Per usual of these shows, the final season of CW 'Arrowverse' shows acts as an emotional sendoff to these characters who the audience has come to grow quite fond of over the years.
'Arrow' had done this a couple of years ago, concluding the story of Oliver Queen with a condensed season-long run.
I guess you can speculate the fact that there was not "really" a villain directly connected to Oliver in the character of The Anti-Monitor, however, the entirety of the final season revolved around Oliver working with The Monitor in order to prepare for the coming Crisis.
This year, 'The Flash' is ending with its ninth season, and I have proposed some theories of who the villain, or villains, could be.
Let me start off by saying for those who are unaware, The Flash season 9 will be continuing with their newest style of storytelling in a season, with the graphic novel formats. This format splits the season up into two parts, enabling the show to tell more stories per season, making each season feel fresh by not devoting their 20-episode-long runs to one continuous storyline.
Red Death has been confirmed to be filling the role of the villain for the first half of the season, as Ryan Wilder from her titular show 'Batwoman'. Many set photos have since been released, providing a first look at what Red Death will look like, and it is very intriguing.
The villain(s) for the second half of the season will be the most significant because the second half of the season will be the closing arc of the season, and the overall show as a whole.
Obviously, the top candidate would be Reverse Flash, considering he was the first villain on the show and The Flash's greatest enemy to date. While his story was wrapped last season, I have a feeling the writers will compose some idea as to why he will return once more.
Now, why do I think this?
Only because they have done that same dance for the last 8 seasons!
I genuinely would not know how Thawne would return, especially because at the end of last season, Nora confirmed that there is no trace of him anywhere in the timeline.
In season 2, Thawne came back shortly after he discovered his powers, and after he foresaw his fate to be The Flash's greatest nemesis. A Thawne like that from the future could possibly return later than when he was supposed to. After all, the timeline has changed immensely since then, which is a strong reason for how he could possibly return.
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Cobalt Blue is a brand new face to the show -- and I say "is" because of his characters tease we got at the end of last season. While I do not know much about this character, there is one thing I do know, and that is he will be played by Eddie Thawne.
Eddie returned last season as the manifestation of Iris's grief, during the Deathstorm arc. When he was speaking to her, he was convinced that his death back in season one was pointless, as Thawne kept coming back.
His rage and feelings of insignificance toward Team Flash would be understandable motivations for his turning into a villain; he just wanted to be the hero.
If the show could connect Eddie to that Cobalt Blue tease in 2049, that would be spectacular, but I am not raising my hopes too high.
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Zoom has been a character that the show has not ruined yet, but who I would love to see the return of in the final season for one more showdown between Barry.
Showrunner Eric Wallace has expressed his interest in Zoom and had planned for a long time to ensure his return to the show. The closest bit of his return came last season, when it was reported on a future date that Godspeed and Zoom both destroyed Central City.
Making this headline come true by bringing not only Zoom, but Godspeed back as well would be such a fan service!
Zoom is my favorite Flash villain of all time, and while Godspeed was presented as a Power Rangers villain in his own arc, he had "redeemable" moments here and there.
We already know that Godspeed is locked up in an Argus prison, just without his memory of who Barry is. Zoom is gone, unfortunately, but like Thawne, I am sure the show can come up with some way to bring him back.
Who would you want to see pose as a threat for The Flash in his final season?