THE FLASH Solo Movie Casts Billy Crudup as Barry Allen's Father

Billy Crudup is one of those actors that doesn't get a lot of attention, but who I think is consistently solid. He's been terrific in movies like Big Fish, Almost Famous, Dedication, Spotlight, and Watchmen, and now he's reuniting with Warner Bros. for another superhero movie.

Variety reports that Crudup has been cast as Barry Allen's father in The Flash, the Scarlet Speedster's solo film that's being directed by Dope helmer Rick Famuyiwa. In the comics and The CW series, the character's name is Henry Allen, but there's no mention of that character name in the report. With the way minor characters like Jimmy Olsen have been treated so far in the DC Extended Universe, there's no telling if the studio intends on honoring the source material here or creating their own new backstory for Barry and his family. Either way, Crudup is a great actor and he's a welcome addition to this cast.

I love the character of The Flash (he was my favorite comic book superhero for years), but I'm a little worried about this movie. Phil Lord and Chris Miller wrote the treatment, but Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the actual screenplay. I wasn't a huge fan of Dope, and I'm not crazy about Ezra Miller as Barry Allen. Crudup and Kiersey Clemons (who's playing Iris West) have me more excited than anything else, but the movie doesn't hit theaters until March 16, 2018, so they have plenty of time to win me over.