Warning: Full spoilers follow for The Flash movie.
While cameos from other comic book characters in superhero movies have come to be the norm, there are a couple of factors that make the ones in The Flash particularly notable.
The Flash is essentially a swan song to the DCEU, aka the Snyderverse. This December’s release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is its final entry before James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU officially kicks off with 2025’s Superman: Legacy. The Flash is likely the final time we’ll see these particular incarnations of the Justice League.
Since The Flash is also a multiverse story, it brings in characters from alternate timelines such as Sasha Calle’s Supergirl or from past franchises like Michael Keaton’s Batman. But those two are not the only characters from other DC universes to appear in The Flash.
Read on (or scroll through the slideshow below) for all the characters who cameo in The Flash, and its multiverse sequence in particular.
The Flash: Every Cameo in the DC Film
The Flash Movie Cameos
The climactic Chronobowl battle reveals glimpses at various worlds inhabited by different versions of DC superheroes, starting with …
George Reeves’ Superman
He may not have been the first live-action Superman (that was Kirk Alyn) but George Reeves was the Man of Steel for a generation before Christopher Reeve soared onto the big screen in 1978. Reeves starred in Superman and the Mole Men and then in the beloved 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman. Reeves’ Superman is digitally recreated here in black & white, a nod to the classic TV series (which would, in its later seasons, be broadcast in color). Incidentally, George Reeves’ tragic, mysterious death was dramatized in the 2006 film Hollywoodland, which starred the DCEU’s Batman, Ben Affleck, as Reeves.
Adam West’s Batman
Holy crossover! TV’s beloved Caped Crusader appears briefly in the climactic Chronobowl sequence where he’s seen sprinting down the street. Adam West’s distinctive stentorian voice can also be heard. Nice to see you again, old chum.
Christopher Reeve’s Superman and Helen Slater’s Supergirl
1984’s Supergirl movie spin-off was produced during Christopher Reeve’s tenure as the big screen’s Man of Steel and it acknowledged that Helen Slater’s Kara Zor-El was Kal-El’s cousin. However, the two Kryptonians never shared the screen … until now. One of the worlds depicted during the climactic Chronobowl sequence is the Earth inhabited by Reeve’s Superman who is then joined by Slater’s Supergirl.
Nicolas Cage’s Superman
The appearance of a long-haired Nic Cage as the Man of Steel is one of the biggest (and, to some, most confounding) surprises in The Flash simply because it’s an homage to a DC movie that was never made. Cage was cast as Kal-El in director Tim Burton’s Superman Lives, a 1990s project that Kevin Smith first scripted. Superman Lives was pretty far along in development – including the casting of Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen and the selection of Pittsburgh as a shooting location for Metropolis – when it abruptly fell apart over budgetary and creative issues. (The debacle was chronicled in the 2015 documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?) Cage’s Superman is seen battling a giant alien spider, a nod to a ridiculous demand Kevin Smith received from Superman Lives producer Jon Peters.
Jay Garrick/The Flash
DC Comics’ original Flash, Jay Garrick, appears during the third act Chronobowl sequence where he’s played by actor Teddy Sears. Sears had a recurring role on The CW’s The Flash where viewers first believed him to be playing Garrick until it was later revealed that his character was, in fact, the villainous Zoom all along. Judging from how he’s presented here, it seems Sears is playing the true, heroic Jay Garrick. He also appears in black & white to drive home that this Flash hails from the Golden Age. This is as close as the movie gets to acknowledging the Arrowverse (despite Ezra Miller’s cameo on CW’s The Flash).
The climactic Chronobowl sequence may have contained the most notable cameos in The Flash but they were not the only ones in the film. Several familiar faces also showed up at various other points:
Jeremy Irons’ Alfred Pennyworth
Irons’ Alfred has a supporting “man in the chair” role in the film’s first act, providing guidance to Flash during an emergency situation at Gotham City Hospital.
Wonder Woman
Gal Gadot’s Diana shows up just in time to help Batman and Flash stop a group of terrorists, with her Lasso of Truth proving to embarrass her fellow Justice League members before she flies away, possibly for the final time.
Aquaman
Jason Momoa’s very inebriated Arthur Curry appears in The Flash’s post-credits scene where he and Barry Allen stagger out of a dive bar after a night of heaving drinking that has them assessing whose metabolism is better. It should be noted that this isn’t the same Arthur Curry from Barry’s universe as he now appears to be in an altered reality. Barry explains that this Arthur looks just like the one he knew but, oddly enough, every Batman he’s met is different. This Arthur then falls face down into a puddle on the street where he’s content to sleep it off.
Thomas Curry
Temuera Morrison reprises his Aquaman role as Maine lighthouse keeper Tom Curry. In this film, however, he is in a separate timeline where he never met Atlanna and thus Aquaman was never born. Instead, Tom named his dog Arthur and he’s married to a different woman.
George Clooney’s Bruce Wayne
The Flash’s final scene before the credits roll finds Barry Allen back in what initially appears to be the correct universe. He gets a call from Bruce Wayne, who is driving up to meet him. But Barry is stunned to see that this isn’t Ben Affleck’s Bruce but one he’s never met before, George Clooney’s version from 1997’s Batman & Robin (albeit now sporting a silver beard). While Barry may not recognize him, Clooney’s Bruce addresses Barry by name.
DC Universe: Every Upcoming Movie and TV Show
Henry Cavill’s Superman
This one’s a bit of a cheat since we never see Cavill himself. Early on in the film, Superman appears at a distance on a news telecast that shows why he can’t help out Flash and Batman (he’s trying to stop a volcanic eruption overseas). Later, a CGI rendition of Cavill’s barechested Superman from Justice League appears during one of the Chronobowl sequences. Henry Cavill’s final appearance as Superman was his cameo in Black Adam.
Cyborg
Similarly, a news story about Victor Stone appears in an online search that Barry does but actor Ray Fisher is never shown. Victor never became Cyborg in the alternate timeline and is still a school football star.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Andy Muschietti
Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and The Flash director Andy Muschietti worked together on the 2013 thriller Mama. Coster-Waldau cameos here as a man whose pizza is swiped by Barry, while Muschietti pops up near the end as a man whose hot dog gets stolen by the Flash.
Those were all the cameos we caught in The Flash. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments.
For more coverage of the Scarlet Speedster’s solo film, check out our The Flash review and read our Flash post-credits scene and ending explained breakdown and explanation of how the movie's time travel works.