Since 2020, Ezra Miller has been caught in a Wizard of Oz whirlwind of headlines for derelict behavior and other things that made most of America laugh and point at the TV. Fast forward to today, The Flash is poised to make up to $140M opening weekend at the box office and usher in a new era for DC Studios.
Remember that polarizing movie Justice League?
It starred many people wearing spandex, led by this avant-garde storyteller named Zack Snyder. But tragedy ensued, and he was replaced with another superhero fan who enjoys fun, yuks, and allegedly verbally abusing his co-workers. Joss Whedon’s vision of the film was so vilified that the revolt lasted three years until Zack returned to finish his version, now the product of nerd lore and an excellent book.
In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, we saw what was destined for Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, and Ezra Miller. Many of those are gone, shunned, or given their walking papers, yet Miller has remained to await a global celebration coming June 16.
Regretfully, “Ezra Miller” and “Arrested” have been in more headlines together over the past couple of years than “Taylor Swift” and “Ex-boyfriend.” Yet, this individual has the power to provide DC Comics and Warner Bros an untold renaissance of CBM respect and revenue.
But why?
WBD’s David Zaslav and DC Studios’ two-headed majordomo of James Gunn and Peter Safran are pushing all their chips on this risky bet. The answer could be as simple as they had no other choice.
Flashes of Not-So-Greatness
If you were to use all your ability to surf the multiverse to look in the past and determine the lone hero of DC Comics and Warner Bros. future–there is no way Ezra Miller would have been the odds-on favorite to make the DCEU/DCU relevant again.
Each of the aforementioned Justice League members was given multiple votes of approval for DC Studios to hitch their wagon. But it is Miller who is in pole position. Need a refresher on why this is so mind-numbing?
April 2020: Getting hot in Iceland
Miller was enjoying a few adult beverages in a local tavern. Suddenly, chaos ensued, resulting in the choking-out of a female patron, also a friend of Miller’s. It took two years for said patron to tell the world, “It was just a joke,” but the damage was done.
January 2022: FU to the KKK
We went two years without an outburst or sighting of Ezra Miller, but kicking off the year in 2022 is a bold claim of calling out and threatening a North Carolina chapter of the Ku Klux Klan via Instagram.
Look, if y’all want to die, I suggest just killing yourselves with your own guns. OK? Otherwise, keep doing exactly what you’re doing right now — and you know what I am talking about — then, you know, we’ll do it for you if that’s really what you want. Talk to you soon, OK. Bye.
Ezra Miller’s now-deleted Instagram post, Jan. 2022
March 2022: Aloha-Oy-Vey!
The 29-year-old actor was fined $500 in a Hawaii bar when it was reported Miller was “agitated” by patrons singing karaoke, so a cursing spree spewed forth along with “lunging” for another person playing darts.
Later that month (still in Hawaii), two other victims filed a restraining order against Miller, claiming attempted assault, theft of a passport, and taking some loose change.
April 2022: Chairperson of the Board
Still lounging in the Aloha State, Ezra Miller is charged with second-degree assault for hurling a chair at a woman, allegedly hitting her head at some private shindig. This was such a kerfuffle that the Hawaii State Police put out a news release.
June 2022: Close Encounters of the New England Kind
This story gets weird as two Massachusetts minors, Chase Iron Eyes and Sara Jumping Eagle, were granted a harassment prevention order (filed by their parents) alleging Miller “menaced their family in the downstairs neighbor’s home and acted inappropriately toward the minor.”
A month later, in Vermont, police gained probable cause via surveillance footage of Ezra Miller stealing “several bottles of alcohol” and charged with “felony burglary into an unoccupied dwelling.” The hearing is this coming September.
And finally, still in Vermont, the world was presented with reports of The Flash allowing a 25-year-old woman and her three kids to live on Miller’s farm. Vermont State Police got involved–not for Miller, but for the mother–to remove the children from her care.
However, it was Ezra Miller greeting the constable and state police, saying the family left the farm “two months prior,” leading the authorities to share that the response could have been to help them “evade the emergency order.”
A Bright Future
Feel good about DC Studios’ chances now? Good thing you aren’t James Gunn and Peter Safran.
The choice of their champion isn’t as gallant as Henry Cavill, bold as Ben Affleck, brawn as Jason Momoa, elegant as Gal Gadot, or brave as Ray Fisher. Yet, despite it all, fate has provided a hand guiding the tumultuous tandem of DC Comics and Warner Bros to follow the smoke left in The Flash’s steps.
Considering the cavalcade of criminal offenses from the would-be Scarlet Speedster, isn’t it counterproductive for DC Studios and WBD to bank on this most unlikely of heroes? Gunn’s, Safran’s, and even Zaslam’s decisions have very little to do with popularity or acting skills. Otherwise, Miller’s two-year trail of tears should have been sopped up with a fat pink slip.
Yet, it’s Miller Time.
Questioning the motives and actions of DC Studios’ executive troika, as well as those from newly acquired figureheads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, has been the norm. Why couldn’t those five put their heads together and tell Ezra to keep on running away?
Last August, the path forward to unveil the James Gunn/Peter Safran vision was murky at best. The Hollywood Reporter shared a three-option possibility to answer what could happen with their choice as Barry Allen:
- Miller would receive professional help for mental health issues, so says Ezra Miller’s mother.
- If Ezra Miller does not seek professional counsel, some crucial decisions would include recasting the film.
- The actor continues to swirl down the drain, and WBD considers trashing (yet another) comic book movie. (Batgirl, anyone? Even with a $90M price tag, those five deemed the film “not releasable.”) At the time of the report, The Flash’s cost rested at $200M.
As we know, calmer minds have prevailed, and now, The Flash appears to be a generational comic book movie. Based on early reviews, WBD and DC Studios made the perfect decision.
If you saw Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, you are probably of the mindset “In James Gunn, we trust.” He took some misfit comic book heroes, put them in a movie, and now Marvel Studios has one of the best CBM trilogies in history. So, if DC Studios trusts him for his skill, abilities, and foresight, then we should all trust Ezra Miller.
After all, Gunn does understand a thing or two about unlikely heroes.
