D.C.'s The Flash (tv series)
- Thread starter ghostryder
- Start date
Logan519
New Member
Robinson is correct. Every change made creates a new parallel Timeline/Universe that exists independently from the original. This same thing happened in Back to the future and Star Trek, and was the basis of the show Sliders. The original timeline isn't even the one we watched on the show. In the original timeline, Nora is alive and raises Barry. At some point in the future he becomes the Flash by some other means and eventually Eobard travels back in time. When he kills Nora that creates the second timeline. A Third possible time line is created when Eddie kills himself. However this also means Eobard shouldn't have been erased since he was from a separate Timeline/Universe. Eddie dying would prevent him being born in that timeline, but shouldn't effect the existing Eobard.
My brain hurts. See attached
.
My brain hurts. See attached
.
kegas76
Well-Known Member
This is why time travel is dumb. If you go back to fix something you just fix it in a new timeline, everything is still crap in the reality you came from.
Yes, but the very concept of the DC multiverse hinges on the branching timelines theory.
Absolutely. But it leads me to believe that there is no point in rectifying the past event unless one can later go back to the changed present, which again is a parallel universe.
So everytime one changes something in the past they are creating a parallel universe every single time.
So everytime one changes something in the past they are creating a parallel universe every single time.
Mr Mold Maker
Master Member
It's a show where a particle accelerator exploding gave various people superhuman powers, such as the ability to turn into gas, shoot lasers from their eyes, and run at speeds in excess of Mach 2...
Why is everyone so hung up on the time travel stuff? Seems like a very small piece of a very large puzzle, that they'll surely explain better in season 2...
Why is everyone so hung up on the time travel stuff? Seems like a very small piece of a very large puzzle, that they'll surely explain better in season 2...
I have an interesting theory about the season finale and will detail it out when I get home. Suffice it to say that I think it dovetails nicely with Supergirl.
Banner
Well-Known Member
Probably because time travel and it's implications are the hardest thing to wrap your head around. I can think of tons of cool things to do if I could run a thousand miles an hour, but if someone came from the future to change their past, then I had to go into my past to change my present... it gets the wheels turning!
Okay, here's my thought process. I'm putting it in spoilers because it reveals plot points from the recently leaked Supergirl pilot. You have been warned.
Basically, when Kara and Kal left Krypton, Kara's pod hadn't gotten quite far enough away from the planet when it decided to do an impression of Alderaan. The shockwave knocked her pod off course and into the Phantom Zone, a place where time doesn't matter and, seemingly, people go into a kind of stasis (Kara only remembers the pod going off course before crashing on Earth... this jives with the idea that she didn't age. My thought is that because time doesn't exist in The Phantom Zone, biological processes are halted and memories aren't stored for when you leave, meaning that you are the exact same person upon leaving as you are upon entering). She remained there for 24 years until, for some unknown reason (I will detail out my theory on this below), Kara's pod was released from the Phantom Zone and crashed on Earth. When she crashed, an already adult Superman (presumably 24 years old and already fully realized as Superman) came to her rescue, broke her out of the pod, and took her to live with the Danvers (the scientists who helped Superman understand his powers) and their daughter Alex. Because Kal had no need of her to protect him growing up and because he was fully in the role of Superman, Kara decided to live a normal, human life. She always had her powers, but didn't exercise them other than to keep them in check (like not breaking someone's spine when giving them a hug... she hasn't flown in years). Now, it's twelve years later, making Kara about 25 (given her age of 13 when she left Krypton) and Superman around 36.
Given that Arrow, Flash, and the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl are supposed to be in a shared universe, you're wondering why we haven't heard anything about Superman's exploits on The Flash or Arrow.
Well, I have a nifty explanation that makes sense (to me anyway, but I don't vouch for my sanity here). The season finale of The Flash has Barry running into a wormhole above Central City in an attempt to destabilize it and keep the planet from getting swallowed. Now, this wormhole that formed over Central City, sucking things in, bears a remarkable resemblance to the wormhole to the Phantom Zone in the Supergirl pilot, which we know from the pilot allowed Kara's pod and Fort Ras (the Phantom Zone prison) to leave The Phantom Zone.
We know that, supposedly, Season 2 of The Flash will feature Earth One and Earth Two.
We also know that while the four shows all supposedly exist in the same continuity, CBS wants to keep Supergirl to themselves for a while before any crossovers happen.
What if Supergirl takes place in one of those two universes while The Flash, Arrow, and LoT take place in another? What if the temporal paradox created by the death of Eddie and the erasure of Reverse Flash opened up a portal between the two universes through The Phantom Zone?
If you think of a wormhole using conventional thought processes, it has an entry point and must have an exit point. Whatever goes in HAS to go somewhere, which would displace whatever is already there, causing it to exit the other side.
Given that time is meaningless in The Phantom Zone, it would mean that all time simultaneously exists and doesn't exist in The Phantom Zone. Basically, if you go in, you will arrive at the same time as everyone else. If you leave, you will leave when everyone else does. It doesn't matter if you are there 30 seconds or 30 billion years.
Now, according to the pilot, Fort Ras was released from the Phantom Zone only because they latched on to Kara's pod somehow and followed her out, which would explain why they emerged at the same time.
Given that Arrow, Flash, and the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl are supposed to be in a shared universe, you're wondering why we haven't heard anything about Superman's exploits on The Flash or Arrow.
