On the mid-season finale of The CW’s hit show, The Flash, titled “The Present”, fans got some hints of a few things to come. This was thanks to the season’s big bad, Savitar, who is a speed god from the future. To this point he has had his way with Barry and Team Flash, but it was not about any sort of physical pain that left the team scratching their heads, following a conversation the team had with him (through Julian, thanks to some Cisco’s handy work).
Savitar not only left Team Flash with a prophecy, which we will get to in a second, but Flash also got a glimpse of the future when he went into the Speed Force. Before getting to the glimpse of the future, we need to go over the prediction from Flash’s newest number one enemy. Straight from Savitar’s mouth, “One shall betray you, one shall fall, one will suffer a fate much worse than death”.
Things then got really interesting when Flash found himself in the Speed Force. He winds up on a street corner, and what he sees is his future self (in about five months), face to face with Savitar. Savitar is holding up Iris as he threatens The Flash. Savitar kills Iris, while present day Flash can only stand by and watch. He ultimately returns to the present, and only tells Jay about what happened, but is clearly shaken the rest of the episode.
Now it should be noted, given the show’s rules of time travel and changing time, we cannot assume this is a 100 percent guarantee. But what it does do is make us think about who will fulfill Savitar’s prophecy? Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Who will betray the team?
When thinking about who could betray the team, there are three characters who come to mind, and then another that many will point to that I feel is too easy of a pick. Many will point to Caitlin Snow, as her alter ego Killer Frost could easily re-emerge. But my gut tells me that is too easy of a pick, and would be the cheap way out. That leaves me with three possibilities: Wally West, Jay Garrick or H.R..
One key point to mention is the reason Barry was in the Speed Force was to get rid of the Philosopher’s Stone, as that was Savitar’s way of getting on to Earth. With Savitar clearly back on Earth in five months from present day, one would think the Philosopher’s Stone makes its way back to Earth somehow. That would mean a speedster had to go and get it. That is where Wally could come into play. Wally has felt like the team does not want him, as Joe, Iris and Barry simply do not want him in the line of fire. Having this feeling of being left out could ultimately lead Wally to succumb to some evil forces, and betray his family.
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But Jay Garrick is also a speedster, and there just seemed to be something off about him in the last episode. It was his idea to go into the Speed Force to get rid of the Stone, so maybe everything he said was all a lie. Maybe he wanted Barry to see Iris die, so he would end up doing something to alter the timeline once more? There was just something about the way he acted in “The Present” that makes me not want to trust him right now.
Finally we have good ole H.R.. The newest version of Harrison Wells has not been trusted by several of the team members since his arrival, so would it really be surprising to see that he is hiding something? He is currently training Wally, which is against everyone else’s wishes. I could foresee a scenario in which he convinces Wally to go into the Speed Force to bring back the Stone. He would tell Wally that it is to help, when in reality it would be for some diabolical reason.
My gut tells me it will turn out to be H.R., as they can clearly keep Tom Cavanagh around no matter what happens to his character, as he is alive on multiple different Earth’s. But having it turn out to be either Jay or H.R. would simply feel like a repeat of the previous two seasons when the mentor is really a baddie, so I would really like it to be Wally.
Who will fall?
Now the obvious answer here is Iris. We actually saw her die, which would lead everyone to assume it is her. But let’s be honest here. There is no way the show is going to make it that obvious. Iris and Barry are just getting serious in their relationship, and to remove her from the equation this season would just seem like a bad move. So we need to look for alternate options.
Caitlin and Cisco could both find themselves out in the field now that they are both full-fledged metas. So both of them can certainly be considered shocking options to go down at the end of the season. When the future rolls around and Savitar has Iris in his clutches (because you know they will tease us like that), something tells me Barry will be bringing backup. So maybe they are able to save Iris, but one of Barry’s best friends go down. With so much being made about Cisco’s brother dying because of Flashpoint, it could certainly be an interesting to see Cisco sacrifice himself, thus altering the timeline but saving Iris.
But the most popular option right now seems to be none other than Joe. If anyone is going to sacrifice themselves to save Iris, it will either be Barry or Joe. But we know Barry is not going anywhere, as they kind of need him to continue the show. With H.R. there to serve as the elder statesman, and the potential to have Jay step in on a regular basis, Joe could be considered expendable. While it would be sad to see Joe go, it certainly seems like a strong possibility.
My money is on Joe here, but I am certainly willing to throw Cisco in there as the dark horse candidate.
Who will suffer a fate worse than death?
Now this one is a bit vague. A fate worse than death could imply many different things, and it gives the show runners some wiggle room. They could take this one in several different directions.
The obvious choice here is Barry. No matter who fulfills the first two portions, it is a pretty clear it will be hard on Barry. Someone in his life is going to turn their back on him, and someone is going to die. This will obviously leave Barry in a fragile state of mind, most likely feeling responsible for whatever happens. So when the season comes to an end, I think Barry will certainly be in rough shape, even if they decide to give this nod to someone else.
Maybe a fate worse than death could mean Caitlin cannot control her powers any longer, and they start to eat away at her like they were earlier this season. She does not have to go full Killer Frost, as that would likely mean she falls under the betraying category, but if she cannot control her powers for some reason, it could certainly effect her health.
Or let’s say Joe does live. Maybe Wally is the traitor and they actually do kill off Iris. That would mean Joe will have lost both of his kids. That would certainly count as a faith worse than death. This same logic could also be applied to Iris, where Joe takes her place in taking the fall. She could see her brother turn his back on her and the team, and then see her father sacrifice himself to save her. She could certainly feel responsible for some of those events, which could leave her and Barry in a rough state leading into season four.
What do you think? Who will fulfill the three prophecies? Tell us in the comments!