The Flash: 5 Ways Ezra Miller Is Comic Accurate (& 5 Grant Gustin Is Better) - Screen Rant

DC comics did a good job of keeping things separate between the DCEU and the Arrowverse. There were heroes that DC wouldn’t allow in the Arrowverse, and vice versa. There were a few that did appear in film and TV, with Superman showing up in both versions, but The Flash took it one step further. The two Flash’s actually appeared together in the Arrowverse.

Ezra Miller portrayed Flash in the DCEU, starting in Justice League, and unsurprisingly, he's dramatically different from Grant Gustin's Arrowverse Flash. One is a police forensic officer who has a grip on his life, and the other is an insecure young hero who wasn’t sure where his life was heading. But which was more accurate to the comics?

10 Ezra Miller - Genius

In the comics, Barry Allen is an intelligent hero. In DC Comics, Allen earned the role of the Supreme Chemist in history, creating his own Philosopher’s Stone. Barry also has a genius-level intellect in chemistry and forensic sciences.

While The Arrowverse’s Flash is smart, the DCEU version is a genius. When Bruce Wayne found his home, there were several items that Barry created for his career as Flash. In the Arrowverse, Flash relied on his friends to create everything.

9 Grant Gustin - Forensic Scientist

Barry Allen is a brilliant forensic scientist in DC Comics and has a genius-level knowledge of chemistry to help him solve crimes for the police department.

In the DCEU, Barry Allen got started on his journey to this point, but in the Arrowverse, Barry was already there. From the first episode, Flash discovered clues to help the police solve crimes and proved to be both a fantastic forensic scientist and a great hero, just like the DC Comics version.

8 Ezra Miller - Insecure

Justice League's Flash looking concerned.

The Flash was one of the first superheroes DC Comics introduced in the Silver Age. He is a police forensic scientist who helps solve crimes, so it comes as no surprise that he has been best friends with Bruce Wayne, and Batman respects him. Despite all this, Flash has also been one of the most insecure heroes in DC, and that is Ezra Miller’s version.

Barry has caused multiple disasters because he never overcame the loss of his mother when he was a child. Flash is at his best when around someone stronger-willed, and that certainly applies to the film version.

7 Grant Gustin - Rash Decision Maker

In DC Comics, Barry Allen’s worst action was running back in time to stop his mother’s murder. What resulted was Flashpoint, and it took all Flash could do to help Thomas Wayne’s Batman put the world back together again. The same thing happened in the Arrowverse.

Grant Gustin’s Flash has always acted before thinking, and it often causes problems. For someone who works with the police, Barry uses his instincts more than his brains, and it causes as many problems as it fixes.

6 Ezra Miller - His Passion

One thing that makes Flash shine in the DCEU is his passion for being a hero. Flash there plays closer to the comic books than the Arrowverse does, as Grant Gustin goes about business as a hero but Ezra Miller seems to want to be a hero, working well within the confines of the Justice League.

Even when injured, Ezra’s Flash refuses to give up and shows the grit that DC Comics fans love from The Flash.

5 Grant Gustin - Always Late

One of the funniest things about The Flash in DC Comics is that the Fastest Man Alive is always late. There is something to be said about a man who can time travel but can’t get to an appointment on time to save his life.

The Arrowverse has played into that trait throughout Grant Gustin’s run on The CW series. In the pilot, Barry was late getting to the crime scene to gather evidence, and he has remained unreliable ever since.

4 Ezra Miller - Showing His Speed

Flash racing at full speed.

The Arrowverse and DCEU show Flash’s super-speed in different ways. In The Flash, Gustin’s Barry Allen runs like a blur through the town, his speed so blazing fast that only a streak remains. While that is a good way to show it on the small screen, it isn’t the best way to show how fast Flash is.

The DCEU does him justice in the opposite manner than Fox did with Quicksilver in its X-Men movies. They show Ezra’s Flash and then cut to someone else and he has already done something. He isn’t so fast that he is a streak; he is so fast that no one, not even the audience, sees him move.

3 Grant Gustin - His Costume

When The Flash first appeared on The CW, his costume wasn’t the most comic book accurate. It was more in line with what Fox did with the X-Men, but as the MCU has shown comic-accurate costumes can still look cool on the movie screen, each season of The Flash has added a little more to make it a comics-accurate portrayal.

Ezra’s costume in the DCEU is nothing like the comics, but the Arrowverse tries its hardest to remain loyal.

2 Ezra Miller - Wally West

There are several people who took on the role of Flash in the comics. However, the two most popular were Barry Allen and Wally West. After Barry died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wally took over the role after serving as Kid Flash.

While Ezra Miller is Barry Allen in the DCEU, he is more comic’s faithful to Wally West’s version, a young hero who always wants to fit in and tries to learn at the feet of the iconic Justice League members.

1 Grant Gustin - Barry Allen

While Ezra Miller is more Wally West than Barry Allen, Grant Gustin’s Flash is the Allen version. From his work as a forensic scientist to his role in mentoring younger heroes in his world, Gustin is everything Allen was in the comics.

Gustin also has Flash's love relationship with Iris West and the death of his mother that he always tries to make up for driving him forward. Miller could get there, but in the Arrowverse, Gustin already fits the character like a glove.

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Shawn S. Lealos (441 Articles Published)

Shawn S. Lealos is a senior writer on ScreenRant who fell in love with movies in 1989 after going to the theater to see Tim Burton's Batman as his first big screen experience.

Shawn received his Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma with a minor in Film Studies. He has worked as a journalist for over 25 years, first in the world of print journalism before moving to online media as the world changed. Shawn is a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists and current member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has work published in newspapers such as Daily Oklahoman and Oklahoma Gazette and magazines such as Vox Magazine, Loud Magazine, and Inside Sports Magazine. His work on the Internet has been featured on websites like The Huffington Post, Yahoo Movies, Chud, Renegade Cinema, 411mania, and Sporting News.

Shawn is also a published author, with a non-fiction book about the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers and has begun work on a new fiction series as well. Visit Shawn Lealos' website to learn more about his novel writing and follow him on Twitter @sslealos.