'The Flash': Here's What the New "Crisis on Infinite Earths" Newspaper Says

Tonight's season premiere of The Flash didn't just give fans their first real opportunity to get [...]

Tonight's season premiere of The Flash didn't just give fans their first real opportunity to get to know Nora West Allen and more than a few clever Easter eggs. It also gave fans a shocking glimpse into the Barry Allen's future and the details are very interesting to say the least.

Spoilers for tonight's Season 5 premiere of The Flash, "Nora", below.

Fans of The CW series have long known about Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin) disappearing in a mysterious crisis in 2024. The newspaper revealing the future event was seen in the series premiere all the way back in 2014. Tonight, however, we found out that 25 years on, Barry is still missing and Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) shares a newspaper from the anniversary of his disappearance with him.

We've already speculated a little bit about what that all could mean for the Arrowverse, but a closer look at the newspaper's text sheds even more light. We've transcribed the text to the best of our ability -- and this is what it reveals:

It was a beautiful spring day in Central City. Not so different from that morning years ago when the clear blue sky turned crimson red, and the Scarlet Speedster vanished in a crisis. Thousands gathered here at the Flash Museum to commemorate that day's quarter century anniversary. Names were read of the other victims of the attack, and Governor Singh gave remarks on the Flash's enduring legacy.

The details of Flash's disappearance remain murky. A 2026 Congressional Commission repeated the Citizen's initial reporting. Hours after the sky turned red, the Flash and his allies fought the Reverse Flash. The ensuing street battle caused the most destruction this city has ever seen. It was not until the Flash and Reverse Flash disappeared in an explosion of light that the chaos ceased.

But in the years following the crisis, accounts only grew more contradictory. Some eyewitnesses remember dozens of other heroes present, including Green Arrow, Batwoman, and Elongated Man. Others remember heroes thought lost in time, like The Atom, or from other worlds, like Supergirl. Some even contend they saw Reverse Flash leading an army of "shadow demons."

Scientists at Ivy University's Memory Institute chalk up those…

Research has focused on Roger Hayden, a.k.a. Psycho Pirate, who claims to remember the night's events.

He said upon his arrest, "Worlds lived, worlds died. Nothing will ever be the same."

And nothing ever was. Staring at the golden statue of The Flash, this reporter remembers the words of Former Police Chief Joe West, "We don't have the details…"

As you can see, there is a lot in that newspaper story and much of it seems to point towards a major event in comics -- Crisis on Infinite Earths. In a very basic nutshell, Crisis on Infinite Earths sees the various worlds of the Multiverse endangered when, after an accident with antimatter on one universe, the Anti-Monitor begins destroying many of the worlds and realities with a wave of antimatter, intent on becoming the sole ruler of them all. The Anti-Monitor's counterpart, Monitor, seeks to stop this by merging the multiverse into one to make it stronger and thus, able to resist Anti-Monitor and recruits heroes to help. The heroes ultimately are successful, but the Flash dies stopping the Anti-Monitor from using an antimatter canon

The details that stick out the most are the mentions of there being many heroes present, especially those from "other worlds" -- meaning other Earths in the Multiverse -- and the mention of Psycho Pirate. In Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Anti-Monitor recruits Psycho Pirate, infusing him with part of his power to manipulate the heroes of Earth-4, Earth-S. and Earth-X against the others. Psycho Pirate's quote in the future newspaper is also of particular interest as it is a line lifted directly from the Crisis comics.

If the text of the newspaper truly is evidence that the mysterious event in 2024 is Crisis on Infinite Earths Arrowverse Edition, it's something that Grant Gustin said last year is a possibility.

"We don't really talk about on a yearly basis, but it was mentioned early on and that's a goal. Obviously, we'd have to go I think ten years to reach that," Gustin said. "So there's a possibility for sure. It'll be fun to get there."

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

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