Warning: contains major spoilers for The Flash 2021 Annual #1!
The Flash has forced Wally West to revisit the Heroes in Crisis storyline. This is notoriously one of the darkest moments in his history, but the full story about the events at Sanctuary wasn't known until now. With time being rewritten in Infinite Frontier, there's no better time for a semi-retcon and unexpected heroism, which comes in the form of The Flash 2021 Annual #1.
Heroes in Crisis is a nine-issue miniseries from 2018 that has stirred up controversy regarding Wally West's character and treatment. Several major DC characters were at Sanctuary, a rehabilitation facility, when a massacre occurred. What was first believed to be a murder was actually the result of an accident at the hands of Wally West due to the Speed Force. This story has since been lightly retconned to make it so the Flash was manipulated. However, the story now has a completely different reality thanks to the latest Annual issue of The Flash.
The Flash 2021 Annual #1 has the creative team of Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Brandon Peterson, Hi-Fi, Michael Atiyeh, and Steve Wands. For the last few issues, Wally has been traveling through time thanks to direct pulls from the Speed Force. He has gone from one speedster body to another all through time to fix an unknown problem - which is revealed this issue. Wally West is dropped into his own body, during the events of Heroes in Crisis, having to face the darkest moment of his past all over again. However, this time things are different and it is revealed that what happened at Sanctuary isn't actually Wally's fault in any way.
The source of the Speed Force's problems is villainous speedster, Savitar. When Wally is sent back into this moment, Barry and the other heroes are able to isolate the heroes in Sanctuary who were massacred in the Heroes in Crisis series and place them in a time bubble. This bubble pauses time, allowing Wally to evaluate the situation. Roy Harper, however, is outside of the time bubble and learns about his fate at Sanctuary. The death of Roy has been one of the most tragic and long-lasting losses from the series. Seeing the two reunited is exciting, especially since the two team-up, just like in their good old days - however, time can only change so much. In order to get back to his own time, Wally has to pop the time bubble, allowing the explosion to occur once more since it will propel himself and Savitar to where Barry. Green Arrow, and Mister Miracle are waiting. Even though Wally doesn't want this to happen, it does - though not in the way that Heroes in Crisis or the first retconned story showed it.
Ultimately, Roy is the one who pops the bubble, sacrificing himself and everyone else to save the day. Despite knowing what his fate will be, he takes the decision out of Wally's hands and places it into his own. The first semi-retcon of Heroes in Crisis occurred in The Flash #761. In that issue from 2020, it was revealed that Reverse Flash was the one who orchestrated the events at Sanctuary. While this provided a villainous shift to the event, it doesn't have the gravity this latest version does. Even if Wally West was manipulated by a villain, he would've still been largely responsible for the event. Here, however, he really has no hand in it. He's in this position to stop Savitar and Roy makes a heroic sacrifice, wiping his friend's hands of the guilt from Heroes in Crisis - at least until DC decides to torment the Flash again.