SPOILERS AHEAD FOR “THE FLASH” FILM
Warner Bros. Pictures pulled off a hell of a surprise with “The Flash” in cinemas this week, incorporating an ending that was highly unexpected.
In the final scenes of the film Bruce Wayne pulls up to the courthouse in his car, and as he gets out, the assembled crowd part to reveal him. But it’s not Wayne played by Ben Affleck or Michael Keaton, it’s Wayne played by George Clooney.
Clooney returned to the role over twenty-five years after playing the part in 1997’s infamous flop “Batman and Robin,” and the studio effectively kept it secret for close to six months as the scene in question was shot over a half-day in January just weeks after some phone calls were made.
Speaking with THR, Andy Muschietti revealed it was actually the third ending crafted for the film. The first was back in the Toby Emmerich-Walter Hamada era of Warners when the plan was to reset the Snyderverse and set up a new one that would lead to a Crisis on Infinite Earths event.
That ending, as it was originally conceived and shot during the film’s main shoot, ended on the courthouse steps with Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and Batman (Michael Keaton) – Barry realising he did not reset the timeline as he thought he did.
Then Discovery took over Warners, Emmerich and Hamada were ousted, and current Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairpersons Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were installed with their own plans.
The second version saw Calle’s Supergirl joined by Henry Cavill’s Superman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Keaton’s Batman. That ending was shot in September last year involving Miller, Cavill, Gadot, Keaton and Calle.
Then in November came the announcement of the Gunn-Safran era of DC, and that pair had their own plans. That included scrapping the next Cavill Superman and Gadot-led “Wonder Woman” projects in development which thus made the end cameos redundant.
They looked for alternatives but wanted to keep the central idea: Barry Allen thinks all is right but then has the rug pulled out at the last moment. Clooney and his agent were shown the mostly finished film and liked it enough to agree to be a part of it.
Warner kept the ending secret, with no screen testing it and no showing it at CinemaCon in April. The very first time the new ending was seen by anyone other than the filmmakers was during press screenings on the week of June 4th.
The result has become one of the more talked about elements of the film and leads to the obvious question – with Muschietti confirmed to direct the “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” film, will Clooney continue on and play the new main Batman in Gunn and Safran’s DCU?
“Absolutely not,” said Gunn in a tweet response last Monday, the DC co-chief further confirming a new actor will be hired for the role – not someone who has played it before.
“The Flash” is in cinemas now, though its disappointing box-office opening this weekend leads to comparisons with “Black Adam” regarding its financial future.
Source: THR
