As much as fans love The Flash, there are a bunch of – what we’ll politely call – “unanswered questions” about the smash hit CW show that leave us scratching our heads. For instance, how does STAR Labs stay open when it’s not in business? How do the gang hold down jobs AND act as full-time heroes? And just how do the metahumans in the Pipeline go the bathroom?
Another is the fact that, whenever Barry Allen speedily takes the Flash suit off the mannequin that stands in the Cortex in times of danger, the mannequin itself always disappears. It wouldn’t make sense for Barry, when rushing, to move the mannequin as well, so what’s up with this weird plot hole?
Well, it turns out this is something that keeps the Scarlet Speedster himself, Grant Gustin, up at night, too. While speaking on the Glass Half Full interview series, The Flash star was discussing Barry’s different suits when he brought up the one on the mannequin.
“There’s always one on the mannequin. I think if I needed to put that one on we could take that off the mannequin and I could put that one on.”
Having got into the subject, Gustin couldn’t help but go on a light-hearted rant about the logical issues with the disappearing mannequin. Apparently, this has become something of a running joke among the cast, who even made fun of it at the end of a take one day.
“Which doesn’t make sense ’cause there’s a thing there with the mannequin with the suit and then I take and put the suit on, but the mannequin is gone. That’s always been a question, fans are like, ‘where’s the mannequin?’ One of our last episodes I remember actually the whole cast, were just like dicking around at the end of the take and the take ended with me running out to get my suit and then exiting and we all together went and were like ‘I’ve got the mannequin.’ Carlos, who plays Cisco, helped me and we were all kind of like grabbing it together and then Tom Cavanagh ran over as well, and we were all like ‘thanks man, thanks man’ as we carried the mannequin out together.”
Thankfully for Gustin and all those that this weird quirk of the show annoys, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem in season 5 and beyond. That’s because the new run will finally see Barry get his hands on the iconic Flash ring from the comics which contains a compressed version of his (newly-revamped) suit, ready for him to change into it on the go. As such, there shouldn’t be any need for him to swipe the one from the mannequin anymore when The Flash returns to The CW on Tuesday, October 9th.
