The Flash 150th: What Happened To Wally West (& Where He Is)

Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for The Flash‘s 150th episode, “Heart of the Matter, Part 1.”

Many fans of The Flash are wondering what happened to Wally West and why he didn’t make an appearance in the 150th episode special. While Kid Flash did not appear on-screen, his absence was explained and his influence acknowledged, with Bart West-Allen revealing that his uncle had a hand in training him. This confirmed that Wally West is still alive and an active hero in the future of the Arrowverse.

Introduced into The Flash in the season 2 episode, “Running To Stand Still,” the Arrowverse version of Wally West was raised apart from his father Joe and sister Iris, with neither of them knowing of his birth until after his dying mother reentered their lives. An aspiring mechanical engineer, Wally developed a connection to the Speed Force with the assistance of the villain Alchemy and went on to assist Barry in defending Central City as Kid Flash, before striking out on his own and spending some time among the Legends of Tomorrow. Wally eventually joined the Peace Corps and began studying Zen philosophy while finding new ways to develop his powers through meditation. It was through this meditation that Wally became the first person to become aware of the Speed Force’s slow death following Crisis on Infinite Earths.

With multiple Godspeed clones waging war on one another in Central City, it was expected that Wally might join the fight against them in The Flash‘s 150th episode, “Heart of the Matter, Part 1.” Wally didn’t show up, but his absence was explained in a brief scene in which Barry Allen was seen trying to contact every ally who might be able to assist in a multi-speedster battle. The Gideon AI in STAR Labs’ Time Vault informed Barry that she had spoken with Wally’s mentor, a Buddhist nun named Bhikkhuni Amala, and that Wally was deep in meditation and “handling unrest on the psychic plane.” This makes sense, given that the previous episode revealed that the Godspeed variants were feeding on the Speed Force from within to refuel and boost their powers when they were not running around Central City. This suggests that Wally may have already been facing the Godspeed menace in a way only he could.

“Heart of the Matter, Part 1” made another reference to Wally West, confirming his existence in the future of the Arrowverse and his position in the Flash family. While discussing their upbringing in private, Bart West-Allen spoke about how he had been taught how to run and how to meditate by his father and “Uncle Wally”, but that it was Jay Garrick (whom he referred to as Uncle Jay) who was the only one of his teachers he felt ever really understood him. In another scene where the two were training, Nora made reference to Bart’s ability to shape his lightning into throwing stars; an ability that sounds remarkably similar to Wally West’s talent for reshaping his lightning into various forms, like a lotus blossom.

It remains to be seen if Wally West might make an appearance in the finale of The Flashseason 7. It is heartwarming to know, however, that while he may be apart from his family for now, he will someday rejoin them. It’s also gratifying to know that he’s still running in the not too distance future of the Arrowverse, even if he never does take up Barry Allen’s mantle.

About The Author

Matt Morrison
(1835 Articles Published)

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Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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