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| 3 | %% This isn't Troper Tales or a forum. Refrain from first person entries, speculation, and "replying" to entries. Administrivia/RepairDontRespond is in effect here as much as any other page. |
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| 5 | %% Fridge that demands an answer goes on the Headscratchers tab. |
| 6 | %% If you want to add a fridge example that needs an answer, or see a fridge example you want to answer, move it over to Headscratchers. |
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| 8 | |
| 9 | This is the Fridge page for ''Series/TheFlash2014''. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | [[folder:Fridge Brilliance]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | !!!Series |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Barry Allen/The Flash's journey to being a true hero: |
| 18 | |
| 19 | * Freshman (Season 1) |
| 20 | ** A child of the Speed Force, overwhelmed with possibilities. Blind to the true dangers of the Hero's journey and making so many mistakes in the field and in life. By season's end, Barry has become a little jaded. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | * Sophomore (Season 2) |
| 23 | ** Jaded by the experiences of Season 1, Barry has become darker in some ways, being less trusting, not being able to enjoy being a hero, and more guarded, but also a bit wiser. Part of this season, is learning to properly handle that darkness, less it causes problems and gettting truly stronger to face whatever is thrown his way. But Barry ends up so broken, that he makes the biggest mistake of his life: Flashpoint. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | * Junior (Season 3) |
| 26 | ** Flashpoint has led to a wave of consequences that hits Barry where he lives very hard. But it was valuable experience nonetheless, as it has allowed him to learn how to balance the dark and light within him and his powers. To truly learn "that with great power comes great responsibility", which he takes to heart by giving himself up to the Speed Force in the end to save us all. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | * Senior (Season 4) |
| 29 | ** Thanks to his time in the Speed Force, Barry Allen will be reborn as the true hero he was always meant to be, more ready than ever claim his destiny as "The Flash". |
| 30 | |
| 31 | !!!Season 1: |
| 32 | * Harrison Wells mentions that while Barry was in the hospital, his heart kept speeding up so fast the machines couldn't read it. [[spoiler:A little thinking makes you wonder how ''he'' knew that Barry wasn't just flatlining. Thus, foreshadowing that he's from the future and already knows that Barry will become the Flash.]] |
| 33 | * While so many bits of dialogue from Wells take on new meaning after TheReveal, a subtler one is from Episode 2: |
| 34 | --> '''Wells:''' When some people break, they can't be put back together. |
| 35 | --> '''Barry:''' And some people heal even stronger. |
| 36 | ** We later discover in the second series that [[spoiler: the Reverse-Flash wanted to be the Flash, so he made himself just like his childhood idol, only to go mad and have a ThenLetMeBeEvil moment when he discovers his destiny. Barry, however, decides to ScrewDestiny, and manages to do so and live happily with his loved ones afterwards. Eobard always believed that destiny was set in stone; Barry always chose to have hope that time could be rewritten.]] |
| 37 | * In episode 6, Cisco referred to the training dummy as Girder, but didn't use the name for Tony himself. Why? Because that would give him a legitimacy that Cisco refused to grant to a schoolyard bully who just happens to have powers. |
| 38 | * Early in the series, we often see Barry shattering glass with the speed of his passage, but it happens less and less as time goes by. Why? Well, as he grows more in tune with the Speed Force, it makes sense that there are fewer accidental side effects. |
| 39 | * In "Power Outage", Wells could have just as easily have released The Mist to fight Blackout, and he in fact almost certainly would have stood a better chance against him than Girder (a man made of ''metal'' against someone who can throw lightning--there's only one way for that to end). So why choose Woodward? Simple -- of the two of them, Woodward's the one who knows who the Flash really is. Wells is ''deliberately invoking DeathBySecretIdentity'' in order to try and eliminate two threats to Barry at the same time. Also counts as Fridge Horror, since it adds to how disturbing Wells is BeneathTheMask. Also, of the two, the Mist would have an easier time escaping should he decide to. |
| 40 | * Also in "Power Outage", Wells at one point lists the names of people who apparently died during the Particle Accelerator explosion, most of whom are DC superheroes. While it makes sense for Wells to memorize those names [[BeAllMySinsRemembered because he feels guilt for causing their deaths]], [[spoiler: it also makes sense that Wells, as someone who knows the future, would know their names because they, like Barry, are destined to become superheroes with the powers they got from the accident (assume they, like everyone else seemingly killed by the explosion, all got empowered by the blast too).]] Even if the Flash is his focus, it doesn't mean he doesn't know of all the other superheroes too. Also explains how he knows that Oliver Queen is The Arrow in the following episode. In the DC Comics, Green Arrow is involved in the ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', so if Wells knows the true identities of the other superheroes involved in that event, then it stands to reason that he'd know the true identity of Green Arrow too. |
| 41 | * Dr. Wells [[spoiler: is the Reverse-Flash. Professor Zoom is literally a professor. Close enough.]] |
| 42 | * The show seems to follow a lot of the same steps as ''Arrow'' did before (including similar dynamics and characters who serve similar roles, and even features a BigBad in the first season who's an AlwaysSomeoneBetter EvilCounterpart who killed one of their parents), despite the fact the show is intended to be a much more LighterAndSofter and more fantastical approach to superheroes. However, this makes ''sense:'' The show is essentially serving as an alternative look at superheroes from a different, more idealistic perspective, by taking the same tropes and formula as ''Arrow'' but retelling them in a more light-hearted manner. |
| 43 | * The Arrow, a dark and brooding vigilante who killed quite a few people in his first year in Starling City, has formed a working relationship with his city's police. The Flash, who is inherently upbeat, more fun, is very much opposed to killing and will do things like stop and help out someone painting a building, is considered a threat by the Central City Police Department. This seems bizarre until you remember that Starling City's criminal element and annual terrorist attacks make the place such a WretchedHive that TheCowl who is willing to do just about whatever it takes to stop such things seems a lot more reasonable (it's the same reason the Gotham PD puts up with Batman). Conversely, for a relatively brighter place like Central City, the emergence of [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual metahumans]] and high-tech criminals like Captain Cold represents a disruption of the city's image of normality, with the Flash being the most high-profile representation of how the world is changing. |
| 44 | * It seems odd that Barry's suit was able to endure the cold gun and flamethrower streams in "Revenge of the Rogues". But then you remember it was meant to be used by firefighters. Cisco probably made it more flameproof in response to Barry's higher speeds. He also designed the cold gun so it would be likely he knew a way to add protection against it to the suit. |
| 45 | ** Similarly, his suit having a defibrillator makes a lot more sense when one considers that it was made for firefighters. |
| 46 | ** It's also because of this that Barry doesn't seem particularly bothered by the massive fire in "The Trap". |
| 47 | * F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. being an acronym for a molecular transmutation project actually makes sense. The primary place where molecular transmutation occurs naturally is inside a star--which, if you're feeling poetic (or if you have a project name that almost spells "firestorm" and feel like going whole-hog), could be called one massive firestorm. |
| 48 | * Reverse-Flash gives Cisco the idea for his name as if he knows TheNicknamer is watching him. [[spoiler: Considering he's Wells...]] |
| 49 | * Despite using no musical instruments like his comic book's counterpart, Hartley Rathaway still chooses The Pied Piper as his villainous name since, besides his PunnyName ('rat away') he still has analogies with Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin. He offered Wells a service (working for him), got 'betrayed' in the end, and, instead of trying to get revenge on the man who 'owes him', he decides to get RevengeByProxy by using his sonic attacks on people Wells cares about (Barry), just like the story's Piper gets his revenge by targeting the town's children. |
| 50 | * Grodd covering the walls of his sewer lair with repeated writings of his name shows his growing intelligence. After all, how do children first learn to read and write? By repeating their name. Even better, if you look closely you see his penmanship slowly improve! |
| 51 | * Rathaway and Wells are not so different, aren't they? They care very little about others, are willing to sacrifice anyone to get what they want, and will help the process along by manipulating others' emotions if need be. Considering that Hartley was by all accounts, a more easygoing, if smug intellectual who turned into a cold, calculating asshole when Wells took him in and fired him, plus the fact that the two were very close, he may have gotten it from his mentor/father figure. |
| 52 | ** [[spoiler:Also, seconds after his HeelFaceTurn, we learn that he's reconnected with his biological parents.]] |
| 53 | * While staking out Stein's house in "The Nuclear Man", Wells is eating a large amount of food. [[spoiler:Because his connection to the Speed Force is causing his metabolism to increase.]] |
| 54 | * Dr. Wells teaching Ronnie and Martin to "accept" each other in order to fully control Firestorm. When they successfully perform the FusionDance, they look like they're about to ''shake hands''. |
| 55 | * In "Out of Time", [[spoiler:Cisco discovers that the Reverse Flash that was trapped in the containment field in "Man in the Yellow Suit" is a video playback]], which obviously explains [[spoiler: how Wells was in two places at once]], but also explains smaller details of the scene, such as [[spoiler: why Reverse Flash completely ignores Joe's questions and begins talking to Wells about completely unrelated (and rehearsed) matters.]] It also explains why Reverse Flash hightails it out of the scene when Firestorm appears. [[spoiler: The Dr. Wells left in the building is an after image which cannot interact with anything or anyone, and Reverse Flash needs to disappear so he can turn back into Dr. Wells before anyone notices he's gone.]] Engaging Firestorm and the Flash could have delayed him enough to compromise his identity since Joe and Eddie are still in the building. |
| 56 | * When Wells berates Barry for changing the timeline in "Rogue Time", his lecture about how going back in time years (or centuries) could wreak untold havoc is clearly a reference to Barry's [[ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} planned trip back in time at some point to try and save his mother]]. But considering the fact [[spoiler: he's Eobard Thawne and ''himself'' has gone back in time centuries to try and change the past, namely by killing Barry as a child at the exact same point Barry plans to go back to, his anger could very well be due to both being reminded that he'd screwed up his own timeline by doing the exact same thing and hating the thought of another clash in time with Barry jeopardizing his plans again.]] |
