Trivia / The Flash (2023)

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• Acting in the Dark: Nicolas Cage claims that his cameo was supposed to be Superman witnessing the destruction of an entire universe. His shot footage was apparently repurposed for the end of the giant spider fight without Cage's knowledge or consent.
• Acting for Two: Ezra Miller plays Barry Allen and an alternate Barry Allen from another universe. And a third Barry (a future version of the alternate one) who became Dark Flash.
• Actor-Shared Background: Nora Allen clearly has a Spanish background. Her actress, Maribel Verdú, is from Spain.
• Approval of God:
  • Michael Shannon admitted that he was very hesitant to reprise the role of Zod from Man of Steel without Zack Snyder's input, especially following the fallout of Snyder's experiences with Justice League and the studio. He only finally caved when he called up Snyder and the latter gave Shannon his full blessing.
  • Kevin Smith, who wrote the original script for the ill-fated Superman Lives starring Nicolas Cage, was thrilled that Cage's Superman finally made an appearance in this film, complete with the giant spider fight that he was infamously mandated to write into his script (a bizarre fixation of producer Jon Peters back then). He even claimed that finally seeing the scene play out on the big screen convinced him of the idea's original merit.
    Smith: It's mind-melting. One of the first things I thought when I saw it was "Goddamnit, it would've worked." As much as I used to make fun of Jon Peters, that looked badass. He wasn't wrong. Like, it totally could've panned out.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget: $200-220 million ^note  Some sources even put it as high as $300 million (plus another $120-150 million for marketing, likely requiring a $500 million gross at minimum just to break even). Worldwide box office: $269 million. In North America, the movie suffered from a miserable opening weekend with a massive 73% drop the next week, and it's expected to lose Warner Bros. Discovery as much as $200 million, putting it among the likes of The Lone Ranger (2013), John Carter, and Mortal Engines as one of the biggest and most costly bombs ever. The movie had the misfortune of multiple factors working against it: mediocre reviews, infamously bad special effects in a genre that relies heavily on visual spectacle, the problematic behavior of its main star preventing them from promoting the film, an ongoing writers' strike which barred the remainder of the cast from promoting the film in traditional press junkets on late night TV shows, having to compete in a crowded summer with other tentpole releases (including against an acclaimed superhero film that also used The Multiverse, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), the severe erosion of public confidence in DCEU films since Aquaman (Flash was the sixth consecutive bomb in the series^note In fairness, many of these films' box office returns were severely affected by COVID-19 and WB's 2021 theatrical strategy that released their films on both HBO MAX and theaters. As such, it's impossible to know how these films might have performed under normal circumstances. Although comparisons to other films with the same disadvantages - most obviously WB's own Godzilla vs Kong - suggest that at least in some cases the films' quality dragged their numbers down and it wasn't just COVID.), a nostalgia-centric marketing campaign that heavily relied on promoting the film's legacy cameos that was seen as conspicuously dissonant with what modern audiences were expecting, and audience apathy in light of the upcoming DC movie universe reboot by James Gunn. The film's worldwide box office likely didn't even cover the marketing costs after the theaters' take is factored in, meaning Warner Bros. would have lost significantly less money if they had pulled a Batgirl and cancelled the film during post-production and used it as a tax write-off, or released it direct-to-streaming on Max.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Japanese dub, Supergirl is voiced by fashion model and actress Ai Hashimoto.
• The Character Died with Him: Not long after the two Barry Allens meet the 1989 Bruce Wayne/Batman—who's now an even more isolated recluse, the present day Barry observes the pen with Bruce's faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth's name and refers to him in the past tense ("You had an Alfred"). The 1989-1997 Alfred Pennyworth actor, Michael Gough, passed away back in 2011 age 94.
• Content Leak: An outline of the film was released onto the Internet years before its final release, similar to the leak that happened with Wonder Woman 1984, and contained every major plot detail in the final release, barring some absences such as Aquaman's final cameo not being present.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Michael Shannon expressed dissatisfaction with playing Zod this time, comparing the experience to "playing with action figures." He did clarify he didn't hate the film itself, he was simply disappointed Zod was given less focus and characterization here.
