The appearance of a long-haired Nic Cage as the Man of Steel is one of the biggest (and, to some, most confounding) surprises in The Flash simply because it's an homage to a DC movie that was never made. Cage was cast as Kal-El in director Tim Burton's Superman Lives, a 1990s project that Kevin Smith first scripted.
Making matters worse, Cage's financial struggles came after a string of box-office disappointments that significantly damaged his status as a top-tier actor. Lacking offers from Hollywood studios, Cage was forced to star in over twenty-five direct-to-video (D2V) movies to repay his debts.
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.
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.
Why was George Clooney Batman at the end of 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, ...
Nicolas Cage is opening up about his cameo in The Flash where he was featured donning the costume of Superman. As you may remember, Cage tested as the Man of Steel for what would've been a Tim Burton-directed feature that was ultimately scrapped.
Why Robert Pattinson Isn't In The Flash Movie. Pattinson's Batman could have appeared in The Flash due to Barry's ability to explore the multiverse through his connection to the Speed Force.
Thus, the Henry Cavill scene was sliced out: Knowing they were resetting the DC universe under their own vision, Gunn and Safran saw that having Cavill and Gadot in the new ending was potentially promising something their plans were not going to deliver.
"An officer who had been flagged down by on-lookers drove up on the couple, immediately observed that Cage was heavily intoxicated, and ordered him out of the cab, which prompted Cage to start yelling," said Flot. Shortly after, police took the actor into custody and transported him into Central Lock-Up.
Leonard Snart / Captain Cold appears in media set in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Wentworth Miller. This version is a criminal mastermind and skilled martial artist. Leonard first appears as a recurring character in The Flash (2014).
Ben Affleck's Batman makes a brief but important appearance in The Flash, showcasing his impressive crime-fighting skills and close friendship with other Justice League members.
By establishing this multiverse, multiple versions of the same character. can exist at once, producing exciting new possibilities for the universe. Affleck is supposedly done after The Flash, allowing him to say goodbye to the character, but James Gunn has said that there are possibilities. for Michael Keaton's Batman.
The Flash placed Keaton's Batman in a very different scenario, with the caped crusader now encountering metahumans and aliens. Keaton's Batman never got to interact with Superman or any other heroes in the original movies, whereas in The Flash he fought side by side with Supergirl and the Flashes against Kryptonians.
Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, and George Clooney's versions of Batman get spotlighted in new BTS photos from The Flash movie. 2023 is marking the end of the DCEU, and it has not been an easy year for the decade-old franchise.
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.
Arguably the biggest surprise came in the movie's final seconds. In an ending that was only added in the week prior to release, meaning that many super-fans and press who saw earlier secret screenings actually missed it, George Clooney turns up as Bruce Wayne, reprising his role from 1997's Batman & Robin.
"What I was supposed to do was literally just be standing in an alternate dimension… and witnessing the destruction of the universe," the actor said of his Superman appearance.
He reprised the role of Lucifer during The CW's The Flash episode of the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths". In 2021, Ellis won the Tell-Tale TV Award for Favorite Actor in a Cable or Streaming Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror Series.
Cage added that his Superman never came to fruition ultimately because Burton's 1996 flick Mars Attacks wasn't enough of a box office hit. “They were scared at the studio because of Mars Attacks. Warner Bros. had lost a lot of money on the movie.
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.
Michael Keaton's Batman was originally set to appear in multiple projects after The Flash, but those appearances will no longer happen. The Flash's original ending would have introduced Keaton's Batman as part of a new timeline, but the final scene instead featured George Clooney as Batman in a more comedic fashion.
