Chris Baraniuk's "The Flash: Chapter №1"
Kir the Wizard
The Sun King
- Location
- Ukraine
I thought to release all three of them at the same time, but even this took so long! For now, I'm releasing Chapter 1 of...
The Flash Trilogy
A Proposal. Chapter №1
by Chris Baraniuk
The trilogy is based on a number of post-Crisis stories, with the rise of Zoom I and Zoom II as the Flash's arch-enemies, and the strengthening of the Rogues brand. The pre-Crisis stories are thus left for animation to explore. The Flash, by design, is an incredibly overpowered character, and while the first film side-steps this by dealing with a rookie, in general the idea is not to challenge or deconstruct the idea of the fastest man alive (via bringing the concept closer to reality, considering how much does he need to eat, what does he need to do for his heart to survive etc.), but to rely on the more phantasmagorical comic concepts, like the Speed Force, to use them to tell larger than life stories. Therefore, if the changes to the pitches are made, they should center on the central themes of the trilogy: ingenuity, limitless potential of discovering new knowledge, survival through tragedy, and, lastly, mercy and forgiveness.
"The Flash" will follow Barry Allen discovering his powers, questioning whether they have limits and what exactly can he do with them to make the world a better place, as his old life unexpectedly crashes around him, leaving him wondering for the cause of his problems. The secondary characters are Wally West, Iris West, and Hunter Zolomon, mainly representing Barry's civilian life before he becomes empowered, but also inserting him into his superhero activities. The main antagonist is Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. Zoom, a more powerful speedster from the future swearing vengeance the Flash, aiming to reverse his success.
"The Flash 2: The Rogues Gallery" will follow another interpretation of limits to Barry Allen's powers, and whether one can be a hero without them. It will include the rise of Wally West to the mantle of the Flash, as well as the sacrifices of Barry Allen and Hunter Zolomon as the fight to take their Gem Cities back from criminals that can manage to overcome the Flash himself. The primary antagonists are Leonard Snart and Lisa Snart, masterminding the takeover of Keystone City, but the Rogues Gallery is intended to be a massive "villain team", using their numbers, various powers and ingenuity to defeat the seemingly godly Scarlet Speedster.
"The Flash 3: Blitz" will follow Wally West after the death (or otherwise removal from spotlight) of Barry Allen, as he tries to balance his wish of properly honoring Barry's legacy as the Flash with his own desires for glory, popularity, and a possibility of a "normal life" beyond that of a superhero, married to Linda Park, one of the major characters from TF2:TRG. The main antagonist is the physically and mentally traumatized Hunter Zolomon, turned into the second Zoom, a Negative Speed Force energy being, somewhat reminiscent of Marvel's Venom in appearance, disgusted with Wally's carefree attitude about heroics, and intending to teach him how tragedy shapes heroes, as it, in Zolomon's eyes, did with Allen.
