Josh Williamson explains Bart Allen's Return to the DC Universe

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Flash #50 by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi and Steve Wands, on sale now.

Flash #50 is officially on shelves and brought with it sever major revelations for the Rebirth-era DC Universe. Not only did it feature the return of a beloved character who hasn't been around since before the New 52, it also heavily teased what's to come for the entire Flash Family and beyond. "Flash War" may have reached its conclusion, but the story is far from over.

With the Source Wall shattered and the Speed Force in chaos, Hunter Zolomon has successfully tapped into mysterious other forces -- the Sage Force and the Strength Force -- and he's looking for a way to access the mysterious Still Force to have the complete set. Worse yet? He's still very much at large and no one is quite sure what to expect from him next.

We sat down with writer Joshua Williamson to get a look at what, exactly, Hunter might have on his mind, what to expect from the recently returned Impulse, and just where the Flash might be running next.

CBR: So I have to ask about Bart. The Force Wall broke, and that's where he's coming back from, we know that much, but where is he fitting into the whole picture? Does anyone remember him? He hasn't actually been acknowledged yet as far as the people having these temporal seizures are concerned. Now that he's back, will people know who he is?

Joshua Williamson: I can't really get into that too much, because it's stuff that hasn't been announced yet, but there's a very big plan. I can probably give you my answer next month, but I can't talk about it yet. That was the thing about timing this the way that we did. I wanted to make sure that it was actually something that would surprise people. That meant doing it a little bit in advance.

So that means you probably can't talk about the way we get a look at some other members of the Flash family here, too. We've been teased with Jay for a while now, but now that Hypertime and time travel are off the table, is that something that we can also just kind of expect to come later? What's coming up?

One thing is from the beginning is, really, that a lot of the stuff we did in Flash #50 is sort of giving you a peek idea of stories we're going to be telling in The Flash for a while. It's really neat, kind of laying it out on the table before hand.

We're going to get through a lot in the next issues, which are going to explore a little bit of the new course -- it's all about Wally and what Wally is going through, post-war. I don't think it's secret what's happening with Wally after this, and what book he's going into -- so you can, you know, you can fill in the blanks. Then, [Flash] #52 through 57 are all about the new Forces and realizing how dangerous they are.

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Speaking of the new Forces, can you talk a bit about the Still Force? It's the one we haven't really seen in action and it feels very mysterious.

It's the opposite of about moving forward, the opposite of keeping things in motion. Like, if you think about the the multiverse running an engine that constantly has a foot on the gas, the Still Force is like putting on the emergency brake. If you do that when you're moving, you've crashed your car, right? In the opposite reaction. It's all about not moving, never moving, to the point where entropy and breakdown start to happen -- all that stuff Scott [Snyder] is doing [in Justice League] starts to happen.

It's not about going backwards, though... There's a scene in Justice League #7, I think. It's one of my favorite scenes Scott's ever done. It really dives into a lot of this stuff -- so I think a lot of the answers that will be there, eventually.

At the end of "Flash War," Hunter Zolomon is still out there, he's still at large. What's next for him? And what's next for Wally and Barry?

Hunter has a plan. Hunter has a lot of stuff he needs to do and that'll all be explored -- It'll be a while, though, because I really want to focus on some other stuff in the book. And I think moving forward with Barry especially -- Barry's still the Flash but right now, but the stuff that I'm writing for him -- it's been gearing up for a really long time, trying to solidify who Barry is and what separates him from Wally.

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I think showing you different ideas of who the Flashes are is a big part of it. In #50, we see that Wally is the fastest man alive, but he got there because of Barry inspiring and motivating him. That says something about both characters, and that's a testament to Barry, that he's the character that inspires you. That's what make him the Flash, that's what separates him from everyone else.

Before I let you go, can you tease anything we can expect to see coming up?

Things are going to slow down a little bit with the new Forces arc coming up against everything but then, by issue 58, we're just going to ramp up. I look at everything, and I'm like, "Oh, my God, this story is getting bigger and bigger." The villain that we introduced at the end of 50, that's going to be a big, big player. The quest for Barry to become the fastest man alive again will be a big part of the story.