Sure
, The Flash Season 5 episode 1 introduces Nora, Iris and Barry’s daughter from the future. But there’s a much larger plotline to think about, and it involves that mysterious newspaper headline from Season 1: “Flash Vanishes, Missing in Crisis.”
Spoiler for The Flash Season 5 ahead! Last chance...
'The Flash' Season 5 spoilers ahead! DC
So, we always just assumed (hoped?) The Flash returned from said “crisis.” Well, it turns out he didn’t. Nora shows Barry a newspaper headline from 2049: “Flash Still Missing 25 Years Later.” This means Nora has lived almost her entire life without her father. That's the reason she travels back in time to spend time with him at the end of last season. To fully understand the newspaper headline from 2049, it's important to revisit the original "Crisis in 2024" newspaper headline.
Nora brings a copy of the Central City Citizen from 2049 that confirms The Flash goes missing for 25 years. CW
Original “Crisis of 2024” newspaper, explained
The "Flash vanishes, missing in crisis" headline existed all the way back in the pilot episode of
The Flash Season 1.
The Central City Citizen article is written by Iris West-Allen on April 25, 2024. Hidden in Eobard Thawne's time vault in STAR Labs, it described a fight between Flash and Reverse-Flash, and concluded with them both vanishing from time. The disappearance actually made sense back then; that was the version of Barry who went back to the year 2000 to try and stop Reverse-Flash from murdering his mother. But there's been a lot of time-travel since then and it's fairly unclear what "crisis" the paper is referring to now.
Iris West-Allen pens this Central City Citizen article in the future. CW
With Nora staying in the current timeline to hang out with team Flash, it’s possible she could use that projection device (the one she used to show Barry the future newspaper) to give audiences a glimpse of that future fight from 2024. Showrunner Todd Helbing also confirmed Iris will focus on transforming her personal blog into the Central City Citizen, another huge hint that this mysterious "Crisis" will be explored directly this season (finally). Here’s the full text of the article:
After an extreme street battle with the Reverse-Flash, our city's very own Scarlet Speedster disappeared in an explosion of light. The cause of the fight is currently unknown. According to witnesses, The Flash, with help from Starling City's Green Arrow, The Atom, and Hawkgirl, began fighting the Reverse-Flash around midnight last night. The sky took on a deep crimson color as the ensuing battle created the most destruction this city has seen since The Flash first arrived in Central City.
Several trucks were caught in the fray, spilling their contents into the street. Power outages swept nearly twenty city block, between 16th Street and Adams Avenue. Five of those blocks still remain without power. All of the buildings in the area were evacuated by the CCPD, with help from The Atom.
According to reports, as The Flash and Reverse-Flash battled with each other between two overturned tanker trucks, the lightning emanating from the speedsters threatened to ignite spilled oil leaking from one of the trucks.
The smoke from the truck's engine made it difficult to see, but it appeared at one point they were having a very heated conversation before continuing the fight. Then, suddenly, The Flash sped after Reverse-Flash and the two vanished leaving The Atom, Green Arrow and Hawkgirl behind.
An eyewitness who watched the battle from her apartment building before being evacuated said, "It was hard to see, but The Flash and Reverse-Flash were zipping up and down M-- Avenue and then there was a whole bunch of lightning, and then nothing. It was weird."
Other witnesses describe a similar phenomenon: a blinding light followed by darkness as the sky returned to black. And as the --- reverted, it took only a moment to realize The Flash and the Reverse-Flash were gone without a trace.
Central City Police Chief, Joe West gave a press conference in the wee hours of the morning stating, "We don't have many details now. What we do know tonight is Central City's greatest protector vanished in a flash. I only hope he returns just as quickly." A sentiment shared by all who call this great city home.