Proposals for the Cast of the Trilogy (may be updated later):
Barry Allen / The Flash ― no preferred actorIris West ― no preferred actress, casting may be raceblind/colorblind
Wally West / The Flash ― James and Oliver Phelps (twins can help showcase some neat Speed Force tricks)
Eobard Thawne / Zoom I ― Leonardo DiCaprio if we have the bank, Matt Letscher if we don't, keep his looks closer to the comics
Hunter Zolomon / Zoom II ― Michael Fassbender
Linda Park ― Jamie Chung
Lisa Snart / Golden Glider ― Juliana Harkavy ; Carmen Chaplin
Leonard Snart / Captain Cold ― Wentworth Miller
Mick Rory / Heatwave ― Dominic Purcell (for heat, improv, and banter); Andrew Dunbar (for a more serious take)
Hartley Rathaway / Pied Piper ― Matt Bomer; Neil Patrick Harris
The Flash
ACT 1 establishes our main cast, living in the Twin Gem Cities of Central and Keystone. We start out with a rather happy, privileged, if a bit uninspiring, life of Barry Allen, a CSI lab tech assisting decorated police detective Hunter Zolomon, a serious and aloof, personally traumatized cop, with scientific investigations. Barry is enthusiastic and content, though nerdy fellow: he lives with his parents, a picture of idyllic suburban white American family, reads "Flash Comics" about a (as far as he knows) fictional superhero Jay Garrick, listens to the newest science documentaries (use this for cross-promotion with Discovery or the like), and does physical and chemical experiments at his home lab. Barry's closest friend and co-worker, a younger intern from Keystone at CCPD, the wise-cracking Wally West, sets our dorky hero up for a date with his relative, the prominent local reporter Iris West, a commanding, independent and inquisitive woman with little patience for error. Of course, Barry botches the date, arriving late and being unable to contain his nerdy power level. However, Iris decides to tolerate him after learning that he works for the police and has a rather loose tongue. At times, we notice a yellow shape, zooming away surrounded by red lightning, and a red shape, following it, all in the background outside of the view (director's easter eggs, like the yellow shape's reflections in mirrors or kitchenware during "idyllic family scenes" would be appreciated). Nothing bad seems to happen to our main cast, though we're introduced in the CCPD chatter and Iris-Barry scene to the investigation of a massive criminal operation overseen by the Bohannan Crime Family.
Barry's empowerment as the Flash can happen either at his home lab, or at work, largely mirroring the comic version: chemical experimentation and a lightning bolt, a chance, an impossibility (have Barry try to investigate what could cause his transformation, and arrive at no definitive answer). This empowerement and Barry's first acts of heroism as the Flash are in sort-of "ACT 1.5": the general atmosphere of the film should stay idyllic for a little bit, even as fantastic elements are introduced. With Wally as his confidant, Barry is gushing over all his new powers and abilities. Wally asks him what he'd like to do with these powers, and Barry replies: be a hero, just like Jay Garrick (depending on prior films released you could have him be inspired by Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel or whoever. Maybe have Wally suggest Batman, and Barry be horrified at the comparison with a ruthless vigilante). His ideas of heroism are extremely old-school and motivated by comic book fantasies: he even already has a suit prepared (to Wally's stupor), explaining it as his personal nerd project about what kind of suit would a super-fast hero realistically require. He can barely wait before turning his dreams of stopping crime for real (not as some CSI helper!) into reality. Barry invades Zolomon's stakeout against a Bohannan Family smuggling operation, picking up speeding bullets shot at the officers, then capturing all criminals before they can escape and delivering them to the police with a smile. The one escapee is a cautious thug Leonard Snart, who witnessed the dismantling of the operation from afar, and leaked it to the press. Zolomon is grumbling about the impossible vigilante interfering with their jobs, but the Flash (christened so by Iris West) has no subtlety responding to any danger he and Wally hear of: catching crooks on motorcycles, putting out fires, even something as ridiculous as saving kittens from trees and helping old ladies cross the street at superspeed (may play into humor, or it may be used as some positive message for the younger viewers, but remember, that this still plays into the intentional ridiculousness the picture should maintain in the first act). Zolomon notices the usually phlegmatic Barry's sudden liveliness and sudden disappearances, but decides not to confront him yet. Barry mostly stays the same nerdy guy, continuing his experiments (and running new ones with Wally, looking at his powers), but gets a bit more confident and smooth at his second date with Iris (have him be late nevertheless, that's a treasured running gag from the old comic books). He tries to be smart and daring, telling her he can organize a meeting with the Flash for her, and when it happens she instantly figures out who he is, with neither the mask, nor his "vibrated" voice and features fooling her, as she asks Barry to respect her intelligence (maybe reference Superman, with "You could at least have tried wearing glasses to throw me off"). She agrees to keep his secret, in return for getting the first scoop on anything interesting in his superhero career, though she advices him to find something more interesting than chasing cats and grannies. That makes him ponder just what could he do. Wally suggests expanding his operations to Keystone City, or maybe to the whole two states-by-the-river, what's with his powers allowing to get anywhere in the blink of an eye. Barry follows advice, catching criminals state-wide, maybe even going international (here's an option for picturesque scenes for the international market: have the Flash run around the ancient cities of India, or the Great Wall of China, or some other recognizable locale, maybe have cameos from other superheroes reacting to the speedish shape of red, followed by yellow lightning). One time, Barry gets so fast in his desire to help so many that he accidentally rips space and time, running straight into a time portal (again, a chance to show "windows" to some period pieces, maybe featuring Wonder Woman, the Hawks in ancient Egypt, and others), eventually dropping into the Mezozoic Era, surprising a T. rex and remarking on some feather Dromeosauridae. The Flash leaves the prehistoric past with a smile, confident about his powers, running as fast as he can and coming out of the time stream back in the present… Where his smile falters.
