Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for The Flash.
The few people who actually saw The Flash this weekend (considering its meager box office) were treated to an admittedly pretty great surprise cameo: that of George Clooney reprising the role of Bruce Wayne from 1997’s long-derided Batman & Robin.
Reports suggest The Flash‘s original ending brought back Henry Cavill’s Superman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, but New DCU boss James Gunn apparently nixed it because he wanted Flash to reset the timeline instead of returning home to the Snyderverse.
Gadot at least gets a few kicks in during the film’s opening action sequence, and we would have loved to see more of Cavill, who only appears as part of a trippy tableau while Flash is moving through time. But still, the ending feels right, especially now that the film has made less money than estimated and audiences have cried foul over everything from its rubbery CG to Ezra Miller’s recent controversies.
Why do The Flash‘s final moments benefit the forthcoming DCU? Because it traps Barry Allen in the Batman & Robin timeline, which is obviously not where Gunn is headed with his upcoming slate.
It seems more people on Twitter are coming to this realisation, regardless of how badly they wanted one last peek at Cavill behind the iconic “S”:
Most DC fans assume after such a poor opening weekend that Miller will never again play The Flash — nevermind that they’ve allegedly threatened and attacked several people — so stranding them in a world where Mr. Freeze wears polar bear slippers and Batman has his own embossed credit card is just fine, really.
The only sticking point is The Flash‘s post-credit scene, where Barry is helping a very drunk Aquaman out of a bar. Here, Barry seems to have made his way back to his original apartment from the start of the film — or he’s found the same place to rent in the Batman & Robin universe, and there’s simply an Aquaman there, too.
What matters is that it doesn’t really matter. Just give us Blue Beetle and Aquaman 2, then please start making all this great DCU content we’re being promised. Anyway, that Clooney seems like a real stand-up guy.