Grossing only over 248 million worldwide after three weeks at the box office, The Flash barely made it past the budget barrier (marketing cost not included), and is yet another huge miss by the crumbling DCEU which is already full of ups and downs. The dodgy CG effects, the uninventive Multiverse plotline, along with Ezra Miller’s recent controversies, all the signs point to the new box office disaster.
However, The Flash is not a complete lost cause, as there are still plenty of fun and emotional moments throughout the journey of the Scarlet Speedster on his quest to travel back in time and save his mother from her ill fate. There are also some epic and memorable lines scattered in the movie that bring depth to the storyline and manage to impress the audience. Love the movie or not, these are the 10 most memorable quotes from The Flash that you definitely should take a look at.
#1. “I’ve come to accept that I’m essentially the janitor of the Justice League. Which sucks. But I’ve come to accept it.” – Barry Allen
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
In the DCEU, Barry, while very powerful with the Speedforce, is still quite inexperienced compared to some other superheroes such as Batman or Wonder Woman. Therefore, more often than not, he’s tasked with some rather underwhelming job, including saving the citizens from the rubble or holding a falling building together, while the higher ranks are on their way to chase the bad guy.
The Flash even specifically remarks that “It always seems to be a bat mess that I’m cleaning up,” implying Bruce always leaves him to do the side works when things get intense.
#2. “A baby…” – Alfred Pennyworth “…Shower.” – Barry Allen
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
The second one in the list happens at the start of the movie, where The Flash had to rescue the citizen inside a collapsing hospital. Barry’s belly was empty at the time, which makes his energy output close to zero, and to make matters worse, a hoard of badly-rendered infants was falling out of the top floor. Both Alfred and Barry couldn’t believe in their eyes, hence the hilarious joint statement.
Luckily, thanks to the falling vending machine, The Flash managed to replenish himself, and saved the babies in the most spectacular fashion possible, though he did put one of the infants in a microwave, though.
#3. I love you more.” - Barry Allen “I love you first.” - Nora Allen
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
The touching relationship between Barry and his mother is one of the movie’s saving graces, and seeing this emotional scene makes us empathize with him a bit for wanting to return to the past to save Nora. Eventually, Barry repeated his mother’s line when he undid the timeline, before allowing her death to happen. Okay, who’s cutting the onions?
#4. “I know sex exists, I’ve just never experienced it.” – Barry Allen
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
In one of the more hilarious scenes in the movie, right after Bruce was forced to say some embarrassing words due to the Lasso of Truth, Flash managed to even spit out something even more humiliating, admitting he was still a virgin at the time. He tried to explain afterward, but to no avail. We agree with you, Barry. There’s no coming back from that moment.
#5. “Don’t live your past. Live your life. Don’t let your tragedy define you.” - Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck)
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
When The Flash proposed the idea of coming back to the past to save his mother, and even Bruce’s mother, Martha, the billionaire immediately rejected it. As a man who had made mistakes himself and spent a lot of time grieving the past, Bruce knows full well that changing the past only makes matters worse, what happened was bound to happen, and the only thing we can do is to move on from it.
This was the last advice, and one of the last lines that Affleck’s Bruce said to Barry, as he vanished mysteriously at the end of the movie and was replaced with George Clooney’s Bruce.
#6. “Yeah…I’m Batman.” - Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
As Barry traveled back in time, he met his younger version, along with another Batman variant, starring Michael Keaton, who reprise the role after having played it in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). Now, the veteran star is back for one last ride as the Caped Crusader in The Flash, and send fans screaming with this iconic line of his.
#7. “That pain made me who I am. I’m not sure who I am without it actually.” - also Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton)
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
Having lost his parents at a young age himself, Batman knows what it feels like for the current Barry to lose someone he loves. However, just like his Ben Affleck self, he wasn’t keen on the idea that The Flash came back to the past to save his mother. This line of his even hits harder when we realize Affleck’s Bruce also said the same thing: “These scars we have make us who we are.” The losses are painful, but to undo it would only make Barry lose track of himself, and lead to more tragedies in the future.
#8. “Sometimes we just have to let go.” – Barry Allen
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
After trying time and time again, only to fail consecutively, the current Flash had learned it the hard way that constantly coming to the past would only do more harm than good. He wished to undo it all, even if it means that his mother will die. He tried to explain this to his 2013 self, and we can feel the pained expression on his face, but the latter didn’t listen.
#9. “I know I’m just a random lady in a store. But do you want a hug?” - Nora Allen
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
At the end of the movie, when the current Flash returns to the past one last time to undo everything his past self did to save the universe, he encountered Nora in the supermarket. Seeing him on the verge of crying, Nora, who didn’t know The Flash was Barry at the time, still being kind and offering him a comforting hug.
Hearing this made it even harder for Barry to allow his mother’s passing, but he hugged his mother one last time and moved on with the mission. As Batman had said, the pain made us who we are, and the Scarlet Speedster has finally learned his lesson.
#10. "The tomatoes moved from the bottom shelf to the top shelf and subsequently uncooked the spaghetti. Unquote." – Barry Allen
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
Barry didn’t get to save his mother, but at least he managed to prove his father’s innocence by altering the camera angle in the past to make Henry’s face visible in the footage. He said this abstract sentence when speaking to the press, which made the crowd bewildered, but who has watched the whole movie would understand perfectly.
The tomatoes Barry was talking about were the tomatoes cans that connect all the events together, as Barry moved the cans in the past to allow Nora’s death, while the spaghetti is a metaphor for the new timelines and the Multiverse that he had caused. By “uncooking” the timelines and the Multiverse, The Flash has allowed everything to return to its original place. Or at least, most of them are.