Okay, here goes: any wild theory you have about what’s going on in Flash: Rebirth, this is the place to discuss it!
One request: please avoid posting any actual spoilers beyond what’s currently available in the released issues, solicitations, and interviews.
Beyond that, speculate away!
I think Barry Allen has become the new Black Flash. Only one problem, the powers that be forgot to inform Barry!
This is based on Savitar coming back (from Barry’s chest!) and Barry dusting him with a touch!
It’s simple. Barry Allen is the speed force. He is the “Beginning and the End”.
When Barry sacrificed himself at the COIE, he became the force itself, going forward and backward through time. Once removed from it, he throws serious havoc into the order of things for other speedsters.
The black flash was what kept him inside, but now that’s gone….
Just like before. Barry will somehow create a new costume out of his chest for Wally.
.-= Brandan’s latest Twitter post: SpeedsterSite: @batmansgirl Didn’t read Power Girl in Rebirth last week, and surely didn’t read it in Cowl this week. =-.
Out of curiosity, what other source of spoilers is there besides those listed in the post?
.-= West’s latest blog post: Hulk Fly! =-.
@West: I was thinking in terms of something someone might have overheard or seen at a convention, things like that.
Maybe I’m worrying too much?
I’m couldn’t say. I’m of the increasingly rare breed of comic geek who generally prefer not to know any plot/story information that’s not in a currently-released issue.
I’ve often wondered how people know as much as they sometimes do about upcoming arcs and series. The con thing never occurred to me.
Thanks.
.-= West’s latest blog post: Hulk Fly! =-.
I always did wonder “who” the Black Flash was.. well I guess this story will explore the answer. Besides, check out the cover for issue #4, notice the black circle in the background…
.-= quiztzhadrch’s latest blog post: Upisode: Russell Builds A Snipe Trap =-.
Maybe the Black Flash is Barry…If he is the Speed Force now and can travel in time then the Black Flash could be him and the current Barry has no idea.
Mystery badguy could be Zoom, due to his recent loss of powers/return to being wheelchair bound and the low angle shots of the openign scene with the mystery badguy. This would make Zoom Barry’s new Reverse Flash archnemesis. He also has experience with the whole police lab stuff to go along with that opening sequence.
Another theory is Max Mercury still being controlled by The Rival. This would give weight to the constant mentioning of Max (Savitar was named a bunch of times before appearing in that opening issue, too) and a reason why he didnt come back to justify Impulses/Kid Flash’s whining.
Only thing I can’t figure out is how the mystery villain’s claim of bringing Barry back to life works.
.-= Kirk Warren’s latest blog post: A Collection of Random Thoughts, Vol 3=-.
after the Crisis, Wally, through Mark Waid’s blissful writings and imaginings, got SEVERAL new powers through his control of the Speed Force. Barry never learned how to use those powers, much less that he COULD do them. the particular power i have in mind is of course Speed-Stealing. Barry’s mind was set on taking Savitar (FINALLY he’s dead…:P) down, and the ‘Force reacted accordingly. it stole his speed to the point of death. AND it shocked every other Speed Force-connected hero on New Earth/Earth 0′s system at the same time.
the MV is NOT Zoom, btw…(maybe Max the Rival though…)
.-= Jason West’s latest blog post: The Rebirth Has Begun… =-.
- re:Villain: The evidence is of a man at normal height (look at his POV with relation to the door knob and shelf), with a wand that resembles the LSH rod, white hair, and intimate knowledge of Barry’s origins (the chemicals weren’t retconned out by the Speed Force… are they genuinely integral to becoming a Speedster?). Disguised in a lab-coat and with a surgical mask around his neck. He proclaims a substantial role in Barry’s return. He carries the stink of a time traveler… but I’m not ready to hazard a guess.
- re:Black: As a side note, Wally’s outrun both the Black Flash and the Black Racer (our worlds at war) in the past. There’s no particular reason for the Black Flash to be on Earth unless he’s chasing a Flash. Hopefully, he’d be a little more timely as to be able to be near Barry to deserve the title, and unless he suddenly dropped out of the Speed Force onto Earth spontaneously, the rational assumption is that he WAS chasing someone… who, somehow, defeated him… perhaps an individual armed with foreknowledge from the future and a Speed Force stealing wand, which drains all the vitality out of the Black Flash?
I do not believe Barry is the Black Flash. The Black Flash is an incarnation of a force of nature without personality… only purpose. While such imperative might be the nagging extra-sensory perception Barry feels, the mantel of Black Flash probably isn’t something that should pass so tritely or be rendered so unmysterious (but given how Specters change, what do I know?).
- re:Dust: What then did Barry do? I think that our mystery villain has broken down the barrier in and out of the Speed Force with Barry as a significant nexus. Therefore, it can go wonky when Barry uses it. Savitar’s disappearance and ability to speak was not dissimilar to Barry’s anti-monitor run.
- re:TheEnd: What did Savitar mean? I hope to God that he didn’t mean that Barry IS the Speed Force. Honestly, I’m sick of Speed Force Incarnate storytelling, whether it’s Wally “mainlining” and becoming an energy entity or if it’s Bart bottling the whole of the Force within himself… it’s hubris to tame an extra-dimensional force entirely in one mortal’s finite flyspeck of a life. Almost as bad, would be to claim that Barry is the beginning and the end of One Age of heroes… but frankly Infinite and Final Crisis were far from definitive works with which to mark off an end of an age. Unless DC Editorial has decided that the clock stopped at the end of the Silver Age and now the clock has started again… Batman will be new, Sidekicks grow up, Superman has a son, etc. The Third Age for DCU has begun? I wouldn’t mind Barry as such a bookend if the Crisis was actually good… sigh. In all honesty, though, I suspect these words will fit some kind of meaning which will not fit with fully embraced Flash continuity….
- re:Finale: While Barry’s personality will be discovered, I’ve no doubt there will be unnecessary bloodshed to bring about that end.
The villain isn’t Zoom. Look closely at the art. EVS has some technical shortcomings but he doesn’t draw much without purpose.
Does anyone else have a sneaking suspicion that this is another red herring story? Barry will turn out to not be real (why does he have fake memories?), and Wally will be Flash again? A total retread of Waid’s story. Or, it is the real Barry, but he will end up sacrificing himself again. Of course, this is just my wishful thinking. But it would certainly be a twist …
I wondered if it was the real Barry – especially after he got some of the heaven memories wrong – but I have a hard time believing DC would do this, AGAIN.
I was thinking Cicada was behind the whole thing, but the more theories I read, the more I could be wrong.
I think by the end of this, the Speed Force is going to need some kind of guardian. To keep it in check, keep it from screwing up time, to keep bad guys from harnessing it. Maybe Barry won’t be Black Flash, but the Speed Force’s chosen protector. Or maybe Wally will be and Barry can be THE Flash of the DCU.
I like the idea of a guardian for the speed force. It would be interesting to see how that would work out. Kinda reminds be of the new Ion character.
And another thought is the new villain may become the death aspect of the speed force. Yin and Yang if you will.