From the time The Flash‘s pilot episode first aired back in the fall of 2014, we’ve had this future headline from April 25th, 2024 looming over our heads. Those of you who’ve been with the Scarlet Speedster on his journey thus far remember it to say he will vanish in a Crisis. This, of course, was done in tribute to Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s masterwork, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which saw Barry Allen make the ultimate sacrifice in the DC epic.
My assumption is that the producers wanted to do a cool nod to the source material and maybe pay it off with some huge event ten years down the line. But now that Arrow is about to come to an end, I think that motivated the Powers The Be to accelerate the timetable on this whole Crisis thing. To pull the trigger on this after Stephen Amell hangs up his leather hood would probably disappoint the fans, so why not do it now?
As you may recall, The Flash‘s fifth season finale saw the aforementioned newspaper headline’s date of publication moved up to sometime in 2019, though no exact date was given because it hadn’t been decided when the crossover event would be airing. But with those details now ironed out, last night’s season premiere freely revealed when Barry will vanish: December 10th, 2019.
Should you not be aware of why that date is significant, then it’s best you now that’s when The Flash‘s part in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is set to air, and it’ll serve as a winter cliffhanger of sorts. Hey, I can think of no better way than Barry “dying” to leave viewers on edge before coming back for the conclusion in January.
But since the Flash’s own series is slated to run through May, it’s highly doubtful his “death” or disappearance will prove permanent. It’s surely no coincidence that DC will reprint Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (the issue in which Barry checked out) in January as well, but again, we must remind you that this show is the network’s top draw. Odds are Oliver Queen will find some way to take his place, though it’s probably for the best we not get too ahead of ourselves.
The Flash airs on Tuesday nights on The CW, with “Crisis on Infinite Earths” kicking off with Supergirl on Sunday, December 8th.
