This post contains spoilers for The Flash series finale.
The Flash has always been about hope, even when things look darkest. And for fans of the Arrowverse, it’s hard to imagine anything darker than the series finale. Not only is the official Arrowverse coming to a close with the end of The Flash, but even other superhero shows on the CW face an uncertain future, with Superman & Lois and Gotham Knights facing potential cancelation. And yet, during the final episode of The Flash, hope arrived in the form of a lightning bolt.
As expected, the final episode built to a showdown between Flash Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Cobalt Blue (Rick Cosnett). But the really exciting part of the show came in its final seconds, when Barry told a story to his and Iris’s (Candice Patton) newborn daughter Nora, herself destined to become super-speedster XS (Jessica Parker Kennedy), as will her future brother Bart aka Impulse (Jordan Fisher).
While talking about the special gifts his family shares, Barry reveals that he plans to share the power. “My friend Oliver said that the lightning chose me,” he explains, referring to Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) interpretation of Barry’s origin. “Well now, I’m going to do the choosing.”
Running onto an empty runway at Ferris Air (a nod to the workplace of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Barry and Oliver’s best friend in the comics), Barry hurls lightning in the air. “My name’s Barry Allen,” he says, before introducing us to three new inheritors of the Speed Force that set up a future for the Arrowverse, at least in-universe, if not in the form of a Flash spinoff.
The first we see is Avery Ho, a nervous young woman apologizing on the phone for being late while leaving coffee joint C. C. Jitters. Viewers first met Ho, played by Piper Curda in a season eight episode of The Flash, helping Impulse and XS solve changes they caused to the timeline (an Allen family tradition). Although her last name was not given in that episode, the finale confirmed her to be the live-action version of a relatively recent addition to the DC Comics universe. Avery Ho first appeared in 2016’s The Flash #3, written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Carmine Di Giandomenico, and fought alongside Barry Allen before becoming the Flash of the Justice League of China.
Frustrated motorcyclist Max Mercury (Trevor Carroll) is one of the most important members of the comic book Flash family. Mercury first appeared under that name in 1993’s The Flash #76, during the groundbreaking run by writer Mark Waid and artist Greg LaRocque. A speedster from the early 19th century, Max becomes a hero across time, eventually serving as a source of support for Barry’s successor Wally West and a mentor for Impulse. Thanks to his long life, Max has a special connection to the Speed Force, making him a guide for speedsters everywhere.
The final character to gain speed powers is Jess Chambers, played by Hana Destiny Huggins as a person with a shock of white hair, leaving a bus. While the name Jesse Chambers is familiar to Flash fans as the codename of Jesse Quick, daughter of Golden Age heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Bell, we already saw a version of the hero on The Flash, the daughter of Harrison Wells played by Violett Beane. In the comics, Jess Chambers is the Flash of Earth 11, introduced during the 2021 Future State event.
At this point, it’s not clear what these new characters mean for the future of The Flash and the Arrowverse. While the live-action Flash isn’t going anywhere soon, thanks to the big-budget movie starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen coming to the theaters in June, The CW currently has no plans for continuing the Arrowverse, despite flagship series Arrow also ending by teasing legacy heroes for a potential spinoff that never came into fruition. But as long as Team Flash continues to fight the good fight, we’ll always have hope that our favorite heroes will one day return.