If you’ve been reading DCComics.com for a while, you may, if you can remember all the way back to the beginning of Rebirth, have read my review of The Flash Vol.1: Lightning Strikes Twice collection that introduced us to the villain of tonight’s episode—Godspeed! Rumors have been swirling since Godspeed made his debut in this early Rebirth storyline that the Speed Force-infused villain was somehow going to find his way onto the show.

Though, before I get much further, I just want to say… How awesome is it to have The Flash back on television with some new episodes?!? I, for one, am pleased to be over that WAY TOO LONG three-week break!

In Flash circles, there’s something of an ongoing debate about whether or not the villain of the series needs to be a speedster. If Barry Allen needs to be matched both in intellectual strength AND in metahuman abilities in order to create the best foe. Well, if this is true—and I’m not saying it is—Godspeed is a good villain to bring to the show. Harrison Wells was both those things in the first season of The Flash all wrapped up in a tantalizing mystery to boot. Godspeed (and his comic book alter ego August Heart) is an experimental scientist on the same level of intelligence as Barry Allen and a speedster of comparable agility. Honestly, I can’t wait to see him on the show, but what’s extra cool to think and speculate about are all the things Godspeed’s arrival on the show, even if it’s only for this one episode, may ultimately herald.

At the end of The Flash’s fourth season, we saw a lightning storm. Different colors rained down from the sky in the wake of the Thinker’s destruction. We’re now quickly approaching the end of season five and there’s a pretty heavy implication that the lightning storm was a little closer to what writer Josh Williamson and artist Carmine Di Giandomenico created in their Godspeed storyline.

What could be really cool about this is the lightning storm no longer has to tie back to Nora Allen, but it could. Perhaps her traveling through time created the storm that infused Godspeed with his powers and gave us what, in my opinion, is one of the coolest speedster suits the show has seen in a long while.

Readers familiar with Lightning Strikes Twice also know that if Godspeed is around, it also opens the door for a whole bunch of new speedsters to emerge and populate the future seasons of The Flash. I’ve mentioned this in a bunch of places here on DCComics.com, but the post-Godspeed character I would be most excited about seeing is Dr. Meena Dhawan. Or Avery Ho from The Justice League of China. Both of whom debut alongside Godspeed.

Now, I seriously doubt we’ll be seeing either of them in tonight’s episode. But the fact that The Flash is now dipping into Barry’s Rebirth-era adventures suggests that the door to their eventual appearance on the show has never been wider.

What we will see in tonight’s episode, though, are some serious glimpses into Nora West-Allen’s life before she traveled back in time. Now, you know, Nora learned most of her facts concerning her father through the Flash Museum. I’m not sure how much, if any, we’ll see of the museum tonight, but I’m hopeful. In fact, I’m always holding out hope we’ll eventually get the Flash Museum in its full and complete glory. We’ve already had so many glimpses of it—including in Nora’s memories, which I guess can be considered flash forwards. Of course, I super want to see the Flash Museum arrive in the “present day” timeline of the show. If my chance to see such a thing come to life means yet another bad guy across the paths of Team Flash, I can completely live with it.

In some of the Flash’s more recent Rebirth stories, we’ve learned that there are additional “Forces” present in the DC Universe besides the Speed Force. This isn’t a development strictly tied to Godspeed, but it could be a way to allow for a greater diversity of threats to Team Flash in future seasons that stretch a little beyond the typical super-villains we are used to seeing.

PLUS, the introduction of these forces ties into some of Barry Allen’s children in the current comic book continuity. It would make sense to introduce the new forces to take down the new threat presented by Godspeed if Nora is to remain a full-time cast member of The Flash. I doubt we’re very likely to see any of Barry and Iris’ other children, but the couple is young and they certainly have the time to have more than one child—especially if the Flash turns out to not disappear in that Crisis!

But the Arrowverse’s take on Crisis is still over six months off. There’s so much Godspeed—and the writers of The Flash—could get up to between now and then!
 

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CST) on The CW. For more on Godspeed and tonight's episode, read our exclusive interview with director Danielle Panabaker!

Ashley V. Robinson writes about TV, movies and comics for DCComics.com and is a regular contributor to the Couch Club, our weekly television column. You can find her on Twitter at @AshleyVRobinson and on the Jawiin YouTube channel.