The Flash TV series might have ended last year after nine seasons, but it’s still alive in the hearts of its fans. The CW series premiered back in 2014, and the very first episode teased an ominous event in Barry Allen’s future. A future newspaper headline showed the audience that on April 25, 2024, the Flash, longtime hero of Central City, would vanish in a “crisis.” As fans have commemorated the April 25 date, Flash actor Grant Gustin posted a photo on his Instagram assuring us all that he has, in fact, not vanished. He’s even wearing a Flash bathrobe to let us know he’s still around. The photo is from 2016, but the joke still lands.
The April 25, 2024 newspaper headline shown in the series premiere teased long-term plans for the series—plans that would actually all play out. However, the “Flash vanishes in crisis” date would be pushed up five years, to the year 2019. That was so they could pay off this story in the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event. In a twist, however, the Flash who vanishes in the crisis event is actually not Gustin’s Barry Allen. It’s John Wesley Shipp, who played Barry Allen in the 1990 Flash TV series. And, actually, he doesn’t vanish; he dies saving the entire Multiverse, just like in the comics.
While it’s unlikely Gustin will play the Scarlet Speedster again in James Gunn’s new DCU, Gunn has confirmed that he is a big Grant Gustin fan. We actually think the DCU’s Flash should be Wally West, Barry’s former sidekick who takes up the Flash mantle. If they need a Barry to cameo for that series or do flashbacks, though? You couldn’t find a better Barry than Grant Gustin. It’s nice to see that Gustin is still having fun with the role that made him famous. Hey, Lynda Carter still regularly posts Wonder Woman memes, and she hasn’t played the role since 1979! What’s good enough for Diana Prince is good enough for Barry Allen.