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How Will The Flashpoint Story Affect The CW Superhero Universe?

By Daniel Ketchum
Published on: 19:00 PST, Aug 14, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGQRbPERaU
With The Flash introducing the legendary Flashpoint story – legendary among comic book fandom at least – in the upcoming season, fans of the CW superhero universe are expecting big changes. And the Flashpoint repercussions are going to impact not just The Flash, but all of the CW’s superhero lineup. One of the best things about The Flash series is that the titular character’s time-travel and dimension-hopping abilities allow almost anything to happen. Flashpoint is a case in – well – point.

In the comic version of the Flashpoint story, the character of the Flash – a.k.a. Barry Allen – uses his blazing speed to travel back in time to his childhood and save his mother from being murdered by the nefarious Reverse Flash. Most of last season on The Flash was spent watching Barry wallow in existential angst about whether he should save his mother or not. These bits were like watching Hamlet, but without the puffy collars.

But – major spoilers – in the final scene we see Barry recklessly throw caution to the wind when he travels back in time, beats the snot out of the Reverse Flash and finally saves his mother just before the bad guy can kill her. To be fair, Barry had just seen Zoom kill Henry – Barry’s dad – so maybe we can give him some slack.

Actor Grant Gustin attends the "The Flash" Special Video Presentation and Q&A during Comic-Con.
Actor Grant Gustin attends the The Flash Special Video Presentation and Q&A during Comic-Con. [Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images]
In the teaser for the upcoming season, we see Barry being greeted outside his home – not only by his no longer dead mom – but by his undead dad as well. A fairytale story ending right? Wrong.

Barry’s decision to travel back in time and save his mother will – as Neil deGrasse Tyson would certainly tell you – toss the current timeline of The Flash series right out the window. In the comic book version of the Flashpoint story, the world created by Barry’s rash decision to rescue his mom was a disaster of epic proportions.

So apparently Barry’s mother was just supposed to bite it. We see hints of this already in the TV spots for the upcoming season, with even the Reverse Flash suggesting to Barry that he is the real villain this season. There’s just nothing like having your arch enemy point out your mistakes.

As Variety reports, one other big change is that there’s a new Flash in town and his name is Wally West. Instead of the Flash himself, Barry’s sort of brother seems to be the one now racing through Central City as Kid Flash. As has happened before in previous seasons, we can expect the apparently powerless – and inevitably sad – Barry to wander around helplessly before he finally kicks things into gear again.

But given the planned massive crossover event – reported by EW back in May –for all four of CW’s superhero shows, it’s clear that the Flashpoint story will have a huge impact on Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and the newly transferred Supergirl. It’s hard to see how it wouldn’t, given that The Flash has connections to all three shows.

Another awesome thing about the Flashpoint concept is that it might make it easier to combine Supergirl’s universe with the universe the other CW superheroes live in. Even though it looks like that the entire Flashpoint story arc was planned out long before CBS tossed Supergirl over to the CW, there’s no reason why Greg Berlanti – the producer behind the shows – can’t take advantage of it.

Greg Berlanti arrives at The Paley Center.
Greg Berlanti arrives at The Paley Center. [Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images]
This story arc might also see the return of some old favorites who died on the other shows in previous seasons, but are feeling much better now thanks to Flashpoint. We know that the Arrow’s Deathstroke – whose name Slade Wilson seems oddly similar to Deadpool’s Wade Wilson – is coming back to Arrow. Can Tommy be far behind?

And the time traveling antics of the Legends of Tomorrow crew should certainly play into the Flashpoint story arc. After all, didn’t Rip/Rory just announce they have to take over protecting the timeline now that they offed the Time Lords – sorry – Time Masters?

[Image via The CW]

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