Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Heroes in Crisis #8

The DC Universe was rocked when the Heroes in Crisis event began with a superhero mass murder. Now the hero responsible for the deaths has been revealed... and the killer's identity will tear fans apart all over again.

The first issue of Heroes in Crisis ended with Harley Quinn the only survivor of the killing spree at Sanctuary, DC's secret treatment facility for struggling heroes. Well, the only survivor besides Booster Gold, the apparent murderer. But now that the truth is finally out, fans shouldn't feel guilty about suspecting Harley or Booster did it--because that's exactly what the killer wanted them to think. Needless to say, MASSIVE SPOILERS are coming below.

*

*

*

*

SPOILERS AHEAD

*

*

*

*

Yes, Wally West is The Sanctuary Killer

Wally West Heroes in Crisis Confession

The story structure and ending of the last Heroes in Crisis didn't reveal the identity of the killer explicitly, but hinted it strongly enough to get Flash fans wishing it was all misdirection. Sadly, it wasn't, as Heroes in Crisis #8 begins with Wally West's own confession. Not offered like the other patients, but given with blood splattered across the walls, post-massacre. And over the course of the issue Wally explains how his mental trauma over losing his family made him do the unthinkable. But calling what Wally did "murder" might not be fair, since the actual events are... a bit more complicated.

RELATED: The FUTURE Flash is Barry & Wally in One Body

The identity of the killer will guarantee an uproar, but writer Tom King has framed Heroes in Crisis as an unapologetic, and unguarded look into mental illness from the beginning. So for those who have struggled with PTSD, depression, or any of the other afflictions that brought heroes to Sanctuary, Wally's nagging belief may strike an honest chord. As those managing his treatment reassured him that he was not alone in his pain, or his grief, and that what he was experiencing wasn't unique to him at all... he couldn't believe them. Their comforting words might apply to everyone else, but not him. He was sick. He was too broken. And he had to know the truth for sure.

The Flash Killed Everyone With The Speed Force

Wally West Heroes in Crisis Deaths

The aforementioned confessions--videos recorded by the heroes in which they verbalize ('confess') the secrets they can't or won't accept--were designed to be instantly destroyed for security. But Wally was so desperate to know if he was truly alone in his pain, and if there really were other heroes struggling as he was in their own anonymous versions of Sanctuary, he traveled at impossibly fast speeds to observe all of the confessions faster than they could be broken down and erased. In a single instant, he witnessed countless other heroes' fears, regrets, guilt, shame, pain, desperation, and trauma. And even for the fastest man alive, the emotional toll was too much for Wally to process.

He fled Sanctuary in as aggravated and overwhelmed a state as he had ever experienced, dropping to his knees beneath the weight of the DC heroes' suffering. And for a split second, failed to hold back the Speed Force that he and other speedsters rely on for their power. The energy erupted into the world at full power, and killed the dozens of people who had come to Wally's aid.

Once Wally realized what he had done, he didn't grieve... he got to work. What he did next may answer the nagging questions in many readers' minds, but it also begins the next, perhaps MAJOR mystery and twist that Heroes in Crisis is building towards.

Page 2: The Real Mystery of The TWO Wally Wests Continues

The Mystery of Two Wally Wests Explained

It's after the death of the Sanctuary heroes that things get interesting. So far, it would make sense for readers to see this reveal and, knowing how distraught Wally West has been over the loss of his wife and children (whom he recently remembered ever existed), chalk all of the deaths up to an accident. A terrible, horribly tragic accident that may change how the world sees The Flash, sure, but an accident nonetheless. But what Wally decided to do next is what is going to paint this tragedy as 'villainous' or out of character for a hero like The Flash. But there's a catch fans should consider.

RELATED: The Flash Just Lost His Speed in The Most SHOCKING Way

Moments after realizing that the Speed Force blasted all the heroes to death, Wally clearly made up his mind to do... something. We can guess for now, but don't yet know for sure. But for whatever reasons he may have, what he did is spelled out in his confession. First, he bought himself time by stopping the only two Sanctuary patients who hadn't yet exited the facility: Booster Gold and Harley Quinn. They believed they were leaving their simulation therapy chambers and witnessing the other murder Wally along with everyone else... when in reality, Wally was giving himself time to do what he knew he must.

From there he used his intellect and forensic experience to stage the crime scene knowing just how Batman would interpret it to, once again, give himself time. Five days' time, it seems, as the strangest detail discovered in the investigation was that the Wally dead beside Roy Harper's was five days older than everyone else's. And that, too, ties into the last mystery that could make all of Wally's actions make sense.

What Did Wally West Need To Do?

Heroes in Crisis Two Wally West Flashes

After staging the crime scene to give himself time to complete whatever mission he set for himself, and committing to see it through, Wally traveled forward in time five days to meet his future self... and kill him. That was the body placed among the dead, and that was the Wally who put those five days to use completing their mission of "truth." By now the Heroes in Crisis series has followed the intervening five days through to the moment Wally arrives.

Which will hopefully explain the cliffhanger scene of the previous issue, with Wally apologizing to Poison Ivy for having to witness his death (at the hands of the Wally who has just traveled forward from the Sanctuary bloodbath). It's as fuzzy as a typical time travel story gets, and is intentionally sketchy in the overall picture. And as we mentioned before, Wally's ultimate goal following the Speed Force accident is the only thing that will complete the story. Based on these few details, it seems Wally spent the five days releasing the hero confessions to Lois Lane, urging Superman to give a speech admitting that heroes suffer, struggle, and even break. And that if that is cause for fear to any citizen of the world, perhaps it will also be a sign to others that they are explicitly, visibly, publicly not alone in their suffering.

If one thing has been evident about this tale from writer Tom King and artists Clay Mann And Mitch Gerads, it's that the ending needs to arrive before it can truly be understood. Especially with one or two Sanctuary scenes that don't quite fit with Wally's account, either. But until then, at least fans know how the heroes died. What they died for might end up being the question readers should have been asking all along.

Heroes in Crisis #8 is available now from your local comic book store, or direct from DC Comics.

MORE: Superman Comics Just Made Henry Cavill's Beard Canon