The Flash premiered in theaters and even from an objective perspective, not taking into account Ezra Miller’s many controversies, it’s far from being a perfect film. It is certainly a far cry from the “best superhero film ever” as some early reviewers were oddly labeling it, and doesn’t even live up to the praise of DC executives like David Zaslav and James Gunn. The biggest problem is that everything The Flash does has already been done way better in other movies. It rehashes time-travel plot points from Back To The Future and almost every other major time-travel film. And its multiversal premise is severely underwhelming and lacking in creativity, especially when compared to films like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
The Flash‘s multiverse especially suffered in the cameo department. Now, the cameos were one of the most highly anticipated aspects of the entire film. Multiversal premises are always fertile ground for cameos because they offer an infinite number of universes, realities, and possibilities. Spider-Man: No Way Home capitalized on this by bringing back countless actors from Sony’s Spider-Man film history, while Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse compiled Spider-Man variants from every nook and cranny of Spider-Man’s history to delight fans.
Like Sony, Warner Bros. has held the film rights for DC comics for years, ensuring The Flash had countless beloved actors to choose from both its past and present. Between the DCU, the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman films, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and the Arrowverse, The Flash could’ve easily met its cameo quota. With so many options, the cameos that ultimately did and didn’t make it into the film are very perplexing. Meanwhile, the cameos in The Flash weren’t just a letdown: they were also arguably very disrespectful.
***Spoilers for The Flash Ahead ***
The Flash‘s shocking CGI cameos
Among the surprise cameos in The Flash were Christopher Reeve, George Reeves, and Adam West. For those unfamiliar with DC history, Reeve portrayed Superman in the 1970s and 1980s and was considered one of the best actors to have ever played the role. West famously portrayed a campy and lovable Batman in the 1960s Batman TV show, while Reeves was the very first actor to portray a live-action Superman in Adventures of Superman (1952-1958). Sadly, all three of these actors were deceased by the time The Flash began production. It wouldn’t have been terrible for The Flash to include a nod to their legacy by, for example, using archival footage and inserting memorable scenes from their past projects. Instead, the film shockingly chose to recreate their likeness using heavy CGI.
The advancement of CGI has created a debate about using the technology to “resurrect” the dead onscreen. Films like Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story have previously sparked debate about digitally recreating the likeness of deceased actors. Even though those films likely get permission from actors’ estates to use their likenesses, they can’t get consent from the actors themselves. How can a film just assume that an actor would agree to have their last appearance onscreen not be a genuine performance, but a lifeless digital recreation formed years after they passed? Given that The Flash stars such a controversial figure, it is even more problematic that these actors couldn’t consent to be used in the film. It is especially egregious when films do this not to honor the legacy of past actors but to profit from using a deceased individual to create nostalgia and excitement for viewers.
The Flash did this not once but THREE times in one film, seemingly not caring at all about the ongoing debate. Viewers have already started speaking out against the CGI cameos, calling them “disgusting” and “disrespectful.” Reeve’s appearance especially garnered attention because not only was it fully CGI, but the CGI was horribly done and looked like a bizarre puppet of the legendary actor. Additionally, the film CGI’d him standing up, despite Reeve being paralyzed later in life. He devoted so much of his life to disability activism that it’s especially cruel for The Flash to decide how to depict him without his input. Also, as already mentioned, it’s not as if The Flash was lacking living actors to utilize for cameos.
The Flash cameos disrespected both the dead and the living
The Flash‘s treatment of Reeve, Reeves, and West was by far the biggest error of the film. However, it disrespected some living actors as well, thanks to its decision to include a Nicolas Cage cameo. Again, Cage’s cameo was far less problematic than the CGI recreations, but it’s still worth noting. Even before The Flash premiered, director Andy Muschietti purposefully spoiled Cage’s cameo, hyping it up as the biggest cameo in the entire film. Cage appears in the film as a Superman from an alternate universe and is seen fighting a massive spider and levitating in his Superman suit. The cameo was included because Cage was once set to portray Superman in a Tim Burton film, the doomed Superman Lives.
Ultimately, Cage’s cameo seemed driven by his star power. Yes, some diehard Superman fans familiar with his cinematic history will be thrilled to finally see Cage’s Superman onscreen. However, it’s more likely that most viewers never even heard of Superman Lives (although there’s a solid documentary that details the film’s saga). He never actually played Superman, so why did the longest cameo in the film go to him? Cage’s cameo (and the fact that Muschietti purposefully spoiled it) seems like a cynical ploy to attract fans and nothing more.
Meanwhile, Muschietti has revealed that the film had to cut multiple cameos, including an appearance by long-time Flash Grant Gustin. And judging from the online response, more folks would have preferred Gustin to Cage’s cameo. It’s very strange that someone who never played Superman was granted a cameo, but the actor who has played Flash on TV for the past decade wasn’t. The Flash can’t claim to be the kind of crossover event that celebrates the legacy of DC’s onscreen history when it leaves out actors like Gustin, Christian Bale, and Henry Cavill in favor of creating disrespectful CGI puppets and rewarding Cage for his star power.
(featured image: Warner Bros. Discovery)
