Earlier this week, we learned that The Flash ends with Barry Allen fixing the past and ending up back in the present...a present where George Clooney is Batman. With that, Ben Affleck's Caped Crusader is wiped from reality, while the Scarlet Speedster is left in a timeline that quite clearly isn't the new DCU.
A mid-credits scene confirms this world has an Aquaman, however, but the scene with Jason Momoa getting drunk at a bar is actually just half of what we'd have seen in an earlier cut of The Flash.
After a drunk Arthur Curry collapses, "Barry returns home and all of his monitors start flashing. Affleck appears on all screens wearing the suit but no cowl. He doesn't know if this message will find Barry but if it does they need his help. 'You have to find us, Barry! Find us!' Ends with Barry saying 'Oh, fu-'"
This would have come after the hero was met by Michael Keaton's Batman and Sasha Calle's Supergirl, confirming they were now part of the DCEU (a happy ending after their respective deaths during the battle with General Zod, albeit one which would have raised more questions about the Multiverse).
It appears Barry's actions were originally going to leave Affleck's Bruce Wayne trapped in a timeline in crisis, likely setting the stage for the Crisis on Infinite Earths movie we've heard so much about.
That's not happening under DC Studios' watch but this explains why so many critics have found fault with what now comes across as a largely nonsensical ending.
Still, it was a last-minute fix for a movie that once ended much differently, and not even a couple of splashy cameos can make up for it. The movie does have 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, but whether it can maintain that score over the next 10 days or so is hard to say.
The Flash arrives in theaters on June 16.
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