Warner Bros. was extremely confident in The Flash's chances of success earlier this year, hence why it was screened at CinemaCon all the way back in April.
The movie wasn't finished at the time, with incomplete VFX and a different ending. However, the response from critics in attendance was overwhelmingly positive, with excitement for the DCEU movie at an all-time high heading into the summer.
The Flash raced into theaters a couple of months later and was met with a tepid critical response and a dismal commercial one. Now the biggest comic book movie flop ever released, it ended on a confusing note when Barry Allen found himself in a new timeline where George Clooney's Bruce Wayne is Batman.
DC Studios' James Gunn and Peter Safran are thought to have been the driving force behind the cameo, a strange move when the former previously said The Flash was going to "reset" the franchise and set the stage for the new DCU (Clooney will not be The Brave and the Bold's Dark Knight).
A piece on io9 by Germain Lussier looks back at The Flash's CinemaCon ending and not only does it fulfil the promise made by Gunn but it avoids much of the confusion caused by Clooney's random appearance.
"The ending I saw, the one that left me feeling happy and hopefully, is so much simpler and smarter. At the start, everything is the same. Barry leaves the courtroom, talks to Bruce on the phone, a car pulls up and we see feet exit the car. At this point Barry screams 'Who the f*** is this guy?' and boom, the credits roll."
"We don’t see who Batman is. We just know it’s a new Batman from the ones Barry has seen. It simultaneously leaves the door open for the future, as well as being a killer out on a perfect use of your one PG-13 F-bomb."
While The Flash's other problems would have remained, this ending might have at least helped end things on a more definitive and satisfying note. That would have improved word-of-mouth and might have made a key difference at the box office.
Do you think DC Studios dropped the ball by throwing Clooney's Batman into the mix?