Summary

The Flash’s final season wraps up the series with a full-circle moment, giving Barry Allen and his family a well-deserved happy ending. The Negative Speed Force becomes a major source of conflict in Season 8, forcing Barry and Team Flash to fight against evil speedsters. The Flash’s finale provides closure for all characters, including the birth of Barry and Iris’ daughter, Iris winning a Pulitzer, and Joe proposing to Cecile, while also leaving room for potential future stories.

The CW’s The Flash has ended after nine seasons, and with its ending, the Arrowverse has also come to a conclusion. The show was The CW’s longest-running superhero show to hit their channel, and wrapping it up was no simple task. From the start of Season 1, the series sets up how Barry Allen received his powers, and shows him learning how to be a great hero. It also set up the long-running story arc that Barry disappears in the future. Over the seasons, that future has been altered due to time traveling journeys he has been on and different crossovers he has had with other shows.

The Arrowverse shows started coming to a close when it’s first show, Arrow, ended and killed off Oliver Queen. Supergirl gave its hero a unique conclusion, with Kara toying with the idea that maybe she doesn’t need her secret identity anymore. The Flash was no different and needed to find its own way to give the Scarlet Speedster his perfect ending.

The final season set up a lot not only for the series finale, but the entirety of the show, where everything came full circle for The Flash. A villain of the week always seems to pop up in Central City, but Barry and his family have earned the time to slow down as seen in the finale.

Enter the Negative Speed Force

The source of Barry’s power has always come from the Speed Force, which has been a focus of The Flash. The Speed Force holds the timeline together while the Negative Speed Force has the opposite effect and wants to destroy everything. In Season 8, The Flash delved into the different forces that exist in the universe, and how they need to have balance. They are in constant conflict with its negative counterparts, which Barry and Team Flash fight against. Barry is the chosen representation of the Speed Force, and the Negative Speed Force chose Eddie because of his anger towards Barry. Eddie becomes Cobalt Blue as he received his own speed powers, and called upon Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savatar, and Godspeed to take on Team Flash.

Cobalt Blue fights against Cecile, Khione, Mark, Allegra, Nora, and even Jay Garrick, and quickly realizes he is going to lose the battle, so he steals the speed of all his evil speedsters he called upon. Decider explains that Barry knows all the extra power from the Negative Speed Force will kill him, but Jay seems fine to let that happen. Barry, on the other hand, knows Eddie is the same hero that shot and saved him back in Season 1. Khione makes Barry understand that the universe needs balance. As Barry is the avatar of the Speed Force and Eddie the Negative Speed Force, they need to work together. Eddie and Barry agree to an alliance in order to save the timeline and the universe.

Related: Arrowverse: How to Watch Every Series in Order

Everyone Gets an Ending
The CW

The final moments of The Flash has a fitting ending for each character of the show. Barry and Iris give birth to their first child, Nora West-Allen. The Team has a much-needed celebration after their latest battle, and it’s safe to say the future has not changed since future-Nora is there holding her baby self. Iris finally wins the Pulitzer for the article she wrote, giving the West-Allen family the perfect ending. Joe doesn’t let Barry and Iris have the only perfect ending as he finally proposes to Cecile years after the birth of their daughter. Even some of the newer characters to the series get their own endings.

Chester was introduced to The Flash in Season 7, who accidentally became a black hole due to one of his own experiments. After he almost died in this latest season, Chester notices something strange in his DNA from a past fight that shows he is developing black hole meta powers. He is also dating Allegra who has her own light power abilities that she had not always embraced. By the end, she finally accepts her role as a hero and loves her relationship with Chester.

Related: Arrowverse: Best Heroes in The CW’s TV Franchise, Ranked

Khione was the latest addition in the final season and appeared after an experiment that Caitlin was working on. Khione must leave Team Flash in order to keep the balance, but she gives back Caitlin’s body after everyone believed she was dead. Each member of Team Flash has their own ending, but that doesn’t mean they will stop keeping Central City safe.

Baby Nora’s Bedtime Story
The CW Network

The final moments of the last episode of The Flash shows Barry telling a story to a baby Nora. He begins by telling her what makes him who he is as a person and not a hero. He says that he wants to be her father and chooses to create new speedsters like in the comic. RadioTimes describes how Barry releases lightning into the universe to create new heroes — Avery Ho, Max Mercury, and Jess Chambers — just like how he got his own powers. The series was able to give its fans a full-circle moment with this one story that gives Barry the ability to still protect the city, but also allows him to take a break and be with his family.

The Flash gave all the characters well-deserved endings, but also gives their stories the potential to continue for the fans. The last season was a fitting ending for the Arrowverse as well. It gave cameos to many of the favorite characters within the Arrowverse like Oliver Queen. This world has been able to provide a decade of superhero stories and with The Flash ending, it feels like a conclusion to an era. The Arrowverse gave its characters satisfying endings, and hopefully for the fans, it’s not a definite ending.