  • Kiersey Clemons recounted her on-set experience as being extremely unpleasant and stressful, with the film's many retools and reshoots meaning that she was constantly afraid that she would be dropped from the film or that her role would be recast. She credits the fact that she was in the finished film at all to Ezra Miller, who advocated for her inclusion throughout the film's entire troubled production.
• Deleted Role:
  • Henry Cavill's Superman was added to the film via reshoots but was subsequently removed after the decision to recast Superman for the next era of DC films.
  • Early drafts of the script would have Ray Fisher reprise his role as Cyborg but before filming started Fisher made accusations against Joss Whedon and Warner Bros. for harassing and bullying the cast during Justice League reshoots, knowing that doing so would cost him the cameo. As a result Cyborg does not appear in the film and while Barry mentions Victor no image of Fisher is used.
• Development Gag: One multiversal cameo features a version of Superman portrayed by a young Nicolas Cage, engaged in battle with a Giant Spider. This references Superman Lives, a film which was in development in the 90s but never got off the ground, while the spider represents one of Kevin Smith's anecdotes regarding its production: producer Jon Peters had a well-known fixation in that period in Warner Bros history, continuously demanding the presence of a third-act battle with a giant spider in films where it truly wouldn't have belonged.
• Distanced from Current Events: DC shared a variant cover of a tie-in prequel comic, illustrated by director Andrés Muschietti himself, featuring a naked Barry Allen with Ezra Miller's likeness getting into the Flash suit. Following child grooming allegations directed towards Miller, DC pulled it from circulation.
• Disowned Adaptation: Tim Burton wasn't a fan of his unused Superman's inclusion. The failure of that production is still something Burton regrets, and he didn't like that it was included essentially as an in-joke. He also resented his version of Batman being appropriated the way it was.
  "They can take what you did, Batman or whatever, and culturally misappropriate it, or whatever you want to call it. Even though you’re a slave of Disney or Warner Brothers, they can do whatever they want. So in my latter years of life, I’m in quiet revolt against all this.”
• Executive Meddling: A combination of standard studio interference and several Real Life Writes the Plot incidents had a major impact on the final product. The film had wrapped principal photography when Warner Brothers underwent a major restructuring. The studio head ended up canceling a Batgirl film that featured Michael Keaton as Batman, which had also finished principal photography, which made some alterations for The Flash as they were to set up a Sequel Hook to Batgirl. After Black Adam featured a cameo of Superman played by Henry Cavill, Cavill also shot a scene for The Flash meant to lead into a Superman-centered film. But in the process DC Films also acquired new management (by James Gunn), which decided on a Superman Continuity Reboot mere weeks after the Cavill film was announced, and his cameo was jettisoned.
• Fake American: The Spanish Maribel Verdú as the American Nora Allen, although by the sound and look of it her Nora has Spanish origins nonetheless. The Irish Saoirse-Monica Jackson also plays Patty Spivot.
• Hostility on the Set: After Ezra Miller's arrests, it was reported that the actor had a number of "episodes" on the set of the film, where they had been difficult to work with. Even before this, Miller was butting heads with several of the optioned directors of the film due to conflict over the film's tone, almost resulting in them dropping out of the project.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Maribel Verdú, who plays Barry Allen's loving mother, has once publicly stated that she doesn't want to have children, as she doesn't see herself as a mother.
• Lying Creator: In early 2023, DC Studios head James Gunn said that the movie will be used to reboot the continuity of the franchise ahead of the new DC Universe slate of films and TV shows. As it turned out in practice... it was not. The status quo the movie ends up with is clearly not one the upcoming DCU will be beholden to, so it's basically irrelevant to the reboot. Most tellingly, the movie resulted in George Clooney as Bruce Wayne/Batman, clearly a gag instead of establishing stuff for the DCU.^note It could be possible that the changes introduced in the film were originally intended to be carried over later films before the film fell into its infamous Troubled Production, given the reports that Keaton's Batman was supposed to remain and appear in later films such as the cancelled Batgirl and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but even then, those films were among the remaining DCEU films rather than part of the new DCU.
