12 Worst Time Travel Goofs In The Flash (So Far)

Now let’s look at ‘Flashpoint’, the third season premiere, and the two new timelines created. In both cases, Our Barry travelled back to that fateful night in 2000: first, to stop Thawne and save his mother, and second to try and reset the original timeline by allowing Thawne to kill Nora again.

In both cases, Our Barry travels forward to 2016 again, having changed history, and in both cases, during that intervening sixteen years two other Barry Allens grow up all over again - from 2000 to 2016 - one having the love of two parents, the other not.

However, as soon as the time travelling Barry - Our Barry - returns to 2016, he takes over from them in their lives as though they never existed, while they, presumably, vanish just like his past self in ‘Rogue Time’ did.

The thing is… surely in these situations, Our Barry is the time remnant. He’s changed history to make himself, as he is right now, a memory. He should be vanishing from time like Eobard Thawne did in the season one finale, but the Speed Force is shielding him as it did with Thawne, to avoid creating a paradox.

So why are the ‘real’ Barrys the ones disappearing in favour of Our Barry? Aren’t these real people, with sixteen entirely different years of life lived and hopes and dreams for the future? Why is Barry Allen allowing his other selves to die?

Or is he? I’m hoping against hope that they’re planning on pulling a rabbit out of the hat here: that Barry’s other selves aren’t gone, but are still around waiting to become a plot point… maybe even dressing up in a hooded robe and calling out remnants of metahumans from other timelines.

However, right now this show isn’t doing the work necessary to convince a sleepy toddler that it knows what it’s doing, so I’m not holding my breath.