Credit: (L) Focus Features / Miramax Films (R) DC / Warner Bros.Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope, it’s Ben Affleck’s “Superman”!
Now that The Flash (2023) is finally out in theaters, there are many conversations taking place around all the surprise-cameos from non-DC Universe characters, such as previous versions of Clark Kent/Superman and Bruce Wayne/Batman, who appear during the film’s third act sequence in the “Chronobowl”; a sort of multiversal “hub”, if you will.
While many of us were expecting The Flash to be Batman’s answer to Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), with both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck being heavily involved, and the plot revolving around the DC Multiverse, the end result turned out to be somewhat different, and a little more split down the middle when it comes to Batman and Superman.
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In other words, this film is as much a love letter to the Man of Steel as it is the Dark Knight. Granted that not a single legacy actor who previously donned the red cape is part of The Flash‘s main line-up of superheroes — instead, alongside Keaton’s Batman is newcomer Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl — but we do get a handful of Superman cameos.
We suppose this is fair, considering that Bruce Wayne/Batman plays a big part in the film’s story, whether it’s Michael Keaton or Ben Affleck. Where Superman is concerned, we only see news footage of “Henry Cavill” saving the day somewhere out of reach, and a CG-version of him in the Chronobowl (minus the bee-sting lips from 2017’s Justice League).
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Besides those two fleeting moments, as well as a lot of Superman-centric dialogue, particularly between Supergirl and General Zod (Michael Shannon), there really isn’t much in the way of the Son of Krypton until the third act cameo-sequence, during which we see a CG-rendered version of Nicolas Cage’s Kryptonian from Superman Lives, the Tim Burton film that never came to be, a CG-rendered version of the late Christopher Reeve (alongside Helen Slater’s Supergirl), and the far lesser known George Reeves, the first actor to have played Superman, having starred in the television series Adventures of Superman (1952), who appears here via stock footage.
We only get to see one Batman in the Chronobowl in the form of the late Adam West, but the character of Batman in general gets plenty of treatment elsewhere in the film. Not only are Keaton and Affleck involved in the main story, the final scene sees the return of George Clooney, who has replaced Affleck in the primary timeline as a result of Barry Allen/The Flash’s meddling with time and space.
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However, many don’t realize that George Reeves’ Superman actually has a pretty huge connection with Ben Affleck. In the 2008 film Hollywood Land (2008), which is based on a true story (though some of it is fictionalized for dramatic effect), Affleck plays “Superman” star George Reeves (he wears the iconic costume and all), who died under mysterious circumstances back in 1959.
While George Reeves’ cameo in The Flash obviously isn’t intended to form any sort of connection with the Batman actor (as far as we know), it’s still a fun little Easter egg, yet no one seems to be talking about it!
Check out the final trailer for The Flash below:
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As per Wikipedia, here’s the synopsis for the film:
Barry Allen/The Flash travels back in time to prevent his mother’s murder, which traps him in an alternate reality without metahumans. He enlists the help of Batman and the Kryptonian castaway Supergirl from alternate realities in order to save this world from the restored General Zod and return to his universe.
The Flash is now out in theaters.
It stars Ezra Miller (Barry Allen/The Flash), Sasha Calle (Kara Zor-El/Supergirl), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Ron Livingston (Henry Allen), Michael Keaton (Bruce Wayne/Batman), and Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne/Batman).
Did you spot this connection between George Reeves and Ben Affleck in The Flash? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!