Debunking The Spiciest Rumors About ‘The Flash’ Movie
Are Michael Keaton’s Batman and Sahsa Calle’s Supergirl scrapped from “The Flash?” Was the ending of “The Flash” initially supposed to set up “Zack Snyder’s Justice League 2?” Could Christian Bale’s Batman be in the movie? What if Warner Bros. doesn’t even release “The Flash” movie? There are a lot of juicy rumors floating around about Andy Muschietti’s “The Flash” (starring Ezra Miller), so our Head of Video, Hannah Saulic, sits down with our Managing Editor, Sean O'Connell, to address them in depth.
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00:00 - Yeah, I met The Flash.
00:01 Like everybody else who's ever met him.
00:02 I thought he was an unbearable black hole of snacks.
00:04 - I'm so (beep) sick of that rumor.
00:07 - It's not a rumor.
00:09 - What?
00:09 (upbeat music)
00:12 - Hey everybody, it's Hannah Sollock,
00:18 the head of video here at CinemaBlend
00:20 with Sean O'Connell, our managing editor.
00:22 Sean, how are you doing today?
00:24 - I'm wonderful, my friend.
00:25 Good to be with you.
00:26 We have some exciting things happening,
00:27 especially over Super Bowl Sunday.
00:29 So let's get into it.
00:29 - So what we're gonna do for this video,
00:31 ahead of The Flash trailer,
00:33 is just run through some of the spicy rumors
00:37 that have been circulating about The Flash.
00:39 - Ooh, spicy.
00:40 - Because as I'm sure everyone watching this knows,
00:42 there's been a lot of discussion over whether or not
00:45 things have been changed with the ending
00:46 and all this other stuff.
00:48 So I'm basically, Sean, gonna present to you
00:50 a few rumors that I found digging around.
00:52 - All over the internet.
00:53 - And then you're gonna tell me if you think
00:55 they could be true or not.
00:57 - Come on, let's get nuts.
00:59 - That's a good idea, Hannah,
01:00 'cause the best place to find factual evidence is--
01:03 - Is on Reddit boards.
01:05 - Yes.
01:06 - I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter.
01:08 - So first up, Grace Randolph has said that James Gunn
01:13 has instructed them to strip out all of the character teases
01:16 at the end of The Flash, which would include
01:19 character teases for Sacha Kalli's Supergirl,
01:21 Michael Keaton's Batman, Henry Cavill's cameo,
01:24 Gal Gadot's cameo, et cetera.
01:27 Do you think this is true?
01:29 What are your thoughts?
01:30 - I think half of that might be true, to be honest with you.
01:33 I don't think you could pull Sacha Kalli
01:35 or Michael Keaton out of the story
01:38 without it drastically affecting what Andy Muschietti--
01:42 - Well, yeah, so she, I think, is saying just the ending
01:44 is what got changed that would tease those characters.
01:49 - Continuing?
01:51 - Yeah, 'cause I'm assuming they must have, at some point,
01:55 had some sort of setup for Batgirl.
01:57 - Oh, yeah.
01:58 - Yeah, possibly.
01:59 See, I was under the impression that the appearances
02:02 by Cavill and Gal Gadot would be,
02:06 maybe as Barry was bouncing from multiverse to multiverse,
02:10 might've just stopped in and seen them kind of thing.
02:12 - Dostoevsky.
02:14 - And if anything, maybe Gunn had them pull
02:16 that kind of stuff, because if you have no intention
02:19 of continuing with those versions of the characters,
02:21 then why even include it?
02:22 And maybe it was just like a,
02:23 similar to like Cavill showing up
02:25 in the end credit sequence of Black Adam.
02:27 Like, you didn't need it,
02:28 it didn't forward the story forward.
02:29 It was really just a, "Hey, look who we got,"
02:31 kind of thing.
02:32 - The story is smoke.
02:33 - But I think Sacha Kalli is Supergirl
02:38 and Michael Keaton's Batman are still significant parts
02:42 of the story.