ACT 2 requires a more realistic, maybe even bleak direction, contrasting ACT 1's idyllic Americana. Most of the changes in the city should come not from the Flash's actions, but the change in his disposition. We get to notice things the previously content Barry could look past: poverty, run-down buildings, the homeless, even the Allens' white suburbia is no longer a friendly place, but a haunting, unfriendly, horror-reminiscent street. The changes in scenery, music editing, and direction follow Barry Allen trying to make sense of it all, finally coming down to a revelation: his parents are dead, his family home has been sold, and nobody seems to know that things were different before. He breaks down upon the graveyard, sobbing in horror, before being picked up by Wally West, who remarks how Barry always come back to his parents' graves, it seems. Coming to his "new" apartment, which he now shares with Wally, as they cooperate to pay the rent, Barry's head is bursting with memories old and "new" now coexisting in his head. Wally confirms that he's lost Barry's signal and can believe that he traveled through time, but doesn't remember anything about Barry living with his parents. Barry blames himself, horrified at the idea of butterfly effect, musing that maybe stepping upon the wrong blades of glass could change reality in ways he can not understand. At work he speaks with Zolomon, who's now investigating a series of deaths and maimings of people and animals, all seemingly accidental, yet done in a way that Zolomon refuses to discount a super-fast perpetrator involved, suspecting the Flash. As they investigate, they find out that the incidents have a single connection: all of them were saved by the Flash, and someone is reversing every good deed the Flash has done. Horrified, Barry rushes out (to Zolomon's suspicions) and tries to get with Wally and determine which people they saved were still unaffected. He calls Iris, asking her to warn that everyone that was helped by the Flash is now being targeted by an unknown assailant, and her cynical answer makes him remember the old lady that he helped cross the street. He runs as fast as he can to where he met the granny, now about to be thrown into the traffic at the exact same spot. He punches out the barely visible yellow-shape near the old woman at superspeed, as it drops to the ground, red lightning crackling around it. The man in the yellow suit, reminiscent of the Flash's, but with the colors reversed (similarly with highlights the costume department may choose for the suits). The confrontation between the two starts out with lightning-speed punches and the two speedsters zooming between the buildings, attracting attention, before it becomes verbal and public, as the assailant, red eyes burning with hate, claims that the Flash is no hero, but a villain, who invaded the future, and caused him harm, including the murder of his family. The Flash adamantly denies ever going to the future, which gives his assailant pause, before he loudly threatens to destroy the lives of everyone associating with the Flash, so that nobody would dare think this sham a true hero, before running away. The reporters and nosy passersby are flooding the street already, with questions about that Barry cannot answer, all demanding the identity of the Flash, and, now, the so-called "Reverse-Flash". Panicking, overloaded with guilt and horror, Barry tries to escape the crowd. Realizing that he may well hurt people if he tries to rush through the crowd with superspeed, he vibrates his face muscles, hoping to keep his identity secret, and slowly, carefully pushes through the questioning, shouting, accusing and unhappy crowd, hoping that they do not see, do not recognize his face. Finally, he is free, he speeds up and leaves the crowd behind, escaping far out of Central City's center, and into the outskirts. Taking a breath in an alley, he looks at things his powers can not stop: poverty and a lack of hope, and, as he realizes looking down at his suit with guilt, now he can't even provide what little help he could as the happy go lucky superhero. The one moment he felt like a real superhero has passed, in a flash. He takes a bus back home.
