Every DC Crisis is a reality-altering event, but Infinite Frontier #2 foreshadows big things for The Flash’s future.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Infinite Frontier #2 by Joshua Williamson, Paul Pelletier, Jesus Merino, Xermanico, Norm Rapmund, Romulo Fajardo Jr & Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
During the various DC Crisis events to take place over the years, the Flash has not fared well. In light of a recent revelation about him in Infinite Frontier #2, it seems like Barry Allen might be in peril once again.
At the moment, Flash’s current whereabouts are unknown, but two scenes in the comic suggest he may be in serious trouble. Based on his past dealing with other Crises, it seems likely he will soon be forced to face the sorts of threats that not even the Fastest Man Alive can hope to escape.
The events depicted in Infinite Frontier take place in the aftermath of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights: Death Metal, a reality-altering story that completely restructured the continuity of the DC multiverse. At the end of the story, many dead heroes were restored to life and multiple (often conflicting) continuities merged together to form a new canon.
Dark Nhts: Death Metal was a Crisis event. Crisis stories are major reality-altering crossovers that include almost every DC hero and villain in some way. The first of these was 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfram and George Perez, a story on a scale never-before-seen that destroyed almost all of the multiverse until only one reality remained. Barry Allen was brutally killed while racing to save the world and he stayed dead longer than most superheroes, finally coming back in the 2009 miniseries The Flash: Rebirth. Not long after, ran back in time and singlehandedly caused another reality-altering Crisis of his own in the Flashpoint story. As such, there is good reason to worry about how he will handle the most recent Crisis and its aftermath.
There is now a concerted effort by different worlds in the multiverse to work together to prevent the next crisis event. In the Hall of Heroes (which resides at the heart of the multiverse) President Superman of Earth-23 noted that Barry Allen is missing. Specifically, this refers to the Barry Allen of Earth-0, the primary Earth where most DC stories take place. Barry recently set out to explore the multiverse, but he has left no record of his travels and has failed to check-in. This very likely foreshadows that he is in trouble, as such behavior is out of character for him.
Later in the issue, the hero Roy Harper had a vision of the future in which he saw Flash bound in glowing chains. Roy was recently resurrected and is now wearing a Black Lantern ring, a power ring that represents death and that has historically been associated with attempts to wipe out all life in the universe. Roy was teaching himself how to control this power ring when he inadvertently conjured this vision. In addition to seeing Flash struggling against chains and locked in a heavy collar, he saw other DC heroes, including a Black Lantern version of Doctor Fate. Looming over it all was the Darkseid, the evil New God who rules Apokolips. After the vision, the ring transformed him into a zombie-like Black Lantern.
It is terrifying to consider just what it would take to bind Barry Allen, since he is capable of vibrating his molecules so fast that he can pass between dimensions. But Roy’s vision of the future does not bode well for the Flash, especially considering the influence of the ring and the possibility that Darkseid is involved. With Barry now missing somewhere in the multiverse, let’s hope there’s still time for him to outrun whatever is in store for him.
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