DC's movie The Flash could allow the new DCU to reboot Darkseid into the franchise's main villain. Since James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios as the creative heads behind the series going forward, one of the largest questions is how the projects officially confirmed for release in 2023 would be affected. One of those films is Andy Muschietti's The Flash, which has had more than its fair share of behind-the-scenes issues.
Despite these issues, The Flash is intended for release in June 2023 and is expected to adapt a Flashpoint-style story. This type of story could justify a reboot of Darkseid, with the character facing two potential issues after his introduction in Justice League. With the character being introduced so early in the fractured DCEU before James Gunn's takeover, the Justice League would have had to deal with him early in the series or the writers of future movies would need to successfully justify the villain being written out until the final confrontation with him.
Why The DCU Needs To Reuse Darkseid
The Flash, however, offers the perfect solution for the DCU's future usage of Darkseid. In using The Flash as a potential reboot through the multiverse and Flashpoint, a new Darkseid could be introduced that has not encountered the Justice League of the DCU yet. This needs to happen due to Darkseid's importance in the overall DC universe. Darkseid is often considered the greatest villain of the DC pantheon and needs to be included in any DC movie plans by Gunn and Safran.
This would also help the DCU establish more cohesion by having something that the franchise can build towards. While Gunn, Safran, and the rest of the creatives at Warner Bros. will be looking to craft their own universe, following a style that is known to work in some capacity would not go amiss. One of those elements could be the introduction of an overall villain like Darkseid to rival the MCU's Thanos.
Darkseid Needs To Be More Than The DCU Thanos
However that being said, Darkseid needs to be, and very easily could be, much more than simply the DCU's Thanos. Darkseid has very different motivations than Thanos in the comics. In Marvel Comics, Thanos commits his villainous acts to prove his loyalty to Death, someone he is in love with. The MCU slightly changed that through his almost environmentalist attitude, while still keeping the concept of wiping half of all life from the universe through Thanos' MCU snap intact. Darkseid, however, is much more purely villainous in that he simply wants dominion over the cosmos.
Darkseid's main goal is to eliminate all free will from the universe and reshape it in his own image. In order to do this, he seeks out the Anti-Life Equation on planets he conquers throughout the galaxy. While Thanos' main MCU presence before Avengers: Infinity War was always looming in the background. In the rebooted DCU, Darkseid could be subtly introduced as a maniacal warlord taking over different planets, potentially tied to Superman or a new DCU Green Lantern to foreshadow his conquest eventually coming to Earth. This looming, purely evil threat would make Darkseid much scarier and could be set up as early as 2023’s The Flash.
