The CW has released a new promo for The Flash season 6 and while it may only be 10 seconds long, it goes someway to telling us how the show will set up in the incoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event. In fact, it seems the key to finding out the future is Jay Garrick’s helmet.
In the promo, Barry Allen is shown donning the hat of the Flash of Earth-3, which has been hooked up to some sort of machine off-screen. Presumably, this links the Scarlet Speedster to the Speed Force as it appears to allow Barry to view the future, or various ways the future could go. A teary-eyed Barry tells his friends that he witnessed “billions of possible futures, billions of deaths.” Devastated by what he’s seen, he warns Team Flash that they can’t stop it.
This moment recalls Doctor Strange’s similar ability to view billions of possible futures in Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War. Unlike Barry, though, at least one of the timelines Strange foresaw ended well for the heroes. It doesn’t look like Mr. Allen witnessed any versions of the future which turned out alright, though. While he doesn’t use the all-important term, it’s clear that he’s viewing the events of “Crisis” here.
Amongst the gloom, though, there may be a silver lining. We see a flash (heh) of Barry’s mother Nora in his childhood home, which means that he may reunite with his long-lost parent. Will she be a doppelganger from another Earth, or has time been changed? New showrunner Eric Wallace has teased that the impact of “Crisis” will be like “stepping on a landmine,” so the possibilities are endless.
The Flash season 6 kicks off on The CW on Tuesday, October 8th. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” then begins exactly two months later on December 8th before concluding on January 14th.