Warning: Spoilers for The Flash season 8, episode 10
There’s only one way The Flash season 8 can truly bring back Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) in the Arrowverse. The series is teasing his return, but The Flash season 8’s villain setup gives the impression that Caitlin is headed for a heartbreaking revelation. As things stand, there are plenty of reasons to believe that the Black Flame isn’t the ghost of Caitlin’s dead husband.
The Flash season 8, episode 10, titled “Reckless”, ended with Caitlin Snow coming face to face with the mysterious Black Flame, who spoke to her using Ronnie’s words. This, along with the promo for the following episode, indicated that Caitlin will be on a mission to save Ronnie, who may have evolved into the Black Flame. However, The Flash has already cast doubt on the idea that Ronnie has come back from the dead. Through Chester’s experience and what they learned about the Black Flame’s previous victims, Team Flash knows that the Black Flame can mimic the forms of the dead, which provides an easy explanation for Firestorm’s apparent return.
While there is evidence to suggest that the Black Flame isn’t Ronnie, it’s not necessarily impossible that The Flash really is bringing him back. The reveal about how Black Flame’s connection to the dead may have been used to justify the doubts that Team Flash – and viewers – will have about him being the real Firestorm. As for how this could work, The Flash can tie it directly to the events of his alleged “death”. Ronnie dying after being sucked into a black hole can be retconned since there was no body. It’s at least possible that sacrificing himself to stop the singularity in the season 2 premiere destroyed his corporeal form, but didn’t kill him completely. It may be that Ronnie has been trapped somewhere without a physical body.
Revealing that Ronnie didn’t truly die and that his spirit or residual energy survived the singularity is the only way The Flash season 8 can bring back the real Ronnie Raymond. The complex nature of Firestorm’s nuclear powers at least makes this scenario a possibility. One detail that supports this theory is the hint about the Black Flame having powers related to nuclear and cold fusion, which does draw some interesting Firestorm comparisons. As for why he’d be killing people, there’s a chance that whatever happened in the black hole twisted him somehow.
Since The Flash has already laid the groundwork for Caitlin to find out that the Black Flame isn’t Robbie Amell's Firestorm, the series using Ronnie as a fakeout would be a predictable outcome to say the least. With that in mind, the only way the show’s Firestorm story can offer a surprising ending is if it actually does confirm Ronnie Raymond’s return. And perhaps through a scientific solution, Team Flash can find a way to complete Firestorm’s resurrection.
The Flash releases new episodes on Wednesdays on The CW.