DC reveals The Flash film prequel (with a whole lot of Batman)

The Flash concept art
The Flash concept art (Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Warner Bros. Pictures' The Flash film is racing into theaters on November 4, and DC will be give fans a head start with an in-continuity prequel that will be exclusive to comic books.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 main cover (Image credit: Max Fiumara (DC))

Debuting April 26, The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive is a three-issue comic book series set before the events of the Ezra Miller film. The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive picks up after the 2017 Justice League film, with Barry Allen returning to Central City to become the hometown hero the city needs. But one of his first supervillain fights proves to be more than he can handle, and after being on the losing end of a battle with the DCEU-debuting Girder he calls up Batman for some advice.

(This appears to be the Ben Affleck Batman, whom Miller's Flash befriended previously in the DCEU.)

Kenny Porter will be writing The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, with artists Ricardo López Ortiz, Juan Ferreyra, and Jason Howard drawing each issue, respectively.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1's main cover is drawn by Max Fiumara, with a rare variant cover by The Flash director Andy Muschietti also planned.

While it may seem unusual for the cinematic DCEU to tell in-continuity stories in comic books (for whatever qualifies as DCEU continuity), that's been happening for years. DC has published in-continuity prequels for Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Justice League, and Wonder Woman 1984.

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 (of 3) goes on sale on April 26, with a collected edition planned for October - just in time for The Flash film's November 4 release.

Flash fact - these are the best Flash stories in all of comics.

Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)

Read more
Batman, Superman, and...?
DC's 2025 Free Comic Book Day plans include a preview of Superman Unlimited and the first appearance of a mysterious new Absolute Universe character
Superman
How to watch DC movies in order (release date and chronological)
Superman
James Gunn cryptically suggests that the DCU is building towards a Superman and Batman crossover
Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Shazam and other heroes unite.
Batman, Superman, and the rest of the Justice League take on "the most dangerous super-villains in the DC Universe" in a major new crossover
Batman is the Dark Knight.
All the new Batman comics, graphic novels, and collections from DC in 2025
Robert Pattinson in The Batman
Upcoming DC movies and TV shows: every DCU title coming soon
Latest in Comics
The New Thunderbolts leaping into action
Marvel's New Thunderbolts* comic steals the MCU's asterisk, and the reason why is just as big of a mystery
Web of Venomverse: Fresh Brains #1
Meet the Venomouse, an all new Eddie Brock, and more in Web of Venomverse: Fresh Brains #1
Superman surrounded by the exploding Krypton.
Absolute Superman #5 puts a devastating new spin on the Man of Steel's origin story
Ms. Marvel alongside the mutants of Age of Apocalypse
30 years after the original Age of Apocalypse, Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan will travel to the alt-reality to save X-Men history
Superman and the rest of the Super family at Pride.
DC Pride 2025: A revamped special issue starring Green Lantern Alan Scott, new books, and a host of variant covers
The Punisher holding two machine guns in the rain
Daredevil: Born Again - Learn the bullet-riddled comic book history of the Punisher before he officially joins the MCU
Latest in News
Overwatch 2
My hopes for an Overwatch anime or Diablo horror movie are going strong as Blizzard president points out "we are Blizzard Entertainment, and not simply Blizzard Games"
The New Thunderbolts leaping into action
Marvel's New Thunderbolts* comic steals the MCU's asterisk, and the reason why is just as big of a mystery
Pokemon Go players brace for the worst as Niantic is sold off for $3.5 billion: "This game is entering its death knell"
Stamp PSP
A 16-year-old pitch for a newly discovered first-party PSP game has me mourning the death of PlayStation's Japan Studio all over again
Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor Neil Newbon says he "got rid of" agents who deliberately kept him away from video game gigs: "They just didn't want me to do it"
Mass Effect
Jennifer Hale says she didn't see a single line as Mass Effect's Commander Shepard until it was time to record: "It was all cold reading on the spot"