Summary
- Despite focusing on Nora Allen's death, The Flash movie does not reveal who killed Barry Allen's mom.
- The Flash movie leaves open the possibility that a random intruder, rather than the Reverse-Flash, killed Barry Allen's mom, providing a unique and grounded twist to the storyline.
- Another theory suggests that Dark Flash may have killed Nora Allen as part of a larger plan to ensure Barry always becomes the Flash.
The death of Nora Allen sets the narrative for The Flash, yet the movie does not show who killed Barry Allen’s mom. The idea that Barry became a superhero because of the traumatic events that culminated in the death of his mother is a relatively new concept in the character’s 67-year-old mythos. However, Nora Allen’s death and all the characters associated with it quickly became an essential part of Barry Allen’s story across all media. Adaptations like Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and The Flash series leaned heavily on how Nora Allen’s death ties into Barry’s future, namely through the Reverse-Flash.
The Flash skipped Barry Allen’s origin story, although it referenced several moments from Barry’s life become he became the Scarlet Speedster. The DCEU as a whole skipped the Flash’s origins, with the character first appearing as a future version of himself in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Justice League established that Barry was studying to become a forensic scientist, and that Henry Allen was in jail for the death of Nora Allen. The Flash movie revisited those elements and saw Barry Allen trying to prove that his dad was innocent. From Barry’s arch-nemesis to other Flash villains, here are five theories for who killed Barry Allen’s mom in The Flash.
5 Reverse-Flash Killed Barry's Mom
Flashpoint, the 2011 comic book that redefined Barry Allen’s mythos and rebooted the DC Universe ahead of the New 52, retconned Professor Zoom as the murderer of Nora Allen. The Reverse-Flash, who had become the Flash’s greatest foe in the future, went back in time and killed Barry Allen’s mom. The Reverse-Flash hated the Flash so much that he wanted to destroy Barry’s life as much as possible. Flashpoint made the history between Barry and the Reverse-Flash even more personal than it already was, cementing the two speedsters as some of the greatest villain-hero duos from the comics. The Reverse-Flash also killed Barry’s mother in the Arrowverse’s The Flash canon.
The Flash director Andy Muschietti addressed the Reverse-Flash’s role in Barry Allen’s journey, describing it as the “elephant in the room.” (via The Playlist). Muschietti acknowledged how important the Reverse-Flash is when it comes to discussing Barry’s past, as Professor Zoom is the character that, “in all s, is the murderer of Barry’s mom.” However, while Muschietti described Rerverse-Flash as the “big villain” and wanted to tackle the character in a sequel, these quotes alone do not answer who killed Barry Allen’s mother. The Reverse-Flash is the most logical suspect, but The Flash movie and the DCEU made several significant changes from the comics.
The Reverse Flash was supposed to the a major player in Zack Snyder's original DCEU. According to Jay Oliva, who directed Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and worked on DCEU projects, Professor Zoom was supposed to be the overarching villain of this universe. The Reverse-Flash would work behind the shadows, slowly interfering with the lives of the DC heroes. According to Oliva, this would have led to a DCEU Flashpoint movie that would have rebooted the franchise following Snyder's Justice League sequels. These plans did not come to fruition, and the DCEU went in a very different direction.
4 Barry's Mom Was Killed By A Random Intruder
Another option is that Barry Allen’s mom was killed by a random intruder, someone without powers or tied to the Flash. While this may be an anticlimactic answer, it would make Barry’s story a bit more grounded and expand his legacy beyond the Reverse-Flash. Establishing that the Reverse-Flash killed Barry’s mother was a major retcon in the comics, one that tied the Flash’s very existence to his greatest foe. In many ways, the Flash has become a consequence of the Reverse Flash in the DC Universe, even though it should be the other way around.
By not revealing the Reverse-Flash as the murderer of Nora Allen, The Flash movie set up a unique storyline in which Nora’s death was purely random. This would make Barry Allen even more similar to Bruce Wayne, which is interesting given how close the Flash and Batman are in the DCEU. The Flash’s ending sees Barry going back in time only to prove his father’s innocence, not to stop Nora Allen from being killed. This suggests that Barry at least believes that Nora’s death was “natural,” as in something that was not caused by a supervillain who was changing the timeline.
3 Barry's Dad Really Did Commit Murder
A shocking reveal would be to have Henry Allen as the actual murderer of Nora Allen. While this scenario would sound extremely unlikely in most Flash adaptations, the circumstances of Nora Allen’s death in The Flash movie were quite unusual. Henry Allen has an alibi at the store, yet Nora Allen’s screams are only heard after he returns from the supermarket. It is unclear why The Flash would stage the sequence this way, as the entire movie was centered on whether Henry Allen had an alibi. This could be simply a pothole unless Henry Allen was indeed involved in Nora Allen’s death.
2 Dark Flash Killed The Other Barry Allen’s Mom
Dark Flash, The Flash’s secret villain, was a Barry Allen who grew up in a timeline where Nora Allen never died. This Barry Allen, who got his powers during the movie ahead of General Zod’s invasion, had everything in life and did not know loss. The younger Barry was more uplifting and hopeful compared to the other one, yet he was also more reckless. The 2013 Barry became Dark Flash by going back in time hundreds and hundreds of times to try to stop Supergirl and Batman from dying. This Barry could not accept the rules of the multiverse and almost destroyed multiple realities.
Despite his somewhat noble original goal, Dark Flash became a cruel entity that was only stopped when 2013 Barry sacrificed himself to erase his future version. In that scenario, it may be possible that Dark Flash went to the DCEU’s original timeline and killed Barry Allen’s mom before he confronted the heroes in the Chronobowl. Dark Flash could have been resentful of the way the older Barry treated him, or he believed that killing Nora was the only way to ensure that Barry always becomes the Flash. The Flash movie’s Dark Flash was essentially an original character, combining elements from different Flash villains from the comics.
1 Another Barry Allen Killed The Flash’s Mom
If one of the infinite Barry Allens from the multiverse ended up becoming Dark Flash, there may have been other Barrys who ended up becoming evil. The idea of Barry becoming his own enemy predates The Flash movie and has been done in comics and other adaptations. For example, The Flash season 3 reinvented Savitar, the God of Speed, as a future version of the Flash who had killed Iris West. This version of Barry was resentful of the “main Barry," a dynamic that would fit into The Flash movie’s multiverse story.
This could even tie into how, in an earlier version of the Reverse-Flash’s canon, the villain believed he was actually Barry Allen. The younger Barry from 2013 was often wearing yellow clothes, which even led to theories about this Barry being the DCEU’s Reverse-Flash. Had The Flash 2 happened, this is an idea that the sequel could have explored with another version of Barry. Having “a Barry Allen” be the person behind the death of the Flash’s mom would be a risky decision, but it would add to The Flash’s theme of how special the DCEU Barry is in the vastness of the multiverse.