| 57 | ** This takes on extra meaning after the Season 9 finale, in which we [[spoiler: get to see these events with future Barry, and Eobard learned that he was practically destined to get stuck in the past due to Nora's murder being a fixed point]]. |
| 58 | * In "Rogue Time", it seems a little odd that Barry states he's running as fast as he did but can't time travel, which Wells handwaves as being related to his emotional levels. What does emotion have to do with the ability to time travel? Well, as we learn more about the Speed Force in later seasons and how it's linked to Barry and vice-versa, it would make sense that there's more to it than just running fast. |
| 59 | ** It also provides Fridge Brilliance regarding a bit of ArtisticLicensePhysics many fans have been upset about. If Barry was able to run fast enough to go back in time, that means he traveled ''faster than the speed of light''. If this is the case, there's no way he can be limited to Mach 2 or 3 as in later seasons. However, if it was just fast enough to open a portal to the Speed Force, that makes a little more sense. |
| 60 | ** Similarly in "Power Outage", he moves ''faster than a bolt of lightning'' in order to rescue "Wells" from Blackout. However, this was a desperation move--it will be a while before he's capable of doing that kind of thing consciously. |
| 61 | * The original air date of the episode that features The Trickster? March 31st, i.e. the day before April Fools' Day. |
| 62 | * Caitlin's explanation of Barry having "lightning psychosis" in "Rogue Time" to save his relationship with Iris and Eddie seems like a combo of BlatantLies and RefugeInAudacity. But in context, it's much more believable. Barry got hit by lightning the night of a dark matter explosion, which they know, and since then they've encountered and found out about metahumans and seen weird stuff. Add in that Caitlin is a respected neuroscientist, and it's a bit easy to believe what she says. |
| 63 | ** People who've been severely electrocuted have been known to develop unusual tics or changes in personality, so Caitlin's "lightning-psychosis" story has SOME scientific backing. |
| 64 | * Going by the revelations in "Out Of Time" that [[spoiler:Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne originated from a different timeline who became stuck in the current time for 15 years after a failed attempt to kill Barry (who, evidently still became the Flash in that timeline), and given a number of differences from the source material (Hartley's personality and persona, Barry growing up with Iris, Captain Cold's AdaptationalVillainy), one has to wonder how much of this is deliberately Wells' fault. Given the fact that Barry evidently put off trying to date Iris because of his dedication to solving his mom's murder, Wells' presence as a mentor figure to Hartley, and the fact his mission would be more difficult if there were two Flashes to contend with, its easy to get to the conclusion that Wells has deliberately altered the timeline to suit his purposes]]. |
| 65 | * In "Tricksters", [[spoiler: we're told that in the original timeline Thawne comes from, the particle accelerator was completed only by 2020, suggesting that Barry only become the Flash around 2020-21, in his early thirties. Thawne, by assuming the identity of Harrison Wells, ensured that the particle accelerator explosion occurred in late 2013, around six to seven years earlier, resulting in Barry becoming the Flash in 2014, in his mid-twenties. This is similar to ''ComicBook/{{New52}}'' (also the result of a time-spanning battle between Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne), in which Barry and all the other superheroes, were de-aged by several years in a new timeline.]] |
| 66 | * [[spoiler:Dr. Wells]] doesn't quite fill out the Reverse-Flash costume. [[spoiler:Because it was made for someone bigger than him]]. Ironically, [[spoiler: WordOfGod says that on a behind-the-scenes level, the costume ''was'' actually designed for Tom Cavanagh and when Matt Letscher put it on, it didn't quite fit ''him'' (although he went with it anyway).]] |
| 67 | * The {{Continuity Snarl}}s in the series[[note]] such as the [[TheOtherDarrin recasting]] of both and Linda Park and [[Series/{{Arrow}} Sara(h) Lance]] as well as {{Retcon}}ning Barry's OriginStory, which actually ''was'' part of the goal [[/note]] make a lot more sense after it was revealed that [[spoiler: Eobard Thawne heavily screwed up the timeline]]. |
| 68 | * In "Tricksters", [[spoiler: we get an enormous reveal with Eobard Thawne and Harrison Wells. This ties in to the title of the episode with [[Film/TheUsualSuspects a well-known saying]]: "The greatest trick The Devil[[note]]Eobard Thawne, in this case[[/note]] ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."]] |
| 69 | * Caitlin accepts the truth about [[spoiler: Harrison Wells pretty easily when she's shown the body of the original]], which makes sense because she's just finished dealing with a shapeshifter who could look like anyone else and so the idea wouldn't be outlandish any more. |
| 70 | * Harrison Wells' name is a deliberate ShoutOut to Creator/HGWells. Suddenly, a ''lot'' of the plot makes sense when you realize that among the books he wrote were ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'', [[Literature/TheInvisibleMan a tale about an invisible scientist-turned-serial killer]] and a short story called "The New Accelerator", which talked about a man who made a serum that gave him SuperSpeed while stopping time. |
| 71 | * While facing the shape-shifter, Barry is hesitant to attack when s/he takes on the forms of Caitlin and Iris, but when s/he turns into [[TheRival Eddie]], Barry doesn't bother to hold back. |
| 72 | * Harrison Wells seems to favor sneakers over shoes, with several close up-shots seemingly just to highlight this. [[spoiler: This is because he's the Reverse-Flash and therefore chooses shoes that are easy to run in.]] |
| 73 | * Grodd's use of telepathy instead of talking out loud like in Planet of Apes makes a lot of sense in terms of biology: only humans have the biological ability to make noise that strings together as words, gorillas and other animals do not. Grodd speaks telepathically because he has no other means to do so. |
| 74 | * Cisco notes that liquids rise whenever Wells/Thawne is present. Gravity isn't being cancelled out by Thawne's presence; it's being reversed. |
| 75 | * Just as [[KillItWithIce Captain Cold]] is slated to be {{Transplant}}ed to ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', Caitlin is foreshadowed as becoming [[AnIcePerson Killer Frost]]. Doubles as FridgeHorror, especially if you love Caitlin as a good guy. {{Downplayed|Trope}}, as this turns out to be the fate of Caitlin's counterpart in an AlternateUniverse. [[spoiler: And then played straight.]] |
| 76 | * In the Season 1 Finale, Barry is so conflicted about time travelling to save his mom and has to take advice from several characters so he can be pushed into doing it. When he finally does, he proceeds not to go through with it due to advice from one last person. Who is this person? His future, and likely more matured self who probably has experience on the whole time travelling thing and knows of its repercussions. Strangely enough, his future self comes from a reality where his mother wasn't killed, so, from his viewpoint, his other self would not be changing reality but preserving it from Thawne's interference. [[spoiler: In Season 9, the future self is actually a Barry who comes from this reality, but it's possible that a later change in time "replaced" the original Barry with that one]]. |
| 77 | * Eddie [[spoiler: making his HeroicSacrifice in in the finale of the first season to erase the Reverse Flash/Eobard Thawne from existence. Erasing a person from existence is something that ''Eobard'' himself attempted to do by killing Barry as a child in order to be rid of The Flash. By revealing his identity and motivations, especially to his ancestor, Eobard not only gave away a clue of how to defeat himself for good, but with being a self-described genius and time traveller attempting to pull off such a move, the absolute assurance that it ''would'' work.]] |
| 78 | * One of Cisco's blog entries tell of the time in how Caitlin defeated the Mist with a vacuum cleaner. Hilarious, but it also makes perfect sense; Nimbus' weakness is that he must ''not'' stay in his cloud form for too long. And he can't exactly return to normal physical form while inside a machine, can he? |
| 79 | * The very nature of a GrandfatherParadox: [[spoiler:Eddie's self-sacrifice caused Eobard to never exist. If Eobard was never born, he never came back in time to kill Nora Allen or inspire Eddie to kill himself. If Eddie never kills himself, Eobard may yet be born. We may yet see Eddie and Reverse-Flash in season 2 and beyond, as well as a version of Flashpoint.]] |
| 80 | * It's a minor one, but Eobard seems more than happy to gloat to both Cisco and Joe before returning to his time, then he's suddenly ready to hightail it out of there once [[spoiler: Jay Garrick's helmet comes through the portal]], which makes perfect sense, once you realise, yeah, Eobard's more than a match for Barry, but he's no fool; he knows he's not strong enough to take on both Barry and [[spoiler: Jay]] too, if the latter were to suddenly come through the portal as well. |
| 81 | ** Alternatively, Eobard's future knowledge includes the fact that the helmet actually belongs to [[spoiler: Zoom]], and he's unprepared to confront [[spoiler: a faster and even more ruthless speedster]]. |
| 82 | * Looking back on the Pilot episode, it was pretty convenient that the suit Cisco designed for the Central City Fire Department not only fit Barry perfectly, but also had a strong resemblance to the Flash costume. [[spoiler: Given Wells' eventual intentions for Barry, perhaps he had some design input.]] |
| 83 | * Why did the [[spoiler:wormhole]] come back on? Look at when it first appears. Stein tells Caitlin to start the clock which takes about a second to do, so the timer they're using isn't ''exact''. Later, Caitlin managed to turn off the generator with ''one second'' to spare, meaning she probably didn't turn it off in time. |
| 84 | * People calling Barry "the Streak" before the name "the Flash" was established is appropriate, given that he's [[Music/RayStevens the fastest thing on two feet]]. |
| 85 | * Eddie's not so different background from Barry (which is [[NotSoDifferentRemark pointed out by Eddie himself]]) sheds more light on why Iris started a relationship with him. With Barry, who is Iris' OneTrueLove even if both of them CannotSpitItOut, in a coma, of course she’d find someone like him. |
| 86 | * When the Reverse Flash is [[spoiler:briefly depowered by Oliver]] in "Rogue Air," he holds his own in a fight against the armed [[spoiler:Oliver, who at this point has been training with Ra's al Ghul.]] Barry's had a brief training session from Oliver, and a couple of boxing lessons from Eddie and Joe, that's it. The Reverse Flash isn't just faster than him, he's an expert fighter. |
| 87 | |
| 88 | !!!Season 2: |
| 89 | * How was [[spoiler:Jay Garrick able to just walk in like that]] after it was noted that the security at STAR Labs had been tightened up from the absolute joke that it was in season 1? [[spoiler:He himself states he'd been following up on them in order to be well-informed on the people he'd be seeking help from.]] Also, a fully-functional STAR Labs exists in [[spoiler:his alternate universe]]. It's possible that he knew about the recent security updates installed at STAR Labs from [[spoiler:both his stealth spying and from prior experience with his world's version of the place]], and the security updates between the two counterparts are probably similar. This could almost double as FridgeHorror about [[spoiler:the ease of espionage and stalking in a superpowered universe]], as in, what if it wasn't [[spoiler:someone as well-intentioned as Jay]]? Of course, now [[spoiler:the FridgeHorror becomes ''actual'' horror when the team finds out just how [[SarcasmMode well-intentioned]] "Jay" was.]] |
