It’s been a long time coming, but after seven seasons, The Flash is finally introducing one of the most integral members of the Scarlet Speedster’s mythos. In late March, it was announced that Jordan Fisher had been cast as Bart Allen, a.k.a. Impulse, and he’ll recur throughout the final chunk of The Flash Season 7. Now we finally have our first look at Fisher’s Bart suited up as Impulse, and the picture is a nice homage to one of the character’s most memorable moments from the comics in recent years.
As you’ll see below, Jordan Fisher’s Impulse is posed just like Impulse was at the end of The Flash #50, which was written by Joshua Williamson and illustrated by Howard Porter. Take a look!
It’s nice to see Jordan Fisher’s Bart Allen rocking the same Impulse color scheme from the comics; he even has the yellow goggles! As for why that comic book panel has so much significance, it marked the original Bart’s return to the DC Universe after being absent from the New 52 reboot (during that era, Bart’s name was simply used as an alias by Bar Torr, a different Kid Flash). It’s worth noting that Bart’s return happened because Wally West and Barry Allen broke the Force Barrier, which also resulted in the Strength, Sage and Still Forces being unleashed onto the world, a storyline that The Flash series has been putting its own twist on.
So now we know what Bart Allen’s Impulse costume looks like on The Flash TV series, but what can we specifically expect from the character? Well, he’ll debut in Season 7’s 17th episode, a.k.a. the show’s 150th episode, which is also bringing back Jessica Parker Kennedy’s Nora West-Allen, a.k.a. XS. Rather than being Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen’s grandson like in the comics, Jordan Fisher’s Bart will instead be their son, who’s described as being “fastest teenager on the planet,” but having a “penchant for wildly impulsive behavior.” As such, Barry and Iris will need to train him and teach him the value of patience so he’ll be ready to help Team Flash take on their “biggest threat yet.”
At this point, it’s unclear if the Bart and Nora we’re seeing in The Flash’s 150th episode both come from a new future, or if that only applies to Bart, and the Nora who’s appearing is the same one we spent time with in Seasons 4 and 5. Either way, Bart’s introduction adds another speedster into the mix, and as already mentioned, we’ll be seeing more of him after we hit this momentous milestone for the series. In the comics, Bart is also the fourth individual to inherit the Flash mantle, following behind Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West. So if Grant Gustin’s Barry ever decides to retire from superheroing and Keiynan Lonsdale’s Wally is comfortable sticking with his yellow costume, perhaps there’s a chance Bart might one day fill those Flash shoes.
New episodes of The Flash air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. While we wait for more news about what the series has coming up for the rest of Season 7 and beyond, be sure to look through our 2021 summer TV premiere schedule to get caught up on when your favorite shows are airing.
