UPDATE: Those Christian Bale cameo rumors about The Flash have been clarified in some further comments.
A viral clip from Kevin Smith on his podcast Fat Man Beyond suggested that Bale had reportedly refused to cameo as Batman in The Flash. "I'm sure [Warner Bros.] was asking Christian Bale for months and months hoping he would break down and he was like 'no,'" he says in a TikTok clip. "So [Warner Bros.] was like, 'let's pivot, let's get another Batman,' and they just grabbed George Clooney."
However, now Smith has clarified his comments further, pointing out some key context was missing. "What’s missing from this Fat Man Beyond clip is when I said 'I think there’s a world' and 'It feels like'," he wrote on Twitter. "It was just conjecture, not inside information."
You can see the full discussion in his podcast on YouTube. You can hear them talking about it at around the 44:50 mark.
What’s missing from this Fat Man Beyond clip is when I said “I think there’s a world” and “It feels like”. It was just conjecture, not inside information.Here’s an actually credible @THR article by @Borys_Kit about how that cameo was shot 6 months ago: https://t.co/Ox72UJ6LXJ https://t.co/yYFX9l01GfJune 25, 2023
The movie predominantly features Michael Keaton's Batman (which we still think is so very awesome), Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne, and includes a cameo from another Batman, George Clooney, at the very end. After Barry Allen single-handedly destroys the time-space continuum (albeit with good intentions), he seemingly puts everything back together... or so we think.
At the very end of the film, Bruce Wayne comes to visit Barry. But instead of Affleck, Clooney appears, and Barry is baffled. Originally, Comic Book Movie had suggested that the plan was for Bale to walk out of the car at the end – not Clooney.
It's unclear why Bale, who played the caped crusader in three films didn't reprise the role – but we don't blame him. "If Chris [Nolan] came to me and said, 'I've got a new story,' I'd be interested. But other than that, I don't think so," the actor previously told Inverse. His most recent superhero venture was playing Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love & Thunder.
The Flash is in theaters now. If you're up to speed, check out our spoilery deep dives on:
- What happened to the Justice League in The Flash?
- Our deep dive on Iris West
- How different is The Flash to Flashpoint?
- How Superman Lives explains that wild cameo
- When does The Flash take place on the DCU timeline?
- Explaining the evil versions of The Flash
- What to watch before The Flash
- Everything you need to know about Supergirl
- The Flash Easter eggs and cameos
- The Flash post-credits scene, explained
- Every character that appears in The Flash multiverse sequence
- The Flash ending explained
- A fond farewell to the DCEU
