Six Burning Questions For The Flash Season 2
By Daniel Schwartz
Contributing Guest Writer
(Victor Valley)– The first season finale of The Flash was incredible. Not only did fans get a glimpse of the Speed Force (and Legends of Tomorrow reference), but Eobard was defeated and the episode ended on a cliffhanger in which a black hole was threatening to swallow the Earth.
Since the finale, speculation has run rampant as to what fans are in store for during season 2. It has been confirmed that the multiverse will play a role and that the main villain for the season will be (Professor) Zoom. With Jay Garrick and other speedsters set to appear, the possibilities for the new season are wide open.
With the October premier just a month away, there are some burning questions that many fans have about the upcoming season. Here are a few.
What is Harrison Wells’ Role?
When Harrison/Eobard was erased from existence in the season finale, many thought that Tom Cavanaugh’s time on the show was over. After all both characters that he had played were dead (the original Harrison Wells and Eobard). When it was announced that he would be returning as a series regular in the second season, fans were left wondering how that would be possible.
Enter the multiverse. A good way to revive a dead character is to simply pluck them from a parallel world. With Barry exploring the multiverse (and working with Jay Garrick in the process), it is quite possible that an alternate Harrison Wells will make the long trek across universes to make his way to our version of STAR Labs.
Will he be an ally to Barry and his team? If he is on the team, what role can he play? Eobard was a good mentor because he knew exactly how The Flash’s powers worked. Harrison Wells is a brilliant scientist, but he would not have any experience running at supersonic speeds. He may just be the brains of the operation and leave the mentoring to Garrick. Whatever role he ends up playing, his status as a cast regular will ensure that we will see him enough to figure it out.
How did Barry stop the black hole?
I’m not a physicist, but running really fast around a black hole would not seem like a solution to the planet-ending problem.
Obviously there is a still an Earth in the second season, so Barry was able to stop the black hole from destroying the world. How he did this is the cause of some speculation. It is a safe bet that running around it would not do anything to it, but what if he destroyed it from inside? Getting sucked into the black hole and finding a way to run fast inside may cause it to fizzle out (if he was not atomized upon entry). Either that, or Superman came along and took care of it for him.
Will the DCCU be a part of the multiverse?
It has been theorized that the DC Cinematic Universe (DCCU) is a part of the multiverse shown on The Flash. While it is unlikely that Bat-fleck will be stopping by Central City, it is possible that there could be a mention or a fast glimpse of Batman versus Superman.
Will Ezra Miller appear? Doubtful. DC keeps the Arrow-verse and the DCCU separate for a reason (yet to be explained) and they would not mix the two. With that said, it has been suggested that Tom Welling could appear as Superman from the Smallville universe, and there have been rumors about other universe speedsters and heroes appearing. Whichever alternate universe heroes and villains appear, it can be certain that their identities will be kept under wraps until their episode airs.
How does The Flash exist when Eobard never existed to cause the explosion?
As Dr. Who says, time is not a straight line of cause to effect, it’s more like a big ball of timey wimey stuff (not an exact quote). Is time travel in TV and movies supposed to make sense? Usually, a thinking viewer has more questions than answers by the end of the show or movie. The season finale of The Flash was no exception.
When Eddie killed himself to save the team, he erased Eobard from history. This means that he (Eobard) never existed because Eddie never had descendants. If Eobard never existed, then he never killed Barry’s mom or Harrison Wells and the particle accelerator accident never happened to create The Flash (paradox).
It is possible that Eobard’s death created a new universe where he simply died when he was erased, but his past remained in place. It is also possible that Barry used the black hole to travel to another universe and the universe from season 1 was destroyed by the paradox. One thing is for certain, trying to figure out time travel will make your brain hurt.
How many other speedsters will appear?
In the second season, Barry will be far from the only speedster to race around Central City. While it has been confirmed that Jay Garrick will be showing up to help mentor Barry, there are some other fast comic colleagues that will make at least one appearance.
Wally West has been cast and will play a role during the season. It has yet to be seen if he will take up the mantle of Kid Flash or if he will be powerless. Jesse Quick has also been cast. The first female speedster on the show will prove to be an interesting addition to team Speed Force.
On the flip side, there will also be a new evil speedster for Barry (and team) to face off against in Zoom. That is four new speedsters for sure. With countless other Flashes in the multiverse (Johnny Quick for one), there are many other versions of the Scarlet Speedster that could make an appearance.
Who is Zoom?
During Comic-Con, the teaser trailer released for the second season highlighted a speedster with blue lightning coming off of him. The spot ended with the haunting words “Zoom is coming”. And recently, it was announced that Tony Todd would be providing the voice of Zoom.
Unlike the first season, in which Harrison Wells was exposed as a villain very early on, it has been confirmed that Zoom’s identity will not be revealed early on. Fans will be left to speculate as to the true identity of Barry’s main antagonist in the second season. Is he someone we have already seen? Will he be a completely new character that has not yet been seen on the show?
The most obvious choice would be Hunter Zolomon. Zolomon is Professor Zoom in the comics. The showrunners would not make his reveal that simple. It is doubtful that they would simply introduce a character with his name. It is possible that he could be hiding disguised as someone else (like Eobard was). Could he be Jay Garrick?
Wally West is another possible candidate for the evil speedster. His appearance seems to coincide with the appearance of the blue-lighting Zoom. Coincidence? Possibly.
Whoever the villain turns out to be, it is a safe bet that we will not get a good glimpse of them until at least the mid-season finale. Until then, we can only speculate until October 6th, when season 2 debuts.