Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for The Flash Season 9, Episode 9We finally get an explanation for one of the Arrowverse’s mysteries in The Flash Season 9, Episode 9. What starts off as a party to celebrate Barry Allen/The Flash’s (Grant Gustin) 30th birthday (again) turns into a nightmare that almost destroys the multiverse. But wait, what multiverse? There isn’t a multiverse in the DC Universe anymore, is there?
During, arguably, the greatest crossover event in television history, ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’, the Arrowverse effectively pulled in every single DC Comics adaptation into its multiverse. These other Earths were then promptly destroyed by the Anti-Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), before Oliver Queen/Spectre (Stephen Amell) created a new universe where several Earths were merged so that the Arrowverse became Earth-Prime. But this added a new continuity issue to DCTV—without a multiverse, how can the films of the DC Extended Universe, the HBO Max DC shows and Stargirl exist? “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To” has an explanation.
The Arrowverse Created a Plot Hole of Multiversal Proportions
‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ featured cameos from across DC Comics properties, past, present, and future. Burt Ward, Ashley Scott, and Tom Welling briefly reprised their roles from the 1960s Batman show, Birds of Prey and Smallville, while Ezra Miller appeared as Barry Allen/The Flash making the jump from the DCEU to the Arrowverse. The crossover even incorporated archive footage of Alan Ritchson and Curran Walters from Titans so that no property was left unabsorbed. After such an epic takeover of DC properties, the subsequent decimation of the multiverse meant the existence of any character or Earth outside the Arrowverse no longer made sense.
We, as viewers, could understand that the DCEU, Titans, Doom Patrol, et al. continued to exist because in the real world, the cast and crew had contractual obligations, and we were all tuning in to watch anyway. But diegetically, the Arrowverse has had no explanation for their existence. In fact, the Arrowverse characters have been unaware that the multiverse is even out there, which is interesting, since they have come across characters arriving from other timelines for a few seasons now.
Soon after ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ ended, doppelgängers of Brainiac-5 (Jesse Rath) from Supergirl and Beth Kane (Rachel Skarsten) from Batwoman appeared on Earth-Prime. These characters had their memories intact despite their Earths having been destroyed and the multiverse erased. In the ‘Red Death’ arc of The Flash Season 9, the titular villain, Ryan Wilder/Red Death (Javicia Leslie) mentions that she’s arrived on Earth-Prime from an alternate timeline. And in “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To”, Wally West/Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale) explains that he’s been tapping into the Speed Force (or so he thinks) to spy on other timelines in an effort to fast track his way to enlightenment. And yet, if there’s no multiverse, there shouldn’t be other timelines either.
Of all people, it’s the episode's villain Ramsey Rosso (Sendhil Ramamurthy) who suggests that these other timelines that Wally sees are actually other Earths. Of course, he’d say that Ramsey’s been manipulating Wally so that he can use Wally’s powers to take over the multiverse.
'The Flash' Episode 9 Explains the Re-Emergence of the Multiverse
Ramsey makes a very accurate point; he saw the imminent end of the multiverse during ‘Crisis’, but it didn’t take. He’s correct. Though the Arrowverse characters believe there’s no multiverse because they’ve been occupying one single Earth since what’s actually been happening is that Oliver Queen/the Spectre has been doing his duty — rebuilding the multiverse. During ‘Crisis’, several worlds were destroyed, including Earth-2, home of Earth-2 Laurel Lance/Black Siren (Katie Cassidy), and Jesse Wells/Jesse Quick (Violett Beane), Wally’s girlfriend.
When Wally West kills Barry Allen, Barry dies and meets Oliver in purgatory. Once there, Oliver explains that Barry has to stop Ramsey because not only is Earth-Prime at risk but so is the entire multiverse. Oliver, like everyone else in the Arrowverse, believed that as the Spectre his job was to create Earth-Prime, when in fact, he was tasked with creating a new multiverse to replace the old one. Since ‘Crisis’ ended during The Flash Season 6, Oliver’s used the interim years to rebuild what was lost. That explains the other ‘timelines’ that have emerged like the one Red Death is from (she’s actually from Earth-4125).
And it also explains why in Titans Season 4, Episode 9, Garfield Logan/ Beast Boy (Ryan Potter) sees and interacts with several people and characters from across DC Comics properties while he is in the Red — though not as epic as ‘Crisis’, “Dude, Where’s My Gar?” connects Titans to several other DC properties, some of which weren’t part of ‘Crisis’. By using archival footage from The Flash, Shazam, Teen Titans Go!, Swamp Thing, Batman, and Superman as well as cameos from Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl (Brec Bassinger) and Victor Stone (Joivan Wade), Titans set the foundation for the question that The Flash eventually answers.
The Episode Offers a Strong Send-off For Oliver
There’s been a lot of hype about the return of Stephen Amell, and his arrival in The Flash Episode 9 doesn’t disappoint. The showrunners didn’t just bring him back for fan service, they make his return count. Oliver continues to be a hero in death—he stays away from his family to maintain the timeline and protect them, and all the while he’s re-creating a new multiverse. This episode not only explains the longstanding sticking point in the Arrowverse, but it also takes the time to provide closure for Oliver’s loved ones, Barry and especially John Diggle (David Ramsey). Plus, the action scenes, the emotional scenes, and the storyline provide a great send-off for Oliver Queen, the hero who started the entire franchise.
The Flash ending is the swan song for the Arrowverse, so it makes perfect sense that the show ties up loose ends along the way. Clarifying what happened to the multiverse and its re-emergence gives credence to Oliver’s sacrifice and also adds hope that the lost worlds will come back. As Ramsey asks, there could possibly be a Jesse Quick out there waiting for Wally West to reunite with her. Could there be other beloved characters that will get a final hurrah now that the multiverse is back?