• Meaningful Release Date: Twofold. The film's June 16, 2023 release date serves as a Milestone Celebration to the DCEU itself, given that Man of Steel released on June 14, 2013 — putting The Flash out two days after the tenth anniversary of the DC film franchise as a Shared Universe. Also meaningful since The Flash revisits the Kryptonian invasion from Man of Steel.
• Milestone Celebration: Released 10 years after the official start of the DCEU, the film features a number of characters from not only past films in the franchise, but also pre-DCEU movies such as Tim Burton's Batman.
• Missing Trailer Scene: One shot of Supergirl from the trailer shows her outside the court room, taken from a previous ending for the film.
• The Original Darrin: Done with regards to Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman, who was recast with Val Kilmer and George Clooney in subsequent films. Trade reports indicated that the non-Keaton sequels are going to be treated as non-canon to this iteration of the character. True to this claim, the George Clooney version of Batman from the second Joel Schumacher film does make a cameo appearance at the end of the film, in what Barry describes as another alternate timeline.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Ron Livingston replaces Billy Crudup as Henry Allen from both versions of Justice League. Crudup's schedule on The Morning Show conflicted with filming for The Flash.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, René García did not return as Affleck's incarnation of Batman (or even as Keaton's incarnation, having been his recurring voice actor from quite some time) for unknown reasons, with Javier Ponton (who had dubbed Keaton in the Los Angeles dub of the 1989 Batman and Batman Returns) voicing Keaton's Batman, while Milton Wolch dubs Affleck's.
  • In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Garcia Junior voices Keaton's Batman, because the character's voice actor in the Burton's films, Nilton Valério, unfortunately passed away in 2007.
  • The original voice of Michael Keaton's Bruce/Batman from the Tim Burton films, Patrick Osmond, passed away in 2020. Keaton's regular voice since My Life, Bernard Lanneau, replaced him.
• Release Date Change: Back when it was first announced, Warner Bros. set March 28, 2018 as the film's release date, later moved up to March 16. Then it was delayed indefinitely, with Tomb Raider taking its place. After Andy Muschietti took over as director, the film was announced to be released on July 1, 2022, then moved a month earlier to June 3. Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic delayed the release to November 4, 2022, and then further to June 16th, 2023, with the studio citing "production delays" as the reason. Funnily enough, its final release date is only a few weeks after the series finale of the CW Flash series, almost by a strange coincidence.
• Role Reprise:
  • Michael Keaton returns to the role of the Caped Crusader 30 years after the release of Batman Returns.
  • George Clooney makes a cameo appearance at the end of the film, reprising his role as Bruce Wayne from 1997's Batman & Robin.
  • Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, who technically had her Justice League scene filmed in 2016, even though the version she was included in came out in 2021 only. Clemons as Iris is all that remains of the involvement of her Dope director Rick Famuyiwa who left The Flash in 2016 out of Creative Differences, a recast was considered for a time until Zack Snyder's version of Justice League was pulled off The Shelf of Movie Languishment.
  • Jeremy Irons also reprises his role as Alfred Pennyworth for the first time since Justice League, seemingly for the final time.
  • Michael Shannon and Antje Traue reprise their roles as General Zod and Faora from Man of Steel.
  • In the Japanese dub, and while he already voiced the character before in the dubs of The LEGO Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie, Batman Ninja and DC League of Super-Pets, Kōichi Yamadera returns again dubbing Keaton's Batman after dubbing him in the TV Asahi dub of the 1989 film, being the third time he had voiced his live-action counterpart since Batman Returns. Likewise, Rikiya Koyama also returns as George Clooney's Batman from the also TV Asahi dub of Batman & Robin.
  • The same goes in the Latin American Spanish dub, with a twist: Keaton's Batman is voiced by Javier Ponton, who dubbed the Los Angeles-based dub of Batman (1989). This is especially relevant, since he is both this trope and the replacement for Guillermo Sauceda, who voiced Batman in the Mexican dub, as the latter moved from Mexico years ago in order to work in Miami instead.
