Warner Bros. Pictures
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE MOVIE THE FLASH.
Warner Bros. Pictures threw a huge surprise in theaters this week with The Flash, which included a totally unexpected ending.
In the final scenes of the film, Bruce Wayne pulls his car in front of the courthouse and as he gets out, the assembled crowd part to unveil 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 more than 25 years after his role in the notorious 1997 flop Batman and Robin, and the studio kept it a secret for almost six months since the scene in question was shot over a half-day in January, according to Few Weeks after some phone calls were made.
Speaking to THR, Andy Muschietti revealed that this was indeed the third ending to the film. The first was in the Toby Emmerich-Walter Hamada era of Warners when the plan was to reset the Snyderverse and build a new one that would result in a “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event.
This ending, as originally conceived and shot during principal filming of the film, ended on the courthouse steps with Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and Batman (Michael Keaton) – Barry realizing he hadn’t reset the timeline the way he had had thought.
Then Discovery took over Warners, Emmerich and Hamada were ousted, and current Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were installed with their own plans.
In the second version, Calle’s Supergirl was joined by Henry Cavill’s Superman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, and Keaton’s Batman. This ending was filmed last September with Miller, Cavill, Gadot, Keaton and Calle.
Then, in November, DC’s Gunn Safran era was announced, and the couple had plans of their own. This included the cancellation of the next Cavill Superman-Gadot-led Wonder Woman projects in development, making the final appearances redundant.
They looked for alternatives but wanted to keep the central idea: Barry Allen thinks everything is fine, but then gets knocked off the floor at the last moment. Clooney and his agent were shown the mostly finished film and liked it so much that they agreed to be a part of it.
Warner kept the ending a secret, it was never screened or shown at CinemaCon in April. The very first time anyone other than the filmmakers saw the new ending was during press previews the week of June 4th.
The result has become one of the most talked about elements of the film, leading to the obvious question: will Muschietti be confirmed as the director of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, will Clooney go ahead and play the new lead Batman in Gunn? and saffron DCU?
“Absolutely not,” Gunn said tweet reply Last Monday, the DC co-head further confirmed that a new actor would be cast for the role – and not someone who has played it before.
The Flash is in theaters now, although this weekend’s disappointing theatrical release has drawn comparisons to Black Adam for its financial future.
Source: THR