Christian Bale reportedly refused to appear in The Flash as Batman
According to director Kevin Smith, Christian Bale was repeatedly asked to make a cameo in the new Flash movie, but refused every time he was asked. The interview was posted in a TikTok on the moviemaniacs account:
"@moviemaniacs Christian Bale refused to be in The Flash ♬ original sound – Movie Maniacs"
The Flash follows a miserable Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), who discovers near the beginning of the movie that he can use his super speed to travel back in time. This leads him to try and save his dead mother from her unfortunate fate, which of course messes up the space-time continuum because I guess he never bothered to pay attention to Doc Brown while watching Back to the Future.
The Flash couldn’t get Christian Bale to reprise his role as Batman, so it got George Clooney
In any case, the film is about yet another multiverse. It brings together a variety of different DC actors from over the years, including Michael Keaton’s Batman, Christopher Reeve’s Superman and Nicholas Cage’s Superman, the latter drawn from a film that was never even made.
After returning to his own timeline, Barry realizes that he screwed things up, because instead of Ben Affleck playing Batman as he expected, he is greeted by George Clooney, who played Bruce Wayne in 1997’s Batman & Robin. Many took this cameo as a slap in the face because of that movie’s terrible reputation, but I thought it pretty hilarious. This is allegedly the cameo that Christian Bale would have made had he said yes to the role.
I expect this is a one-off appearance by Clooney. Whatever Bale’s reasons for not wanting to appear in The Flash, I think it was the right call; if he appeared, it could have sent the wrong message and made people think that there would be more Bale Batman movies in the future.
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Christian Bale refused to be in The Flash