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The following contains spoilers for The Flash, in theaters now.
The Flash is notable for giving the Scarlet Speedster his first solo movie and adapting his ultimate story. The plot of the film has several similarities to the Flashpoint storyline, though it isn't an exact adaptation of it. In fact, many of the film's later scenes resemble events from another iconic DC crossover story.
Crisis on Infinite Earths was in many ways Barry Allen's first definitive story. It also marked many major changes for the DC Universe of the comics. Ironically, The Flash echoes Crisis on Infinite Earths more as it nears its end, especially when it comes to the fate of various worlds.
The Flash Pulls From Barry Allen's Most Important Modern Story
The Flashpoint storyline in the comics was a major crossover and was centered on Barry Allen. It spun off from the origin story retcon introduced in The Flash: Rebirth that was released a few years prior. That story not only put Barry back in charge as the main Flash in the DC Universe, but also made a major change to his earliest days. The Flash: Rebirth established that Barry Allen's nemesis Reverse-Flash had gone back in time and killed Barry's mother Nora. The Flashpoint Universe was created when Barry tried to go back in time and stop Nora Allen's murder, creating a different DC Universe. Heroes like Superman weren't publicly known, while Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman walked far darker paths. In general, the world was on edge and ready to destroy itself, and only The Flash's actions could prevent this from happening.
The Flash, as expected, adapted many elements from Flashpoint. The crux of the story involved Barry trying to undo his mother's death, though Eobard Thawne isn't the catalyst in the traditional sense. In the new reality The Flash's Barry Allen creates, he isn't The Flash. Rather than Wonder Woman and Aquaman being at war, like in Flashpoint, the two simply don't exist. In fact, "Arthur Curry" isn't the son of the lighthouse keeper Tom Curry but rather his pet dog. The emaciated Flashpoint Superman is replaced by a similarly characterized version of Supergirl, who later becomes integral to defeating the villainous General Zod. There are also scenes where Barry replicates getting his powers, both for his younger/alternate reality counterpart and for himself. These resemble events from the series Flashpoint Beyond, where an alternate Batman also helped in that effort. Even with all these similarities, The Flash ultimately isn't a straight replica of the comic book. Instead, it combines its basic plot with a different multiversal DC storyline that also resulted in a rebooted DC Universe.
The Flash Is the DCEU's Secret Crisis on Infinite Earths Adaptation
Aside from Flashpoint, another storyline that heavily influences The Flash is Crisis on Infinite Earths. Given how integral Barry was in that comic book storyline, this makes sense. Even then, most fans likely didn't expect The Flash to take so much inspiration from CoIE. Multiple versions of Superman and Supergirl appear in The Flash, which mirror the Golden Age and Silver/Bronze Age Superman in Crisis. Likewise, one of the most gut-wrenching elements in The Flash involves the death of Supergirl, which was also an important part of Crisis. In fact, a new version of the classic Kara Zor-El version of Supergirl wouldn't be brought back to the DC Universe proper until several years after her original death.
The numerous alternate worlds that cameo in The Flash eventually begin to collide, nearly destroying each other. All of this is caused by Barry Allen's time travel shenanigans. This doesn't resemble anything from Flashpoint, but it is in line with the storyline for Crisis on Infinite Earths. The book's very tagline involved worlds living and dying, whereas Flashpoint involved the fate of only one (or arguably two) universes. Even the idea of the Multiverse feels closer to Crisis than Flashpoint. Likewise, Crisis climax of the former involved the death of Barry Allen. While the DCEU Barry doesn't die, his younger counterpart and the villainous Dark Flash meet their end. All of these elements fuse into a movie that uses bits and pieces of two iconic DC comic events to craft its own story, resulting in a flashpoint on infinite earths.
The Flash is now playing in theaters.