The Four Color Media Monitor

Deadline gave some more coverage to the sad case of actor Ezra Miller, who's played the Flash in the Justice League movie, and has since gone downhill committing acts of violence and has other illegal activities to his record:

Even though it isn’t on the Warner Bros release calendar until June 23, 2023, The Flash is becoming Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s first movie crisis, because of the escalating coverage of incidents of volatile and odd behavior involving the film’s star, Ezra Miller.

Zaslav has made clear his desire to grow the DC Universe to MCU scale and has all the ingredients of a first foot forward in The Flash, including the return of Michael Keaton as Batman along with a reprise by Ben Affleck, a $200 million budget and a hot director in Andy Muschietti, who delivered the blockbuster It for the studio. The Warner Bros Discovery CEO exercised his well known penchant for micro-management by declining to greenlight Wonder Twins for being too niche. Zaslav will have to soon make a decision of what to do with the completed picture that is The Flash, and what to do with a young actor who appears to have serious off-set issues.

Deadline has heard the studio has tried getting help for Miller, but the troubling headlines continue to pile up. Could you send a potential liability on a global publicity tour and have the actor anchor a huge studio franchise play?

I think it's way past the point this movie in the pipeline will have so much as a ghost of a chance finding sufficient audience, if released next year. In retrospect, even the League movie by Zack Snyder is bound to lose whatever audience it had, and this'll cloud Miller's whole resume in hindsight. Making matters worse is that, if this news from last week is any suggestion, Miller's now on the lam with the girl he groomed:

Authorities are unable to “locate or serve” The Flash star Ezra Miller with an order accusing the actor of “physically and emotionally abusing” and grooming a teenager since she was 12 years old.

The parents of an 18-year-old have obtained a protective order against Miller, according to a report by Los Angeles Times. But “the Court cannot locate or serve” the actor after a judge approved the interim order last week.

Chase Iron Eyes and his wife, Sara Jumping Eagle, reportedly petitioned the Standing Rock Sioux tribal court in North Dakota to issue an order of protection for their child, Tokata Iron Eyes.

Court documents show that the parents are accusing Miller of “psychologically manipulating, physically intimidating and endangering the safety and welfare of Tokata Iron Eyes.”

“Ezra uses violence, intimidation, threat of violence, fear, paranoia, delusions, and drugs to hold sway over a young adolescent Tokata,” the filing read.

Chase Iron Eyes told Los Angeles Times Thursday that he and the court “have no idea of knowing where Tokata and Ezra are to gain help from other jurisdictions” in order to serve or enforce the order.

Well. This is extremely serious, and could be considered flight from arrest and kidnapping under legal definitions. Miller's career is hopefully finished, based on this alarming news.

While it's bad enough this had to happen, I noticed some press sources are adding insult to injury by describing Miller not by his biological sex, but rather, by the pronouns he demands (and also as merely an "actor"). For example, The Direct:

Miller has been at the center of one unfortunate controversy after another over the past few months, which has all happened since filming for The Flash wrapped in October 2021. Most recently, the film's leading star mysteriously deleted their Instagram page after sharing a barrage of memes in reaction to accusations of grooming, and the situation grows more troublesome seemingly by the day.

From Gizmodo:

Miller first joined the DC machine back in 2016 with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and later became attached to WB’s Fantastic Beasts franchise as one of its key characters. They’ve shown up throughout the tenure of both Beasts and other DCEU franchise films, and even had a brief Arrowverse cameo. At this time, it doesn’t seem likely that WB will drop Miller entirely and remake The Flash anew; for one thing, it’s been in development for a long time, and has already cost plenty of money trying to see the light of day. It doesn’t sound like WB has any plans for who specifically will take up the gold wings and red suit after The Flash releases: right now, they just want to try and release the thing on June 23, 2023, and go from there.

From Movieweb:

Miller is recently accused of brainwashing and kidnapping 18-year-old Tokata Iron Eyes, their life-long fan. Miller took her to an unknown location, unbeknownst to her parents, which led to an official investigation against the actor. The actor has since avoided contact with the authorities and is technically a fugitive of the law.

Even Vanity Fair:

Earlier this week Miller deleted their Instagram account, after uploading strange images including one that read “you cannot touch me, I am in another universe.”

And then, check out this stupefying interview with Grant Morrison from Rolling Stone:

You worked with Flash actor Ezra Miller, who is facing a series of ever-wilder accusations, from clashes with police in Hawaii to a family accusing him of grooming their child (which she denies). What do you make of their current situation?

I know they’ve had these problems. I haven’t spoken to them for a while, and the last time I spoke was long, long before this. All I can say is that it’s just not the person I know. I’ve heard stories just like everyone else. I just don’t know. Ezra cut off contact from pretty much everyone for a while. It’s not the person they were. They weren’t aggressive in any way. I just thought Ezra was a super-intelligent kid with so many talents. So all I can say is that I didn’t see that side in any way with them.

Wow, it's bad enough the MSM is fulfilling the wishes of a man who committed serious crimes, by describing him exactly as he'd want despite the offenses he's committed, but Morrison's making this situation worse by doing the same as a professional writer. Amazing RS, for all their leftism, is willing to reference Miller by his actual gender. What Morrison's doing here is shameful, and assuming he's even indirectly referring to the girl, did he know several years back what Miller was doing? If Morrison knew and made no attempt to complain or inform her parents, he's guilty of complacency, if anything.

And to think the MSM would give a whole new meaning to dumbing down descriptive words, particularly in light of Miller's offenses. Considering what he's done, this is hardly helpful.

Even if Miller hadn't gone round the bend, however, what Collider describes of the premise for this Flash movie from a 2017 convention panel is nothing to be excited about:

Today at the Comic-Con panel for DC, Warner Bros. revealed that their The Flash movie would be based on the 2011 comic book series Flashpoint. For those unfamiliar with the comics, which were written by Geoff Johns (who now oversees the DCEU), Flashpoint is essentially a big reset button. Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) runs so fast that he travels back in time and prevents his mother from being killed. However, thanks to The Butterfly Effect, this has major repercussions across the DC universe. The Season 3 premiere of The Flash TV series also attempted their own version of Flashpoint and bungled it horribly.

And with this latest news, they've done it again. Artistically speaking, what's the big deal about a story like this, which obviously isn't stand-alone, seeing how Michael Keaton reportedly reprises his Batman role from 1989? And which is based on the work of a writer (Johns) whom I've long concluded was insufferable? This just encapsulates what's gone wrong with comics-to-movies marketing, by basing it not only on the most post-2000 scripts, but also on crossover events, the very concept that destroyed mainstream superhero fare in the long run. I'd say WB really blew it this time, and must've failed to vet Miller and have him sign morality clauses in his contracts. I have no intention of watching this movie, as it's bound to be nothing more than an insult to the very comics I'd first read in my childhood. And Miller's only rubbed more salt in with the ghastly acts he's performed. This is symbolic of Hollywood's self-destruction over the past decade.

Labels: dc comics, Flash, Justice League of America, misogyny and racism, msm propaganda, violence