However, way way way before that, Warner Bros made a Flash TV series which ran for one series in 1990. Unfortunately, viewing figures weren't good and it never made it over to Britain. However, we did get three TV movies released on VHS (the first being the pilot and the second and third being two episodes each put together a la Marvel's Spiderman TV series from the '70s). Today we're taking a look at the first one with the second and third following in the next couple of weeks. After that, we can go back to "Batman Returns" I promise...
The programme begins with a biker gang, the Dark Riders, roaming the streets of Central City. We find out that they've been causing so much trouble that citizens are afraid to go out at night. A couple of cop cars turn up to try and apprehend them but the bikers lob some glowing green bombs at them to blow them up (Note - whoever was in charge of this thing, they really like their explosions as we'll see as this film goes on).
Meanwhile, forensic scientist Barry Allen is at his older brother Jay's birthday party with his extended family including his mum and dad and his girlfriend Iris. While Barry works behind the scenes for the police, Jay is an officer on the beat and is clearly his dad's favourite. We also find out that Iris has started working at an art gallery and is due to have an exhibition displayed.
Barry ends up being called to the city armoury which the bikers raided earlier in the evening. He and his assistant Julio gather some evidence and take it back to the lab for processing. However, by the early hours they still haven't got anywhere and Julio decides to take a rain check. Bazza, however, is persistent and decides to stay on only for a bolt of lightning to hit the building and send him crashing into a shelf full of chemicals. Julio luckily had only just got to the exit and manages to run back in and save him.
At the hospital, Barry makes an unexpectedly quick recovery a la Captain America, the Hulk et al and goes back to his job where he discovers that a police-affiliated company called STAR Labs are interested in getting in touch with him. As they don't exactly have a good reputation though, he decides against it. However, his relationship with Iris is well and truly on the rocks as she feels things are going too fast and breaks up with him. Feeling down, he takes his dog out for a walk only for it to break free and run after a baseball that some kids are playing with. Barry goes to stop it but ends up hightailing it into a bush at ridiculously fast velocity and collapsing.
Barry ends up getting the chance to put his skills to use again the following night when he realises he's late to go to Iris' art exhibition and talk to her. Running for the bus, he again goes into hyperspeed mode and this time ends up running into the sea. Bearing in mind that the nearest beach to him is 30 miles away, he decides that this is probably the cue to seek some help. As for the hyperspeed sequences...well, the screenshot above should tell you all you need to know about the quality there...
The help leads him to STAR Labs where he makes contact with Tina McGee who it turns out is the sole scientist behind the operation (we find out it was originally a joint venture with her husband who passed away the previous year after an experiment went wrong which led to the bad rep the lab has got since). Tina does a few tests on Barry and realises that as well as superhuman speed of up to 500mph, he's prone to exceedingly low blood sugar levels after his hyperspeed episodes which he counters by eating ridiculous amounts to get his body back on track.
Meanwhile, Jay Allen has been promoted to the head of the counter-terror group assigned to take down the Dark Riders who Barry has discovered are led by Jay's one time police partner Nicholas Pike who was a crooked cop dabbling in gun-running. Jay managed to uncover him and the pair ended up having a motorcycle chase which ended with Pike falling off his bike trying to escape and being scarred on his face. Pike has managed to escape from prison and is now plotting his revenge. We discover his ruthlessness when a member of his gang attempts to double cross him and ends up tied to his bike which is then laden with explosives and sent down a sewer tunnel (again with the explosions...)
The Dark Riders sabotage Jay's press conference outside the police station and shoot at him and his team. Swearing revenge, Jay takes off down the motorway after them but is stopped by a girl whose car has broken down (this as it turns out is Pike's girlfriend Lyla) only for the car to blow up and Pike to appear and shoot him.
Seeking revenge for his brother, Barry creates a superhero costume to become The Flash. He tails a group of the Riders led by Lyla who are delivering supplies to Pike and uses his superhuman speed to knock them off their bikes with all of them being arrested. Using some DNA gained from Lyla he deduces that the Riders' base is at a local reservoir and heads over but the bikers have long since fled. However, they've left behind details of their plans to bust their captured brethren out of jail and raise an army to descend on Central City and sack it. Always good how villains leave really useful information like that just lying around, eh?
Barry informs the police of the plans and the scene is set for a showdown. The Dark Riders bust into the jail and free the prisoners but the police are waiting outside. A shootout ensues with the bikers coming off best to begin with but Flash uses his super speed to get close enough to drop tear gas bombs into the air ducts and take the bikers out. He then pursues Pike down an escape tunnel where, despite a mid-fight fatigue attack, he ultimately beats him by throwing him into an electric generator (which surprisingly doesn't kill him!) then tying him up for the police to arrest. The film ends with Barry agreeing that despite his earlier reservations, life as a superhero isn't so bad after all and, having reconciled with Iris, joining up with Tina to form a new crime-fighting force.
The main problem with "The Flash" is that it just feels a bit too low-rent for its own good. I'm not sure how much of that is due to its age (though in all fairness, it's still a step up from the '70s and '80s TV movies we've covered for both Marvel and DC in this blog) and how much of it is just down to plain old bad acting (the spirit of Joey from "Friends" is definitely conjured up at least once in this film) and a plot which is a bit on the sluggish side (the action sequences are okay but they're very widely spaced apart). Either way, I've seen worse but this definitely isn't a classic and it definitely lags way behind the more recent Flash TV series.
The scariest thing though? We've still got another two of these things to go before we can go back to the superior quality Batman stuff. Pass the matchsticks and black coffee, I think I might need 'em...
FINAL RATING: ⚡⚡⚡⚡ (4/10)
CURRENT DC FILM TABLE
1. Batman (1989) (8/10)
2. Superman (1978) (8/10)
3. Superman 2 (1980) (8/10)
4. Batman (1966) (8/10)
5. Superman 3 (1983) (5/10)
6. Swamp Thing (1982) (5/10)
7. The New Wonder Woman (1975) (5/10)
8. Superman and the Mole Men (1951) (5/10)
9. The Flash (1990) (4/10)
10. Wonder Woman (1974) (3/10)
11. The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) (2/10)
12. Superman 4 - The Quest For Peace (1987) (2/10)
13. Supergirl (1984) (2/10)
NEXT WEEK: The second part of our Flash trilogy as he comes up against the Trickster...
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