The latest episode of The Flash reveals that Nash Wells (Tom Cavanagh) has been hunting the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), and the reason why may be connected to Cavanagh's Crisis on Infinite Earths character, Pariah. Once again, Cavanagh has appeared on The Flash as another version of Harrison Wells, but this time, he's a self-described Multiversal explorer.
In The Flash season 6, episode 4, "There Will Be Blood", Barry (Grant Gustin) convinces Cisco (Carlos Valdez) to help him cure Ramsey (Sendil Ramamurthy). They receive help from the latest Harrison Wells, aka Nash, who was introduced in The Flash season 6, episode 3 as a scientist and explorer in the vein of Indiana Jones. Nash promises to help Barry and Cisco in exchange for a device called a cryptocircuit. At the end of the episode, Cisco gives Nash the device he requested. But what he does with it is what's interesting.
In the final scene, Nash is seen walking through a tunnel that he previously determined to contain Eternium. In the tunnel, Nash uses the cryptocircuit to detect a holographic projection of the Monitor. Nash watches the Monitor - or possibly the Anti-Monitor - walk through a wall. Nash, believing this to be his hiding place, is about to smash through the wall when the episode ends. Why Nash is chasing the Monitor isn't revealed, but Tom Cavanagh's role as Pariah in the upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover could provide the answer. It could be that Nash is Pariah, and that he's looking for the same thing that Pariah was after in the comics: the secrets of the universe.
Tom Cavanagh's Pariah is a key character from the Crisis comics. In the 1980s Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, Pariah was a scientist dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the universe. He thought he could find the answers he was looking for by searching for the Monitor, considering that the character was believed to be an all-knowing cosmic being. Unfortunately, his search attracted the attention of the Anti-Monitor. Upon discovering Pariah's universe, he destroyed it with anti-matter. Pariah survived, however, thanks to the Monitor. Pariah traveled from universe to universe, blaming himself for everything that happened while also working with other heroes to avert the Crisis and stop the Anti-Monitor.
Earlier, it seemed that Tom Cavanagh was playing not one, but two characters this season: Nash Wells and Pariah. But this new development suggests that Nash and Pariah are one and the same. If so, Nash is directly tied to the events that will unfold as the season moves forward and the Crisis inches closer. Nash may be looking for the Monitor because he wants the same thing that Pariah wanted, but it could be that he's unknowingly on the trail of the Anti-Monitor. If the source material is any indication, the hunt for the Monitor may not end well for Nash (or the universe).