Did “Crisis on Earth-X” Hint at Trouble for Barry and Iris?

During the Arrowverse crossover event, “Crisis on Earth-X”, despite their big day initially being interrupted by a Nazi invasion by Earth-X, Barry Allen and Iris West finally tied the knot. But, despite making it official, the newlyweds might not be getting a happily ever after anytime soon.

In comics, happy couples don’t generally have a good track record. In more than a few cases, when the hero gets married that’s not the end of the beginning, it’s the beginning of the end and while this is a thing in both Marvel and DC Comics, DC is particularly notorious for having a “hatred of” or “war on” marriage. Death, divorce, and some really weird ways of just making marriages disappear have all appeared in comic books over the years and while DC Comics and the Arrowverse have some distinct differences, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned that the clock might be ticking on the happy union of West-Allen.

First, and possibly most obviously, remember the girl with the water at the pre-Nazi wedding? Played by Jessica Parker Kennedy, the mysterious young woman had an extended moment with Barry (Grant Gustin) at the wedding chatting him up about just how excited she was to be there. Some have speculated that the mystery girl may be Dawn Allen or Jenni Ognats, daughter and granddaughter respectively of Barry and Iris. Whoever she is, the amount of time spent on that exchange is likely not coincidence and there is something that the girl says that probably isn’t either. At the end of her conversation with Barry, she tells him “remember to say ‘I do.’” Barry doesn’t get a chance to since the Nazi’s show up and vaporize the priest, but at the end of the crossover Barry and Iris tie the knot with Diggle (David Ramsey) officiating. And in that impromptu wedding? Neither Barry nor Iris say “I do.”

If the mystery girl is one of Barry’s descendants from the future it is very likely that they would have an idea of what events transpire after the West-Allen wedding. Maybe something catastrophic is on the horizon for Barry and Iris and a simple change in semantics would have made a difference. While we have no way of knowing for certain about the vow issue, we do know that the catastrophic part of the future may be coming and sooner than we think. The Flash midseason finale is next week and in the promo for the upcoming episode, bad things definitely happen to the West-Allens. In the promo, Barry is kidnapped by Clifford DeVoe/The Thinker (Neil Sandilands) and taken back to his lair where DeVoe tells Barry that he wants to teach him a lesson. That lesson? There are no happy endings. Considering that weddings are supposed to be happy endings, it’s an ominous turn of phrase.

And the promo isn’t the only clue that maybe, just maybe things are about to get ugly for Barry and Iris. Gustin told reporters earlier this month that things will take a dark turn in the middle of the season.

“Barry’s starting to get obsessed that this is our guy, he realizes that it’s going to get dirty quick, and before it gets dirty he wants to get ahead of this guy,” Gustin said. “And then they start to realize what a challenging foe he’s going to be and different than any other speedsters we’ve faced in the past. He’s not a speedster, he’s something we’ve never seen before. Things are going to take a dark turn quickly in the middle of the year.”

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.