Back at the West/Allen apartment, Wally and Iris try to comfort him, saying they'd support either of his decisions. In fact, Iris orders Barry to take a breather, and get his life figured out, before he'll continue rushing headfast into danger unprepared. She proposes the boys lay low and prepare for now, and try to see what the Reverse-Flash's next move is going to be. Barry follows the advice and tries to get back to work as before, helping out Zolomon, who has gotten a tip about the incoming heist of rare equipment at S.T.A.R. Labs, musing whether the pompous enemy of the Flash is the culprit. Barry asks Hunter if he thinks the Flash will risk another conflict with this foe again, and the detective looks at him, pointedly, saying that he should, that a hero must not run away from tragedy, but persevere, let it make him stronger, all the better to take revenge on the worst of monsters this world has to offer. Another policeman interrupts them, the heist at S.T.A.R. Labs has already started! As Barry is left behind by Zolomon, he hears a voice: "I like this guy!" The man in the yellow suit reveals himself to Barry, enjoying the cop's own coffee, cocky and in control, apologizing for the actions of his younger self (he may be played by an older actor hereafter, but it is not necessary). He introduces himself as Zoom, of the 25th century, and talks of how he admired the Flash, a hero of the past, remembered throughout the centuries, in his youth, and chose to emulate his powers, how he wanted to join the Flash as an ally, until finally meeting him and realizing that the man has slaughtered his family, with only a lucky gust of wind pushing him away from joining his family in their ghastly fate, and ruined his livelihood as a son of High Technocrats, forcing him to live in the streets and survive as a petty criminal,. Barry apologizes, surprising Zoom, but says that he has certainly done nothing of the sort at this point of time, and had no reason to do so. With a smirk, Zoom nods, saying that this may be easier than expected, because, if the Flash is ready to ask for forgiveness, then his revenge may be complete. Originally, in his plan of revenge, he intended to fight the Flash, and everything the hero stood for, openly, earning himself the ire of the hero, and even infamy in the now-changed future. Realizing that his future was malleable, Zoom tried to stop the Flash from getting his powers, or even being born, but found himself simply unable to interact with these events, involuntarily (or, perhaps, subconsciously) turning intangible. He realized that, whatever the Force connected his speed and time travel powers would not allow him to prevent the Flash, as without his appearance, he wouldn't get the idea to receive similar powers and travel through time anyway. But now, with the Flash ready to beg for mercy, he could finally say that the memory of his family was avenged, and his revenge was complete. Barry, noticing Zoom's distraught stance, offers whatever condolences he can give, and says that maybe time travel is too dangerous, too unexplored a tool to use lightly: last time he accidentally traveled back in time, he returned to find his parents has, apparently, been dead since he was ten. "Oh," Zoom exclaims, dejectedly, "I don't believe that was a side effect of your travels, only a matter of it aligning with your perspective, so to speak." Barry freezes, horrified, before asking: "Do you know what happened to them?" Zoom nods, and answers with a predatory grin: "It was me, Barry. I killed your parents." Realization settling in, Barry's eyes become full of hatred, getting a red tint, akin to Zoom's, as his typically yellow lightning also turns red, like his foe's. With an almost bestial roar, he charges at the camera.