| 90 | ** [[spoiler: He's also got SuperSpeed. Doubtful that Cisco devised anything able to keep him out-after all, the only other speedster they know of, Eobard, is dead(ish)]]. |
| 91 | * Jefferson Jackson and Henry Hewitt [[EvilCounterpart have strong parallelisms]]. Hewitt is a SmugSnake EntitledBastard who couldn't get a long-term job because he's too arrogant, while Jax lost his football and college dreams due to an injury he sustained while saving someone. Hewitt desperately believes that he's [[spoiler: the rightful Firestorm after Ronnie's disappearance]] while Jax doesn't want to get involved. For added bonus, both have {{Alliterative Name}}s, both are black and both got their powers from the [[spoiler: Firestorm matrix]]. |
| 92 | * King Shark is particularly well-suited to hunt The Flash. Sharks can feel their prey's bio-electricity, so King Shark probably can do the same to track Barry down, plus sharks, especially the Great White one, are very good ambush predators, catching quick, agile prey like sea lions and dolphins. Without external help, Barry would be done once King Shark got a hold on him. King Shark's later appearance in his own episode conforms this: he does track Barry's electrically, and in the water he can move almost as quickly as Barry can run across it. |
| 93 | * The conflict between Jay and Earth-2 Harrison Wells in "The Darkness and the Light" works on a meta-level as a commentary on the difference between the brighter and more optimistic 'Golden Age' (which Jay is one of the prime representatives of in the comics) and the darker more cynical 'Modern Age' (which Barry and the other characters/heroes of the CW-verse are representative of). Jay believes that Dr. Light is just a thief, not a murderer, and she can be reasoned with, whereas Wells tells Barry to take her down, hard, and use her as bait for Zoom. In the end, Wells is seemingly proven right, with Barry deciding to follow his lead...symbolizing the show's implicit rejection of the innocence and camp of the Golden Age. Then again, Jay admits that he's was a afraid of Zoom and let that fear rule him, making him somewhat doubtful that Barry is ready to face him, forgetting that Barry isn't alone, while Wells, upon evaluating Barry's feats as the Flash including time travel, something Jay didn't manage to achieve, believes that Barry is ready to face the Speed Demon. |
| 94 | ** [[spoiler:Jay just left out the little fact that he was Zoom himself, and he himself kidnapped Dr. Light to 'kill' Flash (that's how he knew Barry and Linda's fight was an act), while heavily reminding Barry in the subsequent episode that he is no match for Jay, or Zoom.]] |
| 95 | * Recall how everyone was concerned regarding [[DoubleEntendre how fast]] Barry's relationship with Linda was progressing, as he would have troubling controlling [[PowerPerversionPotential the vibration of his molecules triggered by excitement]]. This time, [[spoiler: Barry's eyesight is conveniently restored at the end of his and Patty's date]]. ''After'' they kissed. Barry's healing was accelerated by his hormones! |
| 96 | * Zoom's goal is to be the only speedster in existence; i.e. he wants to kill those that are like him. And what is the M.O. of the Earth-2 metahumans that serve as his underlings? To kill their Earth-1 counterparts. |
| 97 | * Barry and Oliver's relationship is used as a parallel to that of [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] and [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] in the comics: one has superpowers, but his reliance on them can keep him from thinking through strategy; the other is a multi-millionaire BadassNormal who uses strategy to take on and defeat more powerful foes. Logically, then, Batman-centric elements of Flashpoint are transferred to Earth-2's Green Arrow - most importantly, [[spoiler: the fact that Bruce/Oliver was killed, while [[DeathByOriginStory his father]] survived and became a superhero.]] |
| 98 | * Zoom was not fooled when Linda threw the emblem across the wormhole as "proof" that she killed The Flash. He himself caused Jay Garrick's helmet to fall through the wormhole without killing him. Oh, and[[spoiler: Jay was Zoom himself, and not only transported the helmet to Earth-1, but also knew all along about the fake fight.]] |
| 99 | * When learning more about Zoom and his background, his reason for humiliating the Flash becomes more apparent when one remembers how he was at the Flash day rally. It must have irked him how people worshiped and loved the Flash as some all-powerful hero, while back on Earth two, he was seen as nothing but a monster. |
| 100 | * The information given on Earth-2 thus far shows it to be a very different place with a different history from Earth-1 (which is, basically, until very recently not very different from the real world), and has places like Atlantis and Gorilla City, which makes it much more like a world seen in comic books. The mention that the breaches are limited to Central City on Earth-1 but scattered all over Earth-2 gives the opportunity for the series to bring in the more fantastic elements from all over without having to try and fit it into Earth-1's more "realistic" history. |
| 101 | * In "Welcome to Earth 2", we see several scenes from other dimensions as Barry travels, including at least one scene ''Series/TheFlash1990''. You might dismiss it as a cute easter egg at first, but taking it as an official part of TheMultiverse makes sense...when you consider all the YouLookFamiliar moments! Tina [=McGee=], The Trickster, Bellows, ''and'' Julio are all the same actors in both series. While Barry Allen is much younger, he's the ''son'' of a guy played by Creator/JohnWesleyShipp, and an alternate of his father [[spoiler: proves to be the true Jay Garrick and the Flash of Earth-3.]] In a show that makes use of parallel universes, and has made [[Series/Supergirl2015 previously unrelated DC shows]] part of TheMultiverse before, the 1990 series makes a great deal of sense as the universe next door. |
| 102 | * In "Legends of Today", Vandal Savage quotes ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' when he is about to kill Kendra -- "parting is such sweet sorrow". In the context of the show, Kendra and Carter (sorry, ''Shayera and Khufu'') are StarCrossedLovers. He's mocking her. |
| 103 | * The Turtle being introduced much later than his comic counterpart, who is Barry's StarterVillain, will make a lot more sense if you consider that his AnimalMotif is a turtle (read: slow), so of course he's gonna be late. |
| 104 | * In "Potential Energy", Patty reveals [[spoiler: she's leaving Central City to go study to be a CSI in Midway City]]. People have wondered why she didn't just do this in her first place because she said it was her dream job. Then you realize that Patty [[spoiler: stormed into an unknown building, without backup, to follow a known murderer who she thought was dead, before shooting him at point-blank range even though he wasn't holding a gun]], which is terrible conduct for a cop, and in her last appearance, [[spoiler: calls Barry for help even though she isn't even in any danger]], and became a cop to ''legally murder someone''. Why is this Fridge Brilliance? Because Patty wasn't supposed to be a cop -- she just wanted revenge for her father's murder. She probably realized that she isn't very good at the job and doesn't enjoy it as much after she fulfilled her goal [[spoiler: even though she didn't kill Mardon]]. |
| 105 | ** Plus, she's constantly LockedOutOfTheLoop by Barry and Joe despite working closely with them. Whether or not it's justified, in most workplaces, that would make for a toxic environment. In police work? Sooner or later, Patty or someone else would get killed or badly hurt because of a lack of trust and information. Indeed, she ''did'' shoot Harry Wells, assuming that he was Eobard. |
| 106 | * While The Reverse-Flash was named so by Cisco (in the timeline that Eobard altered) and by himself (in the original timeline) because he appears to be the opposite of The Flash, it actually takes on a second meaning as of ''The Reverse-Flash Returns'': [[spoiler: his timeline and The Flash's are ''literally'' happening in reverse of each other, and form a StableTimeLoop.]] |
| 107 | * Earth-1 has an ice and fire themed EvilDuo with Captain Cold and Heat Wave, while Earth-2 has Killer Frost and Deathstorm. It shows that TheMultiverse has a certain fixed setting despite the differences. |
| 108 | * Why is Scott willing to write bad stories about the Flash? The Flash is the hero of Central City. He might have seen the Flash curb-stomped by Zoom, and believed that either one of the two things. Either the Flash was crushed, and now runs from anyone strong (Geomancer), or that the Flash isn't as strong as he looks. While Scott is still a jerk, he seems to at least genuinely believe the Flash isn't as strong as he seems. |
| 109 | * This is Fridge Brilliance for the entire Arrowverse: characters like Batman, Superman, Hourman, Spectre, Sandman or Dr. Fate do not (as far as this troper knows) appear in this universe. The Flash, the Atom and Hawkwoman do. So what? So, when the Justice Society formed, DC Comics existed as two companies: National Comics owned Superman, Batman, Hourman, Sandman, the Spectre and Dr. Fate while All-American Publications owned the Flash, the Atom and Hawkman. This show is set in a universe where the latter company's characters exist but not the former! Hard to explain why Green Lantern or Wonder Woman don't appear though. Or why Arrow appears even though he's from More Fun Comics, which belonged to National. |
| 110 | ** Unfortunately later averted: Superman shows up in his cousin's show, the Bat-family exists (even if Bruce himself never appears), Hourman shows up in Legends, and Spectre in ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019''. Wonder Woman is also mentioned in ''Batwoman,'' and Green Lantern gets a whole bunch of Easter Eggs. |
| 111 | * Jesse's unwillingness to leave Earth-2 for Earth-1 seems pretty self-centered at first. However, she's spent ''months'' imprisoned by Zoom; it's understandable her first instinct is to want to stay and reconnect with the home and the friends she'd been away from rather than go somewhere new entirely. |
| 112 | * Eobard Thawne still walking around in Season 2 thanks to time remnants [[spoiler:was foreshadowing for how Jay and Hunter/Zoom could both exist separately if they were the same guy]] |
| 113 | * With the revelation that [[spoiler:his father killed his mother (and all but forced him to watch)]] the reasons Zoom modeled [[spoiler:his heroic persona Jay Garrick, the Flash, after him (including his helmet from the War of the Americas)]] become much more obvious. Because he thinks heroes are fake ([[spoiler:particularly since he himself is, and his father become so after being traumatized in the war]]). |
| 114 | * The Flash, like most superheroes, has a secret identity. So does Zoom. However, [[spoiler: there are actually *two* separate personas -- the demonic Zoom, and the heroic Jay. Hunter Zolomon is the true counterpart to Barry when he's not in the Flash costume.]] The Fridge Brilliance is that [[spoiler: Zoom is a horrific mirror image foil to the square-jawed upstanding hero -- who doesn't even wear a mask!]] Jay's [[spoiler: mask slipped more than once -- he lied about how he lost he "lost" his speed and claims to have resorted to taking a speed-enhancing drug to become faster in order to spot Zoom. Barry, despite being a more "modern era," Marvel-style "feat of clay" hero, would still never do this]] The scene at the end of Vs. Zoom, which has been criticized for stopping the action to have the villain describe his evil scheme, makes sense in this context: It's the first time the audience and arguably even Team Flash [[spoiler: actually meet Hunter Zolomon -- the true villain of the story. Previously, they'd only interacted with Zolomon played a role: Either heroic Jay or dastardly Zoom. Creator/TeddySears is great in distinguishing Hunter from Jay and also not trying to *be* the Zoom we all know when performed vocally by Tony Todd.]] |
