This article contains major spoilers for The Flash
The Flash is now in theaters, with the long-delayed movie delivering on its promise of a bonkers trip through practically the entire history of live-action DC projects. Everything from Batman 1966 to Christopher Reeves gets a nod, with a highlight seeing Nicholas Cage finally battling a giant robot spider as planned for the notoriously canceled ’90s movie Superman Lives.
Most of the Easter egg cameos are crammed into a multiversal sequence towards the end of the movie, though just as you think things have calmed down, The Flash throws in one final twist that could potentially have huge consequences for the DCU going forward.
The closing scene sees Barry finally proving his father’s innocence in court. He leaves on a high, planning a date with Kiersey Clemons’ Iris West. Then there’s a kerfuffle as Bruce Wayne’s slick black supercar pulls up. Barry believes he’s back in his home universe and expects to see Ben Affleck’s familiar face. So it’s safe to say he’s shocked when none other than Batman and Robin‘s George Clooney strolls towards him.
Barry says “y-you’re not Batman!”, Clooney’s Bruce Wayne responds “what’s wrong with you?”, then Barry looks into the camera and his front tooth falls out. Roll credits.
Is George Clooney really the new DCU Batman?
Clooney is notoriously embarrassed about his performance as Batman/Bruce Wayne in 1997’s universally derided Batman and Robin. That massively ill-conceived camp fest has gone down in cinematic history as one of the worst blockbusters of all time, with Clooney going so far as to refund the tickets of anyone that paid to see the movie.
That said, it didn’t exactly slow down Clooney’s career (though the same can’t be said for poor Chris O’Donnell). Clooney is now a celebrated actor and director with one of the most glittering resumes in Hollywood. As for why he’s back? Well, we suspect that finally returning to Batman is a way of exorcising a nasty demon from his past.
It’s also worth mentioning that it’s unlikely Clooney ever actually interacted with any of the cast. This scene was originally shot with Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne and Clooney’s head appears to have been superimposed on top during post-production, meaning he probably did this scene in a few hours against a greenscreen.
So, as The Flash ends in the core DCU, and as Clooney is the Batman here, is he really going to stick around?
The first DCU Batman movie under James Gunn is Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which will loosely adapt Grant Morrison’s excellent Batman & Son arc in which the Dark Knight learns he has a secret teenage son. The nature of that story means we’re looking at an established and experienced Batman who’s already deep into his crimefighting career, which at least theoretically aligns with Clooney in the role.
All that said, we suspect Clooney has better things to do with his time than sign up for multiple superhero movies. In addition, Clooney is now 64 and while the 71-year-old Michael Keaton has just proven he can still deliver some (CGI-assisted) action, we can’t deny age isn’t an issue. However, some mitigation may be that Robert Pattison will return as the younger Caped Crusader in The Batman – Part II, so Warner Bros. can effectively have its cake and eat it.
At this point, we’re not ruling anything out. Even in this all-too-brief cameo, Clooney shows off his dazzling charisma and it’s difficult to think of a star who’d generate more hype for The Brave and the Bold. It’d also cement James Gunn’s DCU as delivering the unexpected and begin to forge its own identity wholly separate from the ‘SnyderVerse’. We’ve also long thought that Clooney has a great Batman performance in him, with Batman and Robin completely squandering his talents in favor of awful ice-based puns and Bat-butt shots, so if he brings the intensity, this could be something very special.
Neither Warner Bros., Gunn nor Clooney have made any comment on The Flash‘s final scene or The Brave and the Bold, though if this unlikely casting really is happening, expect an announcement after opening weekend once the cat is truly out of the bag on this closing scene.