The Flash‘s latest season finale took fans on a roller coaster of emotions, filled with shocking fight scenes and heartbreaking moments. And while the episode may have hinted at the exits of a few of the show’s team members, it also dropped a pretty major tease for a potential new character.
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Obviously, spoilers for The Flash‘s Season 5 finale, “Legacy”, below! Only look if you want to know!
The episode saw Team Flash dealing with two very specific battles – one against Grace Gibbons/Cicada II (Sarah Carter), and the other against Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash (Tom Cavanagh). As Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer) quickly realized, the two altercations were tied together, as Thawne’s powers were being dampened by Cicada’s dagger in the future.
Over the course of the episode, Ralph briefly got his atoms scrambled by a mirror gun, only to return back to normal in time to help the team fight Thawne. At the episode’s end, as Sherloque Wells (Tom Cavanagh) left, he remarked that Ralph had become a “master detective”, something that played out in a significant way in the episode’s final montage. Ralph was shown sitting at his P.I. desk, where he opened up a case marked “Dearbon”.
For eagle-eyed DC fans, that nod was certainly something, as it served as the first canonical reference to Sue Dearbon Dibny, Ralph’s fan-favorite wife in the comics.
Sue first appeared in the comics in the early 1960s, as a socialite from upstate New York who worked as an administrator for the Justice League. After Ralph crashed her debutante ball, the pair began a passionate romance, and got married soon after (with Barry serving as the best man). Throughout Ralph’s superhero tenure, Sue remained a constant, as she even traveled with the team.
Sue’s storyline took a controversial turn in 2004’s Identity Crisis, a mystery that ended up focusing on Sue’s murder and past rape. The storyline has been panned by quite a lot of fans in subsequent years, as Ralph attempted to resurrect his wife in the 52 miniseries (in a plotline, weirdly enough, involving current Legends of Tomorrow big bad Neron). Sue has had several experiences with the supernatural in the years since her death, even briefly becoming a member of the Black Lantern Corps.
Through all of the ups and downs of her DC Comics storyline, Sue has remained a bonafide fan favorite, which has made her potential appearance on The Flash all the more exciting. And while it’s safe to assume that her television debut will venture off into slightly different territory, it’s clear that the show’s cast and crew are excited to bring her to life.
“Ralph’s powers are so unique.” showrunner Todd Helbing told ComicBook.com last year. In the comics, there’s a lot of things we haven’t done yet with Ralph Dibny. We have a lot of investigative stories to tell; we obviously want to get to Sue Dibny at some point.”
“We’re working our way towards [a love interest],” Sawyer explained in an interview earlier this year. “He has to work on himself a little more before that really comes in, but he’s done a lot of work on himself. If that had come in last year, I mean how would that have turned out for him? He was not ready for anything like that. He’s sort of worked the kinks out of his system, where he’s going to be ready for that very, very soon. I’m excited for that.”
Are you excited to see Sue Dibny potentially appear on The Flash? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
The Flash will return for a sixth season this fall on The CW.
