The Flash: What Season 6’s [SPOILER] Means For The Arrowverse’s Future

The Flash season 6 just revealed that the Speed Force is dead, but what does that mean for the future of the show and the Arrowverse in general? The Speed Force is – or was – the sentient, mysterious source of energy that gives power to the Flash (Grant Gustin) and several other Arrowverse speedsters, and now it’s gone, seemingly for good.

Still feeling the pain of losing his friend, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Barry just suffered another crushing loss when the Speed Force met its unexpected demise. In The Flash season 6, episode 14, titled “The Death of the Speed Force”, Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) returns to Central City and together he and Barry discover that the Speed Force is weakening and dying. At first, Barry believes that it was the result of his fight with Bloodwork (Sendhil Ramamurthy), but instead, Barry turned out to be even more responsible for what ailed the Speed Force than he thought.

Apparently, taking a boost of energy from the Spectre to access the Speed Force in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is ultimately what sets its death in motion. Since this had to happen so that the multiverse could be saved from the Anti-Monitor, the Speed Force has chosen not to blame Barry for being infected by the Spectre’s mystical energy. After finding out the truth, Barry tries in vain to save the Speed Force. After a heartfelt conversation with the human manifestation of the Speed Force, it finally dies. Here’s what the death of the Speed Force means for The Flash, the Arrowverse, and how it connects to the comics.

The Speed Force Is Gone (But Barry Can Build His Own)

The Speed Force is dead, but both Barry Allen and Wally West still have their powers. Their understanding is that residual energy from the Speed Force is allowing them to temporarily maintain their speed, but over time, it will dissipate and they will be left with nothing. It’s not clear how long Barry has before his speed eventually runs out. It could be that Barry will be a speedster until the end of The Flash season 6, but that’s currently hard to say for sure. Regardless, Barry reveals at the end of the episode that he isn’t content to let his powers go.

A conversation with the Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanagh) gave Barry an idea that would help him remain as the Flash. Barry remembered that the Reverse-Flash uses the Negative Speed Force, a source of energy designed to be the exact opposite of Barry’s Speed Force. Drawing on the power of the Negative Speed Force is what makes it possible for Reverse-Flash to run through the timestream without being detected. This ability was something that he taught Barry’s daughter, Nora West-Allen (Jessica Parker Kennedy).

Barry’s idea is that if Eobard Thawne can engineer the Negative Speed Force, then Team Flash may be able to create their own artificial Speed Force. How Barry will accomplish this remains to be seen, but it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll need the help of Cisco (Carlos Valdez), and whether he wants it or not, he may need advice from Thawne as well. Considering how complicated it will be to create something as advanced as an artificial Speed Force, completing this task is likely a storyline that will play out over the course of several episodes of The Flash.

What The Speed Force’s Death Means For The Arrowverse

If Barry does succeed in his plan, he may be able to keep his powers, but what about everyone else? Unless Reverse-Flash is somehow restored, Barry may become the only speedster on Earth-Prime, since he would be the only character with access to his own artificial Speed Force. Wally West wouldn’t be able to remain Kid Flash. Jay Garrick – who may or may not exist post-Crisis – would presumably lose his powers. If this happens, Barry could lose two of his most reliable allies. This lack of Speed Force could affect villains like Godspeed as well.

If this is the case, then The Flash may have significantly fewer speedsters, which would help the show go back to the days where Barry Allen was the Arrowverse’s sole speedster. The Flash season 6 had already moved away from speedster characters, especially with Jesse Quick (Violett Beane) dead in the Arrowverse and Wally West receiving significantly less screen time, but the death of the Speed Force means that The Flash could take this even further in future seasons. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” already seemed to eliminate the possibility of Barry meeting alternate versions of the Flash, but no more Speed Force also takes away the option of Barry meeting time-traveling speedsters from the future. Wally mentioned that when the Speed Force was alive, he could see it connecting to his children and other people with the Speed Force. The death of the Speed Force puts an end to all of that.

What Happened To The Speed Force In The Comics

The Speed Force being destroyed isn’t completely without precedent. DC Comics toyed with the idea as recently as 2019 with their “Death of the Speed Force” storyline, but the circumstances were different, as was the ending. The event was based on the concept that in the DC Universe, there are several cosmic Forces, and the Speed Force is just one of them. When longtime Flash villain Zoom began killing the avatars of the various Forces and stealing their powers, the barriers between them broke down and Black Flash was unleashed on Zoom to stop him. Barry knew that if this continued, the Speed Force would die forever.

Eventually, Zoom realized the error of his ways and though the Speed Force was greatly damaged, it managed to be saved at the last minute. Though the comic book event made the promise that the Speed Force would die, its fate was avoided. The Arrowverse, however, has done much more than come close to killing the Speed Force. Thanks to “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, the Speed Force is gone, and it may never come back. The death of the Speed Force is just one more way that “Crisis on Infinite Earths” has permanently changed the Arrowverse.

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