‘The Flash’ Dropped A Big Ol’ ‘Shazam’ Easter Egg

Spoilers for The Flash Season 6, Episode 3, “Dead Man Running” past this point.

Every season, The Flash introduces us to a new version of Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh). We’ve seen an evil Wells — who was actually The Flash’s (Grant Gustin) arch-enemy in disguise — a Sherlock Holmes-esque detective Wells, and everything in between. But it took until the third episode of Season 6 to meet our newest Wells: Harrison Nash Wells, an Indiana Jones style adventurer from another Earth with mysterious motivations. Oh, and in his brief minutes on screen, he managed to tease a big connection to Shazam.

We first meet the new Wells when Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) track him down to alleyway, after Iris’ newest employee notices a rogue Wells in the area. There, he immediately confronts Cisco, shoving a red crystal in his face, and threatening that if he wants the rock, he’ll have to take it. Nash also notices something strange with Iris… Though he doesn’t seem to recognize her, she does seem to be the person, or thing he’s looking for.

Then they tase him, and take him back to Iris’ office. There, they learn that he’s a multiversal explorer, and travels from world to world debunking mysticism in favor of science. There are no gods, he says, just metahumans, aliens, and “false gods.” He also notes he’s looking for something called Eternium, which exists throughout the multiverse, but a specific type exists on Earth-1 (the main Earth we’re following in the Arrow-verse). Then he disappears in a puff of smoke, and later finds what he’s looking for in the sewer.

That’s all we get from his brief appearance this episode, though showrunner Eric Wallace teased to TV Line that Nash has a secret that will “mess with his mind, literally.” So what’s going on? And why (and how) does this potentially connect him with Shazam?

The big clue there is Eternium, which, in DC Comics’ lore is a shard from the Rock of Eternity. The Rock is the home of the wizard Shazam, who gives young Billy Batson his powers, and turns him into the lightning powered hero known either as Shazam or Captain Marvel, depending on what we’re legally able to call him at any given time. So could Nash be looking for actual shards from the Rock of Eternity? Could Shazam be showing up in the form of Chuck star Zachary Levi???

Well, probably not. The movies are pretty separate from the TV shows, and despite a looming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event that will feature cameos from a ton of TV characters throughout the years, chances are the movies will still be their own thing. Still, The Flash and other Arrow-verse shows do like to drop little mentions and Easter eggs. Khandaq, the home of Shazam’s greatest enemy Black Adam (to be played in the movies by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), has been mentioned multiple times. And on last season’s The Flash, Cisco called a mission “Operation: Shazam.” Other characters, like Green Lantern, have been teased in various capacities without showing up for almost a decade.

Does that mean that the Eternium Nash is looking for is completely unconnected, though? Well, probably “no” to that, too. As glimpsed in the movie Shazam, there are a lot of weird artifacts in the Rock of Eternity, and certainly plenty to that could mess with people’s minds. One of them that might make a lot of sense for this sort of thing is the Eclipso diamond. The DC Comics villain Eclipso has never turned up in live action, and is usually held prisoner in a black diamond. Different than Eternium, but it’s possible the being — which is an all-powerful spirit of vengeance — could do some serious damage to both Nash, and the whole of Team Flash.

There’s also the possibility that whatever Nash is looking for ends up kicking off “Crisis” itself. Cavanagh will be playing a version of Wells who becomes the character Pariah; who, in the comics, accidentally causes the Crisis by alerting villain the Anti-Monitor’s (LaMonica Garrett) presence to a positive matter universe. As far as we know The Flash will be split into what they’re calling three “graphic novels” this season — leading up to “Crisis,” the Crisis itself, and then post-“Crisis.” Right now we don’t know if the Wells who becomes Pariah is Nash, or another one. But him encountering a bit of the Rock of Eternity that drives him nuts could, certainly, end up causing a universe-altering mistake.

Regardless of how it all turns out, one thing is clear: there’s a lot more to find out about Harrison Nash Wells.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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