The Flash has featured time travel from almost the very beginning of the series, and the Season 4 premiere made it quite clear that the show isn't done with time travel yet. The definitive reveal that the Mystery Girl who had been popping up since the big Arrow-verse crossover was indeed Barry and Iris' daughter from the future proved that more timeline shenanigans were in the works, with the Season 5 premiere likely to explain how Nora West-Allen had travelled back to introduce herself to her parents in 2018. Well, new images from the Season 5 premiere indicate that more time travel will happen than we expected. Take a look:
That right there is Barry Allen back in his Season 1 Flash suit! The Scarlet Speedster has gone through several versions of his suit over the years of the series so far, and Grant Gustin himself revealed a version of the Season 5 suit that proves it is a far cry from what he wore in the first season. The biggest giveaway is that the symbol on his chest is a lightning bolt against a red background rather than against a white background, as it has been for the past few years.
While we can't necessarily rule out Barry needing to wear his Season 1 suit again, it's more likely that we're looking at Barry Allen circa Season 1. The big question now is why Season 1 Barry will be back on screen in the Season 5 premiere. The possibilities are that past Barry raced into the future, current Barry raced back to the past, or Nora first popped out of the Speed Force in 2014 rather than 2017, when viewers got their first sighting of her. Barry's expression in the first image doesn't give anything away, but he looks surprised and intrigued behind his cowl in a second image:
Personally, my money is on Season 1 Barry appearing in the Season 5 premiere via a Nora flashback, confirming that Nora accidentally turned up a few years earlier than intended. The look on Barry's face could indicate that he sees something that piqued his interest -- some purple lightning, perhaps? -- but not enough that he would recognize her as another speedster. If this is the case, the next question is whether Nora had to stick around 2014 and wait for the normal passage of time before reaching out to Team Flash in 2017 or if she raced back through time yet again.
As Barry's daughter, Nora would be believable as somebody who messes with time without thinking too far ahead about consequences. Hopefully she won't need to create her own Flashpoint to learn a valuable lesson! We'll have to wait and see. Season 5 of The Flash will premiere on Tuesday, October 9 at 8 p.m. ET as the first Arrow-verse show to debut in the 2018 fall lineup.
