Grant Gustin's Flash Movie Snub Is An Insult After 10 Years Of Playing Barry Allen

Grant Gustin first played the role of Barry Allen on The CW in 2013, and he has since established a remarkable legacy as the DC hero. However, the upcoming movie, The Flash, set to release in 2023, will not feature him in the role.

Despite playing the role of Barry Allen, also known as the Flash, for ten years on The CW, Grant Gustin will not be reprising his role in the 2023 movie, The Flash. The Flash series debuted in 2014 after Gustin's character first appeared in a backdoor pilot on Arrow, another DC series on The CW, in 2013. Gustin has made multiple guest appearances on other DC series on The CW, including Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman. 

The Flash season 9, which began in February 2023, will be the show's final season, with the series finale airing in the summer of 2023. This marks ten years since Gustin first wore his superhero suit as the protector of Central City who moves at lightning-fast speeds.

Even though Grant Gustin played the role of the Flash on The CW's DC series, Ezra Miller was cast as the Flash for the DCEU. Miller made cameo appearances in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad before taking on the lead role in 2017's Justice League. In 2023, Miller will star in The Flash, which will be their first solo film as Barry Allen. The movie is expected to reset the DC Universe, giving James Gunn and Peter Safran the chance to rejuvenate the franchise with 2025's Superman: Legacy. Initially, some fans hoped that Gustin might appear in The Flash in a cameo role, especially given the film's storyline, which involves jumping between different timelines. However, Gustin himself has suggested that this may not be the case.

Grant Gustin Deserves To Be In The Flash Movie In Some Way

In a recent interview with TVLine, Grant Gustin stated that he was never approached to appear in The Flash, despite playing the role of Barry Allen for a decade. Many people believe that Gustin gave a more well-received performance as the speedy metahuman than Ezra Miller did. Given Gustin and Miller's shared history in the role, having both appeared together in The CW's DC crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths," The Flash would have been an excellent opportunity to acknowledge Gustin's lengthy career as Barry Allen.

The "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event, which aired in 2019 and 2020, was the sixth event of The CW's "Arrowverse." It brought together characters from all corners of the franchise to save the multiverse. During the event, Grant Gustin's Barry Allen meets Ezra Miller's version in the Speed Force, leading fans to hope that Gustin would make an appearance in The Flash on the big screen. This hope was further fueled by the fact that Miller's version of the character gains the Flash moniker from Gustin's Barry Allen during this scene. It would have been a fitting tribute to Gustin's exceptional portrayal of the character if 2023's The Flash had acknowledged his contributions in some way.