The Flash kicked off its eighth season with a five-episode "Armageddon" event, which has Barry Allen doing things both fans and showrunner Eric Wallace have been waiting eight years to see.
"Then I would also say, get ready to see the Flash -- maybe as soon as in 'Part 1' -- do some things that you've been waiting for him to do for eight years, because I know I have [laughs]," Wallace said in an interview with CBR.
While Wallace did not specify what those things might be, he did say that "Armageddon" is unlike any other Arrowverse crossover that came before it. For one thing, according to Wallace, "Armageddon" won't "see a moment with 20 heroes and villains all fighting at once," both because the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic made it unsafe, but because it wasn't the story they were trying to tell. In fact, Wallace clarified that "Armageddon" is not a crossover at all, but a "five-part special Flash event, which means it's a Flash story, a Flash graphic novel that's a little bit bigger, a little bit wilder."
Wallace continued, "I think it's the most emotional story yet for Barry, especially because of the ramifications of what happens as a result of 'Armageddon.'" In the same interview, Wallace explained that the story that evolved into "Armageddon" as it exists now began four years ago when he first joined the series as showrunner. "Oh my goodness. The journey begins four years ago, at the end of 'Crisis on Earth-X,' which was in [The Flash] Season 4," said Wallace. "That was the first year I was on The Flash."
"Armageddon" pits Grant Gustin's Barry Allen and the rest of Team Flash against the telepathic alien Despero (Tony Curran). While this is not a crossover, it does feature several characters from other Arrowverse series, including Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning (Cress Williams), Ryan Wilder/Batwoman (Javicia Leslie), Mia Smoak/Green Arrow (Katherine McNamara), Ray Palmer/Atom (Brandon Routh), and Ryan Choi (Osric Chau), who appeared in the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover.
Wallace also stated that the two characters crucial to the "Armageddon" story were Batwoman and Black Lightning. "The story of 'Armageddon' cannot be told [without] Black Lightning and without Batwoman," Wallace sait. "They had to be in it. So that's really where we started, right? It turned out better than I even imagined, because now we have these wonderful scenes between Cress and Grant [Gustin], which we saw a little bit of in Season 6, that are taken to a whole new level."
The Flash Season 8 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
Source: CBR