Grant Morrison Says ‘The Flash’ Script He Wrote With Ezra Miller Was More Like ‘Back To The Future’ Than A Superhero Movie

DC Comics and DC Universe took a serious blow this week, hit with major layoffs as part of WarnerMedia’s cuts to the overall company, and the streaming service, DC Universe, is basically dead now. While everyone laments the loss of jobs, many have talked about what these layoffs mean about the overall health of the DC brand, which in another way, can be framed as: it ain’t Marvel.

DC Films is a prime indicator of this, and whereas Marvel Studios has flourished for ten-plus years, DC has had a lot of false starts and failures with their superhero universe.  Much of this has been timing. Take “The Flash,” starring Ezra Miller. While a new film is on the way from director Andy Muschietti (“It”)—a June 2022 release date—“Flash” could have been in theaters as early as 2018. There has been a ton of turnover in development, Lord & Miller giving a pitch to DC that never went anywhere and then versions tried by Seth Grahame-Smith, “The Mandalorian” and “Dope” filmmaker Rick Famuyiwa, and “Game Night” directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Until recently, No one seemed to know or agree about what a ‘Flash’ film should be like.

READ MORE: Batman Returns! Michael Keaton May Suit Up In Ezra Miller’s ‘Flash’ Movie

Even Ezra Miller had a strong opinion. So last year, in a proof of concept exercise, to illustrate to the studio where “The Flash” direction should go, he enlisted DC Comics writer Grant Morrison to co-write a screenplay with him.

READ MORE: ‘The Flash’: Warner Bros. In Talks With ‘It’ Director Andy Muschietti To Take Over Directing Duties On Ezra Miller’s Superhero Film

The outcome: Warner Bros. eventually passed on it—perhaps because it’s better to develop a film with a filmmaker who will direct it, rather than a star who won’t—but one of the rumors was Miller and Morrison’s version was too dark.

READ MORE: Andy Muschietti Says ‘The Flash’ Will Feature “A Different Version” Of The Popular ‘Flashpoint’ Story

But Morrison, who is a writer and executive producer on Peacock’s “Brave New World,” recently shot those claims down.

READ MORE: ‘The Batman’ Is Officially Delayed; ‘The Flash’ & ‘Shazam 2’ Move Dates, As WB Shuffles Release Calendar

“No, it wasn’t [darker] really. I mean, elements of darkness were there and the material that they wanted us to use [was] the ‘Flashpoint’ stuff,” Morrison said in a Collider interview. “So, Ezra and I were actually trying to do something that was a bit more —like I say, it’s kind of like just a great science-fiction story. And if you don’t know [the comics], it would have made sense. But I have to say, I mean, I don’t want to talk about that, because somebody else has done their own work on it and I’m sure it will be great. And maybe, as I say this will leak out one day and people can judge.”

READ MORE: First ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ Clip Features Gal Gadot & A Glimpse Of Darkseid

Morrison also confessed that over a dozen writers have written on the ‘Flash’ so it’s very likely there are drafts that exist out there that aren’t public knowledge.

READ MORE: ‘Matrix 4’ & ‘Flash’ Receive 2021 & 2022 Release Dates By Warner Bros.

“Ezra Miller and I wrote that last year, but it kind of, you know what it’s like? It was just one of those things we all… Well, I thought we had a really good version of The Flash and we wrote it as fast as The Flash, because it was so demanding, and it was pretty good,” he explained. “And I think after a few drafts, it would have been great. But the way some studios work, these things just come and go. I think about 15 people have already written versions of ‘The Flash.’ But it does seem to be going ahead now, but not with the version that we did. I had fun. Ezra came over to the house and we just had a real blast and created the story. And maybe one day the script will leak out into the world.”

Someone really wants this script to leak, huh? Lastly, Morrison and described his version as fun and “Back To The Future”-esque.

“It was a very different kind of superhero thing,” he explained. “It was more like ‘Back to the Future,’ I would say, than a superhero movie.”

Whatever the case may be, it seems Muschietti’s “Flash” won’t be that different in the sense that it’s also reportedly based on the ‘Flashpoint’ storyline that involves time travel, multiple universes, and a somewhat dark premise of The Flash’s Barry Allen racing back into time to save his mother from dying. Then again, Michael Keaton could co-star and reprise his role as Batman from Tim Burton’s films, so who knows? 2022 is a long way away though, but DC’s Fandome, in late August, is right around the corner. With Ezra Miller confirmed to appear, perhaps some new ‘Flash’ news will be rolling out soon.