02:43 So if anything got pulled, it would've been,
02:46 like you said, yeah, footage that set up,
02:48 "Hey, this is where we might see these characters later
02:50 "if they were to continue on in the story."
02:53 - 'Cause you never know what's gonna happen in this city.
02:55 I mean, oh my God, right?
02:58 - A big question, and I think why this is bothering
03:00 some fans is like, they wanna know,
03:01 is Sacha Kalli a Supergirl?
03:03 The Supergirl that's gonna be in James Gunn's
03:05 "Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow," which, you know,
03:08 if the Flash is resetting, maybe not.
03:10 - You never know what might happen
03:12 to a frail young thing like that.
03:14 - Honestly, I do think it's really just,
03:16 they wanna find out how fans think she is in the part.
03:20 And if they love her, you know,
03:22 then you could immediately be like, "Great,
03:24 "because we have this Supergirl movie coming out
03:25 "that Andy Muschietti's gonna direct.
03:27 "And it won't be your Flash sequel,
03:29 "but we're gonna continue on with 'The Power of Love.'"
03:31 But I bet you're right.
03:32 I bet the Keaton stuff was going to end and tease
03:36 the Batgirl stuff.
03:39 - Next rumor, this is a fun one
03:43 that I had not heard before you sent this to me.
03:45 The rumor was that there was a post-credit scene
03:48 in an early version of "The Flash"
03:50 that some people speculated set up
03:52 Zack Snyder's "Justice League 2."
03:55 So this is from Fandom Wire,
03:59 and it was five months ago that this was written.
04:01 And it says, "A few months ago,
04:02 "some rumors and reports pointed to how Ben Affleck's Batman
04:04 "will be featured in 'The Flash's' post-credit scene.
04:07 "In the scene, the Snyderverse Caped Crusader
04:09 "is set to find himself flung into the future.
04:11 "At that point, he calls for the Flash
04:12 "that belongs to his timeline,
04:14 "requesting the Scarlet Speedster,"
04:15 this is very wordy, "to come find him."
04:17 (laughing)
04:18 Furthermore, inside sources affirmed
04:20 that Ben Affleck's superhero will be shown
04:22 in the Nightmare Realm.
04:24 Many assume this revelation will kickstart
04:26 the highly anticipated "Justice League 2."
04:30 What do you think?
04:30 Do you think that was ever a thing that existed?
04:33 - No, never.
04:34 - In your dreams, Alfred.
04:35 - You have to assume that this movie
04:37 was being made under the old regime.
04:39 It's not part of what James Gunn has adopted,
04:42 and we all know- - But it was in production
04:43 after Zack Snyder's "Justice League" premiered on HBO Max.
04:47 I'm just devil's advocating here.
04:49 - No.
04:51 - Go?
04:52 - Let me say it again one more time.
04:54 No.
04:55 - I don't understand.
04:56 - Hold on, wait.
04:57 No.
04:58 - Take that as a yes.
04:59 - There was no way that they were gonna continue doing that,
05:00 because again, it's a give a mouse a cookie situation.
05:04 Why would you give any bit of bait hope,
05:09 a beam of light to the Snyderverse fandom
05:13 that desperately wants that story to continue?
05:16 And rightfully so, they are more than welcome
05:19 to want to see how that story continues.
05:23 But if Warner Brothers truly decided
05:26 to include an end credit sequence
05:28 that teased the possibility of that happening,
05:31 that's legitimately cruel, evil,
05:34 and you should be thrown in jail
05:36 for doing something like that,
05:37 because it is trolling a fan base
05:40 that has already proven to you over the years,
05:42 multiple times, that they don't want
05:44 to be told that kind of thing.
05:46 And so I actually don't think the studio's that mean.
05:49 - I'm your best friend.
05:50 - What if, okay, so you know how you were talking
05:52 about earlier, like you thought Henry Cavill's Superman
05:54 could appear as like flashes popping around
05:56 in the multiverse?
05:58 - Yeah.
05:58 - Because the Nightmare timeline does exist
06:01 in what is technically the DCEU canon
06:03 with Batman versus Superman,
06:05 do you think there's a potential where in the movie
06:07 that could be something that's visited,
06:09 or do you just think like, no?
