The Flash is ready to take 2023 by storm. Despite the controversy surrounding lead star Ezra Miller, Warner Bros. dropped the first trailer for the highly-anticipated film during the 2023 Super Bowl. The first trailer shows Barry Allen/The Flash traveling back in time to prevent his mother’s death. He ends up in numerous different timelines and encounters different versions of Batman, including the ones played by Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck.
When asked by Keaton’s Batman why he wants to stay and fight for this universe, Barry replies, “Because this is the world where my mom lives. I’m not gonna lose her again.”
Barry comes face-to-face with a different version of himself in the trailer and is warned by Affleck’s Batman about the consequences of his time-traveling quest. “I completely broke the universe,” Barry says at one point. Two days before the Super Bowl, the teaser poster for The Flash was released. The superhero stood facing the light with the Batwing looming overhead. “Worlds collide,” the tagline read.
There’s been a lot of attention on The Flash — which comes out on June 23, 2023 — because of Ezra, who has been at the center of legal troubles. The actor, who uses they/them pronouns, has been arrested several times and most recently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor unlawful trespass in January 2023.
“Having recently gone through a time of intense crisis, I now understand that I am suffering complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment,” Ezra said in a statement to PEOPLE in August 2022. “I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life.”
The future of The Flash was in question due to all of Ezra’s legal troubles. In August, Ezra reportedly had a damage control meeting with their manager and the WB’s film chairs where they laid out a plan to keep The Flash’s June 23, 2023 release date on track, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The meeting was also reportedly held so that the higher-ups would be confident that Ezra is committed to the superhero movie and is remorseful for the negative press.