The next scene finds us at S.T.A.R. Labs, with the staff covering in fear as Leonard Snart and his partner, Mick Rory, a gruff and uncouth pyromaniac, rob the company's "weapons of the future." They are about to get out, as Hunter Zolomon and CCPD arrive at the scene, and a shootout starts, with Rory using a flamethrower, and Snart experimental "cold grenades." The situation is changed as a cop reports massive chaos down the street. It's a battle of speedsters, with the red shape of the Flash getting engulfed by the yellow shape of Zoom again and again, both covered with red lightning. The speedsters' battle causes collateral damage, with cars thrown here and there, and finally them blasting into the S.T.A.R Labs, as their mad rush is followed by thrown-over police cars, forcing the cops, robbers, and scientists to cover in fear for their lives, while the Flash and Zoom, akin to invincible gods, charge through walls of the building, not truly registering where their battle is taking them, with nothing but the crackling of lightning and destruction left behind. A support column crumbles, and a concrete block covers the scientists, unable to get out, as they scream for help. Hunter rushes to try and hold the block, but is unable to do so alone. However, he's joined by Snart and Rory. At the detective's surprised look Rory just shrugs and Snart replies: "Don't kill them, or let them die, unless you have to. That's one of my rules." The scientists are let out to safety, but as Hunter turns to arrest the duo, Snart drops a gas grenade, and they make their escape through the hole left by the battling speedsters.
The Flash and Zoom continue their battle, ultimately arriving at the massive Van Buren Bridge, connecting the Gem Cities. Barry seems faster than ever, yet Zoom evades each of his rage-fueled blows. Realizing that this is the first time the Flash has tapped into the Negative Speed Force, he mocks him, reveling in its mastery. That makes Barry take a pause, concentrate his breathing, and now come back to his old "yellow lightning", as he evades Zoom's attacks. Then Zoom rushes to the bridge's far end and, Barry realizes, tries to take momentum for a devastating attack. Barry does the same, and the two lightning shapes, yellow and red, rush at each other, colliding at the center of the bridge, shaking the world around them with a sonic boom. As the dust lowers down, we come back to look at the scene of the collision. Barry is lying on the ground, struggling to rise, but Zoom, triumphantly, kicks him down. He celebrates his victory, not bothering with superspeed, delivering painful and personal kicks at Barry's defeated form. Zoom explains that, now that the Flash is born, and his powers have become known to the world, he will have his place in the history books, though his reign as hero is going to be cut short. Now there is nothing stopping him from ending the Flash, his revenge complete. He kneels down to Barry, vibrates his hand at incredible speed, threatening to press it into his heart, just like he did to his parents. Saying that their race is over, Zoom declares victory… As he gets a lightning speed uppercut for his trouble. Thrown to the side, Zoom wastes no time getting up, using his hand to "fix" his bleeding, yet rapidly regenerating dislocated jaw. He looks up to see his assailant: our Barry is still on the ground, wounded, but above him stands the Flash of the future, older, stronger, in a better suit, yet still unmistakably Barry Allen. He takes a lounge at Zoom, yet the man in yellow evades the attack, speeds up and escapes into a time travel wormhole. Future Flash looks down at our Barry and offers his hand, asking him to follow/trust him (Terminator puns are welcome here, try to lighten up the audience after a long drag of action).
ACT 3 mostly takes place in the future. The world of the 25th century could take some pointers from the likes of Star Wars' Coruscant and Kamino: beautiful, pristine, yet at the same time cold and "flavorless" futuristic cities, perhaps with a hint of a dark underbelly. This is the environment in which the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne, had to grow up, and where the Future Flash wages his war against Zoom, and it should reflect mania, aloofness, and calculating character of the warring speedsters. Future Flash takes Barry into his hideout, featuring equipment, needed to watch over the timeline, and containing artifacts from the comic books such as the cosmic treadmill. FF mostly confirms the RF's story, though from his viewpoint it was Zoom that started the war by murdering his parents. Barry asks his future self if he truly went out of his way to kill Zoom's parents, and the older man brushes it off as either a mistake, or lies. However, now that there's two of them at the same time and place, and Zoom will be restoring his powers after the last encounter, they have a window to finally end this war that has been going for centuries. The Time Masters' tech, and the cosmic treadmill, he notes, has given him an edge over them, allowing to oversee Zoom's presence across time and make consecutive time jumps, as the use of the treadmill allows him to go back immediately without