The future is looking bright for The CW’s DC Comics Universe. Hidden within a promotional clip for tonight’s episode of the Flash, “The Trap,” were numerous Easter Egg’s about The Flash/Arrow universes’ super heroic future.
In the clip, Barry finally reads the infamous 2024 newspaper story announcing the Flash’s disappearance. But as Barry reads, the clip zooms in on the story’s opening paragraph. In the text, it is revealed that Barry disappears following a battle with the Reverse Flash. However, the story also says that he is aided by “Green Arrow,” “The Atom,” and “Hawkgirl.”
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From this, we can safely assume that Oliver Queen will truly embrace his role as the Emerald Archer and become the true “Green Arrow.” Currently, he is only known as “The Arrow.” Hawk girl’s mention is no small reference either, even though The CW recently announced that the character would headline their upcoming Flash/Arrow spinoff. Clearly, The CW has long-ranging plans for the character.
Then there’s the mention of Reverse Flash. Many assumed, from the “Red Skies” headline, that Barry died saving the universe in a “Crisis on Infinite” Earths scenario. “Crisis,” of course, was the multi-verse spanning DC event where Barry Allen famously passed.
The story’s biggest surprise, however, comes in its headline. The newspaper story is written by none other than Iris West-Allen, indicating that Iris will eventually marry Barry and take his name. But the news’ interesting part, ironically, lies in the past. Looking back to when viewers first saw this headline in The Flash’s pilot episode, the story’s original author was a man named Evan Gibson. Gibson doesn’t exist in DC Comics lore (yet), raising the question as to why DC would introduce a new character, only to ditch him for Iris. But, maybe it’s a last-minute decision by DC Entertainment to honor its source material even more. Following Barry’s death in the comics, Iris wrote his biography under the pen-name “Iris West-Allen.” It looks like her television counterpart will do the same; or at the very least, stay on the Flash beat even after the hero’s death.
As The Flash and Arrow will continue for another season this fall, we’re sure the answers will reveal themselves…eventually.
“The Trap” airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. on The CW.
