The Flash season 5 has featured an amazing number of Easter Eggs hidden within the attractions of The Flash Museum of 2032. "The Death of Vibe" opened up with a flash-forward which gave viewers the first glimpse at how the famous tribute to The Fastest Man Alive will appear in the future of Arrowverse, through the eyes of a young Nora West-Allen. The twelfth episode of the season, "Memorabilia," offered more information on season 5's chief villain Cicada while showcasing the features of The Flash Museum's gift shop.
First appearing in The Flash #154 in August 1965, The Flash Museum was created by the people of Central City as a tribute to their home-town superhero. The museum has appeared in several incarnations over the years, usually with a gold statue of The Flash out in front of it. The museum has been a frequent site for supervillain battles, usually enemies of The Flash out to desecrate his memory. As a result, the building has been rebuilt several times over the years, but the golden statue of The Flash has remained a constant. It's been teased multiple times in The CW show, and now has been properly seen.
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The statue of The Flash is the first thing shown in "The Death of Vibe" in the opening shot of the episode. It is here that it's revealed that the STAR Labs building becomes the site of the Flash Museum in the future of the Arrowverse. Sadly, there wasn't a tour of the entire museum, but The Flash did show the entirety of The Hall of Villains.
The exterior walls of The Hall of Villains are lined with displays devoted to the costumes of some of The Flash's enemies. These include the yellow suit of Reverse Flash (with taychon device), the armor of Savitar, and the costume of The Thinker along with his flying chair and Clifford DeVoe's original Thinking Cap. We also see the costumes of Dr. Light, the second Trickster, Axl Walker, Zoom and Amunet Black.
Between the displays devoted to Reverse Flash and Savitar, there are a series of columns seemingly devoted to The Rogues. Here we see Leonard Snart's cold gun and Mick Rory's flame-thrower, along with Pied Piper's sonic gloves, the wand Cisco Ramon built to counter the powers of The Weather Wizard, one of Captain Boomerang's boomerangs and the swords wielded by The Samuraoid. We even see some more obscure items such as the helmet Jay Garrick was forced to wear as Zoom's prisoner, the yellow helmet General Wade Eiling wore when he was being mind-controlled by Gorilla Grodd and the magnetic gloves Barry Allen wore to safely grab the staff of Vandal Savage.
The most frightening display in the Hall of Villains, at least in the mind of Nora West-Allen, belongs to the villain Cicada. What makes Cicada's display notable is not what it contains but what it does not hold. The only item on display in the furthest alcove of the Hall of Villains is a newspaper whose headline asks "Who Is Cicada?" It is a question that came to dominate the first half of season 5 of The Flash.
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In "Memorabilia," Barry and Iris enter into their daughter Nora's memories of the Flash Museum after her consciousness becomes lost while using Sherloque Wells' Memory Machine. The first thing they see as they follow a young Nora through her memories is the gift shop of the Flash Museum. It is here that we see two boys playing, hitting each other with stuffed animals - a gorilla and a shark. Their dialogue is garbled but the names Grodd and King Shark can be understood, foreshadowing the upcoming battle between the two meta-animal villains.
"The Death of Vibe" offered an in-depth view of the Flash Museum's Hall of Villains. Thankfully, a sign in the hallway notes that Barry Allen's allies are also recognized and the museum has a Hall of Heroes honoring The Flash's friends as well. The gift shop also has a coffee bar, which doubtlessly sells the custom hero and villain themed drinks that have been profiled at C.C. Jitters over the course of The Flash's run.
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As a flabbergasted Barry begins looking at all the merchandise based on his superheroic alter ego, we hear a voice introducing himself as Dexter Myles and welcoming everyone to the Flash Museum, "where history is on the run!" Nora West-Allen made reference to Dexter Myles being the curator of the Flash Museum in her time in the season 5 premiere.
In the comics, Dexter Myles was an out-of-work, classically-trained Shakespearean actor, who helped The Flash stop a bank robbery in The Flash #138. When the Flash Museum was introduced into the comics two years later in The Flash #154, Barry Allen paid it forward and recommended Myles for the job of the museum's curator. It was a role which the actor threw himself into with enthusiasm and based on the boisterous tone of the voice we hear, it would seem that the Arrowverse's version of Dexter Myles has a theatrical background as well.
To Barry's delight, there is a wide variety of Flash swag with his picture on it, including "Flash toys and Flash phones and Flash rings." Most of what we see in the shop is real-world The Flash merchandise, including lanyards, badge-holders, coffee mugs, balloons, balls, tumblers, costumes, t-shirts, hats and action figures (we can see animated versions of Superman, Batman, Aquaman and Green Lantern on the side of one action figure's packaging). When an already-weary Iris asks if this is going to go to his head, Barry holds up a Flash bobble-head and cutely says that it just might.
Naturally, the Flash Museum sells comic books based on the Flash's exploits and the episode works a few clever Easter Eggs into the books we see. The young Nora is seen reading a copy of The Flash #172 - the second issue of the comics in which Cicada appeared and the first one in which The Flash faced Cicada directly. A rack briefly visible over Barry's shoulder is filled with copies of the second printing of The Flash #1 from the recent DC Rebirth revival series. We also see The Flash #39 from the current Rebirth series, whose cover proclaims that "Grodd Is Back!" - likely another bit of foreshadowing regarding the Grodd Vs. King Shark episode.