If you’d have been told this time even as recently as a few months ago that Ezra Miller would be the best hope at salvaging the DCU’s 2023 on the big screen, there’s a distinct chance at least one eyebrow would have been raised to Dwayne Johnson-like heights.

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And yet, recent developments have positioned the troubled actor’s long-awaited The Flash as the high point of the superhero franchise’s year, a feeling that would arguably remain true even if it wasn’t for the bad buzz swirling around its fellow stablemates. Warner Bros. is so pleased with the film that it’s premiering months ahead of its theatrical release, which means the studio is supremely confident in the end product.

Compare that to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which has had barely a marketing push to speak of and is currently on track to earn less money than its predecessor, while Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has been delayed so often that rumors are now sweeping the internet claiming that director James Wan still has a fight on his hands to knock Jason Momoa’s sequel into serviceable shape by the time it comes to multiplexes around the world in December.

James Gunn thinks The Flash is one of the greatest comic book flicks he’s ever seen, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav echoed that sentiment, and the instant classic Top Gun: Maverick was the last blockbuster to be shown to CinemaCon attendees before crushing it with critics and at the box office, leaving Miller as the unlikely potential savior of the saga’s entire annum.