via Warner Bros.
Spoilers ahead for The Flash.
If you really want to fully enjoy The Flash, you need to have a deep understanding of DC’s live-action adaptations, whether they were made or not.
Many younger viewers and casual audience members may not know who George Reeves is or why a black-and-white Superman suddenly appears in a $200 million blockbuster. It’s even possible that there are people who haven’t seen Batman & Robin, and they might be confused as to why George Clooney, of all people, appears as Bruce Wayne in the final scene.
This leads us to Nicolas Cage’s appearance as Tim Burton’s version of Kal-El from Superman Lives, a deep cut that may go over many people’s heads. Director Andy Muschietti, while speaking to The Playlist, described the approach to fan service in The Flash in an intriguing way.
“We talked with Nicolas, and we decided to shoot him in his suit. And so, we built the suit with the same costume designer that built the suit for the unproduced Superman Lives, which is a movie that would have been great, but nobody will see because it wasn’t made. But the excitement was shared with Nicolas, and Nicolas is such a kind guy, and I think he shared the enthusiasm for bringing back that movie that was never done – even for a couple of minutes in our movie.
And yeah, the magic of the multiverse is expressing that this universe exists, even though it’s a movie that nobody saw. So, we’re kind of saying that there is a Superman Lives. Yes, we were nervous, but the excitement of doing it overrode everything. It’s like, of course, someone said, ‘What about the people that don’t know that Nicolas Cage was going to be Superman. Wouldn’t it be a funny moment to see Nicolas Cage out of nowhere dressed as Superman?’ And our answer was, ‘We don’t care!'”
With The Flash already at risk of performing poorly, the decision to include Cage, design a costume for him, create a visually impressive sequence where he fights a spider, and include it in the film solely as a nod to fans emphasizes the film’s potential financial losses.
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