The Flash is still Central City’s favorite hero in the flashpoint timeline, but this Flash isn’t Barry Allen. It’s Wally West, who goes by The Flash instead of Kid Flash, that is, until Barry Allen comes to town and has something to say about it. In the newly released The Flash Season 3 trailer, Barry calls him Kid Flash, and Wally isn’t too happy about it. “Don’t call me that,” he says.
But with The Rival in town, the [Kid] Flash is going to need some help from Barry Allen. The Rival has been tailing Kid---err- The Flash around Central City. He’s fast, and Wally is going to need some help to stop him. But Barry’s got a problem of his own. There are side effects to the flashpoint timeline. He’s starting to forget his old life and lose his powers. He’s even forgetting that he’s The Flash.
The side effects will first come to Barry’s attention in the Season 3 premiere episode ‘Flashpoint.’ The synopsis suggests Barry will begin to lose his powers, but when disaster strikes, he’ll have to make a choice about living in this new alternate timeline.
WHAT WOULD YOU SACRIFICE TO HAVE EVERYTHING YOU’VE EVER WANTED? — Barry (Grant Gustin) is living his dream life – his parents are alive, he’s asked Iris West (Candice Patton) on a date and he can finally be a normal guy as Central City has another speedster, Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale), running around saving the city. When Barry starts forgetting parts of his old life, the Reverse Flash (guest star Matt Letscher) taunts his nemesis and tells him that there will be serious repercussions for Barry and the ones he loves if he continues to live in this alternate universe. In addition to losing his memories, his powers will also start to fade. When disaster strikes, Barry must decide if he wants to continue to live in this world as Barry Allen or return to his universe as The Flash.
The synopsis for Season 3 episode 2, ‘Paradox,’ suggests that by the end of the premiere episode, Barry will have made the choice to return to his old life.
THE AFTERMATH — Barry (Grant Gustin) realizes the effects from Flashpoint are much greater than he thought. Meanwhile, Barry meets new co-worker Julian Albert (Tom Felton) and is surprised by Julian’s immediate disdain for Barry.
So what is the flashpoint aftermath? Does this mean some of the changes of flashpoint will carry through to The Flash’s original timeline? Yes, it’s already been confirmed flashpoint will change some characters forever, Dig on Arrow for example, and side effects will ripple across the universe onto other shows. So what will happen to Kid Flash?
Last season, both Wally West and Jesse Chambers were hit with the speed force when Barry replicated the particle accelerator explosion. Both showed no signs of superpowers when they woke up, even after Barry brought Jesse out of coma with a zap from the speed force. But Wally’s speedster alter-ego was teased countless times throughout the season. Ever since The Flash gave up his speed to save Wally, he’s had a complete change of attitude and just wants to help people. He started to really look up to Barry once he found out he was The Flash. After bringing Kid Flash to life in the flashpoint timeline, it’d be super disappointing to see him go back to just being Wally after only one episode. If some flashpoint effects stand still throughout the universe, let’s just hope Kid Flash stays too.
During an interview with Cinemablend last month, Keiynan Lonsdale said he doesn’t know if Kid Flash will still be around in the regular timeline, but did talk about what’s different between the old Wally and the new one.
“The main thing it affects, obviously, is Kid Flash, which I was excited about. [Laughter] For Wally, mostly, he is finally in this place where he's settled and he feels worth it. He's completely ecstatic about being who he is and he gets to help people, and this is what he knows and what he loves to do. So it was fun to get to play Wally being completely confident in himself.”
Even if Kid Flash doesn’t exist in the regular timeline, he could still exist in the alternate one, but that would mean we wouldn’t get to see him team up with Barry.
Do you think Wally West will still be Kid Flash on the show after Flashpoint? Let us know in the comments below! The Flash returns Oct. 4.
