Savitar escaped from the speed force in The Flash Season 3 episode 15, “The Wrath of the Savitar.” But the God of Speed roaming free in Central City is not even the scariest part of all. In order to get out of the speed force, Savitar gave Wally speed powers so Kid Flash could become fast enough to open a portal and take his place. Now Kid Flash will suffer a fate far worse than death, trapped inside the speed force, if Barry can’t save him in next week’s episode, “Into The Speed Force.”
READ: ‘The Flash’ Season 3: Is Savitar Future Flash?
However, catching some crazy speedster god after he escapes from the speed force actually sounds like a job for Black Flash, a deadly speedster we officially met on Legends of Tomorrow earlier this season. He’s actually a reincarnation of Zoom, eaten alive by the Time Wraiths in The Flash Season 2 finale. In the Legends episode, Black Flash is hunting Reverse-Flash and Eobard Thawne explains who Black Flash is and what he wants:
“It’s not a who, it’s a what, a thing. My ancestor killed himself in an effort to erase my very existence. The Flash pulled me from the timeline, he held me captive and when I finally got loose I found myself pursued by something. I thought it was a Time Wraith, the monsters who hunt speedsters who mess with time, but whatever is haunting me is far worse than a Time Wraith. It can sense the speed force. It’s trying to kill me.”
Neither Barry or Wally are strong enough to defeat Savitar, and Savitar actually tells Barry, “If you could have killed me, you would have done it in the future.” So there’s got to be some sort of speed force solution to this Savitar problem, in the same way the speed force was the answer in taking down Zoom. If Future Barry really did trap Savitar inside the speed force, there must be a way for him to learn how to do that now.
Barry needs to figure out a way to harness the speed force’s energy, like Savitar does. For example, Savitar’s costume is a manifestation of the speed force itself. The only way Barry can really defeat Savitar is by pulling him back into the speed force by becoming pure energy and battling him inside. Hopefully, Barry can figure this out when he goes inside the speed force next week.
But there’s also another option: The Black Flash. The Black Flash is the most powerful speedster aside from Savitar right now. While Savitar claims to be a speed god, Black Flash kills speedsters and returns them to the speed force. The Black Flash is a grim reaper who has to be able to outrun the speed force’s most powerful speedsters. It’s possible Savitar, now loose from the speed force, is Black Flash’s next target, especially if Black Flash is Future Flash, because there’s clearly a lot of time shenanigans happening with Savitar’s arc. Black Flash can sense the speed force so he should be able to track Savitar.
READ: ‘The Flash’ Season 3: Why Savitar May Not Be Future Flash
That, or Black Flash will come after Barry for messing with the timeline during Flashpoint -- where were the time wraiths then? If Barry is forced to fight Black Flash, it’s possible he will get the information and practice he needs to spark an idea about how to defeat Savitar and prevent death itself.
There’s also a third option: Barry turns into Black Flash to defeat Savitar. This happened in the comics. Barry, as Black Flash, disintegrated Savitar with a single touch. It’s possible, in an effort to figure out how he trapped Savitar in the speed force in the future, that Barry realizes he turned into the Black Flash to do it, sentencing himself to a lifetime inside the speed force, which may be the only way to contain the almighty speedster. Present-day Barry may be faced with the choice of becoming an entity of the speed force, or living with the guilt of his fiance and brother dead. In other words, in order to save the people he loves, Barry must become death to escape death.
With Black Flash appearing on Legends, it’s only a matter of time before Barry encounters him. And if Savitar really is Future Flash, Black Flash has even more of a reason to come after him. In what capacity do you think Black Flash will return on The Flash? Let us know in the comments below.
