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An Instagram post heavily suggests thatThe Flashmovie will touch base the DCEU not only to Michael Keaton ’s Batman but also toWatchmen . On June 4 , 2021 , director Andy Muschietti portion out a teaserimage forThe Flashof Keaton ’s bloody Batman lawsuit . While the lifelike sensationalistic Bat - insignia is instantly recognisable as ( or at least interchangeable to ) the chest plate worn by Keaton in Tim Burton ’s movies , 1989’sBatmanand the 1992 sequelBatman return , it also motion at another widely know DC Comics symbolisation : theWatchmensmiley boldness .
Writer Alan Moore , creative person Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins cooperate onWatchmenfor DC Comics , which was published in installments in 1986 and 1987 ( ultimately being released as a singular collection in 1987 ) . The in writing novel take up a gritty coming to the superhero genre , imagining an alternate version of the U.S.A. in which " superheroes " interfered in major global events , vary the course of history . Watchmenwas a innovative series that was both commercially and critically successful , set the cornerstone for other darkness takes on the music genre .
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Watchmenwas finally conform as characteristic film in 2009 . presently , however , it ’s unlikely thatWatchmenconnects to the DCEU — but it should . Muschietti ’s postal service forThe Flashheavily connote that his approaching movie , which will allot with the DC Multiverse , could last bringWatchmeninto the franchise — either through admit its characters or simply connect to the story ’s themes . The most iconic look-alike fromWatchmenis the bloody smiley face , which has various parallels to the Instagram post . The Bat - insignia is round and shining yellowish . The ancestry is splattered on the left side . The optical similarities are clear — it ’s the meaning that needs to be sussed out .
Watchmencreated a true icon with the blood - splattered smiley face pin — not only because the image is so spectacular , but because it ’s a splendid symbol of the story ’s core theme . In an interview withEW , Gibbons described the picture as reflective ofWatchmenas a whole : " It was like the material populace enforce itself on a animated cartoon , which is what we were trying to do by treating mirthful book character as if they were living in a material world . " The mental image is so substantial that it ’s featured on the cover of the graphic novel and was used conspicuously in the marketing for the 2009Zack Snyder moving picture . The first and last image in the comic is that sully smiley face , and the Comedian ’s pin is seen throughout the story . However , after Rorschach first finds the badge ( and subsequently pass on over to Daniel Drieberg aka Nite Owl ) , the symbolisation stretch forth beyond the bloody smiley face , and a red blot on a yellow background becomes a motif : the Comedian ’s bloody nose staining his yellow costume , the reddened stains on the boat ’s sail in the Tales of the Black Freighter , and , most memorably , the red blood pelt over the yellow clock face after Adrian Veidt ’s cataclysmal attack .
Given howWatchmenextends the smiley face into a general color motif , it makes mother wit to read the bloody Batman image as a reference to the iconic graphic novel . Most belike , Muschietti is evoking the symbol to set up the tone ofThe Flash . Keaton ’s future Batmanwill be an older take on the part , not unlike how Niteowl is depict inWatchmen . A key theme ofWatchmenis the risk of nostalgia and paladin of the past times — both relevant to a 2022 DCEU movie featuring a previous propagation ’s interpretation of Batman . The blood sign violence , advise the motion picture might take a more adult approach to the case matter . While it ’s impossible to guess what the theatre director ’s intention were with the effigy , there is nevertheless a lot mean that called be draw from the dense symbolism .
It ’s also possible thatThe Flashwill be using the Multiverseto break thatWatchmenexists within the DCEU on an alternate worldly concern . DC Comics did something alike with theDoomsday Clockminiseries . moreover , the Arrowverse ’s Crisis on Infinite terra firma plug into many of the past DC Comics TV shows into one share Multiverse , and the crossing over was very well receive . It would be fitting forThe Flashto do something similar , especially since Keaton is involved . Still , it seems unlikely that this is the itinerary the movie will take — although fans can always hope for aWatchmenand DCEU crossover down the route .
Next : What Flash Movie ’s Bloody Batman Suit divulge About Michael Keaton ’s rejoinder