06:10 - It could, yeah.
06:13 - Find your suit!
06:15 - And actually, a cool thing to do would be
06:16 to have the Ezra Miller of this movie
06:19 encountering the Ezra Miller futuristic Nightmare version,
06:24 where that suit of armor, you know,
06:26 they have that suit of armor on kind of thing.
06:27 So what if those two came together face to face?
06:30 I would love to see that happen,
06:31 and it would be a really nice nod,
06:33 'cause I know Muschietti and Snyder get along well,
06:36 they respect each other,
06:37 and it would be a good way for him to at least reference
06:39 like, thank you, Zach, for what you did,
06:41 you did cast Ezra in the part,
06:43 you're sort of building off of the world that they were in.
06:46 - Thanks, Stephen.
06:47 - By introducing the multiverse,
06:48 you have the ability to do a ton
06:49 of really cool, fun stuff like that,
06:50 and it doesn't have to really affect the plot.
06:52 You could just have Flash running through sequences
06:55 that we as DC fans could point to and be like,
06:58 oh my God, look at that,
06:58 that's kind of cool that he's in there,
06:59 and he just keeps moving through it.
07:01 Yeah, why not?
07:02 - Oh gosh, yes, yes.
07:05 - But just wait one more time,
07:06 so there's no post-credit scene
07:07 setting up Zack Snyder's Justice League 2?
07:12 - I'm not gonna drink it.
07:14 - All right, third rumor is that Christian Bale
07:17 is returning as Batman for a cameo,
07:20 and so people got this from Grace Randolph,
07:23 and she said, "I heard they're filming a special cameo
07:26 "with a character from a long time ago in the DC world,
07:29 "so I think that's gonna emphasize
07:30 "that Barry can go wherever he wants."
07:33 What do you think?
07:35 - I think that's the most ridiculous thing
07:36 I've ever heard of.
07:37 - Ruh.
07:38 - And I think you have a better chance of seeing--
07:38 - More or less ridiculous than setting up
07:40 Zack Snyder's Justice League 2.
07:42 - Actually more, I think actually more,
07:45 because there are no threads
07:48 that connect to the Nolan universe at all.
07:50 - Well, I think that's the point,
07:51 is they're trying to be like,
07:52 he can go anywhere, wherever,
07:54 just to sort of make it a non-serious thing.
07:57 - This is some Spider-Man no way home bullshit.
08:00 This is like, oh, you got to get
08:01 all the Spider-Men together,
08:02 so why don't we also get all the Batman together?
08:04 - Atomic's policy.
08:05 - There's no way Christian Bale
08:07 is coming back to play Batman.
08:09 - You're afraid that if I go back out there, I'll fail.
08:12 - Bale has said repeatedly in interviews
08:16 he would be interested in possibly doing it
08:18 if Nolan comes back.
08:19 - Okay, I was gonna say, he did say something recently,
08:20 but yeah, that was looking for what the condition was.
08:21 - If Nolan comes back, yes, and Nolan is not back.
08:24 - Do you think Nolan directed the first?
08:27 - No.
08:28 He doesn't like that.
08:30 All right, so I do understand what you're saying,
08:31 that if you have Flash going over
08:33 to what essentially amounts to the Tim Burton universe,
08:36 because he's gonna encounter Michael Keaton,
08:38 then yes, he should be able to access
08:40 the Christopher Nolan universe.
08:41 But no, I think that that is,
08:44 we're finally pushing it too far.
08:45 - Now we're talking.
08:46 - The idea that you were already going to have
08:49 Ben Affleck's Batman and Michael Keaton's Batman
08:52 is enough, that's enough.
08:53 Like, we don't need to overload.
08:55 It's a Flash movie.
