Every The Flash Cameo Explained | Cameos In The Flash

Every The Flash cameo explained! Say what you will, DC’s The Flash was filled with some surprising and amazing cameos.

Unpopular to what Barry Allen’s superhero moniker might imply “The Flash” ran at all but the speed of light to cinemas worldwide, being just one month away from marking the 10-year anniversary from when the project was originally announced. And with Andy Muschietti at the helm and it seems all those years maybe have been dedicated to finding the right characters and moments from DC’s rich and deep history to find their way into this movie to be celebrated.

It’s the first time in a long time the movies have not only acknowledged but… fully embraced how much the DC canon has given to fans across the decades in comics, television and movies. There is much to dissect so here’s the obligatory SPOILER WARNING for every cameo on The Flash and why they are there.

Every The Flash Cameo Explained

1. Michael Keaton

So, definitely much more than a cameo, but it’s the biggest and most important callback to DC’s film history as, maybe not the movie that started it all (we’ll get to that later) but its most emblematic film, the first time the Dark Knight was brought to the big screen, with so many doubting Keaton’s fit for the role, yet now the fandom clamors for his return, and Muschietti finds interesting way to give us a lonely, cynical and defeated Bruce Wayne questioning his own heroism and purpose.

2. Ben Affleck

Another initially much maligned Batman that truly won the fandom over, and Barry Allen’s mentor figure in the film. While not a big role in terms of screen-time, Batfleck very much works as Barry Allen’s moral compass, he is who Allen wants to return to, the father figure he so needs in his life.

Affleck manages to have narrative significance and redefine the dynamics of his relationship with Allen as well as have a bombastic action set-piece truly worthy of the cowl. It’s no wonder Barry fights so hard to, in part, return to his friend, the one who taught him what heroism truly means.

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3. Gal Gadot

Weirdly enough the one Wonder Woman seen in the film, coming to Batman’s aid in the last minute before him and a criminal fall onto the Gotham River. In ways it feels Diana is reduced to be the title hero’s crush, having played the same part in Shazam: Fury of the Gods earlier this year.

Not much to say sadly about what she adds to the film, and given how no other mentions are made to her throughout the film or how significant a certain blue boy scout is to Barry’s journey, maybe this was the wrong cameo to help define Barry’s world and relationships before everything changes.

4. Jeremy Irons

The most hard-edged Alfred in the history of live-action DC movies. Irons is doing what Alfred does best, being the man-in-the-chair to help Batman and Barry as they chase criminals and saving falling babies. While delivering some most welcomed sass through the intercom.

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5. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

An almost blink-and-you’ll-miss-it familiar face. As the younger Barry Allen is excitingly testing his newly-gained powers through the streets of Central City, he decides to steal a random man’s slice of pizza, that random man is none other than everyone’s second favorite Lannister.

While many (including myself) may want to see this cameo as Muschietti sneaking in a tease for Reverse Flash, Nikolaj is just what he’s described as: a random man. Having worked with Muschietti in MAMA, the actors and director are good friend and saw a chance to quickly work together on what is Muschietti’s biggest project in his career thus far, so why not bring aboard the star of the movie that made him a name.

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6. Temuera Morrison

Once Barry begins realizing he’s in a very different world – where Eric Stoltz is Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox is in Footloose and Kevin Bacon will eventually make a billion dollars at the box office with Top Gun: Maverick – he begins searching for his friends and, when unable to find any information on Arthur Curry or an Aquaman, he calls Thomas Curry only to discover the lighthouse keeper never had a son and never met Queen Atlanna nor did he ever had a son, naming one of his dogs Arthur instead.

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7. George Reeves

The first live-action Superman is the first big cameo seen in the Speedforce as Barry can do nothing but simply look on as the planet sided marbles of reality begin to crash against one another. It’s only fitting the man that first wore the cape is the first to be affected by Barry’s actions in his classic pose, and the first DC Comics iconic imagery on television.

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8. Christopher Reeve

And from the first ever Superman, we soon see the most iconic Superman. While the back of a CGI Henry Cavill can be briefly seen twice earlier in the film, there’s no proper acknowledgement of that version of the last son of Krypton.

But Clark from the 77 classic stands ready to once more protect his reality as it begins to collapse and Reeve is brough to the big screen once more to the delight of many, what’s more surprising… he’s not alone this time.

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9. Helen Slater

While not much else is seen of Superman: The Movie’s reality, Muschietti and the writers of The Flash made sure ALL of DC’s history was embraced, the celebrated movies and the not so celebrated one. So as Superman stands on a rooftop battle-ready… Supergirl from the 1984 long-forgotten film drops by to help her cousin.

