Much like its parent show, The Flash has also delivered some amazingly shocking twists over the years. The Flash focuses on Barry Allen and his friends at STAR labs as they fight metahumans and save Central City from various attacks. Thanks to Barry's meta powers, Team Flash usually saves the day fairly easily.
However, there have been some instances where Barry and his team have been totally blindsided by events beyond their control. When the show gets this right, it makes for an absolutely whopping cliffhanger for fans to pore over. Sometimes, though, the twist just falls flat, leaving viewers slightly underwhelmed.
Surprising - The Consequences Of Flashpoint
At the end of The Flash's second season, Barry, who had lost so much and was at the point of despair, threw caution to the wind and ran back in time to save his mom from being murdered by the Reverse-Flash, thus changing his entire timeline, creating the new timeline known as Flashpoint.
Eventually, though, Barry saw sense and tried to reverse what he had done to Time. Unfortunately, while most of his actions were undone, there were a few things that were very different from before. Barry shared his lab with a grumpy Englishman, Iris and Joe were estranged, but most shocking of all, John and Lyla's daughter was now their son.
Saw It Coming - Barry Is Infected By Bloodwork
After featuring a fairly mediocre villain in the previous season, Season 6 of The Flash really stepped up its game with Bloodwork. Bloodwork was the main antagonist of the first half of the season and he was compelling to watch, his motivation was understandable, and he had a personal connection to both Barry and Team Flash.
All this led up to a two-part midseason finale, the cliffhanger of which was promised to be absolutely shocking. While the two episodes were fantastic in their own right, Barry getting taken over was easily predictable the minute Ramsey's infection entered his system. When the change finally happened, no one was really that surprised.
Surprising - Iris/HR's Death
Season 3 was full of curveballs for Team Flash, what with Flashpoint and now this. Early on in the season, Barry saw a future version of Iris meet her demise at the hands of new speedster villain, Savitar. Not only was this traumatic for Barry, but it was also completely shocking for the audience as well. The only drawback was that the rest of the season suffered due to Barry's bad mood.
This was because Barry refused to let Iris die and worked for the rest of Season 3 on finding a way that would prevent Iris's death from occurring. Despite everything, Barry was still unable to save Iris, but it was then revealed that HR Wells had taken Iris's place, using technology to hide his real identity. It was a tragic end to such a short-lived character.
Saw It Coming - Nora Is Barry And Iris's Daughter
Nora actually made her Arrowverse debut in the 2017 annual crossover event, Crisis On Earth-X, as she appeared as a waitress for Barry and Iris's wedding. She popped up sporadically later on in The Flash's fourth season before confirming that she was, in fact, the future daughter of Barry and Iris in the season finale.
While her initial appearances were rather mysterious, the more Nora appeared, the more viewers began to think that she had a connection with Barry and Iris. The most popular fan theory was that she was their daughter from the future and hey presto! They were bang on the money. Perhaps if Nora had only shown up for the crossover, it might have been a bit more of a surprise?
Surprising - Reverse-Flash Kills Cisco
Tom Cavanagh's portrayal of the Reverse-Flash has gone down in Arrowverse history as one of the best villains on all the shows. Masquerading as Earth-1's version of Harrison Wells, Eobard Thawne ran STAR labs, and subsequently Team Flash for about a year until he was unmasked as Barry's arch-nemesis.
The wonderful thing about Thawne was that, in his own warped way, he did actually care about Barry and all the other scientists under his care. In particular, Thawne shared a special bond with Cisco, strengthened by their love of science. Of course, this didn't stop Reverse Flash from putting his hand through Cisco's heart, stunning everyone into shocked silence.
Saw It Coming - Eddie's Death
This entry is a little strange because honestly, we didn't foresee Eddie killing himself at all. Which was great because it was supposed to be a total surprise. On the other hand, though, it was sort of obvious that Eddie was a bit of a spare part and for Iris and Barry to get together, he would have had to leave the series somehow.
We're not saying that Eddie was a bad character – because he wasn't. But as soon as it was revealed that he and Eobard Thawne were related to each other, and the article from the future confirmed that Barry and Iris were married, Eddie didn't really have a place in the show anymore, so it was inevitable that he would be written off fairly shortly.
Surprising - Barry Allen Is Savitar
Okay, this one is surprisingly complicated so just bear with us. In Season 3, the threat of losing Iris once and for all looms over Barry for the whole of the season. So much so, in fact, that he goes into the future to see how they defeated Savitar. Unfortunately, Barry finds Future Barry a broken man, thanks to the loss of his fiancé.
Future Barry tried everything to stop Savitar, up to and including creating Time Remnants of himself. However, Savitar killed all of the Remnants bar one. This Remnant escaped and went back to Ancient Egypt to find the Philosopher's Stone so that it could become Savitar. Thus Barry Allen is the God of Speed.
Saw It Coming - Caitlin Turns Into Killer Frost
Admittedly, the series didn't really intend for this reveal to be a surprise, but it still counts here. Killer Frost first appeared in Season 2 when Team Flash visited Earth-2 to save Harrison Well's daughter, Jesse, from Zoom himself. While they were there, Barry and Cisco encountered an evil version of Caitlin who called herself Killer Frost.
Thankfully, that was Caitlin from Earth-2, but soon after Team Flash got back to their Earth, Caitlin began to exhibit strange symptoms. She hid this from the others but eventually, they all found out. Understandably, Team Flash was fairly shocked but the viewers, having known about this months in advance, were less than shaken.
Surprising - Reverse-Flash Returns
The Flash's fifth season was a bit rubbish if we're being honest. The main antagonist Cicada was kind of boring and didn't present much of a threat. The worst thing he did was take away Cisco's powers, which turned out to be what Cisco wanted all along. Also, Nora West-Allen wasn't as endearing as she could have been and was slightly irritating.
Thankfully, the show seemed to notice the viewers' displeasure and around halfway through the season, they delivered the biggest shock ever: Reverse-Flash was back! Not only was this totally unexpected, but it also made Nora's character arc a lot more interesting, as she was initially in cahoots with Barry's greatest foe at the time.
Saw It Coming - Jay Garrick Is Zoom
A trusted mentor to Team Flash is suddenly revealed to be the season's main antagonist, making things personal between them and the Flash because they killed one of Barry's parents. Sound familiar? That's because it is. That whole storyline played out in Season 1 and it was well-received by critics and fans alike.
However, just because it works, doesn't mean you should do the whole thing over and over again, which is what happened with Zoom. The mystery of Zoom was fairly intriguing but there were only two people Zoom could have been. Thank God it wasn't Harrison Wells again, because that would have just been too much.