| 115 | * Gorilla City is mentioned as a place exclusively for lab-experiment gorillas to live. A perfect world, like Earth-2 seems to be, wouldn't have anywhere near enough modified lab-experiment gorillas to fill a city. |
| 116 | * This troper always found it strange that the more technologically advanced Earth-2 resorted to a discredited and outdated practice like electroshock therapy [[spoiler:to treat Earth 2 Hunter Zolomon.]] Then I remembered Harry mentioning that Earth-2 is only ahead in "certain sciences", like physics and engineering. It's possible that while Earth-2 is more advanced in these kinds of fields, they're behind in others, like psychology. This is further supported by Harry explains that on his Earth [[spoiler:serial killers are an "anomaly."]] |
| 117 | * The first instance of [[spoiler: a zombie on The Flash is in Girder/Tony. What makes this so Meta, Tony's actor Greg Finley had just finished portraying a zombie on another '''CW''' program, ''Series/IZombie'', which airs immediately after ''The Flash''.]] |
| 118 | * Time Remnants: |
| 119 | ** Barry [[spoiler:using his Time Remnant to lure out the [[ClockRoaches Time Wraiths]] in hopes they'll be more angry at Zoom than him despite Joe being the one aware that they were after Zoom]] makes more sense when you realize [[spoiler:if the Time Wraiths were drawn by Barry using that trick ''once''...they'd probably be more angry that Zoom had done it at least ''twice'' and killed both his Remnants himself while Barry's died in a HeroicSacrifice.]] |
| 120 | ** In addition, [[spoiler: Barry may be the only reason they showed up at all. Barry is clearly inexperienced in time-travel compared to Zoom and Thawne, the latter of whom even admonishes him for not knowing what he's doing when he attracts a Time Wraith to a Season 1-era time period. Zoom, also not having attracted any Time Wraiths with his remnant-related shenanigans, might have been in the clear (or at least a less vulnerable position) [[HoistByHisOwnPetard had he not goaded Barry into using that same technique.]]]] |
| 121 | ** Plus, one can't dismiss the fact that Barry used his time remnant to not only save the multiverse, but also help the Wraiths find a much desired target, Zoom himself, therefore letting him off and using Zoom as a warning not to push his luck. |
| 122 | * Everything about Jay Garrick, both in-and-out of universe. [[spoiler:First, there's the obvious matter of Zoom using Jay's name and identity as The Flash to mess with people for his own sick kicks, with the reveal that Jay Garrick is a real person and not just an alias he pulled out of a hat. But more to the point, fans of the show had been criticizing Jay for not being heroic or powerful enough, then were later turned off when it appeared that he was conflated with villain Hunter Zolomon. On top of that, some also thought Creator/TeddySears was too young to be Jay in the first place. But now that the real Jay, played by the older John Wesley Shipp, showed up, all of the previous concerns can simply be viewed as Zoom doing his best to tarnish a hero's legacy--a problem strictly of the past now that the ''proper'' Jay Garrick has arrived.]] |
| 123 | * In retrospect, there's a [[InSpiteOfANail strong parallelism]] between [[spoiler: Henry Allen and Jay Garrick. Both men were imprisoned for quite a time and had their respective reputations tarnished thanks to evil speedsters, and both their prisons have "Iron" in their names (''Iron'' Heights for Henry, ''Iron'' Mask for Jay). Their respective first scenes with Barry (discounting the opening flashback in the PilotEpisode) are also the same; them being separated by a prison glass. Both men were also freed by both Barry Allen and Harrison Wells (well, not the actual "Wells" in Henry's case).]] Becomes even stronger later on, when we learn that Henry is married to Earth-3's counterpart of Barry's mom. |
| 124 | * Zoom [[spoiler: opening a breach by himself during the penultimate episode of Season 2 may seem an AssPull, but remember that he absorbed Barry's speed ''shortly'' after he was fast enough to travel to Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'s Earth on his own.]] |
| 125 | * Barry [[spoiler: traveling back to mid Season 1 causes Hartley Rathaway to make a HeelFaceTurn. Seeing this, this may also contributed to why Leonard Snart and Mick Rory quickly turning to the good side during ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' along with their own team's messing with the timeline despite their own setbacks.]] |
| 126 | * Hartley sneering at Cisco's "Han Shot First" T-shirt and yet saying "Holy Harry Potter" may be more than just HypocriticalHumor. Hartley comes from old money, and so was no doubt raised to believe that at work, one ought to dress up formally and leave personal stuff at home (this is still a pervasive belief in many workplaces, and to be fair, one not without merit). In other words, it wasn't so much the ''Star Wars'' reference that he was annoyed by as the fact that Cisco was wearing a T-shirt to his first day of work. Thawne, being much more casual (and needing Cisco/the future Vibe more than he needs Hartley), isn't so bothered. There's also the possibility that by his time, culture has shifted enough that he wouldn't see anything wrong with it anyway. |
| 127 | * At first it didn't make sense that [[spoiler: Black Siren is aware of her Earth-1 counterpart's death, especially since Reverb, her only ally capable of watching dimensions, was long dead by the time she shows up. Then you remember that Zoom and the rest of their team were holding camp at CCPD at the time, meaning she probably searched it herself on the department's database. Another likely reason is Zoom has been monitoring Team Arrow himself just in case, which makes sense since they are Barry and his team's closest ally, and told her about her counterpart's demise.]] |
| 128 | ** Zoom monitoring Team Arrow would make a lot of sense--not only are they Barry's closest allies outside of the regular cast, but Oliver has shown two or three times (depending on whether you count the fight between him and Barry) that he's capable of getting the better of a speedster. "Jay" is no doubt worried that Barry might call in Oliver to help against his alter ego (in fact, it's possible that Barry broached the idea at some point offscreen, but "Jay" urged against it). |
| 129 | * [[spoiler: Caitlin's remarks that she and the rest of Team Flash loved Laurel was quite {{Narm}}y since only Cisco had an established connection with said her. However, her interactions probably happened during the changed timeline that Barry created after traveling to mid-Season 1 which already resulted in Hartley's HeelFaceTurn. This is evidenced with Caitlin and Cisco having a stronger reaction than Barry.]] |
| 130 | * If you think about it, it doesn't make much sense at first that Zoom would keep the real Jay Garrick alive in that cell when he could just kill him (given that the cell seemingly neutralizes Garrick's speed). He already knows he can't drain Jay's speed and he doesn't need him alive to help with his false identity (no one on Earth-2 or Earth-1 has ever heard of Jay Garrick, so Zoom can basically tell any lie he wants and no one has any way to verify whether or not it's true. Also, he wouldn't mask Jay and keep him from talking if he needed information). So why keep him there? Simple: Zoom used to be a SerialKiller before gaining his powers and like some RealLife serial killers, he likes to keep trophies to remember his crimes by. Jay Garrick is basically a living trophy, proof that Zoom beat the hero of Earth-3. |
| 131 | * The flashback to Hunter Zolomon's father killing his mother ends with the young boy being dropped off at an OrphanageOfFear, with the social worker snidely telling the staff there that no relatives wanted to take him in, and that "He's all alone". [[{{Narm}} A bit unnecessary, right?]] Or was this simply Hunter's SelfServingMemory of the event? Think about it - a huge part of his motivation is that he has a cast-iron FreudianExcuse - his tragic childhood molded him into a terrifying serial killer, it's not ''his'' fault, anyone could become like him under the same circumstances. He even says as much to Barry. So what's more likely - that a traumatised young boy was sent to a place even Dickens would think was a bit cartoonishly evil, or Hunter is intentionally misrepresenting parts of his upbringing to further justify being a psychopath? |
| 132 | * Jay teaching Barry to throw lightning: He has another legitimate reason for teaching Barry. [[spoiler: In addition to furthering his masquerade as a good guy, he knows how to deal with it, so that if/when Barry does use it against him, it won't be any threat. He never would have taught it to Barry if he was worried that Barry would actually be able to use it against him.]] |
| 133 | * Both Brilliance and Horror: At one point, Zoom tells Barry that he has to be willing to kill himself/his own time remnant. This backfires on him when Barry pulls that same trick at the end of the season, and in doing so foils Zoom's own plan. Then comes Season 3 and [[spoiler: the revelation that ''Savitar'' is a time remnant of Barry. Looks like, in a twisted way, Zoom won after all!]] |
| 134 | * As the breach is closing, "Jay" walks right up to it and then turns back towards the rest of the team. At the time, no one thinks anything of it...but afterwards, it makes perfect sense when you realize [[spoiler: he set that up deliberately so his other self could kill him!]] |
| 135 | |
| 136 | !!!Season 3 |
| 137 | |
| 138 | * A lot of people wondered why Barry decided to revert the timeline so quickly. In the comics ''Flashpoint'', the timeline was objectively worse than the original, with a world war between two superpowered nations. Here, there is none of that. In the grand scheme, things are pretty much the same: S.T.A.R. Labs is gone, but Ramon Industries took its place, and there are still evil and heroic speedsters fighting it out in the streets. And on the personal level, you've got the Allen family alive and happy, but the West family in tatters, and Cisco is now a billionaire, but he's also turned into a selfish jerk. Barry changed the past with the goal of erasing the misfortune he and his loved ones had suffered. What he found was that he had just shuffled the misfortune around and hadn't really accomplished much of anything. And with his memories disappearing, facing the prospect that the person he was and the relationships he had formed will no longer exist, he decides there's no place like home. He thought he had created a perfect world for himself, only to find it's pretty much the same as the world before, except now it's not ''his'' world anymore. |
| 139 | * Caitlin's defense of Barry fucking up the timeline with "We all have secrets" suddenly takes on a different meaning when we learn that she's started to develop ice powers and hasn't shared it with anyone. |
| 140 | * Doctor Alchemy, unlike his comic books' version, doesn't seem to have the power to transmute elements; instead, he has the ability to empower people, turning them in to metahumans. One of the most common uses of alchemy in fiction is to transmute cheap, common stuff into highly valuable, rare one (like, scrap metal into gold); so, he turns humans (the 'common' material) into metahumans (the 'rare' material). |
| 141 | * In Episode 4, Wells tells Cisco that their molecular decelerator didn't work, which means someone else got Barry out of the mirror. Then he turns his head very slightly to the side, near where Caitlin is standing. Who is it who was a supervillain with ice powers on Harry Wells' Earth, again? |
| 142 | * Jesse [[spoiler:gaining her SuperSpeed first compared to Wally (barring Flashpoint of course)]] makes sense since prior to [[spoiler:them getting hit with the Dark Matter, she was injected with Velocity-9]]. |
| 143 | * Changes to the timeline: |
| 144 | ** Iris not forgiving Joe for lying about her mother being dead: This may have been a result of either him not coming clean like in the original timeline or she generally found out a different way. It can also be assumed that Iris didn't go through a period where she was hiding the existence of Wally from her father, so she wouldn't empathize with Joe keeping a similar secret from her. |
