The Flash season 8 concluded on a shocking note.
Does it mean we’ll see the return of one particular character in season 9?
Here is everything you need to know.
Season 8 of The Flash has been a trying one for Barry Allen and Team Flash.
It opened with a five-part “Armageddon” crossover that saw Central City at the mercy
of the alien Despero, who was convinced that the Scarlet Speedster was set to bring about
the end of days.
What he didn’t know was that it was really Reverse-Flash who had engineered the whole
thing.
Defeating Despero and Reverse-Flash, however, simply paved the way for a greater threat
for Team Flash, as the Negative Forces rose from Thawne’s defeat, getting revenge on
Barry for eradicating the Negative Speed Force – and using Iris’ Time Sickness to do
it.
It all culminated in an epic battle between The Flash and the revived Reverse-Flash, who
now possessed all of the power of the Negative Forces.
And when the dust settled, it left a mysterious question about the future of the show.
Does The Flash season 8 tease the return of Eddie Thawne?
The season finale, titled “Negative, Part Two”, saw Barry Allen defeat his archenemy
once and for all, ending the Reverse-Flash’s reign of terror.
However, the episode’s closing scene also made it clear that we hadn’t seen the last
of the Negative Forces and that they would likely choose a new avatar at some point in
time.
Speaking of points in time, the finale cut to 2049, revealing a blue crystal that began
glowing as Barry and Iris discussed the new avatar via voiceover.
Is this indicating the arrival of a new speedster in season 9 – one that could wield the Negative
Speed Force?
As far as blue goes, one character that fans often associate with that color is Cobalt
Blue – a character from DC Comics named Malcolm Thawne who is actually the long lost
twin brother of Barry Allen.
In the comics, Malcolm is resentful that his brother had a much happier life than he did,
and ultimately wields the Blue Flame – through the use of a powerful blue medallion.
While Malcolm doesn’t exist in The Flash, there has been a long-running fan theory that
Eddie Thawne could return as a variation of the character.
Portrayed by Rick Cosnett, Eddie was a regular on season 1.
Iris’ fiancee, he ultimately sacrificed himself when he discovered he was an ancestor
of Eobard Thawne’s, hoping that his own death would erase the evil speedster from
the timeline.
Should he return in the present and be corrupted by the Negative Speed Force, it’s likely
that he would feel anger and jealousy when he discovers that Iris is now married to Barry,
recreating much of Cobalt Blue’s arc from the comics.
Is Rick Cosnett returning as Eddie Thawne in The Flash season 9?
What makes this theory all the more plausible is the real possibility that Rick Cosnett
could return in The Flash season 9.
Having already reprised his role for three episodes in season 8 (via flashback and a
Deathstrom grief phantom), it was revealed that he could return to do more episodes in
the ninth season.
Given that the Deathstorm arc has been wrapped up for some time and the flashback episode
was a one-and-done story, it’s unlikely that his potential return in season 9 would
have anything to do with those.
With that in mind, could we finally see Cosnett play Cobalt Blue, bringing to life that long-standing
fan theory?
We’ll have to wait and see.
In the end, despite the fact that virtually every member of Team Flash from Barry to Allegra
to Cecile saw their powers increase this season, season 8’s final two-parter came down to
the team’s ability to make very human choices and to connect emotionally with their roles
as heroes.
“We knew Barry had leveled up to a point where he had almost godlike abilities this
season,” Wallace explains.
“And as big as his foes have been this year with Deathstorm and Despero, I was like, well,
how do you top that?
All right, we’re going to put Tom [Cavanagh] in a new suit and he’ll be the negative
version of The Flash.
But what does that mean emotionally?
You can’t just get more and more powerful and have that power be unchecked.”
Barry Allen’s greatest weapon has always been his humanity—his compassion, empathy,
and ability to put himself in the shoes of the worst sort of monsters.
Yes, we’ve sometimes made fun of his ability to basically pep talk villains into changing
their lives for the better, but what makes Barry a hero isn’t his superspeed.
It’s his heart.
“The theme is, really, no matter how much you level up, always realize you’re a human
being.
And human beings not only have limitations but we want people with limitations,” Wallace
says.
“We want people with humility.
We want people who know when to stand down and are compassionate.
So I was very excited to really get that theme across in an entertaining, kind of nutball,
crazy way this season.”
One of the biggest overarching themes of season 8 has been the mystery of what’s happening
to Iris.
Since developing a mysterious time sickness in season 7, she’s been frequently experiencing
debilitating pain, lost time, and occasionally straight-up vanishing into the ether.
“As storytellers, we’ve known where we were driving the whole time.
We knew Candace [Patton, who plays Iris], would not be in four episodes.
We have nothing to do with that.
So when people are like, ‘Why isn’t Iris on the show?’
That’s just the way things happen in life sometimes,” Wallace explains.
“It’s not an evil plan.
But we know it’s coming—and I know how hard it is as an audience member to ask ‘Wait,
where’s my favorite character?
Why isn’t she on the show this week?
Grrrr.’
I get it because they’re not in the writer’s room, and [they don’t know] that when she
comes back, we pick right up at that story, and we’re going to pay off her season-long
journey, which is she has to level up too, just like anybody else.”
According to Wallace, he had to think about what that meant for a character like Iris,
who has already been through so much over the course of the last few seasons, from getting
trapped in the Mirror dimension to battling the time sickness that’s been zapping her
in and out of reality for a season and a half.
“All the characters in Team Flash had leveled up except Iris.
She was the only one left.
Well, how do you level up if you don’t have any powers?
[But] she’s been under siege since day one on this show when her dissertation got stolen
by a criminal and then getting stabbed over and over by Savitar.
What this woman has been going through for eight years—how is she able to survive?”
Truly, if anyone is going to become the show’s ultimate avatar for strength and survival,
there’s probably no better choice than Iris—particularly as she is one of the few The Flash characters
that doesn’t have superhuman abilities.
(Something that makes her consistently heroic behavior all the more impressive.)