As a character who can move so quickly that he can normally break the rules of space and time, the Flash often deals with the consequences of time travel, which usually involve villains traveling back to Earth's relative present from the far future to torment the Scarlet Speedster and his alterations to established history which created far-reaching ripple effects to the reality of the DC Universe. However, among the more recent time-traveling figures the Flash has encountered are alternate future versions of himself both in comic books and on his eponymous Arrowverse television series.
Now, CBR is taking a look at is a look at the two most notable alternate future versions of Barry Allen, Hot Pursuit and the Arrowverse's incarnation of Savitar, who confront the Scarlet Speedster in his present for the fate of Central City.
Hot Pursuit
As the DC Universe moved towards the epic comic book crossover Flashpoint and the resulting line-wide relaunch as part of the New 52 publishing initiative, the main Flash ongoing series, by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul, saw the arrival of a new mysterious speedster in Central City using the alias Hot Pursuit. First appearing in 2011's The Flash #6, Hot Pursuit had mysteriously lost his own connection to the Speed Force and needed a futuristic motorbike to access the extra-dimensional power source. He travels back from an unspecified timeline to confront the main timeline's Barry Allen.
Using his Cosmic Motorcycle, Hot Pursuit searches Central City for a power source to fuel his motorbike shortly after his arrival. This causes the futuristic hero to drain power from the Central City Police Department, putting him on a collision course with the Flash. Barry learns that this new, time-traveling figure is actually himself for an alternate future who traveled back to stop a time anomaly from disrupting the space-time continuum by causing Flashpoint. Originally believing the anomaly to be Barry's grandson Bart Allen, another resident from the far future, Hot Pursuit learns the anomaly is actually the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne.
Hot Pursuit tries to use a baton to negate Reverse-Flash's connection to the Speed Force, only to learn that Reverse-Flash draws his power from the Negative Speed Force, which effectively makes the baton useless. Thawne then uses his superpowers to rapidly age Hot Pursuit to death. Subsequently, Barry himself would travel back in time to stop Thawne from murdering his mother, inadvertently bringing about Flashpoint as the true anomaly.
Savitar
Throughout Season 3 of The Flash, the team was confronted by Savitar, a new speedster villain in Central City who's the self-proclaimed God of Speed. Wearing an all-encompassing armor, Savitar's identity remained a mystery for much of the season, as Barry and Team Flash learn that the new antagonist is both apparently stronger and faster than the Flash, using his armor to tap further into the Speed Force.
By the end of the season, it is revealed that Savitar is actually a time remnant created by Barry himself at some point in an alternate future timeline, where he became an isolated, unloved shadow of the Scarlet Speedster. Scarred by his attempted sacrifice, this version of Barry grew insane and took on the identity of Savitar, before traveling back to the relative present to murder Iris West and prevent his creation. Briefly working with Killer Frost, Savitar is eventually tricked by H.R. Wells as Iris fatally shoots Savitar during his final confrontation with Barry in the Season 3 finale.
Returning Tuesday, October 8 at 8 pm on The CW, The Flash stars Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanagh, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Nicolet and Hartley Sawyer.