It was a quiet, understated cliffhanger, but the midseason finale of The Flash finally introduced us to a major DC Comics character. However, the extent of his destiny on the CW series has yet to be revealed. Is Wally West a speedster on The Flash , and if not — what are we waiting for?
In the comics, Iris West's nephew Wally becomes Kid Flash in a chance accident that mirrors how Barry Allen got his powers. Since Wally didn't grow up in Central City on The Flash, I think it's unlikely that the kid is already a speedster, but we're going to have to wait to find out for sure. There's also sure to be some tension between him and Barry Allen, who essentially grew up as Joe West's son in Wally's place. Turning Wally into a metahuman, whenever that may be, isn't going to ease that rivalry a bit.
Plus, this version of Wally West has a lot going on in his life. Between a Mom with cancer and meeting his Dad and sister for the first time, Wally barely has time to handle the onslaught of superpowers. Even actor Keiyan Lonsdale doesn't know when destiny is going to call. When asked about his Kid Flash training in an interview with Variety, he said "I’m just trying to do a bunch of different things, because I don’t know when they could spring this up on me." According to the casting announcement, Lonsdale has been hired as a series regular, so hopefully the show gives him due time to let everything sink in.
We know so little about Wally West on the television show that pretty much anything can happen at this point. He could be a metahuman already, or it could take another whole season. As far as theories, here's how I see this going down: Iris, and maybe Barry as well, call Wally their "kid brother" because that's appropriate for their age difference, and also a cute phrase that I think should be said more often. That's where I'm guessing the name "Kid Flash" will come from on the show. I also think it's significant that both Wally West and Jesse Quick, another comic book speedster, presumably arrived on the show without their speed powers. Whatever Zoom and Harry are planning with the speed force is probably going to backfire and create a whole bunch of speedsters on The Flash in the process.
Images: Katie Yu/The CW; Giphy
