But when it got here to The Flash that proved frustratingly inconceivable. Or at the least implausible contemplating the allegations and authorized entanglements the Flash actor Miller discovered themselves in by 2023. Whether or not common audiences had been totally conscious of Miller’s troubles or battle with psychological well being is troublesome to say, however the truth of the matter is WB correctly determined The Flash’s largest lead shouldn’t promote the movie, and its second largest lead, Michael Keaton, selected to not. Newcomer Sasha Calle gave it a powerful school attempt, however she performed a personality audiences had been not sure about—a Supergirl from a distinct universe who could not seem in one other DC movie—and didn’t have the resume of working in earlier DC movies.
In different phrases, Miller’s absence created a black gap within the advertising and marketing marketing campaign round The Flash that no person was capable of fill. That could be a fairly main downside proper there, but it surely’s not the most important…
WB Already Signaled This Was the Finish of the Line
In January 2023, new DC Studios co-head James Gunn boldly introduced the primary slate of what he dubbed the brand new DC Universe. There could be a brand new Superman film with a brand new actor and timeline, then tentatively titled Superman: Legacy; there could be TV exhibits in live-action and animation; there would even be a brand new Batman unrelated to both Ben Affleck’s character within the DCEU or the one performed by Robert Pattinson in The Batman; and there could be a brand new Supergirl film known as Supergirl: Lady of Tomorrow.
When requested whether or not Calle would possibly play that Supergirl, Gunn on the time was imprecise and maybe evasive. It left room for fan hypothesis, in addition to intense skepticism. And that was in regard to The Flash’s largest new addition to the DC Prolonged Universe. In the meantime it was already confirmed by then that Henry Cavill was executed as Superman, Gal Gadot appeared unlikely to play Marvel Lady once more as she seemingly stated goodbye to the character on social media, and Affleck had spent the previous half-decade with one foot out the door.
Your complete lineup of the DCEU’s as soon as glistening Justice League was going, going, gone, and no matter guarantees The Flash made concerning the subsequent period of the onscreen DC universe appeared illusory at greatest. And they also had been. Home of the Dragon’s Milly Alcock is now Supergirl, Gunn and Muschietti are each allegedly creating a brand new Batman for The Courageous and the Daring, and David Corenswet’s Superman presumably hails from a far sunnier Krypton than the grim hellscape Michael Shannon represented in The Flash.
Like Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Aquaman 2, and the remainder of the 2023 DC slate, The Flash arrived two years in the past as a lame duck, a brand new phenomenon in cinema created by the economic scale at which superhero flicks at the moment are churned out. Admittedly, a film needs to be pleasurable unto itself as a whole expertise. And no matter else you would possibly consider The Flash, we do concede it’s a self-contained story with a starting, center, and finish. Nevertheless, additionally it is a chunk of a studio’s grander advertising and marketing technique, and for the final 20 years Marvel, Disney, and certain sufficient the DCEU have skilled media-savvy followers to anticipate every movie as a pseudo-commercial for the following two or three within the pipeline.