08:56 - That's true, but I will say, like,
08:58 if we're going along, and correct me if I'm wrong here,
09:01 but if we're theorizing that there was a post-credit scene
09:04 with Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot that is now scrapped,
09:07 and potentially some other stuff setting up
09:09 Sasha Calley and Michael Keaton that is now scrapped,
09:11 like, maybe I could see a world
09:13 in which they're trying to fill that hole,
09:15 and think of, like, what's something that's fun,
09:17 that has no stakes, that isn't gonna upset
09:19 Snyderverse fans and make them think we're,
09:21 you know, being cruel by teasing something,
09:23 or calling back to something
09:24 that ultimately isn't gonna exist.
09:26 And so I could see a logical way to do that,
09:28 would to be to include something
09:31 from the Nolan Batman films,
09:33 just because that is so outside of the DCEU
09:37 of it all, that it's just, like,
09:38 you clearly know as an audience member,
09:40 like, oh, this is just for fun.
09:42 - Why so serious?
09:43 - But you're right, in that I don't
09:45 see Christian Bale doing that.
09:48 I don't see Nolan being like, yeah, that sounds good.
09:51 Not that, like, I don't know that he would even
09:52 really have control over that anymore, but.
09:55 So I guess my question is, do you see, like,
09:57 any other character from the past, or actor,
10:00 or anything that could work within this theory
10:02 of just what Grace Randolph is saying,
10:05 of having just someone from a long time ago
10:07 pop up to show that he can go anywhere?
10:09 - Here are two things that I think could potentially happen.
10:12 Because I like that you're being an optimist
10:14 in this instance.
10:15 - I'm just speculating.
10:16 - So they could either use existing footage
10:21 of Christian Bale as Batman.
10:23 - Oh.
10:24 - 'Cause I don't see him coming back and putting this to,
10:26 and I honestly do not see him coming in
10:28 and filming additional scenes as Batman.
10:31 Also don't think they would have been able
10:32 to keep that secret.
10:33 - Well, yes, but also.
10:35 - If they're really smart and they wanna show
10:42 how the Flash can go to any location
10:45 that they want to go to,
10:45 they would film something with Pattinson.
10:47 Do I see that happening?
10:48 - No.
10:49 - So, okay, because we're about to shift
10:53 and get out of end credits, 'cause all of this
10:55 has kind of been end credits focused,
10:56 but what do you think they do for end credits then?
10:59 If they're not teasing anything, if it is a reset,
11:02 if we're not showing anybody,
11:04 do you think they just pull like a birds of prey?
11:06 Like, "You still sitting here?"
11:09 And just don't do? - Yeah, here's a novel concept.
11:11 They don't do anything.
11:12 They end the movie.
11:13 - What? - Wouldn't that be great?
11:14 (laughs)
11:15 DC is not known for its-- - I don't think
11:16 that's legal.
11:18 - It's end credits, and so far,
11:19 their end credits have been stupid.
11:21 - I feel stung by that.
11:22 - There wasn't a Man of Steel end credit.
11:24 There wasn't a BVS end credits, was there?
11:27 I don't think so.
11:28 - Yes.
11:29 - Oh, please.
11:30 - There's no end credit scene in BVS Ultimate Edition.
11:33 - Okay, so that's just the end of the movie.
11:34 - It's just credits roll and we end the movie,
11:35 like, you know, movies used to do.
11:37 - But they were like teasing what was gonna happen.
11:39 - Correct. - Wait, is that true?
11:41 Because I thought that like the dirt--
11:43 - I'm scrubbing through.
11:44 - I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter.
11:46 - Okay.
11:47 - Yeah, 'cause it goes Luther,
11:48 and then we go back to the grave
11:51 where dirt starts rising credits.
11:53 - For all intents and purposes, however, though,
11:55 those are end credit scenes.
11:57 You know, they legit, like the end of the movie
11:59 is the dirt rising.
12:00 And then the other two scenes are teasing out
12:02 movies that never happened, so.
12:04 - So yeah, so here we go.
12:05 - "I Beg You to Flash" has a clean, brisk ending.
12:09 And we all head out into the theater
12:11 talking about how that was the greatest superhero movie
12:13 that we ever saw.
12:14 - Something about you having to take us all to brunch?
12:17 - Big round table.