In her original outing, the Helen Slater version of the character was directly referenced as taking place in the same world/cinematic universe as the Christopher Reeve-led movies, and for the longest time fans never saw them interacting, nor did the Superman movies ever acknowledged Supergirl existence. Guess there’s no righter a time than the possible annihilation of one’s reality to bring family together.

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10. Adam West

And if we’ll acknowledge the most classic of Supermen… we must pay homage to the most classic of Batmen. Like George Reeves, Adam West is no longer with us, but that didn’t stop Muschietti from tipping his nerdy hat to the man that first put on the cowl and tried to get rid of a bomb, much like Barry keeps trying to get rid of himself.

While there is no original footage like with Reeve or Slater, we can see a black & white reality marble where West’s classic run from the television series’ opening is on full display.

11. Nicolas Cage

Perhaps the most shocking of all cameos, or it would’ve been had Muschietti himself not uncaged the secret weeks before the film release. The infamous never-made “Superman Lives” is reborn with Nicolas Cage having worked on the film with Muschietti for some facial scans to bring to life the would-be climatic fight against the legendary giant spider, a story EVERY DC fan will know from Jon Schnepp’s Documentary “The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?” as well as many of Kevin Smith’s talk over the convention circuit through the years.

It’s a delightful set-piece within the set-piece, and easily the most fleshed out scene during the climax of the film. From the long hair to the suit to Nic Cage’s scowl in the heat of the action. Tim Burton’s Superman may have never been a movie, but Muschietti miraculously found way to give the movie that never was, the Superman that never was, their moment in the son.

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12. Teddy Sears

Certainly the most niche of cameos because, not many will not the face of or the name Teddy Sears. But they will absolutely recognize the metal winged hat of Jay Garrick who finds himself in the Speedforce sphere, dashing through in his reality marble as Barry looks on. What makes this cameo so interesting is how detailed it is in giving yet another Flash in the movie who is not Barry Allen, the original Flash in glorious black & white.

But there are more layers to this as Sears was in The Flash television series as Jay Garrick, or so he pretended to be, as in fact this was a façade within the narrative of the series, Sears actually played Hunter Zolomon AKA Zoom, one of the Flash’ greatest foes, who had kidnapped his Earth’s Jay Garrick and was simply keeping up appearances.

Why this is all so strange is because it feels so specific as a reference to the show when it comes to the choice of the actor and the character he plays and yet… no Grant Gustin to be found?

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13. George Clooney

The Batman nobody ever thought we’d see again. What was originally meant to be a different version of Keaton’s Batman eventually changed in the final moments of the movie, as after returning to fix his reality and finding a way to exonerate his father, Barry believes everything is back as it should be, only to talk with his friend Bruce on the phone as the billionaire playboy stops by to congratulate the speedster but… this is not a Bruce Barry recognizes.

“Well, who the fuck is this?” is very fitting as George Clooney steps out of the car to greet his friend, on a three-piece suit with no bat-nipples in sight. Graciously greeting his young mentee as, apparently this Batman also has a Barry Allen he calls friend.

Cementing that while Barry returned to A reality where his mother did not survive, this is not quite the DCEU we found ourselves with Barry at the beginning of the movie, leaving a lot of questions up in the air about where this goes from here… if anywhere at all because we sure know James Gunn is going for a very different take on the caped crusader, seemingly confirming this Flash does not find himself in the DCU.

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14. Jason Momoa

In the mid-credits scene we find Barry Allen catching up with another familiar face from his old reality in Aquaman himself, Arthur Curry, maybe confirmed that Momoa’s version of the character will also find himself out the DCU this way.

The two are drunk at a bar as Barry retells his insane adventure through different timelines and the multiverse, only for Arthur to not believe in a word the youngster says and focusing more on finding another beer to consume.

Do cameos make a movie? Absolutely not, but Muschietti found interesting ways to celebrate the long-ignored deep history of DC Comics on screen in more ways than one, while simultaneously having these celebratory cameos represent the exact infinite possibilities and variations of different realities and timelines that are such quintessential set-pieces of the Flash mythos and the Barry Allen story.

Muschietti never loses focus of the character, the hero, at the heart of his story, but is also not afraid of the heartfelt epic wackiness the tale of the scarlet speedster inherently brings along with him.

NEXT: Best The Flash Movie Quotes

About The Flash

Worlds collide in “The Flash” when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to.

That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… albeit not the one he’s looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?

The Flash is playing in theaters now.