a multiverse among DC’s myriad film and TV projects.

April 6, 2020: A video of Ezra Miller physically attacking a fan finds its way online. To our knowledge, no one involved with Warner Bros. or The Flash ever officially acknowledges it.

April 20, 2020: The release date for The Flash is moved up a bit, this time from July to June 3, 2022.

June 22, 2020: Michael Keaton is revealed to be returning to the role of Batman in the film, which gives fans an idea of the huge scope this movie will have.

August 20, 2020: Holy multiple Batmen, Batman! Ben Affleck will also reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the film.

August 22, 2020: At an event called DC Fandome, the team behind The Flash reveals that its unique adaptation of Flashpoint will kick off a new version of the DC cinematic multiverse.

October 3, 2020: Casting continues, as Billy Crudup is expected to reprise his Justice League role as Barry Allen’s dad in The Flash.

January 6, 2021: Ray Fisher, who reportedly had a role as Cyborg in The Flash since 2016, is removed from the film, the culmination of a long, public dispute between Fisher and Warner Bros. over conditions on the set of Justice League.

February 19, 2021: As if things could get any bigger, it’s announced that actress Sasha Calle will be playing Supergirl in The Flash, and in future DC projects.

March 12, 2021: Kirsey Clemons is confirmed to reprise her Justice League role as Iris West, Barry Allen’s love interest, in the film.

March 18, 2021: Zack Snyder’s Justice League is released, which significantly adds to Barry Allen’s story, including the roles played by Crudup and Clemons. A hot dog is involved.

March 25, 2021: Billy Crudup has to leave the project so a new actor is cast for Barry’s dad: Ron Livingston.

April 19, 2021: The day has finally come. Director Andy Muschietti announced that production has officially begun on a Flash movie that’s called… wait for it… The Flash. It’s been a long, long time coming.

For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.