Well, I have a nifty explanation that makes sense (to me anyway, but I don't vouch for my sanity here). The season finale of The Flash has Barry running into a wormhole above Central City in an attempt to destabilize it and keep the planet from getting swallowed. Now, this wormhole that formed over Central City, sucking things in, bears a remarkable resemblance to the wormhole to the Phantom Zone in the Supergirl pilot, which we know from the pilot allowed Kara's pod and Fort Ras (the Phantom Zone prison) to leave The Phantom Zone.
We know that, supposedly, Season 2 of The Flash will feature Earth One and Earth Two.
We also know that while the four shows all supposedly exist in the same continuity, CBS wants to keep Supergirl to themselves for a while before any crossovers happen.
What if Supergirl takes place in one of those two universes while The Flash, Arrow, and LoT take place in another? What if the temporal paradox created by the death of Eddie and the erasure of Reverse Flash opened up a portal between the two universes through The Phantom Zone?
If you think of a wormhole using conventional thought processes, it has an entry point and must have an exit point. Whatever goes in HAS to go somewhere, which would displace whatever is already there, causing it to exit the other side.
Given that time is meaningless in The Phantom Zone, it would mean that all time simultaneously exists and doesn't exist in The Phantom Zone. Basically, if you go in, you will arrive at the same time as everyone else. If you leave, you will leave when everyone else does. It doesn't matter if you are there 30 seconds or 30 billion years.
Now, according to the pilot, Fort Ras was released from the Phantom Zone only because they latched on to Kara's pod somehow and followed her out, which would explain why they emerged at the same time.
Mr Mold Maker
Master Member
Eh, what the hell. I'll let the wheels turn...
So from my understanding, the original timeline Barry (we'll call him Barry1) becomes the Flash. The crisis happens and he disappears. Eobard1 is born in the future, and decides to go back in time to kill Barry1. He ends up killing Barry2's mother and we have timeline 2. In timeline two Eobard1 kills and replaces Harrison Wells2, making the particle accelerator and causing the Flash2 to exist. Barry2 goes into the past and see's FlashX (Flash1?) who tells him not to save his mother and then chases EobardX (1?) away into an unknown location and fate.
Barry2 returns to timeline 2 and Eobard1 realizes he isn't getting back to timeline 1.
Eddie2 shooting himself shouldn't have affected Eobard1 because he is from a different timeline. Eddie2 only stopped the birth of Eobard2.
It just doesn't quite make sense to me, and I'm sure they'll find a way to explain it all in season 2, especially seeing as time travel will play a big role.
So from my understanding, the original timeline Barry (we'll call him Barry1) becomes the Flash. The crisis happens and he disappears. Eobard1 is born in the future, and decides to go back in time to kill Barry1. He ends up killing Barry2's mother and we have timeline 2. In timeline two Eobard1 kills and replaces Harrison Wells2, making the particle accelerator and causing the Flash2 to exist. Barry2 goes into the past and see's FlashX (Flash1?) who tells him not to save his mother and then chases EobardX (1?) away into an unknown location and fate.
Barry2 returns to timeline 2 and Eobard1 realizes he isn't getting back to timeline 1.
Eddie2 shooting himself shouldn't have affected Eobard1 because he is from a different timeline. Eddie2 only stopped the birth of Eobard2.
It just doesn't quite make sense to me, and I'm sure they'll find a way to explain it all in season 2, especially seeing as time travel will play a big role.
Banner
Well-Known Member
You forgot when Barry accidentally went back a day to save Central City from the tsunami from Weather Wizard part Deux and inadvertently changed the timeline so Eobard ends up not killing Sisco.
The whole world... tangled in... strings.
Mr Mold Maker
Master Member
You're absolutely right... How could I forget about Cisco getting mmm watcha say'd....Which would do what to the timeline? Splinter off into a third timeline? I'm going to put my foot down and say the amount of timelines is too damn high.
Shutting down the wheels, James Spader stole the keys.
glunark
Sr Member
Why is Barry an enemy to a man who wont be born for 140 years?
Won't Barry be dead by then?
How is a man who can run at two times the speed of sound running on a black hole that not even things moving at the speed of light can escape?
And here is something I don't think anyone has mentioned yet, if Eobard Thawn never existed, then Harrison Wells was not murdered, and is still a good guy.
Noone murdered Barry's mum, and his dad is not in prison.
The accelerator was not even built, so there shouldn't be any metahumans, including Barry himself, or firestorm.
So would Sisco be able to see that if the accelerator gave him his powers never even got built?
Won't Barry be dead by then?
How is a man who can run at two times the speed of sound running on a black hole that not even things moving at the speed of light can escape?
And here is something I don't think anyone has mentioned yet, if Eobard Thawn never existed, then Harrison Wells was not murdered, and is still a good guy.
Noone murdered Barry's mum, and his dad is not in prison.
The accelerator was not even built, so there shouldn't be any metahumans, including Barry himself, or firestorm.
So would Sisco be able to see that if the accelerator gave him his powers never even got built?
NuRF
Well-Known Member
I think the vast majority of fan comments are aimed at the "but if Eddie died, and eobard was never born, then he never came back to kill Barry's mum". At least that's all I seem to be reading. No one has yet explained away that paradox to me. Obviously some suggest the paradox is why the anomaly (never called a black hole IIRC) is there. It's the universe fixing itself. What Id like to know, is why Gideon, who is from the original timeline, is able to search historical records for the new splintered timeline. (Historical for her. Rather then us)
Not sure about your other questions, but given that Tom Cavanagh has already been announced as a series regular for next season, I'd say that it looks like he may not be dead after everything shakes out with the timeline(s).
As for the accelerator, IIRC Wells was always destined to build it, Eobard just wanted to speed up the process, so to speak.
Similar threads
