'The Flash' Ending Sees George Clooney Play Bruce Wayne for the First Time Since 'Batman & Robin' Even though the overall message of The Flash seems to be that one cannot change the past without impacting the future, Barry Allen just can't help himself from making one more change for the greater good.
Thanks to Barry's time-travel meddling, Affleck's grizzled Batman appears to have been erased from existence, possibly for good. In his place, we now have Clooney's suave version of the character — one who appears to be familiar with Barry despite Barry's shock to see him.
Why is George Clooney Batman at the end of The Flash?
It's quite likely that Clooney's appearance is nothing more that a fun, comedic button meant to signal that “The Flash” signifies the beginning of the end of the DC cinematic universe that has existed since 2013's “Man of Steel.” But given the metaphysical rules of the multiverse established earlier in the film, ...
That reveal is bound to cause gasps and shock in the theater, as the Bruce Wayne who exits the car is played by none other than George Clooney, making this the first time the actor has played the character since Batman & Robin.
Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A wealthy socialite from Gotham City who moonlights as a crimefighting vigilante in an alternative universe. Keaton reprises the role from the films Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), though, this time as an alternate version of the character from 2013-Barry's timeline.
Batman The Last Scene - The Flash 2023 #batfleck #batman #theflash
Who is the new Batman?
Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz will be reprising their roles as billionaire socialite Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, and Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, in The Batman Part II, it was confirmed at CinemaCon 2022.
Why are Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton in The Flash?
The Keaton cameo was likely based on the now-defunct plan for the DCEU, in which Keaton replaced Affleck as Batman. Affleck's scene making it to the final cut of Aquaman 2 seems unlikely, given The Flash's ending and the imminent soft-reboot that will result in an all-new iteration of Batman.
Cage wasn't the only surprise cameo at the end of The Flash. During the film's climax, The Flash (Ezra Miller) enters the Chronobowl and stumbles across several colliding universes — there, he sees Christopher Reeve's Superman, Helen Slater's Supergirl, Adam West's Batman, and George Reeve's Superman.
This Superman is played by none other than Nic Cage — or, at least, an expressionless digital recreation of a younger Cage from the '90s — as the iteration of Superman he was meant to have played in Tim Burton's Superman Lives.
It's a superhero movie that blends the old and the new of the DCEU, with two versions of Barry Allen, two completely different Batmen, a Supergirl and some familiar villains we never expected to see again.
Despite Thomas Wayne's Batman being crucial to the Flashpoint storyline in the comics, it seems as though it has been completely omitted from The Flash, but this isn't the only casualty of the live-action adaptation.
But The Flash also features four versions of Batman: Ben Affleck's, Michael Keaton's, George Clooney's, and a fleeting cameo by Adam West's. Batman is a central part of any DC universe, whether printed, animated, or live-action, so it's no wonder that he makes so many simultaneous appearances across all media.
Why did Barry's tooth fall out at the end of The Flash?
It turns out The Flash's actions created another new reality, albeit one where Clooney's Bruce is Batman. Barry seems baffled by the entire situation and forces a smile before his tooth, which he superglued back on earlier in the movie, falls out.
But Past Barry sacrifices himself to save Future Barry, wiping the Dark Flash out of existence in the process. This is what prompts Future Barry to finally accept that some things can't be changed and that he needs to undo his time meddling.
Henry Cavill's Superman cameo was cut from The Flash and replaced with a new ending because of the complications that otherwise would have been set up for the new DC Universe, as The Flash ending served as a soft reboot of the superhero movie universe.
For all the faults of this year's The Flash movie, it did allow viewers to finally see Nicolas Cage as Superman — the iconic superhero role he was originally supposed to play in a '90s film that never got off the ground.
The main reason that The Flash is compared to Quicksilver is due to their very similar powers. Both of these heroes are able to move (primarily by running) at superhuman speeds.
Superman can run and think fast, he just doesn't come close to The Flash's top speed. In all instances of racing The Flash, Superman has never bested him, and throughout the entire history of DC comics, these two heroes have drawn twice. The Flash has bested Superman on two occasions so far.
The Flash is back for its ninth and final season on The CW. And while the season premiere isn't necessarily the most eventful we've ever had, there is one massive twist saved for the very end. “Wednesday Ever After” reveals the latest speedster villain to threaten Central City, and it's the Red Death.
The reason why Pattinson was not featured in The Flash, and may not appear in future DCU films, is that he is not currently connected to any official superhero universes... yet. The Batman was intended to be a DCEU project before Ben Affleck confirmed his exit as both the main actor and director by 2019.
Now that The Flash movie is populated by not one but two formerly retired Batman actors, the film has taken on an almost “Into the Spider-Verse with The Caped Crusader”-quality in how central the Multiverse is to its story. With Affleck and Keaton back, The Flash can now pull in any other Batman actors it wants.