having to wait for his powers to recharge, as Zoom does. And now he has reinforcements, while Zoom will need to wait if he wants to get his other time versions to join him, and then he'll have to choose: chase us, lest we change his timeline, or hope for the best and go back to the past. Barry asks what their plan is, and Future Flash replies that it is to stop Eobard Thawne from ever becoming Zoom, by making sure whatever happened to the Thawne family that set him off on believing it was done by the Flash will target him, too. When Zoom inevitably comes to stop them, they can surround him, so that he can't save his younger self from the explosion. Barry is conflicted considering that they are planning murder, but tries not to argue, instead asking if that would bring mom and dad back to life. Future Flash replies that he does not know, but he has to try. He explains that the Speed Force, the phenomenon that allows them to use their impossible powers without any immediate drawbacks, somehow protects the speedsters through the changes to the timeline while they travel, though when it "sets in," so to speak, the changes rush through, with them having new memories, experiences, possibly even physical changes. Barry nods, remembering his own experience of suffering through a timeline alteration, but then notes how Zoom was unable to kill young Barry, or stop him from becoming the Flash, as that would destroy his own powers. Barry asks his future self if stopping Thawne from becoming Zoom would erase them, and the Future Flash replies that he does not know. He notes how even here, in the world of the 25th century, with timeline-viewing devices and grounded theories, time travel is still closer to something from the realms of magic, rather than a definitive science that they know the ins and outs of. The humanity still has so much to learn, yet he, the Flash, cannot stop and wait until they figure out how the universe works. He has to defeat Zoom, not just for himself, but for all the people, whose lives he tried to destroy. Or so he says.
Barry listens to his future self, after all, who else could you trust if not yourself, yet his heart is clouded with doubt. He was carried here, to this strange time, by his own future self, all to do what? Kill the Thawne family, while his older version handles Zoom? All for the greater good? He asks Future Flash if it's right to kill young Eobard for the crimes he has yet to commit, and receives chastising in return, the older Flash asking how Barry could ever forgive Thawne? The only thought that keeps him on is the possibility that his parents can be saved. If he can only prevent Eobard from becoming Zoom. He almost spaces out on the travel through the futuristic city, until finally he realizes what his Future self is planning. A massive explosion to bring down the Thawne family's exquisite residence. The destruction of Thawnes, and their livelihood, just as Zoom described... Barry protests, and the Future Flash hardens, saying that he may have anticipated his resolve weakening. Which is why he activated this explosive a minute ago. Without another moment of thought, Barry runs, followed by the Future Flash, trying to stop his counterpart. As he is about to succeed, Zoom appears on the scene with an incredible gust of wind, tackling the Future Flash. Realizing that Zoom has already saved his younger self from the explosion, Barry understands what must be done to stop Zoom from ever being born. As the two older speedsters fight inside the already exploding house, Barry taps into the Speed Force with all his will, with blue lightning now following his every step as he navigates a collapsing, rapidly burning structure, grabbing Mr. and Mrs. Thawne, and bringing them to the forefront of the house. He covers all three of them, as the building finally crashes behind the Flash, burying the two fighting speedsters behind him. Barry asks the terrified Thawnes to call the emergency, and receives a nod and a smile from the shiny-eyed young Eobard. As the Thawnes rush away to their medical transport, Barry returns to look at the ruins of the residence. Out crawls the battered form of the Future Flash, who looks upon Barry with hate. He asks why he would ruin everything, why would he let Zoom live, why would he forgive the person who killed his parents? Barry replies that he doesn't know if he could ever forgive something like this, but neither could he murder an innocent family in return. If all he had to do was make sure that Eobard never becomes Zoom, then maybe preventing what motivated him to hate the Flash would work better. "How long have you stopped being a hero that the thought never entered your mind?" Barry asks his future self, who dissipates in thin air, nothing but the red hate of the Negative Speed Force left behind him. Taking that as his cue to leave, Barry sighs, musters what remains of his strength and makes a leap into a time travel wormhole. The futuristic police vehicles arrive at the scene, investigating the ruins of Thawne residence with their forward lights. The camera ominously hangs above the ruins, near the place where the Reverse-Flash was buried under the rubble, but nothing comes out.
