The Flash's Deathstorm Plan Has A Glaring Arrowverse Plot Hole
Warning: Spoilers for The Flash season 8, episode 12
Deathstorm’s villain plan in The Flash season 8 comes with a glaring plot hole. Finally, the big bad of the show’s current storyline has revealed what he’s really after. Apparently, his interest in Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) went much deeper than her capabilities as a scientist.
After using the guise of Ronnie Raymond to trick Caitlin into “completing” him, Deathstorm has emerged as the latest threat to Central City. As it turns out, Ronnie’s return was a fakeout. Having been created by Firestorm’s ultimate sacrifice in the season 2 premiere, Deathstorm simply used Ronnie’s image to get to Caitlin, who he knew was his best chance of becoming whole. But even though he’s already gotten what he needed from Caitlin, her part in his plan is far from over. The Flash season 8 episode 12, titled “Death Rises”, confirmed Deathstorm’s true intentions. The new Arrowverse villain is in the midst of preparing Caitlin so that she can become his “bride”.
According to Deathstorm, he traveled “across the stars” to be with her. But what the show fails to explain is why Caitlin is so important to him. Since Caitlin and Killer Frost have been separated for a while now, she has no abilities or unique qualities that Deathstorm could desire. There’s of course her relationship with Ronnie, but Deathstorm already established that Firestorm is dead. So for now, the villain’s plan doesn’t make a lot of sense. If he isn’t Ronnie, he shouldn’t care about Caitlin at all. After all, he was just born from Ronnie’s death. Firestorm’s love for Caitlin shouldn’t have any direct influence on his actions.
Some have theorized that Ronnie’s grief (which involved Caitlin) has something to do with Deathstorm's link to her, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Barry’s talk with Cecille at the end of the episode suggested that Caitlin’s own grief is a factor, but that explanation doesn’t work either. Her sadness can’t be so great that it trumps the feelings of everyone in the universe and made Deathstorm come all the way to Earth. Deathstorm should have a much better reason than that to be so deadest on making Caitlin his bride. There has to be something inherently special about Caitlin that makes her the prime candidate for Deathstorm’s bride, but this isn’t a question that Team Flash is asking now.
Perhaps the best fix for The Flash season 8’s Deathstorm plot hole would be to reveal that the villain was lying about Robbie Amell’s Firestorm being gone for good. If he’s wrong and there actually is a piece of Ronnie’s consciousness secretly living inside Deathstorm, this could turn out to be the real reason why Deathstorm values Caitlin so much. If that’s the case, Ronnie’s lingering presence within Deathstorm’s mind could be used to take down the villain at a later point in the season.
The Flash releases new episodes on Wednesdays on The CW.