Justice League: Has Kiersey Clemons’ cameo as Iris West been cut from the film?

Under its new director, looks like Warner Bros. decided to cut Kiersey Clemons’ Justice League cameo, which would introduce her to audiences ahead of Flashpoint.

Back when The Flash was in production with a director who seemed to be really excited for the project, Rick Famuyiwa brought aboard his Dope alum Kiersey Clemons to star as Iris West, Barry Allen’s love interest in the film. It was a really strong move on the director’s behalf because, like The CW’s television counterpart, it made Allen and West an interracial couple where comics typically portrayed her as a Caucasian.

Once the Flash (now to be centered around Flashpoint) lost Famuyiwa, production more or less hit the backburner. However, fans still held onto the chance to see Clemons’ on the big screen with her Justice League cameo.

But it doesn’t look like that’s happening either. Why? Two words: Joss Whedon. The story continues to evolve from “just to finish editing” to “Directed by Zack who?” In addition to giving Whedon writer’s credit, now Zack Snyder doesn’t even feel comfortable returning to his own movie. For the most part, it simply marks a tonal shift.

And cutting Iris West sounds like a total Joss Whedon move, because he doesn’t play well with emotional gravitas. It looks like the Flash will be the funny guy of the film, which is fine. But this also means that Whedon can’t also let Barry anchor himself to someone like Iris West, who acts as one of the few constants in Barry’s life. In every medium she appears in, she serves as his emotional support. And more importantly, she keeps the character from becoming one-dimensional.

One of the things that Whedon spent so much time implementing in the MCU is a certain bathos where every dramatic moment is immediately undercut with a joke. Whereas Zack Snyder kept things dark and everyone hated it. Right in the middle, we have Wonder Woman, a film that presented very real stakes without sacrificing any of the sincerity.

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Female characters, and specifically, Iris West, act as the emotional crutch in every scene they appear in. That’s the trope. But instead of finding a way to spin this trope in a different direction, it looks like Whedon just wants to cut it out altogether. Never mind that he picked one of the diverse characters. As if that isn’t one of the DCEU’s selling points. But it really just reiterates how little he cares about the character’s feelings. And by association, ours.

So bummer to all Iris West and/or Kiersey Clemons fans out there. You won’t be seeing her in theaters when Justice League opens on Nov. 17.