But first, they had to figure out how to transport a two-ton Batmobile from Los Angeles to the U.K. amid a worldwide shortage of shipping containers in 2021.

This was not just any Batmobile, mind you. It was one of the originals from the Tim Burton movies that was needed for the grand return of Michael Keatons caped crusader after 30 years a major production that also involved building, from scratch, a life-size replica of the Batcave.

Director Andy Muschietti and his sister, producer Barbara Muschietti, waited nervously for its arrival worried whether it would make it in time or just be stuck in the middle of the ocean. They breathed a sigh of relief when it made it ashore, briefly celebrated and moved on to the next problem: how to get it into the Batcave at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. Ultimately it involved a loading it onto a modified airport cargo truck that was lifted 20 feet (6 meters) in the air and gently rolled onto set.

Everything came with a little adventure, Barbara Muschietti said with a laugh in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Its an apt if intentionally understated description of getting The Flash into theaters on June 16. Movie versions of the lightning quick comic book character have been in various stages of development since the late 1980s. One scenario had Ryan Reynolds starring and David S. Goyer directing; another had George Miller setting the stage for spinoffs and standalones with Adam Brody.

Then in 2014, things started taking shape as Warner Bros. plotted out a shared universe of DC Comics films, including a standalone Flash starring Miller as Barry Allen, who would first appear in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League.

But even that wasnt so straightforward, with disagreements over tone and scheduling conflicts making things complicated. Several writers and directors cycled in and out of developing The Flash, including Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Seth Grahame-Smith, Rick Famuyiwa, Robert Zemeckis and John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and release dates were pushed back. Ezra Miller even worked on their own treatment of a script.

The Muschiettis were finishing It Chapter Two when the studio approached them about The Flash. They didnt concern themselves with the messy, marathon development history they just wanted to figure out if this was worth several years of their life. In the story, Andy Muschietti found a compelling emotional core: The relationship between Barry Allen and his mother, who was killed when he was a child and whom he wants to go back in time to save. Back to the Future, which is referenced quite a bit in The Flash, was one of their favorite movies, too. They were in.

Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hobson had taken a crack at the story and come out with something that was both fun and emotional and introduced the multiverse to the DC cannon. In Barry Allens quest to save his mother, he accidentally gets tossed into another timeline and meets a younger, different version of himself who gets swept up in the journey. It allowed for lots of possibilities, including bringing Keaton back in a movie that also had Ben Afflecks Zack Snyder Batman.

We all got very excited about the prospect of having Michael Keaton come back after 30 years of not knowing what Batman was up to, Andy Muschietti said. The multiverse allowed this to happen and combine the existing characters, the existing universe, with something that seemed to have been buried in the past.

They told Keaton, who jogged to their lunch meeting in Brentwood, they wouldnt be able to do the film without him. They wanted to find his Bruce Wayne in a place people wouldnt expect. By the end of lunch, Keaton had agreed and jogged off.

I didnt want him to be sitting near the fireplace, like staring out of a glass of whiskey, Andy Muschietti said. I knew he was going to transform back into Batman so I needed him to be in a place that made that transformation possible in the tradition of a reluctant hero.

Keatons Batman was also due to make a return in the standalone Batgirl movie which was ultimately shelved close to completion.

The Flash has other nostalgic nods, including an army of cameos best left unspoiled, that helps set the stage for a universe reboot. While making the film, big leadership changes were afoot at Warner Bros. and, specifically, DC Studios, where new co-chairs and CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran were tasked with plotting the future of the DC Universe characters, from Superman to Batman. That new vision wont officially begin until Gunns new Superman in 2025, but hes also said that The Flash, though technically from a previous regime, resets the entire DC universe.

But then during the extensive post-production on The Flash, star Ezra Miller, also started making headlines for a string of arrests and reports of erratic behavior last year. They were arrested twice last year in Hawaii, including for disorderly conduct and harassment at a karaoke bar. In January, they pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from a break-in and theft of alcohol at a neighbors home in Vermont. They avoided jail time but paid a $500 fine and got a year of probation, agreeing to abide by a number of conditions including continued mental health treatment.

Though some questioned whether The Flash should be shelved, the studio remained committed to releasing it on June 16 even without their star on the promotional circuit.

Were in contact with them. They love the movie. They support the movie. And theyre taking their treatment very seriously, said Barbara Muschietti of Miller. We want everybody to see this. Its great and its special. And it has all our hearts and guts.

While early hyperbole abounded with people like Gunn calling it one of the best superhero movies hed ever seen, reviews have indeed been mostly very positive with lots of praise for Millers dual roles.

What you get is this delicious odd couple, Barbara Muschietti. You forget that theyre the same actor.

There are even rumors that the Muschiettis DC relationship will continue with future films. But right now, the focus is The Flash.

Lets just wait and see, Andy Muschietti said.

Im not a politician, and Im not looking to make political statements, Bastian added. Im looking to run the best airline I can and be a voice for our people, you know, when it matters. 

Despite the rising tide of high-powered executives getting involved in legislation (see: Disneys endless fight with Gov. Ron DeSantis), Bastian doesnt believe its always incumbent upon him to weigh in. 

Youve got to be very careful before you get into the dialogue, he said. Corporate leaders have a higher level of trust than ever before, Bastian went ontheyre considered somewhat more objective on certain matters that politicians would have partisan views about, but he had a word of advice: Dont just throw your hat in the ring. 

We want all customers to love us

Based in Atlanta, Delta has had a few high-profile fights with the Republican state legislature, for instance pulling back its discount plan for people traveling to an NRA conference following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018. Bastian did so without the boards approval.

