SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Into the Void," The Flash Season 6 premiere.
Yes, The Flash just went there. In "Into the Void," the Season 6 premiere, Barry Allen saved Central City to the tune of "Flash's Theme" by Queen.
The episode introduced viewers to Chester P. Runk, who -- in the comics -- is a longtime Flash villain and occasional ally. Like his comic book counterpart, Chester has the ability to transport matter from one dimension to another. In the premiere, he accidentally gained that ability he created a gravitational wave emitter, which formed a black hole. When he brushed it with his arm, he split his consciousness between his body and the black holes.
Throughout the episode, Team Flash encountered black holes that steadily became more powerful -- and more dangerous. Though Cisco devised a method of closing those black holes, Barry refused to use it; he wanted to try to reunite Chester's consciousness and save him. In order to do that, though, Barry needed to enter one of Chester's black holes, grab his consciousness and return it to his body.
As Barry prepared to enter Chester's most powerful black hole yet, Cisco had his playlist lined up. "I've been saving this for the right moment since day one," he said, in a wink to the audience.
"Really, Cisco?" Iris replied.
"The guy's running in an out of a black hole!" Cisco insisted.
"Good point," she acquiesced.
Cisco, Iris and the rest of Team Flash looked on with baited breath as Barry disappeared into the black hole. As they waited, the episode extended the "Flash's Theme" baseline to heighten the tension. Finally, he emerged, mission accomplished, and the song continued apace.
Queen recorded "Flash's Theme" in 1980 for the Flash Gordon film, which was based on the comic strip of the same name. In it, a football player named Flash traveled to space and battled a tyrant called Ming the Mericless for the fate of the Earth. "Into the Void" used the song's chorus, which makes no mention of Gordon but does refer to Flash as "savior of the universe," "king of the impossible" and "a miracle."
Airing Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW, The Flash stars Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanagh, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Nicolet and Hartley Sawyer.