Particularly her explanation of how Muschietti made a point to really make her and Barry Allen opposites, Clemons’ portrayal of Iris West in The Flash is interesting. Barry is portrayed by Miller with a focus on the overly enthusiastic young hero, with humor and sincerity coming through in their performance. This may be a really entertaining way to play off Iris’ more restrained and direct demeanor, especially if signs of her more vulnerable side start to emerge.

Iris West has grown in popularity among DC fans, especially after Candice Patton portrayed the brave journalist and Barry Allen’s companion for almost ten years in the Arrowverse. The intriguing thing is that, while Patton’s portrayal of Iris West is comparable to Clemons’, it also distinguishes Iris West from previous representations. 

In particular, the interaction she depicts with Miller’s Barry raises the possibility that Muschietti intentionally plays up the contrasts between these characters to create a “opposites attract” situation. When compared to the “best friends to lovers” relationship of The Flash television series, this may be crucial to establishing them as distinct iterations of Barry and Iris.

The attention that the actors and crew have placed into The Flash over the past almost ten years is now bearing fruit. There are still uncertainties regarding the DC movies scheduled for release in 2023 and 2024, even after Gunn revealed his strategy for “Chapter One: Gods & Monsters” of the DCU. It’s unclear how precisely The Flash will fit into DC’s overall strategy, but Gunn’s evident delight and hints about how it would reset the DC Universe might be quite significant. ​​​​​​​