With Cyborg Possibly Being In Flash, Are Team-Ups The Future of Comic Book Movies?

By Danny F. Santos (doddleNEWS)

We’ve already reported that Ray Fisher, who was briefly seen as Cyborg in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, could be joining Ezra Miller in the upcoming film The Flash. This news isn’t exactly new as producer Deborah Snyder hinted this would happen back in April via Forbes. Here’s what she said:

“[W]hen we get to The Flash movie, Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher — who plays Cyborg — are kind of our youngest characters, and they have a really nice camaraderie with each other. Ezra is super funny, so the tone of that film will be very different than the rest of them.

Now, just because the news is widely reported and even just because Snyder says that Fisher will be part of the cast doesn’t necessarily make it so. Director Rick Famuyiwa responded with just a simple tweet featuring the single hashtag #SaysWho ?

#SaysWho ? https://t.co/pKmFdd2OUO

— Rick Famuyiwa (@RickFamuyiwa) August 18, 2016

That could mean one of two things… Either Cyborg is in the film and Famuyiwa is trying to muddy up the waters about whether he will be in The Flash movie or not — or the character will not appear in the movie at all. It should be noted that when Snyder made her comments, Seth Grahame-Smith was still attached to write and direct the film, so Famuyiwa could be taking the project in a completely new direction. I find it more likely that Famuyiwa was unaware of Snyder’s previous comments letting the cat out of the bag.

This seems to be a trend in superhero films, where other superheroes co-star in the solo films. The upcoming Thor: Ragnarok will co-star Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, while (as an extreme case of co-stars) Captain America: Civil War which co-starred practically the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe roster (hence its nickname, Avengers 2.5).

In the case of Cyborg, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment need to prop up the character if they expect to release a solo film in 2020. Unlike the other members of the Justice League, Cyborg was only retconned as a founding member during the New 52 event and is pretty unknown — unlike the other members of Batman, The Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, or Aquaman.

I think this could also be a case of DC yet again trying to catch up to Marvel. At this point, having other characters cross over from one film to another is getting common in the MCU, while DC has just had its first taste of it with Batman and The Flash showing up in cameos in Suicide Squad.

One of the biggest issues with sequels is keeping them fresh so having a co-star from another franchise is a way to change the dynamics so I’m a big fan of this trend. Having said that, this is the first Flash film so it’s likely that it could help promote Cyborg at the expense of the speedster.

The Flash will premiere in theaters sometime in 2018.