A year ago, with a merger looming at Warner Bros., JJ Abrams’ deal to develop D.C. Comics characters for various projects stalled, and Justice League having proved an overpriced bomb in two different forms, the expectation was that the forthcoming The Flash would help right the DCEU ship. Ezra Miller’s superfast superhero was being positioned as a counterpart to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films at Sony/Marvel, with a young, wisecracking, in-over-his-head speedster saving the world and, by extension, Warner’s bottom line.
Instead, Miller-as-hero is proving a problematic feel-good storyline, with reports of the star physically and emotionally abusing women and a judge granting a restraining order against Miller on behalf of the parents of a teenage girl the star is in a serious ongoing “friendship” with.
Despite the tidal wave of bad publicity crashing around Miller, D.C. parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has stood by their star, promising not to replace them despite fans floating Elliot Page as a possible new Flash. All of which raises the question: Whither the DCEU now?
A fan on popular Internet bulletin board site Reddit, posting in the D.C. Comics popular subreddit, posits the theory that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s forthcoming Black Adam and a rumored return of Henry Cavill to the role of popular comic book hero Superman is D.C.’s emergency plan to correct course on the studio’s plans for the D.C. Cinematic Universe that Miller is singlehandedly disrupting.
While the fan uses many mixed military metaphors in their post, the upshot is that they believe that bringing Cavill back as Superman will help hit a big red reset button on what has thus far been a huge financial and artistic disaster for Warners.
Not mentioned is next week’s big opening for DC’s League of Super-Pets, an animated movie for children about the pets of superheroes who also fight crime. It is believed to be the reason the opening of Brad Pitt’s Bullet Train was pushed back a week.
