NFL
By: Rick O’Donnell
While there are plenty of choices yet to be made about the new DCU and the direction it goes, it officially kicks of on the big screen this July. Superman will be the first movie of the rebooted and rebranded DC Studios. With complete control over the direction of the studio, Peter Safran and James Gunn have a whole world of building to do. To do so, they’ll look to fresh new faces to bring into their connected universe but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t look for familiar faces to the superhero genre. There are plenty of actors and actresses who played parts in Marvel or MCU movies that should be given a second shot and would make a good fit in the new DCU. Actors such as Andrew Garfield could be a perfect fit if given a second chance.
While Andrew Garfield wasn’t officially part of the MCU when he took the role as Spider-Man, he later was written into the continuity in Spider-Man: No Way Home. His role as Peter Parker was part of the Sony-owned Spider-verse and let’s face it, they’re not exactly hitting home runs with their movies. The Amazing Spider-Man might not be as well received as the Sam Raimi Spider-Man or the shared Peter Parker of the MCU with Tom Holland but neither have anything to do with Garfield or his acting ability and everything to do with Sony and director choices with those movies. The inability to balance the campy nature of these characters and grounded emotional approach of their stories doomed The Amazing Spider-Man. To me, that’s a shame because, no disrespect to the other two Spider-Man actors, but I think Andrew Garfield as an actor edges out the other two with overall talent.
So what role should he fill?
Simple, Barry Allen. Look, I get it. People have been campaigning for Grant Gustin to transition from the small screen to the big screen in The Flash role. At least once a week there’s a new plea for it to happen online/on social media but I’m not sold on him in the role at the box office. That’s not a knock on him either, there were few people bigger fans of the show than I was, but there’s a reason it ended when it did and it has nothing to do with the actor and everything to do with them doing as much as they could. Andrew Garfield could be the perfect big-screen counterpart to Gustin’s Flash.
Whether or not he’d come back to the superhero world is another story. Yes, he returned for No Way Home, but that was for a smaller role for a celebration of the character. Yet, he’d still be a good fit for Barry going forward. He possesses the ability to not only act out the emotional backstory of the Flash and carry it through big scenes but also convey the relentless optimism that is Barry Allen.
At 41 years of age, he’s also at a believable age to bring in the Flash family should they choose to do so. There are a ton of younger Flash characters an extended universe could build off of, but first they need to establish the strong lead in with Barry. Andrew Garfield gives them that strong role should they choose to go with an established actor instead of an up-and-coming one.
Why does he fit the role?
There was plenty of emotion on display with the death of Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Garfield has only grown as an actor since then In 2021 he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for the movie Tick, Tick… Boom so it’s safe to say he knows his way around emotional roles such as losing a parent. Since we’ve already dabbled in the backstory enough with The CW’s Flash and the DCEU Flash movie with Ezra Miller, we don’t need to revisit the origin story but since those events shaped the character, you need an actor who builds on that emotion. Not only is Barry forever the optimist, he’s strong willed and at times a moderator for the Justice League. You need someone who can fill the space on screen between the power struggle in the Justice League. If those characters ever appear in the same film at the scale of the JL, you want someone who can step in and steal the scene away from the Batman and Superman actors. You can’t have someone who shrinks into the background between two strong personalities.
You also need someone who can be lightheaded and fun, without being overly quirky and campy. You need someone who can fumble over themselves much like a Clark Kent would so the rest of the characters would have no idea it’s Barry under the mask. However, you also need someone whose presence fills the whole room with the optimism, energy, and determination that embodies Barry Allen.
Who knows if there will even be a Flash movie or if there’s any part of him in the new DCU. If they want to build towards a Justice League film it almost seems as if they have to include him. Whether or not it’s a fresh face to recreate the role or an established actor to expand beyond what we’ve already seen. However, there are few characters in the DCU who have the presence that the Flash does in Justice League history. Leaving him out might be a crime.
