The DCEU’s Only Multiverse Film Tops Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool & Wolverine is Marvel Studios’ latest multiverse story, bringing together Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and other stars from past Marvel projects. The film is undoubtedly a major win for Marvel Studios, with positive reviews and a massive box office return. The now-defunct DCEU released a similar film just last year with The Flash.

The Flash took many years to reach the screen, with several changing directors and writers attached. When The Flash finally came out, it notably bombed at the box office by earning $271.3 million. Despite all the hype leading up to it, with DC Studios head James Gunn and Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav calling it one of the greatest comic book movies ever made, yet the consensus from critics didn’t quite match that rhetoric. However, with DC and Marvel Studios playing with the multiverse lately and comparing the two recent films, The Flash ultimately tells a stronger multiverse story in a few ways.

The Flash’s Core Story Is More Heartfelt

Geoff Johns’ Flashpoint comic book arc heavily inspired the film, which has become one of the character’s most iconic stories. DC Comics published Flashpoint in 2011, and in recent years, The CW series and an animated film have also adapted the story.

Comic book movies feature plenty of spectacles, fan service, costumes, heroes, and complex plots, but their quality can often hinder making audiences care about what’s going on in the first place. Deadpool & Wolverine‘s heart lies with Hugh Jackman’s variant Wolverine, who’s coming to terms with the death of the X-Men after he was off at a bar when the team was killed. The problem with this story beat is that it’s similar to what the character was also dealing with in Logan, except that time, it was Professor Xavier who was behind the tragic event.

Deadpool’s story is less compelling, with him once again wanting to save the ones he loves with his universe at risk of going away with the use of the Time Ripper. In The Flash, Barry Allen is in a similar position as he looks to save his mom from dying when he was a child. However, The Flash’s motivation is far more heartfelt and evident in the scene where Barry must let go of his mom and let her ultimately die, thus making a bigger sacrifice.

The DC Film Handles the Multiverse Better

The MCU is in its Multiverse Saga with many stories dealing with the concept leading into Avengers: Secret Wars. The Flash was the first and only time the DCEU properly explored the multiverse concept.

The multiverse in the MCU has become quite messy, with more and more additions making it more convoluted. That messiness continued with Deadpool & Wolverine and the idea of an anchor being ending a universe. This leads to a variant of Wolverine heading to Deadpool’s earth despite the original Wolverine from Logan still being around since the film takes place years later. The MCU has tried its best to make the multiverse cohesive, but all the timelines and variants have made the rules hard to follow.

On the other hand, The Flash deals with the multiverse in a much better way with the spaghetti theory scene, essentially explaining that what Barry has done impacted both the past and the future. This is why the DC film eventually features a timeline where Barry encounters Michael Keaton’s Batman, Supergirl, instead of Superman, and Michael Shannon’s General Zod. The Flash also did something different when visualizing the multiverse with the Chronobowl in the Speed Force. This all results in the hot mess Keaton’s Batman alludes to in the spaghetti scene, and that’s all audiences needed to take away from it instead of trying to explain the concept further.

The Stakes Are Higher in The Flash

The Flash was originally going to end with Michael Keaton replacing Ben Affleck’s Batman in the DCEU. Mr. Paradox wants to end Deadpool’s timeline sooner than it should since the TVA doesn’t prune them anymore.

Despite plenty of threats along the way, characters like Deadpool and Wolverine are never in too much danger because of their healing abilities. Therefore, audiences know that whatever act they are about to perform, they will likely come out of it alive. This cheapens the film’s final moment because Deadpool suggests he might die in reality, but it’s unlikely with his powers.

The Flash doesn’t have that luxury with his powers, and in his film, another version of himself dies due to his actions. The film also sees Keaton’s Batman and Supergirl dying, with the other Barry unable to alter the future because the deaths are inevitable. The Flash’s tweaking with time results in Barry meeting up with George Clooney’s Bruce Wayne instead of Ben Affleck, which shows that his minor tweak to the timeline still makes a wrinkle. This causes Barry to learn a valuable lesson when playing around with time and the importance of letting go, which carries more weight than what Deadpool and Wolverine learn in their film.

Deadpool & Wolverine features cameos from Channing Tatum as Gambit, Jennifer Gardner as Elektra, Wesley Snipes as Blade, Dafne Keen as X-23, and Henry Cavill as a variant Wolverine. At one point in its long development, Robert Zemeckis of Back to the Future was the front-runner to direct The Flash film.

The Flash is in the spirit of time travel classics like Back to the Future and captures that whimsical tone well. Compared to Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s a much more timeless film because it’s so meta. Deadpool & Wolverine features a ton of jokes referencing the current state of the MCU and real-world matters that will start to make the film feel dated as time goes on.

Deadpool & Wolverine might be on top of the world right now, but its reachability will likely fade over time because it heavily relies on its cameos. The Flash also features plenty of cameos, but it doesn’t rely on them as heavily since they only truly happen during the film’s third act when worlds start to collide. However, in a few years, fans may look back more fondly at The Flash film, which was swept up in controversy and a merger that ultimately killed the DCEU franchise for good.

The Flash and Deadpool & Wolverine aren’t the best films the superhero genre has delivered over the years, but it does represent how the brands of Marvel Studios and DC have fared pretty well. While Marvel Studios has slipped a bit, its brand is still much stronger than DC’s and can still put out hits occasionally if the hook is great enough. For DC, the brand dealt with damage beyond repair with the inconsistent quality and behind-the-scenes drama affecting films like The Flash despite it being one of the franchise’s best installments.

Of course, both films deal with the multiverse in their distinct ways, but they also suffer from similar issues, such as weak villains and poor CGI sequences. Yet, when comparing both of the blockbusters, The Flash comes out on top with its impactful storytelling, its dealing with the multiverse, and its overall tone. The recency basis of Deadpool & Wolverine will eventually fade, and many will realize that the DCEU was onto something with The Flash and could become the next comic book movie cult classic like Ang Lee’s Hulk or Constantine starring Keanu Reeves.