Warning: this article contains major spoilers for The Flash
If there was one thing for which The Flash was criticized throughout its advanced screenings and critical reviews, it’s the heavy use of CGI, especially in the third act of the film. Unfortunately, just like every other superhero blockbuster that gets released, expect spoilers to circulate on social media. Interestingly, out of all the events that happened in the film, it’s the use of CGI that people can’t stop talking about. Warning, major spoilers ahead.
The scene that’s currently being discussed was when a variety of DC cameos appeared on screen as the multiverse begins to collapse on itself. One of them was Christopher Reeve’s Superman from the late 70s. While it was a cool Easter egg to see iconic heroes from DC’s past and characters who never saw the light of day, fans were upset that heavy CGI was used to make this possible when other actors exist. Others argued that Warner Bros could have used archival footage from past films to make the scene possible.
But let’s say that Warner Bros wanted to bring back Superman from the 1978 film. After all, he played the role four times and was pretty iconic. Then there is one actor who’s still alive that is perfect for the role — Brandon Routh. Not only did he play the Man of Steel from Earth-96 in the Arrowverse, but he also donned the red cape in Superman Returns, a film that’s based on the 1978 Superman movie. The best part, he’s still alive and would be much more respectful than using CGI to resurrect the dead.
While the movie was praised for being a homage to the DC franchise as a whole, there was a huge missed opportunity to use existing actors to play the roles of various DC superheroes in different multiverses. Warner Bros and DC had the whole CW cast that they could have invited to appear for a few seconds. Or better yet, use Henry Cavill since it was reported that he was on set and was supposed to have a cameo appearance before it was cut. Such a shame we’ve now resulted to using deepfakes and CGI when Warner Bros still has access to the original films.