| 145 | ** Caitlin becoming Killer Frost: By the looks of it, her powers probably didn't start manifesting until after their trip to Earth-2 as her encounter with Killer Frost seems to be the reason she is hiding her powers from the team. |
| 146 | *** However, [[spoiler: Season 5 would reveal another reason.]] |
| 147 | * The reveal of Savitar and of the true identity of Alchemy ([[spoiler:Julian Albert]]) might just prove that Barry isn't entirely responsible for the changes to the timeline -- [[spoiler: Since Savitar seems to be manipulating Julian into being Alchemy, it's entirely possible that his tampering with Julian's life directly or indirectly led Julian to join the CCPD in 2015 and start working at the crime lab with Barry. Julian's presence at the CCPD during the early events of Season 2, in turn, could have indirectly led to Joe and Iris falling out, with Julian somehow being responsible for Iris finding out about Francine before Joe could tell her, or Joe being somehow delayed by Julian before he could tell Iris and she found out on her own. Moreover, Savitar could have orchestrated the car accident that killed Dante, knowing that Barry being blamed for that change would cause friction between him and Cisco, which would torment and distract Barry.]] |
| 148 | ** Confirmed with [[spoiler: Julian]] in "The Present", which reveals [[spoiler: he was influenced by Savitar to find the Philosopher's Stone, allowing the speedster to possess him and leading to him fleeing to America.]] |
| 149 | ** Taking this further after the reveal of Savitar's identity: Savitar only came to be who he was because, he says, [[spoiler: Team Flash turned their backs on him. By killing Dante and causing friction between Joe and Iris, and himself and Cisco, he makes the team weaker and thus makes it possible for himself to be born!]] |
| 150 | * Frankie Kane and Jesse Wells function as the respective {{Evil|Counterpart}} and GoodCounterpart to one another in two distinct respects. First, they both have fathers who could be considered overbearing: Wells in a overprotective way and John in an outright abusive one. Also, they have powers that begin to define their identity: Frankie Kane as Magenta and Jesse Wells as Jesse Quick. |
| 151 | * Why is Wally faster than Barry when he first got his powers? Wally got his powers from the same particle accelerator explosion that caused Barry to become faster than Zoom. Moreover, it is Barry who generates the Speed Force on Earth One, it's only logical that the more he produces, the more the other speedsters can tap into. |
| 152 | ** Also consider that not only did Wally get hit by the second particle accelerator explosion, he also touched the Philosophers Stone, which when touched by a non-powered Rival, he gained speed equal to that of Barry's. So it's likely that the two combined have vastly increased Wally's potential speed. |
| 153 | *** [[spoiler:With the revelation that Savitar is Barry, Wally's speed makes a lot of sense. He gained his speed from someone who is faster than present Barry.]] |
| 154 | * How is HR funding the Flash Museum? Well, as the [[Headscratchers/TheFlash Headscratchers]] page points out, S.T.A.R. Labs probably has a fair amount of money from patents and such, not to mention that Thawne probably took the wealth of the original Wells and Tess Morgan. However, HR also implies that they don't have a huge amount of money, which makes sense when one considers the money they must spend on building and acquiring equipment like the friction-proof suits and such, not to mention keeping the building up and running and giving Cisco and Caitlin a living wage. |
| 155 | ** It also explains how Barry was able to pay for such a nice flat -- he could've sold some old S.T.A.R. Labs tech, or drawn from that money. |
| 156 | ** It's possible that Cisco (and later Chester) patent the occasional technology on the side as well--in fact, with Chester's blog and his connection to the science fair seen in "Armageddon Part One," it'd be almost more surprising if he didn't. |
| 157 | * Grodd needing Barry in order to take out Solovar, and [[spoiler: then Solovar fairly easily defeating Grodd when they fight on Earth-1]] makes sense when you remember that Solovar has spent a great deal of time--perhaps his entire life--in and become the leader of a culture where AuthorityEqualsAsskicking against other intelligent, giant gorillas. Grodd had zero experience or skill in dealing with that sort of situation before being dumped on Earth-2. He's UnskilledButStrong facing someone who is Skilled ''and'' Strong. |
| 158 | * Barry and Kara seem to have a TooDumbToLive moment in ''Duet'' when they ''get in the middle of a gunfight.'' Maybe they had a case of ForgotAboutHisPowers, or rather, forgot they ''didn't'' have them? After all, in normal circumstances Kara would be invulnerable and Barry would be easily fast enough to dodge bullets, as seen just a few episodes before. |
| 159 | * At the end of "I Know Who You Are," Barry runs to an abandoned stretch of road to confront Savitar and Savitar meets him there. What's special about this place? [[spoiler:Literally nothing. Barry chose a completely random spot, and Savitar remembered it from when he was Barry. This was probably the last confirmation Barry needed for his theory about Savitar's identity]]. |
| 160 | * The Speed Force was really harsh with Barry in "Into The Speed Force". [[spoiler:But Savitar is a version of Barry created by himself who couldn't cope with the death of his beloved one. It makes sense that it told him not to rely on others to fix that problem. The Speed Force was trying to prevent Barry from becoming Savitar]]. |
| 161 | * How does [[spoiler:Savitar]] remember everything Barry is going to do exactly? It seems unlikely that a regular person's memory is that precise. Except he's a speedster. According to Thawne in ''Legends'', a speedster has PhotographicMemory. |
| 162 | * Why did Savitar threaten to kill Caitlin in order to force Cisco to remake the Speed Force Bazooka into the Quantum Splicer? Because he remembers Captain Cold using the exact same tactic to threaten him to make guns for the Rogues after the original ones have been destroyed, except with Dante instead of Caitlin. Since threatening someone Cisco cared about worked in the past, Savitar assumed that it would work again. What Savitar didn't know [[spoiler: because Barry never found out]] is that Cisco actually tried to sabotage the guns, but Captain Cold saw through it. This is why he didn't see coming that Cisco would sabotage the splicer. |
| 163 | * Why was Savitar a MagnificentBastard throughout the season but started falling for the most blatant ploys possible and is ultimately defeated after [[spoiler:he reveals his identity?]] It's because he had knowledge of future events before, giving that [[spoiler:he's Barry's future time remnant,]] so he could just manipulate events as his history remembers them, and now that Team Flash knows this, they can keep him from knowing what they are going to do any given moment, thus his plans fall apart. [[spoiler:It also follows, given what an IdiotHero Barry tends to be, rushing into situations without thinking and having difficulty improvising solutions on the fly without help, that his remnant would default back to that without already knowing what's going to happen. Especially given that said remnant is ''incredibly'' arrogant.]] |
| 164 | ** Adding to this, as Savitar showed when he prevents the Speed Force Cannon from working, Savitar is attempting to avert his own fate, and he took steps throughout the season to cause that. If Savitar's creation and becoming what he is only to create himself were a true closed loop there would already be nothing anyone could do to prevent anything that occurs in relation to him at all, because it's already happened and will happen. The reason why the events of the season aren't the true closed loop they're supposed to be is because Savitar was using his future knowledge to inadvertently change the timeline and end the loop, thus erasing himself from existence. |
| 165 | * Savitar's cultists are {{Mooks}} with the same robes and the same weapons. They hardly ever speak, and most don't even get names. Considering Savitar's past, this must be entirely intentional on his part. [[spoiler:He broke down from being shunned by his friends and family, so he's ''replaced'' them with a horde of nameless, faceless people who don't talk back to or make demands of him.]] |
| 166 | * Some have complained that Savitar's naming makes no sense, because there is no Hindu god of motion named Savitar. However, who is it that first identifies him as being thusly named? '''H.R!''' Perhaps on his Earth, there is a Hindu god of motion named Savitar. |
| 167 | ** It's also possible that Savitar popped back in time and inspired legends of his own creation on Earth-1, Earth-19, or both. Which would explain why their pantheon is different from the one in real life. |
| 168 | |
| 169 | !!!Season 4: |
| 170 | |
| 171 | * WordOfGod has said that in Season 4, there will be no time-travel. While the real reason is an overuse of time-travel and its tropes over the last three seasons, there might be an in-universe reason for it if you consider how Barry was broken out of the Speed Force. Basically, Cisco got Barry out by 'tricking' the Speed Force with a genetic marker of Barry's. Chances are, the Speed Force isn't too happy about that. So Barry actually has good reason not to time-travel, because he'd want to avoid moving through the Speed Force again, and potentially facing its wrath. |
| 172 | * Barry getting so angry at Ralph framing a man he thought was guilty of murdering his wife makes sense when one realizes that since Ralph was caught tampering with evidence when there wasn't really any to begin with, it would be almost impossible to keep the suspect off the streets. The suspect's lawyer would have had a field day with the revelation. |
| 173 | ** The case (woman apparently murdered by her husband) is very similar to Nora Allen's murder, something that Barry really wants to move on from. The fact that Ralph set up the husband not unlike how Thawne [[FrameUp framed]] Henry, only gives Barry further reason to hate him. |
| 174 | * [=DeVoe=] targets the bus metas exclusively because they each represent a weakness he cannot compensate for: |
| 175 | ** Kilg%re is a technopath, which would be death to someone who requires advanced hardware to live. |
| 176 | ** Hazard manipulates random chance, which is very hard for [=DeVoe=] to predict, let alone counter. |
| 177 | ** Likewise, Dwarfstar can hide almost anything on his person for a surprise attack, in addition to rendering [=DeVoe=] helpless with a successful blast. |
| 178 | ** Brainstorm can read his mind, tearing apart any long-term plans (which happen to be [=DeVoe=]'s specialty). |
| 179 | ** Ralph is NighInvulnerable and a shapeshifter to boot, two things that are very hard to think around. |
| 180 | ** Black Bison can make an army out of whatever is around, while [=DeVoe=] is one man in a(n admittedly pimped out) wheelchair. |
| 181 | ** The Weeper can cause [=DeVoe=] to lose touch with his single greatest weapon, his mind. |
| 182 | ** Fiddler can weaponize any sound she produces, making her very difficult to contain or defeat in a straight fight. |
| 183 | ** Matthew Kim has the ability to surgically remove [=DeVoe's=] intellect with a single touch. |
| 184 | * Combined with FridgeHorror. Kim Englebrecht's racial background (she would be considered "colored", the equivalent for mixed-race in South Africa) adds another layer to Marlize [=DeVoe=]'s character as [[spoiler: by the last quarter of season 4, she's essentially a terrified, brainwashed slave to her white husband, who condescended to her since the start of their relationship and derides her plans to help inhabitants of poor countries, especially in Africa.]] |
