The Flash movie used many real-life locations to bring iconic cities from the DC Universe to life. The Flash follows Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen as he disrupts the multiverse by saving his mom in the past. The movie featured several actors from past DC projects as multiverse and DCEU cameos, including Michael Keaton’s Batman in a major role. Keaton was not the only Batman present in the film, as The Flash also featured the DCEU’s own Dark Knight, Ben Affleck.
The Flash‘s story taking place across different realities led to Barry Allen visiting different locations from DC Comics. Along with Keaton’s Batman came locations such as Wayne Manor and the Batcave, which paired up nicely with the scenes set in Affleck’s Gotham City to contrast well with the movie’s depiction of Central City, a setting much less broody than Gotham, making The Flash succeed in bringing the iconic DC fictional cities to life.
5 Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, Watford
![Where Was The Flash Movie Filmed? All Locations Revealed](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/the-flash-batcave.jpg)
While The Flash used several real-life locations to recreate Gotham City and Central City for the movie, not all scenes can be shot on location. There are a variety of reasons for that, which include secrecy, as set photos often leak important plot points and character reveals before a movie even premieres, as well as more technical reasons, like the period available to use a location or the level of practical effects, such as explosions, that can be used. Due to that, The Flash shot many indoor scenes at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London, with the studio featuring the remodeled Batcave set of Michael Keaton’s Batman and more.
The Flash spends a great deal of time with Miller’s Barry Allen inside the Chronobowl, which is a VFX-heavy location that sees The Flash faced with limitless possible events for him to choose to meddle with. In the film’s climactic sequence with young Barry and the main version of the character in the Chronobowl, Nicolas Cage’s Superman appears amid other multiverse cameos. Cage actually shot his scene for the movie in person, as revealed by The Playlist, despite The Flash making it seem like he was a fully CGI creation. The Chronobowl scenes were shot at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, preserving surprises such as Cage’s return.
4 Burghley House in Stamford, Lincolnshire
![The Wayne Manor in The Flash](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/The-Wayne-Manor-in-The-Flash.jpg)
With Keaton’s Batman coming back after such a long time, it was extremely exciting to see the DCEU’s Flash interact with locations from director Tim Burton’s Batman movies, and one such iconic spot was the movie’s depiction of Wayne Manor. When Barry meets Keaton’s Bruce Wayne for the first time, it is revealed that the character is very different from when fans had last seen the hero. The Flash reveals that Keaton’s Batman has retired due to Gotham City having become crime-free years into the Caped Crusader’s career. With Gotham becoming one of the safest cities in the world, Bruce’s job was done.
That led to Keaton’s Batman letting his hair and beard grow, looking disheveled when the two versions of Barry Allen arrive at Wayne Manor looking for Affleck’s Batman. To represent the status of the older Bruce’s life, The Flash featured a dirty and seemingly abandoned Wayne Manor. Local news spotted The Flash filming at Burghley House in Stamford, Lincolnshire, with the real-life location dubbed as Wayne Manor. The exterior shot from when the two versions of Barry arrive at Wayne Manor was confirmed by BBC to have been filmed for The Flash at Knebworth House, Stevenage, which also served as Keaton’s Wayne Manor in the Burton-directed Batman movies.
3 St Paul’s Cathedral, London
![George Clooney as Bruce Wayne in The Flash](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/george-clooney-bruce-wayne-the-flash.jpg)
While it is not revealed who killed Barry’s mom, The Flash deals with the hero trying to find a way of getting his father out of jail by proving that he had nothing to do with his wife’s death. Multiple scenes take place around the courthouse where Henry Allen is finally cleared from any involvement in his wife’s murder at the end of The Flash, which happened due to Barry again messing with the past and putting all tomato cans, the item Henry had gone to the market to buy at the time of his wife’s death, in the top shelf so that the security camera would record Henry’s face.
The real-life location used by The Flash to serve as the courthouse was St Paul’s Cathedral in London, which was confirmed by set photos shared by The Daily Mail. The church’s vicinity was designed to portray Central City, with cars, signs, and more building immersion in the fictional city. The courthouse was very important, as The Flash’s three endings took place at the location. The first featured Keaton’s Bruce Wayne and Calle’s Supergirl with Barry, with set photos leaking. The second added Henry Cavill’s Superman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, while the final version of the scene swapped all the cameos for George Clooney’s Bruce Wayne meeting a confused Barry.
2 Glasgow, Scotland
![Ben Affleck as Batman in The Flash movie](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/ben-affleck-as-batman-in-the-flash-1.jpg)
Many scenes in The Flash were shot in and around Glasgow, Scotland, with local news highlighting The Flash‘s filming locations in Glasgow. The city’s Gothic architecture makes it a perfect location to dub as Gotham City, which is why the canceled Batgirl movie filmed in Glasgow for Gotham, just like The Flash. The movie saw Barry travel to Gotham at the start of the movie to help Affleck’s Batman stop a robbery and a collapsing hospital. When Affleck’s Batman is speeding through the streets of Gotham City in his pursuit of the robbers, he is actually driving his motorcycle through Glasgow locations such as George Square and Ingram Street.
1 Senate House, London
![Albert Desmond, Barry Allen, and Patty Spivot in The Flash.](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/patty-spivot-in-the-flash-2023.jpg)
The Flash reveals that Barry works at the Central City Research Center alongside Saoirse-Monica Jackson’s Patty Spivot and Rudy Mancuso’s Albert Desmond. The real-life location used for scenes of the trio around the Central City Research Center was the Senate House in London, first revealed in a 2021 The Flash set photo. Senate House is the administrative center of the University of London and has previously appeared in another DC film as the lobby of a court in Batman Begins. The Flash‘s use of real-life locations to recreate Gotham and Central City led to its fictional cities bubbling with life and style.
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