We’ve seen a fair amount of uncanny CGI in recent superhero films, but The Flash is really taking the cake. Although director Andy Muschietti claims it’s intentional, much of social media is aghast at the dead-eyed computer-made puppets on display in what should be the movie’s thrilling multiverse cameo moments. The CGI crisis has got even stranger, though, thanks to some surprising comments from one such cameo “star.”
Perhaps the unlikeliest cameo in The Flash is the brief glimpse of Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash. Due to his appearance, everyone took this to be Teddy Sears, from The CW’s The Flash TV show. Which was weird, given how Sears only played a fake Jay on that series, not the real one. Still, things have got even odder now.
Sears has now spoken up on the matter. While admitting that it looks like him, the actor confirmed he didn’t shoot any scenes nor had he been contacted by Warner Bros. about this in any way.
Many fans, however, aren’t convinced that the Jay Garrick cameo wasn’t based off Sears’ appearance after all. Ironically, given how it pays homage to the classic ’80s flick, some are arguing The Flash is aping Back to the Future‘s infamous Crispin Glover scandal.
Folks are getting angry over this envisioned slight, calling the studio’s supposed actions “vile.”
All signs are pointing to the Jay Garrick cameo being A.I.-generated, then, which is opening up a whole other can of worms.
Supposedly Movie Flash‘s Jay is a de-aged John Wesley Shipp, the real Jay from TV’s Flash, but nobody is buying it.
To fact-check the below claim, TVLine‘s sources shared that WB intended for Jay to be “a generic Golden Age Flash representation played no actor of note.”
If Jay really is just a generic face, that’s a bizarre waste of a cameo opportunity.
What’s really wild is that this whole issue of (potentially) created A.I. likenesses of actors being used in media was just explored in Black Mirror season six, which released on Netflix a day before The Flash opened worldwide.
If you’ve seen “Joan is Awful,” you know.
Muschietti has confirmed Nicolas Cage shot material for his Superman role, so clearly the rest of the cameos were either made with new or archive footage or at least with the blessing of the late actors’ estates. It’s a little unclear what’s going on with Jay Garrick, then, but if countless fans recognize him as Teddy Sears then is it not just Teddy Sears?