The Flash Makes a Major Change to a Fan-Favorite Arrowverse Villain

The ninth and final season of The Flash is underway, and it is taking an unconventional approach to wrapping up its nearly decade-long story. In addition to fighting some surprising villains, the series is finding ways to revisit some memorable moments or storylines, and this week’s episode was no exception. The newest episode of The Flash checked back in on a long-running Arrowverse antagonist, revealing a major change to their status quo — and the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover is to blame. Spoilers for this week’s episode of The Flash, “Mast of the Red Death, Part 2”, below! Only look if you want to know!

The episode pits Barry Allen / The Flash (Grant Gustin) and his ragtag alliance of Rogues against Ryan Wilder / Red Death (Javicia Leslie), who is hell-bent on remaking this timeline in her image. When Team Flash wonders how Ryan has such a powerful psionic hold, Barry soon learns the answer — she got it after striking an alliance with Gorilla Grodd. As Ryan explains to Barry, the events of “Crisis” left Grodd and his pact of gorillas without sentience and community, and after feeling neglected by Barry, Grodd agreed to team up with Ryan. Later on in the episode, Barry visited Grodd and apologized for the past few years, and convinced him to help defeat Red Death. They then touched, allowing the small sliver of Speed Force energy that Grodd had held from Barry to give Barry his powers back. By the end off the episode, the day is saved, and Team Flash confirms they’re helping Grodd reunite with his tribe.

Who is returning for The Flash‘s final season?

The Flash‘s final season will see the return of Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, David Ramsey as John Diggle / Spartan, John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick, Teddy Sears as Hunter Zolomon / Zoom, Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West / Kid Flash, Sendhil Ramamurthy as Bloodwork, Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder / Batwoman, and Nicole Maines as Nia Nal / Dreamer.

“This week we announced that season nine of The Flash will be the final season, which is bittersweet,” Gustin said in a video after the final season announcement. “It’s been an incredible nearly ten years of playing this character and getting to be a part of this show with an amazing cast and crew, and so much love from you guys — from the fans, people who love the show. It’s the only reason we’ve got to do this as long as we have. And I’m very excited to do this one final time, finish on our terms, and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it as much as I can. I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting the show and allowing us to go as long as we have, and I could not be more honored to be associated with this character probably for the rest of my life and career.”

What do you think of Gorilla Grodd returning in The Flash’s final season? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

New episodes of The Flash air Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.