Absolute Flash Just Revealed an Iconic Hero’s Fate (And It Could Have Major Consequences)

When it dropped its first issue, Absolute Flash made major changes to the mythos of the Fastest Man Alive, including killing the classic hero Barry Allen. Ever since, the ghost of Barry Allen has seemingly haunted Wally West, calling out to him and begging for help. At first, this could easily be read as Wally’s guilt for the part he inadvertently played in Barry’s death, but issue #6 just revealed the fate of another classic Flash hero, and not only does it shine a major light on what could have really happened to Barry, but it means that this character could be undergoing the same transformation. Jay Garrick’s fate was revealed, and it has massive implications. 

Project Olympus’s Oldest Secret

Let’s start by going over what we know. Project Olympus is the secret military endeavor to create super-powered beings. Wally is the ultimate byproduct of this experimentation, but he’s far from the only one created by them. Some of their other creations include the Rogues, Heatwave, Weather Wizard, and a whole slew of green, psychic primate, including Grodd. Moving on to a bit of speculation, it seems that their experiments revolve around harnessing some kind of alien energy, evidenced by the space ship and dead aliens in tubes found by Colonel West at the end of issue #5. 

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As it turns out, not only may this tech have come from outer space, but it is very old. When the soon-to-be Rogues asked the then-alive Dr. Barry Allen where Project Olympus’s advanced tech came from, there was a short flashback which saw two men working on the same energy device that would give Wally his powers, all the way back in 1944. One of the men was Jay Garrick, the first ever Flash in the mainline universe, and he said the machine was going to blow and went to shut it off. His partner, a man named Thawne, shouted that he was too close to stop now, and pushed Jay into the strange swirl of lights and energy emanating from the machine. Jay was torn to pieces immediately as he imploded into the energy, but then his hand reformed, stretching out of the energy and screaming for Thawne.

Jay Is Dead, But Maybe Not Gone

Jay Garrick may have died, but his death may be able to tell us a lot about what his future holds. Importantly and definitely purposefully, both Jay and Barry died in the same way, being torn apart by this mysterious energy. It seems that Barry continuously calls out to Wally, reaching him in his dreams, begging him for help, which to me implies that they are still connected. Barry died, yes, but his soul could easily be trapped in the space between our world and the realm where this power comes from. The idea that Barry Allen will become the Absolute Black Flash has been a popular fan theory since his death occurred, and Jay’s death could help corroborate this, or at least the idea that Jay and Barry will be returning at some point. If these two were lost in the same way, it’s possible that their souls ended up in the same place, trapped between here and there.

But maybe they’re not stuck somewhere, but somewhen. Wally’s powers seem very based in time, with a lot of emphasis being placed on him feeling like he’s in multiple moments at once, and even seeing two of his own possible futures. The seemingly alien ships could have come from the far future, and Jay and Barry were instead lost in the time stream when their deaths occurred. That’s why both men called out to the last person to interact with them, their effective lightning rods, to anchor them back in the timeline. Jay’s lightning rod is long dead, but it could easily be that the current Thrawne, leader of Project Olympus, has inherited that status and will use it to mimic the experiment that gave Wally his powers. We could very well see the Absolute Reverse Flash get her powers by absorbing the energy of Jay Garrick, which would be an insane twist. Either way though, until we know more, we can’t say for sure what’s going to happen, although I feel confident in saying that this won’t be the last time we see Jay.

Absolute Flash #6 is on sale now!