The Flash: New "The Mask of the Red Death Part 1" Synopsis Teases an Impossible Choice

The Flash is back for its ninth and final season and right out of the gate, Team Flash is set to face one of its biggest threats to date with the impending arrival of Red Death. Last week's season premiere teased Red Death's arrival with the sinister red Bat symbol belonging to the villain appearing on the screen at the end of the episode while the involvement of a new batch of Rogues seems set to give the heroes a real run for their money. Now, a newly-released synopsis for the fourth episode of the season teases that the team will have to make an impossible choice — and may tease the villain's official arrival.

In the synopsis for "The Mask of the Red Death, Part 1," it notes that The Flash has to make an impossible choice, but it also mentions that Iris will be visited by an old friend. You can check out the synopsis for yourself below.

LET THERE BE DARKNESS – The Flash (Grant Gustin) is forced to make an impossible choice. With the power out in the city, Team Flash calls upon the Rogue Squad to help as Iris (Candice Patton) is visited by an old friend.  Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) work on finding a balance. Menhaj Huda directed the episode written by Joshua V. Gilbert & Emily Palizzi.

While the synopsis doesn't expressly state that we'll get to meet Red Death this episode, the tease about Iris being visited by an old friend could be a reference to Javicia Leslie's Ryan Wilder, who showrunner Eric Wallace has largely confirmed is playing Red Death.

"It is fair to say that Javicia has something to do with that red lightning bolt," Wallace said. "I don't think that's going to come as a surprise to anyone. The question is how does it happen and why is she here? And also, who exactly is she playing? That's a mystery that doesn't get talked about in her initial appearances on the show. Also, how will it affect her relationship with Iris?"

He continued, "One of the happy accidents that happened in Armageddon when we had Javicia over was the discovery of the incredible chemistry between Candice Patton and Javicia Leslie. After seeing that, I literally made a note, 'We've got to do more of this. This is gold.' When Javicia comes onto the show, one of the most powerful emotional moments is when her character finally interacts with Iris and it's going to be in a way that folks are not expecting. And it may show you a side of Javicia Leslie that you haven't seen before because she just knocks it out of the park with performance. It's something that I think fans are going to just love."

Who is DC's Red Death?

A relatively new addition to DC canon, Red Death made his debut in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Dark Days: The Casting #1 in 2017. A member of the Dark Knights — a group of alternate multiversal versions of Batman led by The Batman Who Laughs — Red Death was revealed to be a dark mashup of Batman and The Flash. In the alternate universe of Earth -52, Bruce Wayne was traumatized by the death of his various Robins, and decided to escalate his crimefighting by harnessing the Speed Force. Bruce then absorbed his version of The Flash's powers by combining his Batmobile and the Cosmic Treadmill and decided to suit up as the Red Death.

Red Death was previously name-dropped in a future-set Season 5 episode of The Flash, which made some wonder if and how the character could factor into the Arrowverse. A line in 2021's "Armageddon" crossover, in which Ryan Wilder referenced fighting "the lady in red," further stoked those theories.

"There's small Easter eggs, there's big Easter eggs. When we were in season three, Savitar was talking about DeVoe being one of his biggest foes," former The Flash showrunner Todd Helbing previously told ComicBook.com. "We like to leave it up to the fans to try to figure out which it's going to be. Who's maybe a big bad the next season, who's just a name drop. Godspeed sort of fell into the best of both worlds. We can have an episode with him, introduce him and then bring him back at some point in the future because he's a major comics villain so we would never want to do a guy like that in just one episode."

The Flash airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW. "The Mask of the Red Death, Part 1" airs March 1st.