| 185 | * The reason [=DeVoe=] kidnapped Barry in "Don't Run" before framing him for murder was so that he would be able to acquire DNA samples from Barry along with placing his own DNA onto Barry, making it look like there was a scuffle between them, because ''there was''. |
| 186 | * It seems like a bit of an AssPull that [[spoiler: Ralph's mind was able to be salvaged]], but [[spoiler: he]] was the last one to be assimilated by [=DeVoe=] specifically due to [[spoiler: the durability and elasticity of his body and brain]]. It's heavily implied that [=DeVoe=] kills those he bodyjacks by filling out all the space in their brains and mentally suffocating them; [[spoiler: in a brain like Ralph's, there's more than enough room for the both of them.]] |
| 187 | * Why is [[spoiler:[=DeVoe=]'s good half located at his old university classroom in [=DeVoe=]'s mind and how is he dead? It's because teaching college students was his purpose in life before he wanted to begin the Enlightenment, educating young minds was what gave the goodness in him meaning. [=DeVoe=]'s relationship with Marlize being the last remaining twitch of a dead thing at best if he ever cared about her at all and wasn't just using her the whole relationship. It's years of trying to hammer in knowledge to a bunch of young adults who don't give a crap about his lessons because they'd rather look at their phones or whatever the whole time which eventually caused [=DeVoe=] to lose all faith in humanity. Good [=DeVoe=] was killed at that point and in that place in his mind when [=DeVoe=] finally snapped completely.]] |
| 188 | * What happened to the Weeper? Delving a bit into WMG here, but he's probably dead without [=DeVoe=] having bothered to take his powers. Given how The Weeper's powers are simply producing a fancy narcotic not to mention how [=DeVoe=] is far too emotionless to actually cry the Weeper would be the one bus Meta whose powers he would have absolutely no use for. It's pretty likely [=DeVoe=] only kept Weeper around so he could drug Marlize into obedience and then [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killed him once she got fed up with [=DeVoe=] and ran.]] |
| 189 | ** [[FridgeHorror Alternatively, he likely just killed him and absorbed his powers without taking his body not long after capturing him, possibly testing out his methods with the later metas.]] |
| 190 | |
| 191 | !!!Season 5: |
| 192 | * When Ralph is figuring out all the stuff he missed, he theorizes that time travel could create entire alternate universes, and no one corrects him. This puts the multiverse in an interesting perspective, and hints at how it may have been created. Perhaps a crisis event within the past hundred years or so caused one timeline to split into fifty three. This explains why the universes are still relatively similar, and perhaps even confirms that Earth-X was created by something similar to "[[Recap/LegendsOfTomorrowS2E1OutOfTime Out of Time]]," where the Nazis used time travel to win the war. |
| 193 | * A meta one but Lois Lane's Earth-38 actress, Creator/ElizabethTulloch, looks like a lot like a cross between Creator/MargotKidder in ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' and Creator/TeriHatcher in ''Series/LoisAndClark'', who are arguably the most popular adapted versions of Lois. They may have cast Tulloch, in part, ''because'' she looked like that. |
| 194 | * Sherloque's Jerkass reveal of Nora's connection to Thawne is cruel and insensitive...and completely in-line with the character whom he's a Expy of. Anyone familiar with Sherlock Holmes will know it that the detective was only after the answer to the mystery and proving his brilliance, never once considering the emotional upheaval that would come from TheReveal. |
| 195 | * Thawne's use of the Negative Speed Force explains why only Black Flash and not the Time Wraiths chases after Thawne in "Legends" season 2 and why the Black Flash has red lightning. The Black Flash has the Negative Speed Force so it can chase after Thawne and the Time Wraiths can't go after Thawne because Thawne isn't using the Speed Force, and as such, they can't track or sense him. |
| 196 | * Iris seems uncharacteristically willing to give Thawne the benefit of the doubt, not faulting Nora from seeking his help and not realizing that he was planning on [[spoiler: sacrificing her daughter]] until it was too late. This is because she was one of the very few main characters who didn't work with Thawne on a daily basis (even Joe and Thawne became fairly close as Barry's shared parental/mentor figures, and Joe was often visiting STAR Labs in Season One). Without that kind of experience, it was easy to underestimate the depths of Thawne's evil. |
| 197 | ** This is echoed in Season 8, when Allegra, Chester, and Joe are the ones arguing against [[spoiler: letting Thawne die]]. As they themselves admit, the first two have had no interactions with Thawne, and so like Iris aren't properly capable of judging the issue. In fact, it's unknown if they even know who Thawne is or what he's done other than that he's some old enemy of Barry's. Joe, meanwhile, while he saw what Thawne was capable of in Season 1 and is no doubt holding a grudge for what happened to Nora, still wasn't as close to Nora as Iris was and out of the OG Team Flash, was by far the least emotionally connected to "Wells" and the least surprised by his betrayal. |
| 198 | * Orlin having a permanently ChewingTheScenery voice after his accident makes sense for two reasons. Not only were his lungs crushed in the accident that gave him his powers, but Team Flash, which has been working with the police as of late, knew his name. Of course he wouldn’t try to act normal. He can’t, for fear of being arrested. |
| 199 | * The reveal that in the post-Flashpoint timeline, [[spoiler: Frost predates the particle accelerator and had been lying dormant for years. Until that is, an infusion of dark matter caused her to slowly reemerge.]] The possibility is left open that this was always true with the exception of the latter point not happening as [[spoiler: that version of Caitlin seems to have absorbed either not enough dark matter or none at all.]] Given Harry's watches were meant to specifically detect the results of his own error, it's possible that [[spoiler: Caitlin was still a metahuman and Frost was still lying dormant in the pre-Flashpoint reality. Undetectable to the watches as she was not brought into being by dark matter.]] |
| 200 | |
| 201 | !!!Season 6: |
| 202 | * In "So Long and Goodnight," Eva understands Iris' reference to "the Flash." Thing is, she's been stuck in the mirror since the particle accelerator explosion, almost a year ''before'' Barry took on the moniker. It could've been a great opportunity for a SpotTheThread moment on Iris' part, if she'd been paying a bit more attention. |
| 203 | * In the season six finale, when Eva attacks him, Carver snaps that "my wife is dead" and "you're not even human." This comes after Carver had kept telling everyone Eva was dead, seemingly leaving her to rot in the Mirror Dimension while he took credit for her work. It looks like a combination of ThatManIsDead and Carver refusing to take responsibility...until the seventh season premiere has [[spoiler: Eva seeing a video of the accident to realize the ''real'' Eva died and she's been a mirror duplicate all along. Her husband didn't "abandon" her but truly mourned her before moving on with his life.]] |
| 204 | ** It also explains why Carver refused to accept it was Eva after him as [[spoiler: he'd buried her himself. It's only when she attacks that Carver realizes the duplicate is under the belief she's Eva and his last words are trying to explain the truth but she kills him first.]] |
| 205 | ** This also explains [[spoiler: how "Eva" could master the Mirror Dimension so well, she was part of it from the beginning.]] |
| 206 | |
| 207 | !!!Season 7: |
| 208 | * When Barry hallucinates Thawne, the latter charges him and sends Barry flipping head over heels, exactly as he did in their first fight at the stadium. This isn't just a subtle ContinuityNod; it's ''deliberate.'' In later fights, Barry was able to go up against Reverse on (at least somewhat) even terms, but their first fight was a CurbStompBattle in Thawne's favor, and that sensation of helplessness is what terrifies Barry the most. |
| 209 | ** Similarly, the hallucination of Savitar impales him through the back exactly as he did Iris. |
| 210 | * Fridge Funny: Barry mentions he has no idea who put "Poker Face" on his Facebook page. Well, it's possible Iris or Joe had access to his page. But there's someone else who has an intensely personal interest in Barry, who knows him very well, and has access to a supercomputer that could hack someone else's account: '''Thawne.''' Possibly in order to get Barry to wake from his coma, but still, a bit hilarious. |
| 211 | |
| 212 | !!!Season 8: |
| 213 | * Joe comments on Barry's determination to prove Birch's innocence because of the similarities to Henry Allen's case. But there's something else going on as well: Barry [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble is/has been]] a father who didn't get to spend enough time with his children. It's a fair bet Season Five!Nora is also preying on his mind, even if it's subconscious. |
| 214 | * Deathstorm comments on Frost's lack of grief, calling her fake because of it. As we later see, partially it's because Frost has buried all of her grief down deep, but there's also the fact that ''she never experienced Ronnie's death or being manipulated and betrayed by Zoom.'' Two of the greatest tragedies of Caitlin's life are things that Frost pretty much only knows of second-hand (she has the memories, but she doesn't have the emotional connection to them). |
| 215 | [[/folder]] |
| 216 | |
| 217 | [[folder:Fridge Horror]] |
| 218 | |
| 219 | * If Barry had been even more severely harmed by the cold gun, what would Harrison Wells have done to Cisco? [[spoiler: Out Of Time gives us a possible answer.]] |
| 220 | * Episode 6 reveals that Harrison Wells has a dead wife; Joe searches her up and finds proof she exists, and thus removes Wells from his list of suspects for who killed Nora. [[spoiler: However, Wells is, as far as we can tell, from the future, which really makes one wonder ''how'' Wells was able to basically give himself a fake dead wife. The horror comes in though, when one remembers that Wells is not afraid to kill in order to get what he wants]]. Ultimately confirmed and furthered in "Tricksters". [[spoiler:Not only did Wells' dead wife exist, she, Nora, and Wells himself of all people all share the same killer--'''the''' Eobard Thawne, who stole Wells' genetic code and has been living in his place ever since.]] |
| 221 | * Adding to that, [[spoiler: Wells is implied and later confirmed to have deliberately caused the particle accelerator breakdown in order to create the Metahumans in the first place. Given how many people died in this, it really does a lot to make Wells even more terrifying.]] |
| 222 | * Imprisoned Metahumans: |
| 223 | ** Another one from Episode 6. The cavalier manner in which [[spoiler: Barry reveals his identity to Tony Woodward]] after the latter is imprisoned in the particle accelerator ''really'' seems to imply that all the imprisoned metahumans have basically been given a life sentence by Team Flash. When you consider the fact that Tony, his powers aside, was basically a small-time thug, it seems unduly harsh. At least Nimbus, the other imprisoned metahuman, was a convicted murderer who's ''supposed'' to be dead. In the next episode, [[spoiler:Wells may have released him just to get killed, possibly ''because'' he knows Barry's identity.]] |
| 224 | ** The life sentence implication is lessened by the reveal in season 2 that Iron Heights has been upgraded to be capable of housing metahumans. Between this and the team's past attempts to rebuild the trust between STAR Labs and CCPD, it's hinted that the group intended to use the Pipeline prison as a temporary solution. Given how severe legal consequences were stated to be at play with [[spoiler:the imprisonment/transfer situation between the Pipeline and Lian Yu in the episode where Wells tried to rig the Pipeline to blow]] back within season 1, this isn't something entirely overlooked in season 1 that the show just decided to address in season 2 to save face. |
