Acting on Impulse
The Flash is just getting started with the real part of the new season after finalizing what would have been the end of the last one if not for the pandemic. Given that COVID meant a late start this season, that doesn’t give us a whole lot of time to work with. Exactly how long is still unknown. Usually, you expect around 22-23 episodes for a full season of a standard show but this time they haven’t released a number. One thing that has been released though is that Bart Allen is about to make his Arrowverse debut.
This isn’t Bart’s live action debut though. That honor belongs to Smallville which introduced the the speedster who would get codenamed Impulse on the show. While the character was interesting enough, I’m sure things will be a lot better this time around with Jordan Fisher taking on the role in a series where there are actual super-heroes everywhere. Season 5 brought us XS, but in the show, her name was Nora instead of Jennie Ognats. She was also Iris and Barry’s daughter from the not too distant future instead of their grandchild (via their daughter Dawn) from the time of the Legion of Super-Heroes. In the 31st century, Dawn’s brother Don has a son, Bart Allen, who is sent to the past and becomes Impulse. Well, it looks like the Arrowverse XS and Impulse are going to be brother and sister instead of cousins.
In season 5, XS disappears making you wonder if she will still exist, but in last week’s episode of The Flash, a delusion version of Iris mentions her and Barry’s children. This could have meant anything or nothing given as it wasn’t real but given that the part of Bart has been cast, we can only hope that Nora will still be around too. Bart’s introduction is slated for the 150th episode of the show. To put this in perspective, season 6 ended on episode 133 which means we’ll be up to episode 17 of season 7 before we’ll get to see him and we’re only on number 6 right now. This will give us a bunch of time to build up to a reason for Bart to be there. In the comics, it was so he could be trained by Wally since his connection to the speed force right from the start had him aging at an accelerated rate. While this could be a possibility given how zen Wally has become, we’d have to hope that with this being Barry’s child in the present, Wally would still be around to just train him without having to time travel. Another possibility is that Iris is (or will be) pregnant and that the pregnancy will be accelerated leading to the comic situation happening in the present day very soon. There are so many possible answers given we’ve got another 11 episodes to go that we’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully Jordan Fisher will do the part justice and make for an interesting ending arc to the season. If he’s anything like in the comics, what Barry and Iris dealt with with Nora will be nothing compared to what Bart will be up to.