12:19 - And it doesn't tease anything else to come
12:21 because the next movie is "Blue Beetle"
12:23 and then it's "Aquaman 2"
12:24 and neither of them are connected to anything.
12:26 And then the slate gets wiped clean by "Superman Legacy."
12:30 - Yes, that's a whole other video 'cause I have thoughts.
12:33 But okay. - Yes, exactly.
12:35 - I don't think I agree with you, but okay.
12:37 - Next up.
12:38 - Okay, this is a little bit more alluding
12:43 to some larger theories that I don't wanna get into
12:45 'cause that's gonna be a separate video.
12:46 But the rumor is that despite what Peter Safran said
12:50 about working with Ezra Miller and keeping that door open,
12:54 the rumor is that "The Flash" is definitively
12:57 the last time we will see Ezra Miller's version
12:59 of the character.
13:01 The way that I see this is just basically that,
13:05 the "Flash" is coming out,
13:06 they're not gonna make any sort of announcement
13:08 that definitively says anything about that character
13:11 'cause then people won't go see the movie.
13:12 Like you have to be vague and you have to promote that movie
13:15 and be conscious of that.
13:17 And you can't fully tell people,
13:19 'cause if they were to have said like,
13:20 "Yeah, no, we're gonna recast the 'Flash'
13:22 "and Ezra Miller's not moving forward in the DCU."
13:25 No one's gonna go see "The Flash."
13:26 People are gonna be upset.
13:27 That's gonna completely overshadow any of the marketing
13:29 that they try to do,
13:30 at least with like the core DC fan base.
13:33 So my theory is that they've kind of said like,
13:36 "This is great, thanks, but no."
13:40 And we'll tell y'all that after "Superman Legacy" comes out.
13:44 - That seems likely,
13:46 but I think they're also leaving the door open
13:49 to continuing if again, people love Ezra Miller in the part.
13:53 If the audiences respond to this movie,
13:56 and often, often studios don't know what they have.
14:00 I can't tell you how many times I've been told
14:03 by a studio rep that they think the movie
14:07 they're about to put out is bad.
14:09 And then it comes out and it plays great
14:11 and everyone's super surprised.
14:13 - Wow, this is awesome.
14:17 - So I think that they really don't know.
14:19 And it'll be interesting to see Ezra Miller's Barry Allen
14:24 outside of Snyder's hands.
14:27 - Yeah, or just outside of like a team element,
14:30 'cause we haven't seen him just on his own.
14:32 - Very true.
14:33 And so I wanna see how that comes together.
14:36 Them carrying a movie is going to be fascinating
14:39 because if it works really, really well,
14:41 then James Gunn is one step ahead of the game
14:44 and that they can incorporate Ezra Miller
14:47 into as the Flash,
14:49 into some other type of story moving forward
14:50 without having to give them a Flash movie specifically.
14:54 However, at the same time,
14:56 if nobody responds to the movie and it doesn't do,
14:58 say it does Black Adam numbers.
15:00 Like I don't think it's gonna do Black Adam numbers,
15:01 but that box office efficiently killed
15:04 the Rock's vision of the character.
15:06 And if that movie made a billion dollars,
15:08 if it did Matt Reeves type money,
15:10 then I think James Gunn will be figuring out
15:12 like how do we keep working with the Rock?
15:14 How do we incorporate that character
15:15 into what we're trying to do?
15:16 Because the audience has really, really loved him
15:19 in that character.
15:20 - But here's another wrinkle.
15:22 There's a lot of stuff going on
15:24 with Ezra Miller's personal life
15:25 that could be risky from just a business perspective
15:28 as far as investing in them on the screen
15:32 for 10 to 15 years or whatever James Gunn said
15:35 they're trying to get contracts for actors for.
15:39 Do you think that there's a world in which they just say,
15:42 like, even though that did great, that is what it is.
15:45 We're closing the book
15:46 and we're gonna try to recreate something
15:47 'cause that's not worth the risk
15:49 or the controversy that's attached
15:52 or do you think it's all about box office?
15:55 - No, that's fully possible,
15:58 but the film industry has a history
16:00 of not necessarily caring
16:02 whether you are good or bad off screen.
