SPOILERS from The Flash Season 5 finale, "Legacy," which aired May 14, 2019.
Looks like Ralph Dibny might be meeting his future wife in The Flash Season 6. The Season 5 finale included a nice little easter egg, with Ralph opening a file marked "Dearbon." As DC Comics fans know, Dearbon is the maiden name of the future Sue Dibny:
With that heavy hint in play, actor Hartley Sawyer teased more potential for Ralph/Elongated Man to find love in the 2019-2020 season. Here's what Sawyer said when asked about his hopes for Ralph in The Flash Season 6:
You know, I think he’s getting pretty ready for some kind of a serious relationship. I think with Ralph, if he’s around long enough, all roads lead to that eventually and I think we’re going to see him really start to explore that next year. That’s my hope and that’s my feeling. And also the detective thing is going to come in more, too, which we played with this season and in the finale. In the penultimate episode we found out that Ralph was the guy who figured it all out. He knew. His instincts were on and he figured it out and I think now there’s going to be that confidence that he has going forward.
Ralph is ready for the next stage in his life, and that includes a relationship. As Hartley Sawyer suggested, all roads lead to a relationship for Ralph, at least in the comics.
When HollywoodLife asked Harley Sawyer if there was anything else he wanted Ralph to tackle in Season 6, besides romance, Sawyer continued on that romance angle:
Well, I think what I really like about the ‘romance’ thing is that the idea of relationships can be a mirror held up to anybody and what does that bring up for him and what does that bring out in him. There’s some stuff in the comics with Sue and Ralph where they go really, really deep into that and I don’t know when exactly we’re going to see and if we’re going to see Sue, but in terms of him getting out there and dating and falling for somebody, I would love to see how he takes that on. Maybe he gets his heart broken. Maybe he gets disappointed. How would he deal with that is something that’s really exciting and interesting to me. Now that he has more confidence because the family support of Team Flash has given him this confidence to kind of mature and grow into who he was always going to be.
Yes, it's possible this newly confident Ralph will actually meet someone else before Sue, with The Flash saving Sue for later. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out.
In the comics, Ralph connects with socialite Sue when he crashes her debutante ball. Barry Allen ultimately serves as the best man at their wedding, and Ralph and Sue become a tight team, traveling the world together on various superheroic adventures. There's a whole controversial storyline that Sue gets in the comics -- including her rape and, separately, murder -- but it's not clear how much The CW might want to touch that third rail.
The Flash has already been renewed for Season 6, and there will be some changes behind-the-scenes. The Season 5 finale showed a lot of changes on screen as well. We'll have to see if other characters might be returning in the new season, in addition to the possible debut of Sue Dearbon Dibny.
The Flash Season 6 will air Tuesdays, probably premiering in October as usual on The CW.
