Every Superman Actor in ‘The Flash’
We already know that ‘The Flash’ was always going to talk about a different timeline that came about when Barry Allen changed history by saving his mother in the past. Of course, the trailer showed that there would be no Superman in the main part of this movie because Supergirl was going to take his place in the altered timeline that Barry created. Nevertheless, fans were quick to point out that there were actually cameo scenes involving quite a few actors that were associated with the Superman title.
Like Batman, Superman has had a lot of different actors throughout his history as a character, which is extremely understandable because he has always been one of the most popular superheroes of all time. In that regard, the events of ‘The Flash’ movie allowed us to see some Superman actors in cameo appearances. With that said, let’s look at all of the Superman actors in ‘The Flash.’
How many Superman actors appeared in ‘The Flash’?
When the trailer of ‘The Flash’ was released, one of the things that fans were quick to notice was that there was a lack of Superman in it. Of course, this is understandable because the state of the DCEU was somewhat in the middle of a confusing time during the filming of this movie. Henry Cavill, who was always the Superman actor of the DCEU version of the character, was in the middle of determining whether or not he was going to return as Superman, only for him to get axed when it was announced that the entire universe was going to see a reboot under James Gunn’s leadership.
In that regard, we know that Superman wouldn’t be in ‘The Flash’ as there wasn’t an actor to portray the character. But fans understood that Superman needed to be in the movie because ‘The Flash’ was supposedly loosely based on the ‘Flashpoint’ storyline in the comics. In ‘Flashpoint,’ Superman never becomes a hero because the government keeps him in isolation before the Flash and Batman rescue him.
But in the storyline of ‘The Flash,’ the one that was given that storyline was Kara Zor-El, who fans know as Supergirl. In that regard, Barry’s meddling with the timeline changed the course of history as Kara ended up on Earth before Kal did. Nevertheless, it was still made clear in the movie that there were Superman versions that made cameo appearances.
During the climax portion of ‘The Flash,’ we saw different worlds colliding due to how the younger Barry Allen and the Dark Flash were trying their best to change history in their favor. In that regard, different timelines started converging with one another as it was clear that the multiverse was in trouble because of what the speedsters were doing in their attempt to keep everyone alive. And during that scene, we saw different versions of Superman appearing.
Two different Superman versions appeared in that scene. However, we can say that three Superman actors appeared in ‘The Flash.’ Of course, all of the appearances of the Superman actors in the film were cameos that didn’t really affect the storyline. Now, let’s look at the different Superman actors in ‘The Flash.’
Every Superman actor in ‘The Flash’
Henry Cavill… sort of
Let’s get one thing straight here. Henry Cavill wasn’t in ‘The Flash’ as far as the storyline was concerned. That’s because, as mentioned, Sasha Calle’s Supergirl was the one that replaced him in the altered timeline. But Cavill did shoot a few scenes in a cameo for ‘The Flash’ as we saw this scene quite early in the movie when Alfred called Barry Allen to ask him to come to Gotham for something important.
In that scene, Barry asks Alfred to go get Superman instead, only for him to see on television that Superman is busy fighting a volcano. This was clearly Cavill’s Superman because he is the only Superman that exists in the mainline universe of the DCEU. However, we don’t get to see a close look at his face. We’re not even sure if the movie credited Henry Cavill for this appearance, but we do know that this is his Superman.
Christopher Reeve
The next Superman actor appeared much later in the movie when Barry realized that entire worlds were colliding with one another as a result of the different things that they were doing to the timelines to get their desired outcome. That was when Christopher Reeve, arguably the most iconic Superman actor in history, was seen in his own universe with the Supergirl of that universe.
Of course, we know that Christopher Reeve passed away years ago. He also retired from acting well before his untimely passing because of an accident that made it impossible for him to act. As such, Reeve’s Superman cameo in this movie was probably a CGI reproduction that captured his iconic appearance well.
Nicholas Cage
Yes, Nicholas Cage is a Superman actor. But the thing is that he never became Superman because the Superman film that he was supposed to star in was never filmed, even though its script had already been written. Nic Cage even had shots of him wearing the iconic blue and red suit that was always synonymous with the Man of Steel. But he never got the chance to play Superman due to budget concerns.
Of course, he finally got his shot in ‘The Flash’ when it was shown that a long-haired Superman was fighting a monster. The camera eventually allowed us to get a closer look at this version of the Man of Steel as it was Nic Cage wearing the Superman suit. While this wasn’t a full-length movie and was only a short cameo appearance, Nic Cage finally got his chance to become Superman.
George Reeves
Like Adam West, George Reeves made the iconic Superman popular worldwide due to his portrayal as the Man of Steel in the 1950s TV show featuring this superhero. In that regard, he had a very important role in the world of live-action superheroes as he helped pave the way for the comic book characters that have become popular in live-action productions in today’s generation.
George Reeves appeared in the same scene involving the different universes clashing. In that scene, an old clip from his TV show was played on the screen. As such, the movie used an old clip of George Reeves instead of trying to recreate his image and likeness.
Why are different versions of Superman in ‘The Flash?’
The reason there are different versions of Superman in ‘The Flash’ is similar to how there are different versions of Batman. Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne explained this when he said that changing the events at a certain point of a timeline can have effects that would reverberate throughout the entire timeline to cause numerous different universes to appear in the vast multiverse.
We know that older Barry and younger Barry tried to save Supergirl in the events of the climax of the movie, and that was why they repeatedly went back in time to try to fix things, only for them to fail. The fact that they were specifically targeting Supergirl as one of the people they needed to save must have also affected the Supermen of the other timelines. And that’s why different versions of Superman appeared when the different timelines were about to collide with one another.
Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!
