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About halfway through Batman vs Superman, Bruce Wayne falls asleep and has couple of rather unusual dreams. In one of them, a person appears to be trying to give him a message.

He appears to be coming out of a portal and surrounded by lightning, and is trying to tell Bruce about Lois Lane and Superman.

The whole scene is incredibly confusing, since the message is definitely something Bruce wouldn't know enough to dream about, and it's never brought up again. Multiple people have complained about this "confusing Flash cameo".

When I saw it, it never occurred to me that it was supposed to be the Flash, because

He seemed to be wearing a mechanical suit, and had no control over his use of the portal; not to mention, the message made no sense.

Was the actor in this scene Ezra Miller -- the same one who later appears in a definitive Flash cameo -- and was this supposed to be a message from the Flash?

UPDATE:

Please note: I am not asking what the message meant, or how The Flash might be the one sending it, or what the comics have to say, because I know the answers to all of those things. I'm only asking if the character in this scene is shown to be the same character we see in the security footage from the convenience store in a later scene.

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    Red+portal+blur, I am 90% sure its flash. Mar 26, 2016 at 5:11
  • In other versions, such as Young Justice, we see a similar suit. Impulse (Flash's son) came back from a future controlled by the Reach in a pod, wearing a a similar suit (that he removed after.)
    – user31178
    Apr 6, 2016 at 4:30
  • cultfollowing.co/articles/… possible explanation, article added for future reference..
    – MycrofD
    Aug 14, 2018 at 12:04
  • We may get a better explanation for this scene when the Snyder Cut of "Justice League" comes out later this year. If so, I'll try to remember to update my answer.
    – Omegacron
    Jan 6, 2021 at 3:47

4 Answers 4

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Yes, that IS actor Ezra Miller wearing what appears to be a Flash costume enhanced with some sort of mechanical armor or apparatus. The meaning behind both his appearance and message will probably be explained in the upcoming Justice League films.

enter image description here

Speculation: Based on what we know, however, we can speculate as to what's occurring here. The dream sequence that Batman has right before The Flash appears would seem to indicate a future where Darkseid has invaded Earth (as evidenced by the huge Omega symbol carved into the ground and the later appearance of what appears to be Parademons). This future also seems to have an out-of-control Superman, who for some reason blames Batman for the death of either Lois Lane (who is traditionally his connection to humanity) or his mother, Martha Kent. Given Superman's reference of "she was my whole world", it's more likely Lois who died.

The Flash, who has the ability to travel through time, has apparently come back to warn Batman of Lois' impending death, stating that he "was right about him" (Superman) and that "Lois is the key" (to keeping Superman good). It's entirely possible that the dream sequence was a side-effect of The Flash's portal, giving Batman a brief glimpse into that future timeline. After all, it's known that Flash's time travel jaunts tend to have a "ripple" effect each time he does it.


UPDATE: BvS producer Deborah Snyder was asked in an interview if the "Future Flash" bit was planned from the start, and here's what she said:

[...] I think we were in the middle of shooting and we started working on the outline for the next movie and where they go, and Zack said, ‘Oh my God let’s add this moment that is gonna pay off down the road, and we’ll find out more information.’

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  • Nice try for an explanation. But AFAIK flash has no ability to Freddy Krueger himself into dreams. Clearly this would make it impossible for flash to appear to Bruce Way in a dream. Therefore your reasoning is seems incorrect, and therefore answer incorrect.
    – yurtesen
    Dec 22, 2018 at 23:14
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    @yurtesen - As I said, it's speculation on my part. However, I never claimed the dream was due to any ability or conscious effort on the part of Barry, merely that the glimpse/dream might be a side effect of the portal or whatever technology was being used to create it.
    – Omegacron
    Dec 26, 2018 at 17:56
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It was the Flash indeed.

It is known (from the comics, and the TV show) that the Flash can run fast enough to travel through time. Although the costume didn't seem to be the usual costume (but I don't read much comics) because of the mechanical parts, you can see a lightning on the chest so it was the Flash costume.

Edit: I added a production picture of the costume where we can clearly see the logo. This is not an actual image from the movie,so if someone as one, feel free to edit and add it. The "mechanical parts" of the costume are already there. enter image description here

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    If it happened in a dream how can it be the real Flash, since neither he nor Batman has any psychic abilities? Or are you just saying Batman knows the Flash can go back in time so his subconscious created a dream of the Flash doing that to warn him?
    – Hypnosifl
    Mar 26, 2016 at 22:23
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    A dream where someone he didn't know -- The Flash -- does something he's never seen -- time travel -- to correctly relay information he didn't yet have -- Lois Lane's relation to Superman.
    – KutuluMike
    Mar 26, 2016 at 22:45
  • Was it during the dream scene? If I remember correctly, we see Batman in a post-apocalyptic environment fighting some Superman soldiers, then captured by an angry "She was my world" Superman. The he wakes up and see the Flash/red thing. Was it a dream within a dream? Did he wake up a second time?
    – Taladris
    Mar 26, 2016 at 23:50
  • Anyway, even if it was a dream, there was a Flash logo on the costume.
    – Taladris
    Mar 26, 2016 at 23:59
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I think the first scene is definitely a dream (the desert with Batman trying to get the kryptonite and the super man soldiers), but the second maybe its a real scene in the present line of Bruce Wayne. This 2nd scene showed us a Flash from the future that has to give a message to Bruce. Like the comics said, The Flash could travel into time because his velocity. It is possible that the Flash in a future has to go back to the past for some reason and give that weird message.

The important question is, why Lois Lane is the Key?, but for that we has to wait another year for the Justice League movie.

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    Bruce very clearly and obviously "wakes up" from the second scene.
    – KutuluMike
    Mar 27, 2016 at 1:39
  • Since he sees the Deadseid's omega sign in the first scene, and the flying Deadseid's insects, both of which he is not supposed to know about, and given the possibility that the resurrected supes might be an evil one in the next movie (based on comics), and given the message by flash, the first scene might in fact be more like a "vision" than a plain dream.
    – vgru
    Mar 29, 2016 at 21:16
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It's a message from Darkseid trying to fuel the mistrust Batman has for Superman, to try to kill Superman prior to his arrival on Earth, because Darkseid thinks Superman is the only thing between him and enslaving earth.

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    Seems like a pure assumption without any backing. Mar 26, 2016 at 5:10

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