'The Flash' Name-Drops Two Significant DC Heroes -- And Teases "Crisis on Infinite Earths?"

If there is anyone out there who believes Eobard Thawne is pulling Nora West-Allen's strings in the hopes of precipitating the Crisis on Infinite Earths, tonight's episode of The Flash could provide them with some talking points.

Spoilers ahead for tonight's episode of The Flash, titled "Failure is An Orphan."

Tonight's episode centered on the idea that Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh) had shown Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) evidence that the timeline was changing. A new one was emerging, he said, and it was as a result of "something big."

Some fans had speculated, based on an earlier name-drop and some behind-the-scenes photos from Vancouver, that Thawne might be talking about the speedster villain Godspeed. Instead, one possibility is that the alterations to the timeline are beginning to acceleration of "Crisis on Infinite Earths."

That event, originally "scheduled" (per the headline in The Flash pilot) for 2024, will instead be the annual Arrowverse crossover in 2019.

There is no direct reference to "Crisis" in any way that would validate a suspicion that Thawne is talking about the Anti-Monitor, as opposed to Godspeed or even the newly-emerged Cicada II. Still, there is one odd bit of circumstantial evidence that Thawne is involved in something with a distinctly "Crisis" feel.

One of the first lines he delivers in the episode, when talking about the changes to the timeline, is that he has been watching the timeline from Anthro the first boy to Kamandi the last.

Not only are those two references to time-lost DC heroes, but juxtaposing them might bring to mind the 2008 event series Final Crisis.

The story put those two seldom-used teenagers in the same space for a while -- something that happens incredibly rarely. Basically, when you get characters like The Flash, Kamandi, Anthro, and Jonah Hex together, it's almost certainly for a Crisis.

So while there is no smoking gun in tonight's episode, a reasonable person could take that particular choice of Easter egg as a hint that Thawne has something bigger going on behind the scenes...

The Flash airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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