Batman Found The Darkest Way To Kill The Flash - But We'll Never See It In Live-Action
When compiling a Justice League lineup, there are a handful of names most DC fans would agree are absolute musts. Among these are Batman — the character DC lied to you about — and the Flash, who are both staples of the team and have united for countless stories in print, including some of the Justice League's weirdest adventures of all time. They've also worked together in animation, video games, and live-action movies, but they're not always friendly. A few times, the heroes have come into conflict, even becoming adversaries thanks to the Multiverse. This is how fans learned that an alternate Batman had developed such a gruesome method of killing the Flash that odds are the moment will never make it to the big screen.
In "Dark Nights: Death Metal" #3, Robin King — a version of Bruce Wayne from the Dark Multiverse and ally of The Batman Who Laughs — reveals to Barry "The Flash" Allen that he has a means of killing every hero, including him. His plan for the speedster includes the corpse of his mother, Nora Allen, which has been covered in a Speed Force-nullifying toxin that melts the muscles of anyone who makes contact with it. Robin King stored her body in a Flash ring, so all he has to do is activate it and her body will fly out of it, extending her arms to give Barry a deadly hug. It doesn't get much more vile than that.
Ultimately, Robin King doesn't kill Flash with this sickening method. However, in some other comic instances where Flash has died, readers have been subject to some rather unusual and unsettling imagery.
DC readers have witnessed some truly unsettling Flash deaths
Like countless other comic book heroes, the Flash has died multiple times in various ways. While many of these instances are pretty standard and not too visually unsettling, there are a couple that send a shiver down the spine. A more recent example stems from the 2014 "Future's End" storyline, where the world is overtaken by the tyrannical artificial intelligence Brother Eye. Flash is one of the few surviving heroes, though he meets his end at the hands of Frankenstein. He offers the Scarlet Speedster a chance to join Brother Eye, which he refuses. Frankenstein opens his shirt, revealing the severed head of Black Canary stitched to his chest. Her Canary Call obliterates Flash in an instant.
To say the image of Black Canary's somehow still-living head attached to Frankenstein's chest is creepy would be an understatement. Still, it doesn't come close to the level of recognition that another eerie Flash death has attained over the years. During the iconic "Crisis on Infinite Earths" storyline from the mid-'80s, Flash sacrifices himself to prevent the Anti-Monitor from destroying the Multiverse. He runs so fast that he travels through time, swiftly decaying and withering away. Watching this occur through the series of panels above is harrowing as he goes from a gaunt, older human, to a collapsing skeleton, to nothing. Though Ben Affleck's Batman almost set up an adaptation of "Crisis" in "The Flash," and potentially this Barry's (Ezra Miller) death, with the end of the DC Extended Universe, don't expect this iconic moment to reach theaters anytime soon.
Evidently, Flash has been through the wringer in the pages of DC Comics. Thankfully, for those squeamish, it's unlikely his most gruesome deaths will ever make it to live-action.