Arrow and The Flash have made it absolutely obvious by this point that there’s more to their superhero universes than they have shown. From clear references to Wayne Tech, to more subtle nods to the existence of Green Lantern, these shows regularly treat fans to allusions of a greater universe. Now, according to a deleted scene from The Flash, Aquaman may even exist within the same world as Barry Allen. Check out the clip below and see for yourself.
The deleted scene via EW comes from the pilot episode of the series. Barry Allen has just returned from his visit to Starling City – during Season 2 of Arrow – to find his surrogate father Joe West impatiently waiting for him. As the two walk, Joe begins to explain that Barry needs to stop going off on wild goose chases searching for the impossible – such as his recent trip to Amnesty Bay to search for a man who allegedly had the ability to talk to fish. Astute DC fans will immediately know that Amnesty Bay is small town in Maine where Arthur Curry – colloquially known as Aquaman – hails from, and that the ability to talk to fish is one of the hero’s often mocked powers.
Because the scene was deleted from the pilot episodes, it is unclear as to whether or not we should consider it a canon addition to The CW’s DC mythos. If we elect to consider it part of the continuity, then it has far-reaching implications for this specific universe. So far, the explosion of Central City’s particle accelerator created most of the meta humans encountered by The Flash and Arrow – with The Flash’s first season ending on a cliffhanger realization that there were others out there who existed prior to that event. Having an established Aquaman – a heavy-hitter in the DC universe – show up at some point could go a long way towards potentially bringing Green Lantern, Batman, or even Superman to The CW.
The accepted existence of Aquaman in this universe could eventually see his introduction somewhere down the line, possibly as an addition to the ensemble of Legends of Tomorrow. While Jason Momoa is already playing the King of Atlantis in the upcoming slate of DC films, The Flash’s introduction of the multiverse makes it entirely possible the multiple iterations of the same character could at some point exist.
On the small screen, Aquaman has achieved modest success at best, having been previously portrayed by Alan Ritchson on Smallville, and Justin Hartley in the poorly received Aquaman pilot. These versions of the character came around long before DC had established such a strong foothold on live-action superhero television, so perhaps it's time to give Aquaman another shot. The Flash returns to The CW Tuesday October 6, and we can only guess at what other characters will be alluded to in the near future.
