#also btw this new event is bizarre af and i love it

[shackld]

something i really love about ptn events is how it allows room for other sinners, ones not in the story yet, to be included and have some screentime like the current event having pepper and oliver?? yessss aisno thank you

[falling-red-petals]

What I think happened to Wally (if he isn't actually dead)

(This is going to be messy because I'm tired and will have no time to edit)

So I keep seeing a lot of people saying that Wally is in the Speed Force. This is highly unlikely unless Greg changed his mind between seasons, as he said the Speed Force doesn't exist on Earth 16. While it's entirely possible that he meant that the Speed Force doesn't exist yet, I highly doubt that that's the case.

I also doubt that Wally is actually dead.

It's pretty clear that in S3 that Darkseid and the New Gods of Apokolips are going to play a big role. Likely culminating in the last 4th of the season, as is common in this show. We already have Darkseid, Granny Goodness, and Glorious Godfrey as confirmed characters.

There is one other New God that I suspect will appear.

The Black Racer, the embodiment of death.

Yes, one of the DC universe's embodiments of death is a man on skis with twin sythes. Just role with it. Comics are strange and wonderful.

In the New 52 continuity there was a plotline called "Darkseid Wars." Without getting too into the plot several Leaguers ended up becoming gods for brief periods of time, with Barry Allen becoming the new Black Racer.

(BTW I think Black Racer-Barry looks sick af)

Of course, status quo is god, so they all return to being mortal by the end. The major reason this storyline is notable aside from the connection with the New Gods is that this was the major storyline proceeding DC Rebirth, and the return of Wally West.

Interestingly, the Speed Force also has it's own grim reaper in the form of the "Black Flash." original name, I know

Now I'm going to change subjects here for a bit. In "Nightmare Monkeys" Gar experiences hallucinations due to the VR headset that Granny Goodness made, primarily relating to past traumas he went through. In one of his hallucinations he sees Wally, and several heroes who have died. (Aside from Wally, Jason Todd is likely the only one that Gar had enough time to get to know on a personal level).

Fairly abruptly, all the heroes die (presumably in the order they died in canon) with Wally saying "(S)he's dead, Tork" grimly each time. Then Wally turns to Gar and asks, "Who's next?"

The scene that plays next is bizarre. The screen in front of Wally and Gar begins playing the moment where Wally "ceases." Wally becomes glum at this, and notes that it's him that dies next and he sits down. He doesn't get shot. The screen then shows Artemis' reaction to it. Gar gets distracted by the monkey. An amused Wally notes that Gar is "tired of the show already," and then changes to channel to "Doom Patrol Go!"

There's two reasons why this is so absolutely bizarre.

One, Gar should have NO MEMORIES of this event. Yes, he knows of Wally’s apparent death, but he wasn't there when it happened. Not during Wally’s final words, which only Bart and Barry would have heard, nor when Barry told the team (and most importantly, Artemis) what had happened. Gar would have only learned of this after the fact.

Two, Wally never gets shot down by the clam-alien-soldiers. He just sits there and "changes the channel" to transition the audience into Gar's next hallucination. So we see three characters who are established to have died previously get killed once more, and the one who was stated to "cease" being left alive.

"Wow! We're losing everyone! A good thing they were already dead." (Um, I'm sorry? WHAT???)

So let's look at all this together. In the comics there's many embodiments of death, including the Black Flash and the Black Racer. In the comics Barry briefly replaced the Black Flash and ended up temporarily merged with Black Racer. The latter storyline being a direct lead up to Wally's long awaited return to Prime Earth.

Wally appears in Gar's hallucination alongside three other heroes who died, but is the only one to speak, is the one to declare them dead after they're killed, and is the only one to not visibly die despite implying he was suppose to be next.

The hallucination is brought on by the VR goggles that Granny Goodness, A New God, has made. The Black Racer is also a New God. Presumably, other New Gods would have access to the goggles mind controlling elements. So, theoretically, if Black Racer was once a certain someone, he could use the goggles to reach out to the minds of his old loved ones, which would also have the side effect of revealing the true nature of the goggles. Therefore making them a known threat to the team.

Side Note: Even after Wally’s part of the hallucination ended, he still wasn't entirely gone. His voice continued on through the monkey. The same monkey that claims to be a God of sorts. Granted, it could have been (and likely was) The Red manifesting in a form that Gar "would be more comfortable with," but perhaps it was both of them. Or, as a third option, Wally was the one initially making contact, but then The Red hijacked it.

Tl,dr: Wally has become Earth-16's Black Racer and was trying to use the goggles to reach out to Gar, a person who's been surrounded by death since a young age, to both inform the younger hero that he's still out there, and let the Team know that Granny Goodness is a threat.