Here's a Recap of What Happened to Cisco on 'The Flash'

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the last season of The Flash ended abruptly and unsatisfyingly. One of our favorite characters, Cisco, was absent, and Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) has been stuck in the Mirrorverse. However, Cisco is central in The Flash Season 7 trailer, so it looks like he’ll definitely be back to make a difference.

Cisco has been through a lot over the course of the show. Carlos Valdes, who plays the character, was in every episode since the inception of The Flash until Season 5, in which he wasn’t in a few episodes. Then, in the midseason premiere of Season 6, which saw a reboot of the multiverse, he announced he would be leaving to catalog and learn about the new world. He hasn’t returned to our screens since — until now.

When Cisco entered the Arrowverse in The Flash, he was the resident tech expert of Team Flash but was just a normal guy. However, Cisco later realized he was affected by the particle accelerator, which gave him the ability to manipulate the vibrational energy of reality. This turned him into a metahuman, and he took on the identity of “Vibe.” 

Cisco really brought a fun vibe to the show, whether he was a superhero or not, with his comic relief and working-class background. He created his own metahuman cure so that he could live a normal life, but then his powers were restored to him by the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett). However, once the new multiverse was created, Cisco once again lost his powers. That’s a lot of power flip-flopping, and that’s not all that happened to Cisco in his lifetime on The Flash.

When the Earth was essentially rebooted, Cisco didn’t really know what to do or how to help. He felt that there were “more threats than ever,” and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) encouraged him to take some time away from STAR Labs. Cisco decided this was the right thing to do, and he left Nash Wells (Thomas Cavanagh) in charge of Team Flash while he went out on his own.

At this point, many fans on the show were worried this meant that Cisco was leaving The Flash forever, but showrunner Eric Wallace eased our concerns. He let us know that Cisco would “be back very quickly.” Little did he know that Season 6 would be cut short by the pandemic, and the storyline that would have been wrapped up last year was left on an even bigger cliffhanger.

TVLine spoke with Eric about how that would play into the new season of The Flash, and he confirmed that if they were able to have a proper season finale, Cisco definitely would have been back in time. 

One theory is that someone else will need to take over the role of Vibe, even if Cisco stays in his role as the tech expert for Team Flash. Some hope it will be Cisco’s brother, Dante Ramon (Nicholas Gonzalez), since he’s appeared sporadically throughout the show. Plus, it’s possible he also could have received powers from the particle accelerator, and it seems like the show has been building up to repairing the relationship between Cisco and Dante.

Another thought is that because Brandon McKnight will be promoted to series regular as his character, Chester P. Runk, that he may take over some of Cisco’s responsibilities. He’s also a tech genius like Cisco, so we’ll just have to watch and see how all their relationships play out on the new season of The Flash.

The Flash Season 7 airs on the CW every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.