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'The Flash' Season 6: The Monitor's appearance in final minutes of 'Into the Void' sets up Barry's death in inevitable 'Crisis'

In the comics, Barry meets his end in the mega battle and his disappearance during the event was introduced in the series premiere.

This article contains spoilers for 'The Flash' Season 6 Episode 1: 'Into the Void'

'The Flash' returned to The CW with a new season and the opening episode set things in motion by introducing a new villain, Dr. Ramsey Russo, aka Bloodwork (Sendhil Ramamurthy). In addition to dealing with Nora's (Jennifer Parker Kennedy) death, Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) also needs to gear up for the imminent 'Crisis'– his biggest fight to date and one that sees him make the ultimate sacrifice. The long-teased 'Crisis' finally gets a date, December 10, 2019. The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) appears in the final minutes of the episode and tells Barry the date when he vanishes from the face of the earth. In other words, he dies. 

In the comics, Barry meets his end in the mega battle and his disappearance was introduced in the series premiere. At that point, his date of vanishing read 2024 giving the Scarlet Speedster ample time to work things out and avoid the inevitable. However, with the Monitor coming in bearing bad news, Barry now knows what's in store for him in the days to come. For the Arrowverse, the date is important considering the first episode of 'Crisis' will air on December 8 with 'Supergirl.'

Of paramount significance is the fact that Barry is a casualty of war. The previous season of 'Arrow' also saw the Monitor tell Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), aka The Emerald Archer, that he will die in the 'Crisis', and his sacrifice would save the world. For the fans, this meant Barry and Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), aka Supergirl, may make it out alive. The Monitor's message though changes things up. 

It is interesting to see how this plays out in the end as Team Flash will try everything in their power to make sure Barry doesn't die. With the speedster making it crystal clear to the Monitor that he won't be leaving his family, it remains to be seen how he'll save billions of lives. The episode effectively sets up the multiverse-cracking battle and it is still unclear how the fallout of the war impacts the series. 

'The Flash' airs Tuesdays at 8 pm on The CW.