The Flash's Goofy Credits Scene Actually Serves A Grander Purpose

This post contains spoilers for "The Flash."

After years (and years) of being stuck in development hell, "The Flash" movie has finally made its way out into the universe. Against all odds, director Andy Muschietti ushered the film across the finish line and, as it happens, audiences seem to really be enjoying the multiversal craziness he cooked up. In the film, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) messes up the timeline quite a bit in trying to save his mom from dying, though he manages to mostly put things back together in the end. "Mostly" is doing some heavy lifting there, but the film's rather silly post-credits scene actually does a lot of work in assuring the audience that things are back to normal.

The scene itself appears at the very end of the credits and sees Barry hanging out with Jason Momoa's Aquaman, who is absolutely hammered out of his mind and ends up falling asleep in a puddle on the street. It's absolute slapstick humor with (seemingly) no substance. However, there is a point to the whole thing, particularly because "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" is due in theaters later this year. We now have the assurance that Momoa is still our Atlantean hero and that Barry didn't screw that up in fiddling with the timeline.

While we didn't see Aquaman during the multiverse portion of the film, it was no guarantee that the version of the hero we got to know in "Justice League" was still around. After all, Ben Affleck was replaced by George Clooney even after Barry "fixed" everything. So who knows? It could have been Stone Cold Steve Austin as Arthur Curry in the new timeline. As entertaining as that might have been, our Aquaman remains Momoa.

The climax of "The Flash" sees Barry coming to grips with the fact that he has to actually let his mom die so that the universe as we know it can go on. It's as simple as removing a can of tomatoes from a shopping cart, but that action has great consequences. In the post-credits scene, as Barry is walking drunk Aquaman around on the street, we hear him trying to tell his fellow Justice League member about some of his explorations in the multiverse. There were different Batmen and different Aquamen.

While it's not explicitly stated, it seems as though Barry, being far more careful and less selfish, may have taken other trips through the Speed Force to try and correct other little mistakes that were made through his meddling with the timeline. So perhaps Clooney's Batman won't actually occupy this version of the DC Universe, in the end. The point is, even though it's a silly scene played for laughs, there was some important stuff going on. (Plus, it serves as a subtle reminder to the audience that a new "Aquaman" movie is coming out later this year.)

Granted, all of this may be for nothing as DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran are getting ready to reboot the DC Universe in the coming years. While a few select actors and characters from the so-called Snyderverse will carry over, it more or less seems like a full reboot is on the table. So we may have a new Barry Allen and a new Arthur Curry in a handful of years, depending on how things shake out. This may well be the last time we see these versions of these characters on screen together. If so, it's one heck of a note to end on.

"Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" is currently set to hit theaters on December 20, 2023.