The 'Riverdale' Comics Give Us an Idea as to What Happened to Archie in the Army

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 5 of Riverdale.

Season 5 of Riverdale has taken viewers on a few twists and turns. Now that our cast of kooky characters has graduated high school (well, most of them have at least), we see what they've been up to after receiving their diplomas.

Archie Andrews' (KJ Apa) arc takes him somewhere a bit unexpected: the U.S. Army. After not graduating with his friends, instead of repeating his senior year, he decides to enlist in the military. In Season 5, we jump to his return home following his enlistment, but what happened to him while he was in the Army?

Riverdale has been liberal with the time jumps, making it a bit difficult for viewers to keep up. After leaving for the service, we next see Archie in uniform when he's in a VA hospital — seven years later. He's told he's being discharged following some injuries from his time in the war, and he decides to go back to Riverdale.

Of course, it doesn't take long for Archie to be back in town before he meets up with all of his old friends and gets involved with taking down Hiram (Mark Consuelos) again.

Viewers are given little information about what happened to Archie while he was gone — but in Season 5, Episode 12, we finally see him unpack the trauma from his time in the service. But what actually happened to him while he was gone?

The new episode will address the trauma Archie suffered during his enlistment, but what exactly happened while he was fighting in the war? If the show follows the comics for this portion of his storyline, we have some ideas.

In the comics, specifically Archie 1941, he decides to enlist in the military after not knowing what direction to take his life in post-graduation, being guilted by his father to serve in WWII. Archie and his high school rival, Reggie Mantle, are both deployed to North Africa.

While in North Africa, his battalion is struck by a cannon shell, resulting in casualties — and his troop believes him to be dead, going so far as to send a letter home to his family announcing his death. But Archie didn't actually die while overseas serving.

Instead, he greets Betty on the train platform just as she's about to leave Riverdale, revealing that the blast left him disoriented for a time, which is what led to him being falsely presumed dead.

He was found and taken in by Tunisian nomads, who helped him recover from his wounds and hid him from the enemy until he could return home.

While there are many differences between the comics and the show (for example, the show is set in the present day while the comics are not), it's likely this story from the comics will serve as the basis for this episode, just with a different war. We're sure Riverdale will switch it up a bit somehow, though.

Catch Riverdale Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on the CW.