The Flash Season 4: 7 Theories On How Barry Allen Will Return
4. Return After Time Jump
Earlier, I pitched the idea of Barry returning to the real world after a few episodes. Flipping that idea, though, what if he returns right at the beginning of the series... but it has actually been a long time in the real world.
It could be any amount of time, but probably at least six months. Barry would return, somehow, from the Speed Force and be looking to embrace his old life. When he comes back to Central City, however, he would discover that everyone has moved on. Maybe Iris has found someone else. Wally West has graduated to becoming The Flash. STAR Labs could have been turned into The Flash Museum from the comics.
The time jump is a tried-and-tested method of a TV show spicing things up. Superhero fans will be most familiar with it from the Young Justice animated series, whose second season jumped forward a whopping five years. The Flash couldn't go anywhere near that far, for fear of jumbling the Arrowverse's overall continuity, but a shorter one could do wonders for the show.
Team Flash has stagnated a little of late and it would be interesting to see them given a soft reboot like this.