16:06 - Other breaking news, water, wet.
16:09 - So I think that, and again, this sounds very cynical,
16:14 but I think if the movie makes a ton of money,
16:17 Warner Brothers would absolutely consider moving forward
16:21 with Ezra Miller playing the Flash for the future.
16:25 But if it doesn't, they have worked themselves
16:28 into a position where they,
16:30 since they're soft rebooting everything
16:32 from "Superman Legacy" forward,
16:33 would have the ability to recast the character
16:35 if they wanted to.
16:36 - All right, okay, so this is my-
16:37 - And that's not helping, that's not helping, I'm sorry.
16:40 (laughing)
16:41 - I'm used to it.
16:42 - Okay, this last rumor is, you're gonna be like, no.
16:48 The rumor is that the Flash movie might not
16:51 even be released.
16:52 And so context for this,
16:55 just when all the Ezra Miller stuff broke
16:57 and before James Gunn came in
16:59 as the head of the new DC Studios,
17:02 there was a lot of talk of, well,
17:04 they just canceled "Batgirl,"
17:05 maybe they'll cancel "The Flash."
17:07 And clearly that has not been the message
17:10 that's been put forward in recent months.
17:12 But a podcast I listened to called "X-Ray Vision,"
17:16 which is great,
17:18 a couple of the hoes are still saying,
17:19 they're like, still feel like it's not gonna come out.
17:21 Like, I don't believe that it's gonna come out.
17:23 I think obviously some of that is rooted in just like joke,
17:26 but what do you think?
17:27 Do you think there's any world-
17:29 - How many alternate timelines?
17:30 - In which Warner Brothers says,
17:33 nope, we're not releasing this?
17:34 - Okay, so I think that there was a world
17:37 in which that was the case.
17:38 And they had ample opportunity to essentially say,
17:43 hey, the rest of the movies are gonna go to HBO Max.
17:46 And we'll see you guys in 2025, you know?
17:49 But Gunn coming out and saying during his presentation,
17:53 like going out of his way to single out "The Flash"
17:55 and saying, it's amazing,
17:57 I can't wait for you guys to see it,
17:59 kills that rumor right off the bat.
18:01 Like it goes to show that like they're excited for it,
18:04 goes to show that Warner Brothers thinks
18:05 that they can make some money off of it.
18:06 - Let's put our cards on the table here, General.
18:08 - I think they pushed all their chips onto the board.
18:10 "The Flash" has a prime summer spot.
18:13 - Big event, Super Bowl trailer.
18:15 - Exactly, yeah, they're not spending--
18:17 - They're not shying away from it.
18:18 - I think it's like $7 million or $8 million
18:22 for a 30-second spot or at the Super Bowl.
18:25 So they're not dropping that for a movie
18:27 that they're about to unplug.
18:28 - All right, well, that's all the rumors that I got,
18:31 but maybe we'll have some more
18:34 after "The Flash" trailer on Sunday.
18:36 - Yeah, I feel like I shot down a lot of them.
18:38 I wanna be more--
18:39 - Don't get high-spirited on me.
18:41 - I wanna be more positive, and we will be more positive
18:43 once we get a chance to see this trailer.
18:44 So I expect, what, Hannah, we're gonna make another video,
18:47 an analysis video, based on everything that we see?
18:49 - Yes, we will probably be back on Monday,
18:52 'cause Sunday, Sean will be out of town,
18:54 so we won't be able to do an in-the-moment
18:56 sort of reaction as we try to do.
18:58 But we will be back on Monday with some takeaways.
19:00 So if you guys have any questions or thoughts
19:03 or anything you want us to explore
19:04 after you watch the trailer, leave a comment on this video,
19:08 and I will check them before we record on Monday.
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19:31 (upbeat music)
19:34 - Wait, are you guys still here?
19:36 Wow, crazy.
19:39 There's no way in hell that Sean watches the video this long,
19:41 so I'm gonna tell you guys a secret.
19:43 Did you guys know that Sean, hey.