EPILOGUE returns us back to the present, with the cinematography combining clues from the "happy-go-lucky" Act 1 and the "realistic" Act 2. As in Act 2, Barry decides to check on his family home in the suburbs, where the new owner, and old lady he rescued before, gently says that she bought this house long ago, but offers to join her for tea. He realizes that his parents are still dead in the new timeline, but after a moment of contemplation, gives the woman a smile, agreeing. We then get to see the Flash using his powers to help rebuild the city after his own destructive battle against Zoom, fixing people's cars at superspeed with pointers from Wally, working at multiple soup kitchens for the homeless, acting friendly with the public and giving interviews to Iris. Hunter corners him, seemingly angry at the Flash, but shakes Barry's hand saying that he can give that vigilante some slack, if he improves his act. Hunter asks if they'll see the other speedster again, and when Barry says that they probably won't, Zolomon gives him a grave nod, misunderstanding the answer, yet still approving of "the deed".
As Barry leaves the building, he is surprised by the appearance of another speedster, who nearly jumps out of wormhole, commenting on how weird this cosmic treadmill can be. The speedster, wearing a red suit, similar to his own, turns out to be Wally from the future, blabbering about how he can't explain how and why he got these powers, because they're probably violating a few of time travel laws already. Barry laughs, saying that this has already been a recent experience for him, at which future Wally smirks and says that in that case he should have no qualms about traveling to the future for a certain ego-driven event. Shrugging, Barry follows, arriving at the Gem Cities of an undetermined future, decorated with red banners displaying the Flash logo. "The event is for you," Wally explains and takes off, daring Barry to follow him. As the two Flashes race through the clean, happy-looking city, they arrive at a large stadium, which, Barry recognizes, is the old Central City stadium, which has been expanded around from all sides to house "The Flash Museum". He marvels at the sight of statues, depicting him battling various foes, flabbergasted, trying to ask for an explanation, but Wally asks him not to look much into these things, because they don't want to risk him changing this future again. Barry gulps and follows his friend to what is supposedly "the convention". The convention of speedsters from across times and universes ("Is that guy cosplaying Jay Garrick!? And Max Mercury!? And Johnny–") is, apparently, held in honor of Barry Allen, the Flash, "a hero, who saved the multiverse". Barry is overwhelmed, but quietly asked to play along, as he waves to the crowds and shakes hands with colorful speedsters from various time periods. Then comes him, the man in the yellow suit, introducing himself as "Professor Zoom… formerly known as the Flash of the 25th Century". Eobard shakes Barry's hand, proclaiming himself his biggest fan, saying that he has inspired him to do good for all mankind, not just as a speedster, but a multi-disciplinary researcher, to move humanity forward, curing diseases, reaching the stars, and never letting tragedies cripple their lives. Barry smiles, nodding to Eobard, and, in good spirits, goes for a charity race with the current Flash, Wally West (if the studio can whip out a Superman cameo, might make this a race with Superman). As the two of them start their race, Professor Zoom looks wistfully, quietly monologuing his appreciation for the Flash, for giving him a new hope for the future. We remember, however, that speedsters may remember their old timelines, when he says: "I thank you for finding it possible to forgive me. Unfortunately… I do not think I can return the favor. Not entirely. Barry Allen may live in peace, for as long as he can. But his legacy, the Flash legacy… One day, it will have to be reversed."
POST-CREDITS SCENE: Back in the present day, a meeting of the Bohannan Crime Family is underway. It is interrupted by Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, entering in protective comics-like gear, armed with weapons they have stolen from S.T.A.R. Labs. Snart declares that after witnessing the battle between gods, he had an epiphany, that there is only one way for crime to survive after the Flash's arrival. The Gem Cities deserve a better class of criminal, and he is going to give it to them. He fires his Cold Gun at the camera, "freezing" the screen.
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