  • A particular example happens with Milton Wolch dubbing Affleck's Batman (replacing René García) in the Latin American Spanish dub, as Wolch had previously dubbed Ben Affleck twice before, in Changing Lanes and The Sum of All Fears, both in 2002, 21 years before this film.
• Saved from Development Hell: Three proposals for a Flash movie were in development in 1991, 2007 and 2010 respectively. After the massive success of Batman, Jeph Loeb was commissioned to write a script for The Flash, with Michael J. Fox in mind for the titular character. In 2007, David S. Goyer and Shawn Levy were attached to direct the film with Ryan Reynolds approached for the part of the Flash. Levy dropped out of the project due to scheduling commitments to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and was replaced by David Dobkin before development was halted. Finally, in 2010, Greg Berlanti was hired to pen a treatment for the movie before it was eventually scrapped. Berlanti would later go on to develop The Flash set within the Arrowverse. At one point, Ezra Miller brought in famed comic writer Grant Morrison to co-write a new script with them, which was rejected by the studio.
• Spared by the Cut: Inverted. The original ending of the movie saw Supergirl and the Burtonverse Batman joining the main DCEU timeline after their supposed deaths at the hands of Zod. However, due to that plan being nixed due to the upcoming launch of the new DC Universe, the theatrical version removed the scene of their survival.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise: The Dark Flash did not feature in any trailers but had action figures released.
• Star-Derailing Role: In addition to the numerous controversies surrounding it's lead actor and the movie being a Box Office Bomb, this film derailed if not killed Ezra Miller's career.
• Throw It In!: Michael Keaton revealed that he improvised the moment where Bruce uttered "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts."
• Troubled Production:
  • Combined with the aforementioned details under Development Hell, the effort that it took to get The Flash off the ground was turbulent and messy. After Justice League (2017), production on The Flash solo project was repeatedly delayed as it went through a cycle of rewrites, reworks, and a litany of different directors coming and going. Despite this, Andy Muschietti and Christina Hodson's iteration of the project went forward pretty smoothly, aside from it being indicated that Miller had episodes on the set.
  • In March 2022, Ezra Miller was arrested in Hawaii for disorderly conduct and harassment. A month later, they were fined $500 for allegedly throwing a chair at a 26-year-old woman. Shortly after, they were accused of grooming an 18-year-old activist named Tokata Iron Eyes, with her parents saying that Miller introduced her to various drugs and forced her to cut off contact with her friends and family. Right after police were notified on this, Miller dropped off the grid and deleted all their social media accounts after sending taunting messages aimed at the authorities, making them a fugitive. Shortly after, it was reported that they were in an undisclosed location in Massachusetts and harassed a woman and her child before going on the run again. In August 2022, Miller was charged with felony burglary after being caught on security cameras breaking into a home and stealing alcohol. Miller's actions largely overshadowed the movie's post-production, which became even more apparent when the near-complete Batgirl movie was cancelled in August 2022, with some calling for The Flash to be cancelled instead due to its star's problematic behavior and actions, as well as demands to recast them. This also followed reports that reshoots ballooned the budget to nearly $300 million. As for Miller, the studio banned them from doing any promotion and interviews and they only attended the premiere in Los Angeles.
  • After returning to film a cameo in secret for Black Adam, Henry Cavill also filmed a scene for The Flash, which was meant to help reestablish the character in the DCEU after a lengthy absence and tease future appearances. However, the scene was removed after James Gunn took over as the head of the newly rebranded DC Studios and announced that the next Superman film would be a Continuity Reboot starring David Corenswet as the character.
• What Could Have Been: Has its own page.
• You Sound Familiar: Michael Keaton's Batman is dubbed by Bernard Lanneau in European French, aka Keaton's regular dub voice since My Life. Lanneau had already voiced Jonathan Kent (since he's also the regular dub voice of Kevin Costner) since Man of Steel.

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