At Fortunes CEO Initiative conference in 2018, Bastian was clear on this decision: Its the culture of the company. It allows us to be who we are. Further, the tone of the commentary from the NRA and seeing Deltas name in the midst of the discussion going on, we just couldnt be there.

Murray asked Bastian why hes made the call to speak up, and whether he ever regrets it. 

These were not comfortable decisions, and they were not taken at the spur of the moment, Bastian recalled, and the decisions run counter to what CEOs, traditionally, expect to do. Our goal is to keep ourselves out of the headlines, and we dont want to be seen as being politicians. Candidly, we want all customers to love us. At times, Bastians remarks recalled the famous, maybe apocryphal remarks from Michael Jordan about why he didnt take major political stances: Republicans buy sneakers, too. But Bastian told Murray he doesnt have any regrets.

Balancing being loved with being liked

Espousing valueseven controversial onesmatters to Bastian, especially as it pertains to the rights of customers and employees, who expect their CEO to speak up on issues that impact them. 

One such issue: Early 2021, when Georgias state legislature passed a controversial voting law that would require ID for absentee voting, curtail the number of ballot drop boxes, and prohibit volunteers from offering food or water to voters as they wait in line. At the time, President Joe Biden called it Jim Crow in the 21st century. Bastian himself took a stand, too. 

The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections, Bastian wrote in a memo to Delta staff. This is simply not true. Unfortunately, that excuse is being used in states across the nation that are attempting to pass similar legislation to restrict voting rights.

That brought a lot of blowback, with the Wall Street Journal editorial page, for example, calling Bastian woke and weak. 

Bastian told Murray that it wasnt a fun time. It was an awful experience, [but] of course we learned from it, he said, but hed do it again. We stood by our people, which was the most important [thing].

Even internally, Bastian said his stance didnt garner universal support, but many non-white Delta employees felt targeted by the law, and, given that Delta is the largest employer of Black Americans in Georgia, he said there was a huge call to let them know that their voices were being heard, and we were going to try to make something of that.

The key, when waffling over whether to speak out, is honing in on consistency. When a CEO or a corporate official speaks, are people surprised by the stance they took? Because thats when the real problems come up: When people are surprised, and it catches attention, he said. If youre always talking about what youre for, as compared to what youre against, and when something thats clearly against what you have told people, time and time again, what youre for, then at least people can understand the perspective. 

On the other hand, if a CEO publicly flip-flops on a stance, or has a hard time drawing the relationship between why they took it and what their values are, thats when you get yourself into problems.

Drosos attributed the companys disappointing quarter to two factors. The first are economic pressures on consumers such as regional bank failures, lower tax refunds, and a continued narrative from the Fed of reining in inflation by pushing unemployment  higher through interest rate hikes. But the second factor isnt economicits that Americans are still struggling to find love despite the federal government declaring the national pandemic emergency over.

Were seeing a temporary lull in engagements, Drosos said on CNBC News. People werent dating, they werent able to with the COVID lockdowns about three years ago, and so thats a lull that we expect to continue, but really start to rebound toward the end of the calendar year.

Signets revenue declined during the pandemic, but began to rise again in 2021. However, the rebound has recently cooled, causing revenue to fall 9.2% since this quarter last year.

In another sign of trouble, the company on Thursday slashed its 2024 sales forecast from $7.67 billion to $7.84 billion to $7.1 billion to $7.3 billion, citing the COVID dating dry spell and increasingly frugal consumers. 

After the string of disappointing news, Signets shares fell nearly 12% on Wednesday, the most since September, followed by more losses today. 

Signet, which owns Zales and Kay Jewelers, is not the only bridal retailer experiencing difficulty. In April, Davids Bridal, the largest bridal in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy.

Loneliness and isolation are a certified epidemic that can cause premature death, a May report from the Surgeon General found. The 82-page study revealed that young people in particular are more isolated than everinteracting socially 70% less than two decades ago. It also warned of the physical consequences of loneliness, including increased risks of dementia, stroke, and infectious diseases.

Its hard to put a price tag, if you will, on the amount of human suffering that people are experiencing right now, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General, said last month on NPR.

After quarantine, masking, and remote work and learning, many people felt like they had to relearn how to navigate social life. Logan Ury, director of relationship science for the dating app Hinge, applied this phenomenon to dating with the term FODA: Fear of Dating Again.

Were creatures of habit, so when we had to isolate for so long, and we were told to be weary of other people who are not in our bubble, that that sticks with us and has a lasting impact, psychologist Dr. Justin Puder told Fortune. So when youre going out and dating people you dont know, I can understand people having some apprehension. 

Puder added that COVID lockdowns caused many people to transition to online modes of connection and dating, and that while dating apps make it easier to match with people than ever, it can make dating harder when the relationship has to migrate to in-person interaction.

The pandemic exacerbated an existing 50-year trend in marriage decline. Since the 1970s, the marriage rate has dropped nearly 60% as younger generations forgoing tying the traditional knot. Puder said that this may be caused by financial pressures, as younger generations are finding it harder to make ends meet. Engagement rings are expensive, and even couples ready to marry may not be ready to spend thousands on a piece of jewelry. Puder, who is a millennial, said that many people of his generation struggle to just afford housing, so marriage is often unaffordable.

Financing for the ring, financing to buy property, many things that dont have to but might go along with marriage, are hard to acquire, Puder said. All these stressors weigh on you when youre trying to make the choice of am I at a place right now to be married?

While its uncertain which combination of factors has perpetuated the loneliness epidemic and dating difficulty, the Surgeon Generals report recommended limiting disproportionate time in front of screens instead of people. Puder echoed this suggestion, saying that people should increase their in-person interactions as much as possible by spending time with friends or joining interest-based communities.