Warning: Spoilers for The Flash season 8, episode 13
The ending to The Flash season 8’s Deathstorm story doesn’t rule out theories about the character being used as setup for a major Green Lantern story. Robbie Amell’s Deathstorm, who has important Green Lantern connections in DC Comics, proved to be a challenging adversary for Team Flash. But despite all his power, he couldn’t take down a powered-up Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker).
The Flash season 8, episode 13, titled “Death Falls,” concluded the show’s Deathstorm arc, which provided several twists and turns along the way. One of the biggest was the villain reveal itself. The resurrected Ronnie Raymond standing revealed as the Arrowverse’s take on Deathstorm had a lot of implications, though many of them didn’t end up panning out over the course of the story. In DC Comics, Deathstorm is an undead Firestorm created to serve as a member of Nekron’s Black Lantern army. For this reason, his debut in The Flash season 8 sparked theories that the show was secretly building up to the Arrowverse, utilizing Nekron as a major crossover villain.
Nothing about Deathstorm’s demise in “Death Falls” disproves the Nekron theories. He claimed he was born from Ronnie’s sacrifice, but his backstory explanation reveals that he’s actually been around for thousands of years before the Singularity incident. Ronnie’s death just gave him power and a way to leave the place he came from. What this means is that Deathstorm could still have an unseen creator that predates what happened during the Singularity. Nekron from Green Lantern’s comics is an ancient cosmic entity, so he, too, would likely be as old as Deathstorm and could be the one who’s really behind his Arrowverse origin story.
A Deathstorm-Nekron link is still possible. After all, it’s worth noting that the show isn’t disputing or shying away from a Green Lantern connection. In his talk with Frost, he namedropped Maltus, a planet that originated in Hal Jordan’s stories. He also mentioned living through “the blackest of nights,” which is yet another reference to the Green Lantern crossover where Nekron (and Deathstorm) brought chaos to the DC Universe. Plus, Deathstorm’s motivations and hunger for grief are very similar to how the Black Lanterns gained power from death. The Arrowverse villain even called himself the “master of death,” which perfectly fits with how Nekron – a manifestation of death – was characterized in DC Comics.
So while Deathstorm has been beaten, his conflict with Team Flash could still serve as setup for a Blackest Night adaptation in a later Arrowverse crossover, as the show’s portrayal of Deathstorm doesn’t deviate from the show’s depiction of Black Lanterns. It’s at least possible that he was the first of many that Nekron will send to Earth. If and when the Arrowverse finally delivers on its Green Lantern payoff with David Ramsey’s John Diggle, Nekron and his undead allies could force a massive superhero team-up.
The Flash releases new episodes on Wednesdays on The CW.