With Team Flash outnumbered by Godspeed in The Flash season 7 finale, the family of speedsters receive even more surprising reinforcements.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers. for The flash Season 7, episode 18, “Heart of the Matter, Part 2,” which aired Tuesday on The CW.
While Barry Allen may be the fastest man alive, he has never raced alone in his superhero career. Barry has constantly worked with others, from scientists and tech experts to fellow superheroes, to confront threats that endanger Central City. And while heroes like Jay Garrick have raced alongside Barry, Scarlet Speedster’s family has grown to include his time-displaced sons, Nora and Bart, following in their father’s super-powerful footsteps. And how The flash Season 7 draws to a close, the Flash family has grown even larger as Iris West-Allen has been given superspeed and a superhero costume.
With the Speed Force destroyed by the reality-altering events of “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, Barry and Iris channeled Barry’s powers as the DCTV Multiverse’s Paragon of Love to create a new Speed Force. When the Speed Force resurfaced during the season 7 finale to give the Flash Family a power boost, Iris’s residual connection to the Forces led her to gain superspeed. Wearing a superhero costume similar to that of her daughter Nora as XS, Iris joins her family as they battle an army of Godspeed drones, more than capable of keeping up with older superheroes as she fights to protect Central City.
Iris previously gained superspeed on the series, albeit much more briefly, during season 4. Newly discovered metahuman Matthew Kim possessed the ability to swap people’s abilities through his DNA and inadvertently caused Barry and Iris to swap powers. This left Barry powerless as Iris forged her own acting superhero identity which would later inspire her daughter’s eventual disguise as XS. Among the abilities Iris displayed as a superhero was the ability to generate purple electricity and spin her arms fast enough to create powerful blasts of air. Matthew eventually reversed the power exchange between Barry and Iris, apologizing for the entire misunderstanding.
While the Flash family seems complete in the final battle against Godspeed, with Barry and Iris joined by Nora, Bart, Jay, and the living embodiment of the Speed Force, there was one member of the fan-favorite team that was conspicuously absent. : Iris’s younger brother, Wally West. While actor Keiynan Lonsdale confirmed that he was indeed invited to reprise his role as Wally for the two-part season finale and join the rest of the Flash family, scheduling conflicts led to him not being able to appear. On The flashWally’s absence is explained in a casual comment about him being unable to answer Barry’s call for backup when Team Flash teamed up to push back the Godspeed drones once and for all.
It’s unclear if Iris will retain her powers in season 8, but given her deep connection to the new Forces, there’s no reason the intrepid investigative reporter couldn’t be a superhero in her own right for the rest of the series. Iris has already proven herself to be a natural person with super speed, using her abilities in ways even Barry hadn’t thought of yet, and she provides invaluable support in taking on the Godspeed drones. And with Barry, Iris, their children, and their Uncle Wally all possessing powers, the West-Allen family is truly a superhero family through and through.
Season 7 of The Flash is now complete and available to stream at normal speed on The CW app.
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