| 225 | * "Going Rogue" establishes that Barry's AchillesHeel is ice. It slows him down, making him easy to beat. Now remember that one of his allies (i.e. someone who knows about said weakness) is the civilian identity of the supervillain [[AnIcePerson Killer Frost]]. Of course, Caitlin eventually takes on her comic book identity — ''[[AlternateUniverse Earth-2 Caitlin]]''. And Barry ''still'' ends up fighting her and suffering a loss at her hands. |
| 226 | * Cisco tells Joe that there are ''two'' speedsters the night Nora Allen was murdered. One is the Reverse Flash, but the other is Barry, and--wait a minute...that's exactly how ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' got started. The series is still young, but many viewers are already calling it. |
| 227 | * When Barry is running around as The Flash, you frequently see lots of car windows shatter en masse. Assuming that that happens to all non-reinforced glass, you're looking at many thousands of dollars of property damage more or less constantly. And that's assuming nobody is hurt from the glass suddenly flying through the air. All it takes is a bit of bad luck and some poor innocent is blinded. Particularly bad luck could lead to serious injury or death. Given the population density in cities, it seems likely that at least a few people have been injured, possibly seriously, by these spontaneous explosions of glass. You'd think they'd take notes from the outcry over the property damage in ''Film/ManOfSteel''. |
| 228 | ** This actually leads into FridgeBrilliance--why don't we see it happening more often? Well, it only happens a few times, when he's starting out. Presumably, as he becomes more and more in tune with the Speed Force, it nullifies the effects of his super speed on the surrounding area. |
| 229 | * In 'Tricksters', the bombs in the beginning, resembling present boxes, are explicitly shown to be designed to target children, as they don't recognize the danger and actively try to grab them. |
| 230 | * In the flashbacks in 'Tricksters', we see that [[spoiler: Eobard Thawne was a different person than Harrison Wells, until he murdered Wells and stole his genetic code with the use of a futuristic device.]] This begs the question of WHY such a horrific device like that exists at all, who invented it and why, how [[spoiler: Thawne]] got his hands on it, and what other poor souls have fallen victim to it [[spoiler: in the future]]. |
| 231 | * The [[spoiler:Eobard Thawne reveals]] make the STAR Labs metahuman prison even scarier. Number one, this means the particle accelerator being designed in such a manner that it could be used to contain the metahumans' powers was as deliberate as the choice to go ahead with it even though it was doomed to "fail". Number two, this combined with the "life sentence" implication above regarding Tony [[spoiler:and how it ended up really being a death sentence]] means every single criminal metahuman imprisoned so far, including/especially the ones ranked under the NightmareFuel entry...[[spoiler:becomes a human tool that can be deployed and manipulated by Eobard Thawne for whatever purpose he sees fit. The Reverse-Flash literally has a small army of supervillains at his disposal right under Barry, Cisco and Caitlin's noses.]] |
| 232 | * The ending of ''Who is Harrison Wells'' shows the shape-shifting metahuman who has spent the last three months assuming false identities to commit crimes. And he no longer remembers what he really looks like. Imagine being someone else for so long that you don't even remember your own face, and then realize he's only lived with that for a little over a year, while [[spoiler: Thawne has been masquerading as Dr. Wells for ''fifteen years''.]] |
| 233 | * We find out in "The Trap" that the article that [[spoiler: Dr. Wells/Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash]] keeps consulting was written by Barry's [[spoiler: wife Iris West-Allen]]. Considering that the article is all about [[spoiler: how The Flash disappeared]] just imagine how [[{{Tearjerker}} distraught and lonely]] [[spoiler: Iris must be without her husband]] and how difficult it must have been [[spoiler: for her to write the article]]. We get hints of it in Season Five, where Iris is so miserable from losing her husband that she's willing to [[spoiler: put a damper chip in her daughter without the latter's consent and presumably was willing to leave it there all of Nora's life]]. |
| 234 | * Grodd referring to the Reverse-Flash as "father" seems out of place given RF's sociopathy...except Grodd is one of the few Flash foes who capably counters super-speed due to his psychic attacks operating at the speed of thought and the fact that he's so tough super-sonic punches barely faze him. Grodd could counter RF's plans too well if he were not raised to be loyal. |
| 235 | * If [[spoiler: the Thawne line is erased from existence, then so is Meloni, and, by proxy, Bart. [[BigNo Noooooooooo!!!]]]] |
| 236 | ** Fortunately, the latter eventually shows up. |
| 237 | * Just as [[KillItWithIce Captain Cold]] is slated to be {{Transplant}}ed to ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', Caitlin is foreshadowed to becoming [[AnIcePerson Killer Frost]]. Doubles as FridgeBrilliance, especially if you're a fan of the villain. {{Downplayed|Trope}}, as this turns out to be the fate of Caitlin's counterpart in an AlternateUniverse. |
| 238 | * Overall, the [[spoiler: complete disintegration of the real Harrison Wells' reputation long after his death. He was a kindhearted man with good intentions for humanity. Unfortunately, Eobard Thawne needed to KillAndReplace him to advance his personal goal. Before killing him and his wife, Thawne has just murdered the mother of his ArchEnemy. He may have even done several criminal acts in the past (or future in his case). Once Thawne gets on with his DeadPersonImpersonation, he destroyed all the poor scientist's known personal relationships (getting himself estranged with the real Wells' friend Tina [=McGee=]), committed more heinous acts using his new identity such as purposely botching the Particle Accelerator that killed many people, and killing anyone who gets in the way of him (Mason Bridge, Cisco in the erased timeline) and Barry (Simon Stagg, attempted on Gen. Eiling). Once he's outed and eventually defeated, he made a video confessing on a crime (the aforementioned murder of Barry's mom) he made ''still'' using Wells' name. The S.T.A.R. Labs crew not doing anything so far to rectify all of these despite their knowledge (and they're the ''only ones'' who know) of the DeadPersonImpersonation is pretty sad. And the "no one will believe us, this will sound outrageous" excuse won't work anymore, as the world will probably believe it since they're now being exposed and aware of several scientific breakthroughs (meaning that things such as TimeTravel no longer sounds ridiculous). HeroWithBadPublicity isn't even enough to describe it, and such reputation is undeserving for a good man]]. Worse, [[spoiler: The Harrison Wells from Earth-2 has just arrived and it's pretty much clear that he's a {{Jerkass}} who is willing to compromise his morality to do what he believes is right, hence the possible further tarnishing of the good scientist's reputation]]. |
| 239 | * Jesse "Quick" doesn't have [[spoiler: an Earth-1 counterpart]] because [[spoiler: real!Wells and Tess Morgan were killed before she was born.]] |
| 240 | ** Bit of extra horror: Given Jesse's age, it's entirely possible that ''Tess was pregnant when she was killed.'' |
| 241 | * As part of a GilliganCut joke in "Legends of Today", Team Arrow gets into a fight with Damien Darhk and his Ghosts - and he ends up nearly killing Oliver with his TouchOfDeath. The only reason Oliver didn't die was because Barry needed a favor that day, and because ''[[ContrivedCoincidence Barry just happened to come by at that particular time.]]''. |
| 242 | ** This has actually become more of a RunningGag: in Season 3, Oliver nearly got taken out by Boomerang, then next year, the above, and the year after, Oliver and Diggle nearly get cut down by Vigilante. Talk about living dangerously. |
| 243 | * ''All'' of Team Flash's interactions with other heroes become this when you realize that Eobard Thawne created the Flash six our seven years early. Sure, Captain Boomerang probably didn't come up with that "[[WireDilemma simultaneously-defuse-the-bombs-or-they-all-go-boom]]" gambit without the Flash's interference, but those boomerangs Flash [[ArrowCatch caught out of the air]]? Totally hit their targets. And Zoom? Given that the wormhole interrupted his ''murder'' of Jay Garrick, he had the [[{{Pun}} run]] of Earth-2 for ''years''. |
| 244 | ** What makes it worse is that Oliver isn't even mentioned in "Flashpoint" |
| 245 | * While it's possible it might be a RedHerring, Jay's counterpart is Hunter Zolomon. [[spoiler: It isn't. Zoom is Hunter Zolomon impersonating Jay Garrick from Earth-3]] |
| 246 | * The episode "The Reverse-Flash Returns" is effectively a DoubleMeaningTitle, since [[spoiler: we are introduced to Hunter Zolomon, Jay's Earth-1 doppelgänger, who ultimately appears to be Zoom's true identity as of "King Shark". In the comics, "The Reverse-Flash" is a LegacyCharacter used by The Rival, Eobard Thawne, and Hunter Zolomon/Zoom.]] |
| 247 | * Barry gave the Reverse-Flash such a beating that he could have killed him. There'd have been no way to save Cisco if he succeeded. |
| 248 | * It's very possible that Dr. Tina [=McGee=] died in 2016 in the original timeline (or at any rate, ''a'' pre-Season 1 timeline). Consider this - in the timeline we see, during the events of 'The Reverse Flash Returns', Thawne arrives in 2016, kidnaps [=McGee=] to build him a way back home, and is about to kill her when she's done, but the Flash saves her. But in the original timeline, Thawne would have arrived in a version of 2016 where the Flash didn't exist yet (since the particle accelerator was originally tested in 2020). Which means that Thawne would have killed [=McGee=] after she'd built him his way back home. Doubles as FridgeBrilliance if you consider that when Cisco 'vibed' Thawne killing [=McGee=], he was actually looking at what happened in this previous Flash-less timeline. |
| 249 | * In 'Welcome to Earth-2', Firestorm is actually Deathstorm, his EvilCounterpart. When Cisco asks about Martin Stein, the other half of Firestorm, Deathstorm just says [[spoiler: "I haven't let him out in years." That's FridgeHorror in itself, but then think about the fact that on both Earths, one day Clarissa Stein's husband simply never came home.]] |
| 250 | * King Shark's meta-human mutation. It is the only meta-human transformation seen thus far that leaves the recipient completely incapable of living a normal human life. Shay Lamden likely has not been inside a house, slept on a bed, eaten a cooked meal or been intimate on any level with anybody since his transformation. Now think that from what we've heard of Shay pre-transformation, he was just a normal guy. |
| 251 | * Take a good look at the Time Wraith in "Flash Back". Pause the frame when it's trying to grab Barry or otherwise on-screen with him. It's a flying ghostly corpse, yes, but compare foreheads; that's not just decayed flesh on its head, the wraith is wearing a ''speedster suit'', seemingly burnt into its mummy-like body. And if you pay attention to its screeches while chasing Barry in the accelerator, it sounds like it's screaming "Barry" in a high-pitched, shrieking voice. Perhaps this Time Wraith was an alternate Barry trying to stop himself from the same actions he once did. |
| 252 | ** This may be confirmed by Zoom's final fate. When Barry's antics summon two Time Wraiths, they start draining Zoom's body, resulting in a look that's eerily similar to a Time Wraith. It's possible that all Time Wraiths are speedsters who have been punished for messing with the timeline. |
