Grant Gustin’s Extreme Flash Training Shows Why Ezra Miller Couldn’t Keep Up
He hasn’t worn the scarlet suit in a while, but Grant Gustin’s no‑days‑off grind to build The Flash’s sprinter physique shows a work ethic that outran everything else on set.
Two Flashes, two very different stories. On TV, Grant Gustin put in the kind of grind that makes you believe a guy can outrun lightning. On the big screen, The Flash tripped hard, and now director Andy Muschietti is pointing at the audience as a big reason why. Let’s break it down.
Grant Gustin ran the marathon, not the sprint
Back when he was suiting up for The CW, Gustin basically lived at work. He’s talked about how he deliberately stopped bulking up because the schedule was brutal: average 12-hour days that regularly stretched to 10–14 hours. On top of that, he was doing the actual running the job demanded — a lot — including long sessions on a treadmill, harnessed up in front of a green screen. In between setups, he’d crank out pullups and pushups on set. At one point, he hadn’t had a single day off camera yet. The short version: the schedule itself kept him in shape.
It’s a big reason that, when people bring up The Flash, more folks still picture Gustin’s TV take than Ezra Miller’s DCEU version. The TV show made the power set feel tangible because the guy doing it was constantly moving.
About that movie flop — Muschietti says the fans did it
In a recent chat with The Playlist, Andy Muschietti didn’t throw his film under the bus. Quite the opposite: he says he’s proud of it and thinks it’s a good movie that many people simply didn’t watch. His read is that the project ran into a wall of built-up negativity from older DCEU baggage and the franchise winding down — which made it easy for people to dunk on it from the sidelines.
'People don’t see things, but they like to talk s*it about it, and they like to jump on bandwagons.'
Now, yes, there were other problems. The story was wobbly and the CGI didn’t exactly help its case. And the lead actor’s off-screen controversies became the loudest thing in the room: accusations of grooming a minor, posts about encouraging violence against the KKK, and multiple harassment and physical abuse charges. None of that is the kind of press you want while trying to sell a $200 million crowd-pleaser.
Stack all of that together and The Flash cratered at the box office, effectively helping close the book on the old DCEU.
Why Gustin’s Flash became the Arrowverse flagship
Arrow lit the fuse, but The Flash became the face of the CW’s DC run. It leaned into bigger sci-fi swings, felt closer to a high-budget movie than most network fare, and acted as the hub for crossovers with Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Superman and Lois. Tonally, it aimed for bright-and-hopeful, more golden-age optimism than gritty vigilante angst — which is probably why it connected so widely.
It also hasn’t gone unnoticed at the top: DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has shown interest in Grant Gustin being part of the new DCU at some point. Whether that would be as The Flash or in another role is still a question mark.
Quick hit info: The Flash (CW)
- Seasons: 9
- Creators: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns
- Major cast: Grant Gustin, Candace Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Jesse L. Martin
- IMDb score: 7.5/10
- Streaming: Netflix
Did you like The Flash more than Arrow? I’m curious. Also, if you missed the big-screen swing, The Flash film is now streaming on HBO Max (US).