Cyborg Cameo Written Out of ‘The Flash’; Role Played by Ray Fisher Won’t Be Recast

Actor said last week he “will not participate in any production associated” with DC Films President Walter Hamada

Ray Fisher Cyborg The Flash

DC Films’ upcoming “The Flash” movie will no longer include a cameo by Cyborg, according to insiders with knowledge of the situation. That decision comes one week after actor Ray Fisher, who played the character in “Justice League” and was offered a cameo role in “The Flash” last June, indicated that he “will not participate in any production associated” with current DC Films President Walter Hamada. In addition, insiders said the role will not be recast.

Fisher has had an ongoing beef with Hamada, who is overseeing “The Flash,” as well as other Warner Bros. executives and producers involved over his treatment on the set of “Justice League.” The actor tweeted on Dec. 30, “Walter Hamada is the most dangerous kind of enabler. He lies, and WB PR’s failed Sept. 4th hit-piece sought to undermine the very real issues of the Justice League investigation.”

Fisher added in his tweet, “I will not participate in any production associated with him.” Of note, Hamada did not oversee the “Justice League” production and was not the head of DC Films at the time, nor was he employed during the film’s initial release.

Hamada first joined DC Films back in 2018 and lead the division to the release of its highest-grossing film to date, 2018’s “Aquaman,” which banked over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office. On Tuesday, it was announced that Hamada had reupped his deal as president until 2023. Fisher called the news “reactionary” in a tweet later that day.

Fisher, in his only film role, first appeared as Cyborg in 2017’s “Justice League.” His final appearance as Cyborg will be in the “Justice League” Snyder Cut, which will premiere this spring on HBO Max.

In a tweet on Thursday, Fisher insisted that he “did not publicly step down” from the Cyborg role and that the studio “has made the decision to remove me from The Flash.”

Fisher’s beef with DC Films first surfaced last July, when the actor publicly accused “Justice League” director Joss Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional” behavior on set. Fisher said Whedon’s behavior was enabled by then-DC Entertainment president Geoff Johns and by Jon Berg, former co-president of production at Warner. Berg left the company in December 2017 as part of a “restructuring,” while Johns stepped down seven months later. He began to criticize Hamada in September.

Warner Bros. launched an independent investigation in mid-August, a move initially celebrated by Fisher. But on Sept. 4, he criticized the company on Twitter, saying, “After speaking out about Justice League, I received a phone call from the President of DC Films wherein he attempted to throw Joss Whedon and Jon Berg under the bus in hopes that I would relent on Geoff Johns. I will not.”

In a counter-statement later that day, Warner Bros. denied Fisher’s accusation against Hamada and said the actor had never actually accused anyone of “actionable conduct.” The company also said Fisher refused to speak to the investigator despite multiple attempts to reach him.

In a statement released on Dec. 11, WarnerMedia said it had concluded its investigation into accusations by Fisher of inappropriate conduct during the production of “Justice League.” The company said “remedial action” was taken, but declined to clarify what that means.

The plot of “The Flash” will introduce audiences to the idea of the multiverse, one of the core concepts underpinning DC Comics. For the non-fanboy set, the multiverse refers to a shifting number of alternate universes that coexist within the larger reality depicted in DC comics. Originally created to explain various contradictory changes the company’s characters experienced over decades, it allows several different versions of the same characters to simultaneously exist and, occasionally, interact.

For example, Ben Affleck’s Batman is not the only Caped Crusader who will return in “The Flash” — Michael Keaton will also return to his role of Batman from the 1989 Tim Burton film, as TheWrap first exclusively reported.

For the record: A previous version of this story said Ray Fisher publicly stepped down from the Cyborg role. Fisher disputes this characterization of the matter, citing the specificity of his unwillingness to work with Hamada, whose contract as head of DC films has since been extended to 2023.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.