Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

• Directed by Jay Oliva
• July 30, 2013

Voice Cast

• Barry Allen / The Flash-Justin Chambers
• Eobard Thawne / Professor Zoom-C. Thomas Howell
• Bruce Wayne / Batman-Kevin Conroy
• Thomas Wayne / Batman-Kevin McKidd
• Victor Stone / Cyborg-Michael B. Jordan
• Etrigan the Demon, Top, Canterbury Cricket-Dee Bradley Baker
• Lex Luthor, Captain Thunder-Steve Blum
• Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman-Sam Daly
• Lois Lane-Dana Delany
• Arthur Curry / Aquaman-Cary Elwes
• Hal Jordan / Green Lantern-Nathan Fillion
• Nora Allen, Young Barry Allen, Martha Wayne / Joker-Grey DeLisle-Griffin
• Iris West, Billy Batson-Jennifer Hale
• General Sam Lane-Danny Huston
• Cole Cash / Grifter, Leonard Snart / Captain Cold-Danny Jacobs
• Dr. Vulko-Peter Jessop
• Nathaniel Adam / Captain Atom-Lex Lang
• Princess Diana / Wonder Woman-Vanessa Marshall
• Slade Wilson / Deathstroke-Ron Perlman
• President of the United States-Kevin Michael Richardson
• Steve Trevor, George “Digger” Harkness / Captain Boomerang, Orm Marius / Ocean Master-James Patrick Stuart
• Yo-Yo-Hynden Walch

Barry Allen wakes up in a world not quite the one he remembers and now must set things right before everything is destroyed.

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is an adaption of the 2011 comic book crossover “Flashpoint” by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert. In the story the world was changed somehow in the past and is now altered in the present. What caused it and how can it be fixed? Those are the elements that drive the plot.

This is much less a Justice League film and more of a Flash movie but for some reason DC felt that a popular character with his own TV show (and an earlier series with a cult following) who was also featured in a live action film and who is also getting his own live action film needed help. They do great animated films but are afraid to take chances at times.

The world has been thrown into chaos. Atlantis and the Amazons are at war with the Earth going to the victor. Unfortunately it is a war that neither side will win even if they are victorious over the other and everyone but them seems to realize it. These are two sides with bizarre weapons beyond anything else and are unaware of just how disastrous their war will be.

The lesson Barry learns in this story is to change what he can change and to accept what he cannot. Barry has been living his life feeling pain over the death of his mother. He has the power of a god and has yet never used it to change the one thing he wished had never happened in his life. But what does not know is that changing terrible things in the past can have unforeseen consequences.

Barry’s chief nemesis in this film is Eobard Thawne/Professor Zoom (sometimes called the Reverse-Flash in the comics). He is obsessed with destroying the Flash. The interesting twist is that the villain is not the one that did anything. It was the unintended consequences of Barry’s good deed that caused all the problems in the world. He HAD journeyed into the past and stopped his mother’s death. The reason he did not recall was that the more time he spent in the changed reality the more that his memories changed to fit was is and those of what was faded away.

As stated by Zoom, like ripples in water there are ripples in time when you change something. Superman’s ship did not crash with the Kents. Bruce Wayne was the one that died in the alley with his father becoming Batman and his mother becoming Joker. Wonder Woman is a brutal military commander. Aquaman is just as brutal and ruthless seeking revenge for the death of Mera at any cost.

This is a dark future they just drop us in. We do not get mired in detail but instead are given just enough to set the stage. Creative minds too often these days feel the need to explain every tidbit. It is enough to set things up so that audiences can use their minds to fill in the rest. We do not need to know why Shazam is called Captain Thunder or why Harley Quinn calls herself Yo-Yo now or even why some of Flash’s Rogues are heroes.

The animation is great and the characters are well designed. It was interesting to see Grifter/Cole Cash make a brief appearance here. I am not sure any other members of WildCATS have made an animated appearance. Going off in a bit of a tangent, WildCATS was one of those edgy super teams that came from Image Comics during the 90s. Eventually Jim Lee sold the characters to DC comics when he went to work for them. Personally I would like to see a WildCATS film using the original team. Maybe someday.

DC knows how to make great animated films. Some are better than others, but most tend to be pretty good. I am not sure why they do not just get the script writers for these animated films to do some live action films. They know what they are doing. Or maybe the issue is that WB executives interfere less in the animated stuff than the live action.

My only gripe is the ending. Not the resolution to the story but the moments where Barry explains the lesson he learned. I think it was clear that he learned that lesson. He did not need to re-iterate it to Iris West.

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is a great film. It has an intriguing story with great characters. Watch it!