The Flash season 7 is introducing Bart Allen a.k.a. Impulse, but how will his Arrowverse debut affect the future of Nora West-Allen? When it comes to the Flash Family, The CW series has done a fairly good job with introducing them. While the primary character is always Barry Allen, past seasons have brought in characters like Wally West, Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, and XS. But when it comes to Impulse, The Flash has mostly only alluded to Bart with a few Easter eggs, but that’s about to change. Jordan Fisher got cast as the beloved DC speedster and will appear in The Flash season 7, episode 17, which is also the 150th milestone for the Arrowverse drama. However, The Flash is reimagining Bart’s family relationship as he will no longer be the future grandson of Iris West and Barry.
Instead, Impulse will be their actual son from the future, a departure from the comics. Fisher’s Bart will be a recurring guest star that will be part of taking on a new coming threat that Team Flash will face. But what does Bart’s arrival mean for Iris and Barry’s other kid, Nora, who was part of The Flash season 5? Because of the timeline changes Nora and Barry made when defeating Cicada, XS got erased from existence as her parents essentially had to see their future daughter die in front of them. But The Flash season 6, after Crisis on Infinite Earths, alluded to that Nora’s time in the Arrowverse wasn’t over. When Kid Flash showed up in “Death of the Speed Force”, Wally told Barry he had even seen Nora running in a potential future.
But ever since Wally name-dropped her in The Flash season 6, a new version of Nora hasn’t traveled back into the past. With the arrival of Bart as their future son, it’s understandable that some might wonder if Impulse is meant to replace XS. But that is definitely not the case here because in the comics, Barry and Iris always had two kids. In fact, they had twins, Dawn and Don Allen who are also known as the Tornado Twins. Even if Jessica Parker Kennedy’s character isn’t appearing in the 150th episode, that doesn’t mean Nora doesn’t exist anymore. Depending on her availability, it might be something The Flash creators are trying to keep hidden as a surprise. But even if XS doesn’t join Impulse in the past, that doesn’t suddenly erase her from the Arrowverse.
Since Bart is showing up towards the end of The Flash season 7, it’s obviously for the purpose of wrapping up whatever arc they are in at that point. The CW has already ordered The Flash season 8 as part of the 2021-2022 TV season and Bart could potentially be part of it. If that’s the case, there is no reason why Nora couldn’t come back to the past to join her brother. It would be a great opportunity to also explore how different Nora will be since her pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths version ceased to exist after they changed the timeline in the fifth season. That allows the writers to reimagine Nora however they want, especially now that XS has a brother that is also a speedster. If the actress wouldn’t be available, however, it’s not like Bart can’t reference his sister from the future.
The notion that The Flash couldn’t have Nora because of Bart or vice versa is ridiculous, especially as this involves time travel. Crisis on Infinite Earths gave the Arrowverse a fresh start to retool their continuity across all the shows. Before the 5-part crossover Bart didn’t seem to exist in the future but does now, and based on Wally’s comment, Nora does too. That’s the benefit of superhero stories dealing with time travel because anything is possible when it comes to the future. When Impulse races into The Flash, it will also be a big moment for the speedsters’ DC legacy as the Arrowverse will have brought in most, if not all, of the iconic Flashes. But ideally, it won’t take long for The Flash to have Bart Allen and Nora West-Allen together on-screen as Impulse and XS respectively.
