The Flash: The Forces Are Forming Their Own Team | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Flash Season 7, Episode 10, "Family Matters, Part 1," which aired Tuesday on The CW.

The most intriguing development in The Flash Season 7 has been the introduction of new Forces, each representing a different power that it imbues its human host with. The arrival of these Forces comes as several longtime members of Team Flash have begun to depart from Central City, leaving Barry and Iris without the close friends and associates they have partnered with for years as they defended their hometown from all sorts of supervillain threats. And while these friends will certainly be missed, the Forces appear poised to replace them as an even tighter -- albeit considerably stranger -- family unit.

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Team Flash was rocked early in Season 7 when Killer Frost was arrested by special investigator Kristen Kramer to answer for her crimes before she became a hero in her own right. Frost avoided having her powers removed permanently by a specially formulated serum but at the cost of agreeing to a life sentence without the possibility of parole. This tragic outcome came at the heels of the resurrected Harrison Wells deciding to live out an idyllic existence caught in a time loop with his wife Tess to live out in matrimonial bliss together. And while Cisco Ramon hasn't revealed this to the rest of Team Flash just yet, he and his longtime girlfriend Kamilla plan to leave Central City together to take their romance and careers to the next level elsewhere.

Iris, but her eyes are glowing with golden lightning

The exits of these allies come after Barry and Iris tapped into Barry's latent abilities as the Paragon of Love, a role he claimed during "Crisis on Infinite Earths," to revive the Speed Force after it was destroyed. This resulted in the new Forces unexpectedly being unleashed, including the Sage Force, Strength Force and Still Force, which quickly bonded to new human hosts, each with their own color-coded lightning bolts. And more than just responsible for kickstarting the new Forces, Barry and Iris eventually discovered they retained a deep link to all the Forces and their hosts, including the ability to revive them as long as the couple was emotionally in sync with one another.

More than just being linked to the Forces, the newly crowned avatars see themselves as siblings and Barry and Iris as their parents. This familial connection led Nora to seek revenge on the Scarlet Speedster after he rebuffed her offer to hunt down the other Forces, with Nora comparing it to being rejected by a parent as she enlists the Still Force avatar, Deon, to join in her vendetta. And as Barry and Iris recruit the Strength Force avatar Alexa and Sage Force avatar Bashir to help them, it's clear there's already a sibling rivalry forming between the two that further underscores Barry and Iris becoming de facto parents.

Given that, unlike Nora, who manifested from the old Speed Force, these new hosts had their own lives and memories before they were bonded to the Forces, it's strange how quickly they see Barry and Iris as their parents. Regardless, with Barry and Iris' time-displaced daughter Nora and their grandson Bart Allen slated to appear later in Season 7, Team Flash is about to experience a meeting of the families; one biological and one through the Forces. And given how at odds the Forces themselves already are with each other, this family reunion is not going to be a pleasant one.

The Flash stars Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh. New episodes air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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