| 253 | * We see in "Trajectory" that the titular villain's civilian identity, [[MadScientist Eliza]], has been shooting herself up with V-9 to gain speed to complete her research faster, but one of the [[SanitySlippage side-effects]] is developing a split personality between her and Trajectory. V-9 is an evolution of the drugs that [[spoiler: Jay, aka Zoom, was using to up his speed, so it can be assumed that he too was experiencing the Jekyll and Hyde-like hallucinations that Eliza did.]] Eliza, however was, according to Caitlin, once a benevolent person before V-9, [[spoiler: whereas Jay is later found out to be Hunter Zolomon, a convicted SerialKiller on '''23''' counts, so he's already evil]]. Who knows how much madder the Velocity drugs [[spoiler: made him, even after becoming Zoom?]] |
| 254 | * Last time we saw them on Season 1, Cisco and his brother Dante finally patched things up after so many years of resentment. However, when Dante returns in Season 2, he and Cisco seem to be at odds again until the end of that episode where they seemingly patch things up again, for good this time. Considering that [[spoiler: Barry traveled back to the previous year a few episodes ago, and the event he traveled to was before the aforementioned Season 1 episode where the Ramon brothers supposedly made amends, does this mean that Barry accidentally negated that meaningful event for the Ramon brothers]]? This gets confirmed in the worst possible way in Season 3, as even though the Season 2 reconciliation sticks, [[spoiler:Barry traveling in time yet again causes Dante to die just a few months later]]. |
| 255 | * As of "Flashpoint", [[spoiler:Eobard Thawne is alive again in Barry's time. And this time, there is no Eddie Thawne to cause a grandfather paradox to destroy him. Barry had a hard enough time getting to the point where he could defeat Thawne in Season 1. So only a Time Wraith might come to save the day by killing Thawne, which is [[EldritchAbomination eldritchy]] scary enough on its own.]] |
| 256 | * Barry's attempt to fix the Flashpoint timeline causes [[spoiler:Sara Diggle to be RetGone'd from existence and replaced with John Diggle, Jr]]. Now, [[spoiler: the future self of the latter]] has already appeared on ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' but it that was a ''very'' BadFuture that Rip Hunter says is only a ''potential'' timeline. [[spoiler:Now that this timeline is apparently where the Series/{{Arrowverse}} takes place now, then it only means that both Sara Lance and Ray Palmer [[GoneToTheFuture are not coming back anytime soon]], Grant Wilson will arrive and destroy Star City, kill all Team Arrow members sans Oliver and Felicity, chop off Oliver's arm and leave him extremely jaded.]] |
| 257 | ** Fortunately, ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' reveals that future was actually a parallel universe, Earth-16. |
| 258 | * Can double as TearJerker but a timeline remnant is basically the version of you that decides to go back in time a few milliseconds and knowingly condemns themselves to being a living paradox as your previous self doesn't make the same trip and you are protected from being RetGone by the Speed Force (or the fact that you are outside of time/your universe). From your perspective, you're the original version of you and you just gave up everything so there could be more than one of you in a single place. Going further, the past version of you is a person you just gave your life to, who is now living in the world you sacrificed. This isn't so bad if you're a crazy/evil speedster that doesn't hold on to anything meaningful like Zoom or Thawne, whose timeline was already erased through no act of his own, but imagine you're a good speedster and you did that? It's fine if you did it because you knew you would most likely die and you didn't want to leave your family and loved ones alone, but what if you survived and found out you couldn't ever go back to that? That the sacrifice you made means someone else is living your life and has everything you once had, with everyone not only treating this other version of you as the real you, but actively shunning you or at least making it clear that they don't consider you the "real" you? The answer is you get [[spoiler:Savitar, the future time remnant version of Barry turned evil from losing everything that mattered to him.]] |
| 259 | * Savitar's little BladeBelowTheShoulder can actually be pretty horrifying to think about. He's already so fast that even Barry can only see glimpses of him. When one remembers that force equals mass times acceleration, one can only imagine the sheer amount of {{Gorn}} that would result from the use of the blade. |
| 260 | ** Also on the same note, Zoom's penchant for killing people by vibrating his hand and shoving it through them could be used for some seriously gory deaths, like if he cut across someone with his hand vibrating, it would shower the area with assorted bodily fluids and organs. |
| 261 | * In "The Present", what if Barry had gotten to Earth-3 just a few seconds later? |
| 262 | ** Probably Jay was about to phase through the handcuffs and dealt with Trickster himself. |
| 263 | * When Barry [[spoiler: makes the accidental journey to the BadFuture, he witnesses Iris' death at the hands of Savitar. Given at first look the death is scarily similar to how Zoom killed Henry. Then you remember that Savitar knows all about Team Flash, he's been watching them for a long while. It could be well assumed that he witnessed Henry's murder, and purposefully recreated the darkest moment in Barry's life to twist the knife even further.]] |
| 264 | ** Not only that; Savitar [[spoiler: ''was present'' at Henry's murder.]] He's definitely recreating it deliberately! |
| 265 | * In ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' episode 10, we get to see the [[spoiler: [[GrimReaper Black Flash]], AKA Hunter Zolomon now that the Time Wraiths are done with him. [[BodyHorror He looks very lovely right now by the way]].]] Anyway, right now he's [[spoiler: hunting Eobard Thawne down because he's not supposed to exist due to the season 1 finale and Flashpoint]]. This raises for us two questions: First off, is he [[spoiler: [[AndIMustScream AWARE of what's happened to him]]?]] And what will happen [[spoiler: after he's done gunning after Eobard or gives up? Because Eobard wouldn't be here right now if Barry hadn't caused Flashpoint, and THAT whole mess probably reared its ugly head towards the Speed Force too. And if Hunter IS still sentient, he's probably gotta be REALLY angry at Barry...so three guesses where we'll be seeing him next?]] |
| 266 | ** In [[Recap/TheFlash2014S3E16IntoTheSpeedForce "Into the Speed Force"]], we do see him again. He appears to be working as a sort of enforcer for the Speed Force. He is every bit as horrifying as on ''Legends'', and [[spoiler:almost kills Barry.]] |
| 267 | * In "I Know Who You Are", we find out that [[spoiler: Barry, sweet caring Barry, '''''is''''' Savitar. Was Iris' death really enough to create a StableTimeLoop so that Barry would become evil, or did something else? The scars on his face suggest some sort of nasty accident.]] |
| 268 | * A little minor compared to the others, but Jay Garrick is not only the Earth-3 Flash, but also its doppelgänger version of Henry Allen, Barry's dad, one of Joe's best friends, and a good friend to the Team, with the possible exception of Wally and Jesse. Given that Barry and Team Flash learned of all this ''right after'' Henry's death, then Barry probably grieving from the repeat loss of his parents after Flashpoint, and all of his interactions with them being similar to Henry in the way they remembered him- a CoolOldGuy and father-figure to Barry, giving him good advice. So its not out of the realm of possibility that Team Flash, Joe and Barry ''especially'', sometimes forget that Henry's dead, and think of Jay as him, only to remember later that ''no, he's not?'' |
| 269 | * Now this may not be a problem since his last known location is a now aborted future, but Savitar might still be out there. Think back to his origin, [[spoiler:He's a time remnant created by Barry to fight Savitar who then [[CreateYourOwnVillain became him]], this means at the moment of Barry's FaceHeelTurn there was already [[MyFutureSelfAndMe a Savitar running around]]]] and based on everybody's questioning of whether he could actually kill Iris it can be assumed he hadn't already done it, so the first thing he probably did after becoming Savitar was get trapped in the speed force, [[FailureGambit presumably on purpose]] [[StableTimeLoop so his first meeting with The Flash would go the way he remembered it.]], this means in the original timeline [[TheBadGuyWins he killed Iris]] [[KarmaHoudini then got off scot free]] and was presumably [[HesJustHiding still around when Barry time jumped.]] Now if this is true it probably wouldn't be a problem now that [[spoiler:he's been RetGone'd]] but considering how every time The Flash does something different to what originally happened, Savitar gets a new memory, the Savitar from the BadFuture probably knew he was there, there's a good chance he also knew how this was gonna change things and having the ability to time jump to avoid it. So, he may now still exist as a time aberation like Thawne. |
| 270 | * Anthony Bellows is revealed to be corrupt in the post-Flashpoint timeline. It is entirely possible that he was an honest man in the previous timeline. |
| 271 | * This one crosses over with [[WMG/TheFlash2014 WMG]]. In "Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash", we see Cecile develop telepathic powers as a result of her pregnancy...somehow. We learned in the past few episodes that [=DeVoe=] was uniquely able to [[GrandTheftMe jump into and take over]] Dominic's body somehow due to his telepathic abilities. So does that mean, in theory, [=DeVoe=] could take over Cecile's body? Or even her expectant child? This is thankfully nullified since he's no longer a threat, but it came close... |
| 272 | * Barry is well known for sparing lives of his enemies, as many as possible, no matter what. Even his worst enemies, also when the obvious only reasonable choice is to kill them. But maybe, after everything he has been through, he will reach his "one bad day" that will drive him mad like more than few cases in DC Comics, and this is not going to be pretty. |
| 273 | * As of the fourth season, the original Trickster is on the loose and ready to wreak more havoc. There's no guarantee he's not in the same situation in Earth-Prime. |
| 274 | * Barry dropping off Big Sir in China to give him a second chance in life might have been nice...but he has no legal papers, no money, no job, and we don't know if he can speak Chinese that well. How will he not end up as a beggar or worse? |
| 275 | * Red Death is briefly mentioned in the future in "Memorabilia". Hopefully, he came from another universe like in the comics, but if not and he was created the same way, it puts Barry's [[FirstEpisodeTwist much foreshadowed]] disappearance [[AndIMustScream in a much darker light.]] |
| 276 | ** While this ultimately does not come to pass and a different character takes on the mantle in Season 9, it's not hard to imagine a universe where Barry's body was stolen. |
| 277 | * Team Flash choosing [[spoiler:King Shark]] as the test subject for their metahuman cure pretty much confirms that [[spoiler:Fallout and The Weeper are dead.]] |
| 278 | * It's a good thing Ralph and Cecile stopped Iris from [[spoiler: leaving Barry after he exiled Nora, or else the latter would almost certainly have been [[RetGone erased from existence]]]]. |
| 279 | ** Moot point, [[spoiler: she still was [[YouCantFightFate erased from existence]].]] |
| 280 | * Mirror-Iris is strongly implied to have pulled a BedTrick on Barry. It's established that Iris is fully aware of everything Mirror-Iris does from the Mirror Dimension. Which means she watched her clone ''rape'' her husband (who would've '''enjoyed''' it, thinking that was her) while she could do nothing. |
| 281 | ** A similar situation happens in the eighth season, [[spoiler:where Thawne takes over Barry's place in the timeline and almost marries Iris]]. |
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