The Flash: 10 Characters Who Would Be Perfect For the Arrowverse’s Blackest Night

Next week will bring about the Season 8 finale of The Flash, capping off a year of major change for The CW’s Arrowverse of shows. Fans of the long-running The CW series are definitely curious to see what the future holds for Barry Allen / The Flash (Grant Gustin) and company, especially as the show becomes more significant within the Arrowverse itself. In recent months, one key component of that has had to do with Blackest Night, the 2009-2010 DC Comics event that chronicled a fight against Nekron, the personification of death who reanimates previously-dead characters in an effort to destroy the universe’s life and emotion.

The words “Blackest Night” were name-dropped directly on The Flash earlier this season, and that direct mention sent the show’s fandom into a tizzy, with fans wondering if it could actually be brought to life in some capacity. In an interview with ComicBook.com last month, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace indicated that while COVID protocols and various logistical elements might prevent a full-blown Blackest Night crossover event from happening on The Flash, he definitely would be interested in pursuing it.

“Who says that story is over? All I can say to you is there are many more Flash and Arrowverse stories to be told,” Wallace explained at the time. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I actually wrote a Blackest Night story. I wrote Power of Shazam 48. That’s where the Black Lantern Osiris comes back and all that good stuff. There’s a reason I’m talking about Blackest Night. I’m trying to will it into existence. Now, I don’t know if I’ll be able to, because that would require a full-on crossover and many more millions of dollars than our show has. However, you got to start somewhere. And remember, I’m a fan first. I love Blackest Night So, to me, hopefully I’ve opened a door that eventually we’ll get to walk through. I know we have a ninth season and there’s kind of a plan in place, but we may still be in COVID protocols, which means no crossovers, which means we couldn’t do a story as big as Blackest Night. But I could certainly plant the seeds and try to will it into existence, because I want to see it, too.”

At the moment, Blackest Night is not currently confirmed to be a part of The Flash‘s ninth season — but that hasn’t stopped fans from wondering what the hypothetical Arrowverse version of it could look like. While the franchise might not offer many of the same characters as the comic event, there are still some currently-dead heroes and villains who would be perfect fits to return, and here are just a few of them.

Oliver Queen

Let’s start with the most prominent death that has rocked the Arrowverse in recent years — Oliver Queen / Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), who sacrificed himself to save the multiverse during the 2020 “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover. In the years since, Amell has expressed a desire to return to the role within the right creative context, and something like Blackest Night would certainly be a wallop of a way to do that, without entirely undercutting Oliver’s previous death. Plus, there is comic precedent for Green Arrow being involved in Blackest Night, with one of the event’s best tie-in issues dealing with Ollie’s previous death and resurrection in the 1990s and 2000s, and how it impacted his loved ones.

Earth-1 Laurel Lance

Another significant and polarizing death across the history of the Arrowverse has been Laurel Lance / Black Canary (Katie Cassidy), who was killed off at the culmination of Arrow‘s fourth season. Through a series of multiversal events and a long redemption arc, the Earth-2 version of Laurel became a fixture of Arrow’s later seasons and succeeded the mantle, but in Arrow‘s series finale, it was established that Earth-1 Laurel was among the incredibly small number of characters who were still dead, because her death had been too significant for Oliver to erase.

With Green Arrow and the Canaries — a potential spinoff that would have starred Earth-2 Laurel — being cancelled after Arrow wrapped, it would be fun and oddly cathartic to see Cassidy return and reconcile with Earth-1 Laurel’s death.

Leonard Snart

Focusing more on characters tied to The Flash, none have been quite as memorable as Leonard Snart / Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), who began as one of Barry’s original rogues in Season 1. Through a series of events, Snart joined the ensemble of Legends of Tomorrow, only to sacrifice himself during the show’s first season and die a hero.

In the years since, Miller has returned to the Arrowverse as constructs of Snart or alternate-Earth versions of him — but he feels like a no-brainer to be among the returning characters for Blackest Night.

Gypsy

A more recent addition to the list of significant Arrowverse deaths, Cynthia Reynolds / Gypsy (Jessica Camacho) was killed offscreen in The Flash‘s sixth season, propelling a noir-inspired episode of her ex-boyfriend and father investigating her murder. The death definitely shocked fans of the show, in part because Gypsy didn’t come close to getting the last word in the ordeal.

With Camacho expressing a desire to play Gypsy again, it would definitely be satisfying to see her come back for Blackest Night, and maybe make up for how her exit was originally handled.

Martin Stein

Firestorm — particularly the Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond incarnations of the character — factor heavily into the comic Blackest Night, with the two eventually being bonded in their own matrix. With the Ronnie of it all already being explored in this season’s Deathstorm arc, and Jax Jackson (Franz Drameh) still alive and well in the Arrowverse, that leaves one other possibility, Martin Stein (Victor Garber).

Stein’s death definitely shocked Flash and Legends fans when it occurred during the “Crisis on Earth-X” crossover, and that could lead to a major emotional payoff if he were to return for Blackest Night. Plus, we’ll take any excuse to see Garber return to television.

Shado

While she might not tie into the goings-on of The Flash, Shado (Celina Jade) has been a unique component of the Arrowverse, with her death in the early Arrow flashbacks leading to the feud between Oliver and Slade Wilson / Deathstroke (Manu Bennett).

Ever since her death, Shado has mainly functioned as a textbook example of the “Disposable Woman” trope, appearing as a spectral vision to fuel Slade or Oliver’s remorse. While fans speculated that she could’ve secretly been resurrected post-Crisis and been the villain of Green Arrow and the Canaries, that never came to pass — leaving the opportunity for her death to be tackled in Blackest Night.

Bruce Wayne

One of the unique challenges of the Arrowverse’s Batwoman show has been the portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman (Warren Christie), with the character being missing from Gotham and possibly presumed dead all throughout Season 1. The Season 1 finale then played with the idea of Bruce publicly “returning” — albeit as Tommy Elliot, via a convincing face swap — but following the exit of Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) and the introduction of Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie), that storyline was essentially wrapped up in a single episode.

Along the way, we never definitively got an answer as to whether or not Christie’s real Bruce is actually dead, which means The Flash could have the freedom to definitively say that, and then resurrect him amid Blackest Night.

Joker

Another major DC character who has been uniquely on the periphery of Batwoman has been The Joker, who has only appeared in out-of-focus flashback sequences, before canonically being killed by Bruce. That being said, fans responded pretty well to behind-the-scenes photos of the show’s comic-accurate Joker costume — so why not take it a step further and bring him back for Blackest Night.

Henry and Nora Allen

Arguably the inciting incident of The Flash (in a weird paradoxical way) was the death of Barry’s mother, Nora Allen (Michelle Harrison), in the series premiere, which was only further made more tragic when his father Henry Allen (John Wesley Shipp) was killed right in front of Barry towards the end of Season 2.

Harrison and Shipp are still somewhat-regular fixtures of The Flash, with Harrison portraying the personification of the Speed Force as well as Joan Garrick, while Shipp has returned as Jay Garrick / The Flash. An interesting way to bookend The Flash’s nearly decade-long run would be to bring either, or both, of them back for Blackest Night. 

Any Incarnation of Wells

Across its run, The Flash has served as a unique acting showcase for Tom Cavanagh, whether the actor has been portraying Eobard Thawne / Reverse Flash, Harrison Wells, or any of the other versions of Wells plucked from various corners of the multiverse. While the Eobard stuff isn’t slowing down, there’s definitely room for Cavanagh to return as one of the many dearly-departed Wellses — and probably break our hearts all over again.