The Flash S4 adds Hartley Sawyer as Elongated Man

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One of the best things about CW’s stable of superhero shows is their willingness to add swaths of additional superheroes to their single hero programs.  The name of the show might be Arrow or The Flash but both series also feature a rotating cast of supporting superheroes that help the world feel larger and more engaging.  It’s an approach that took Smallville years to stumble on but now they’re doing right out of the gate, like with Martian Manhunter appearing as a supporting character for Supergirl season 1.  And they aren’t slowing down, either, with new heroes joining the shows all the time and now we’ve got another name to add to that list.  The most recently announced new hero joining the CWnivere is Ralph Dibney, the Elongated Man, who will appear in The Flash season 4 and be portrayed by Hartley Sawyer. 

Neil Sandilands cast as The Thinker in Flash S4

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After three seasons I think it’s fair to say that The Flash may have done all it can do with evil speedsters.  That’s not a slam against the show by any means- Reverse Flash was a really fun season 1 antagonists buoyed by the incomparable Tom Cavanagh, Zoom was a cool and menacing super speed Bane for S2’s Knightfall riff, and Savitar worked well as a super speed Apocalypse for S3’s X-Men riff.  

So it makes sense that season 4 would adopt a non-super speed bad guy as the new series antagonist, though it raises some interesting questions about who that will be.  A lot of Flash’s biggest antagonists are already on the show in more relegated roles like the Top, Captain Cold, and even Gorilla Grodd.  That doesn’t leave a terribly deep bench to draw from but The Flash season 4 has dug deep into the Flash’s history and pulled out a whopper of a bad guy- The Thinker, played by Neil Sandilands. 

Panel Vision - 8 Speedsters to Expect on The Flash

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One thing that’s become apparent after 3 ½ seasons of CW’s The Flash is that the show probably isn’t going to stop introducing speedsters anytime soon.  That’s a little disappointing but also fairly understandable.  Super speed special FX are actually relatively easy to realize nowadays, and the fact they have to make them anyway means making additional ones for the bad guys that much easier.  

At the same time, The Flash has also managed to avoid the trap of just making evil versions of its hero, with villains like Reverse Flash and Savitar working as unique entities while fellow heroes like Jay Garrick and Kid Flash working as real standouts.  Given that speedster obsession along with the new frontiers the show’s opened up with time travel to the future and accessing the Multiverse, I’ve compiled a list of 8 speedsters we could expect to see next on The Flash. 

Ashley Rickards cast as The Top in The Flash Season 3

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Edited by Robert Beach 

Another day, another casting announcement from CW.  Seriously, at this rate, I should really have a whole dedicated column just for reporting on new DC Comics characters coming to the cavalcade of CW superhero shows. This latest news ties to The Flash, which means it has an extra strange bit of significance to it. In case you didn’t know, The Flash’s upcoming 3^rd season is being split into very distinct halves, in a manner greater than usual. While every CW season is split in two, season 3 of The Flash will have two different story arcs; the first one is known as Flashpoint followed by a mysterious second story in the latter half. 

The Flashpoint story, in which the Flash alters time to save his mother and father and creates a bizarre alternate present, is interesting, but I suspect this major casting announcement is tied more to the mystery story of season 3B. I’ll get into how as we go on, but for now, let’s start with what the big casting news is: Ashley Rickards will be playing a woman version of the classic Flash foe The Top. 

The Flash Season 3 Trailer Breakdown

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Edited by Robert Beach

In about two months, The Flash will premiere its third season on CW. After a shaky season 1 in 2014, The Flash busted out of nowhere to be the premiere series of the CW-verse. It continues to push the boundaries for how much a superhero TV show has ever adapted from its comic origins and bringing in hit new shows like Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl.  

Even though Arrow kicked off CW’s superhero shows, it was The Flash that made them a force to be reckoned with. Its winning combination of weird sci-fi, cool CG action, big, operatic emotional storytelling, and the great collection of lead actors propels the material.  

Now, the show faces its biggest challenge yet, adapting the rolling dumpster fire that was 2011’s Flashpoint event comic into a good season of television. We won’t know till the show comes out if they’ve succeeded, but based on this first trailer, yeah, I’d say they managed it.

CW Reveals Kid Flash & a New Bad Guy for The Flash

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Edited by Robert Beach

It is now mid-July, the summer half over, and Fall’s long shadows have begun to creep across the unsuspecting face of geek news and media blogs like this one.  That’s a very fancy way of saying that the first news, set photos, and announcements about the upcoming fall slate of superhero shows are finally starting to filter through.  The biggest decision so far has to be from CW’s The Flash, the current gold standard for network superhero fair (with apologies to Supergirl, which is a great show but still not quite at Flash’s level of confidence in the material.) 

The big news for the show is that Wally West, played by Keiynan Lonsdale, will be dawning the mantle of Kid Flash in the upcoming season.  In addition to the first character posters of Kid Flash, we’ve also received some interesting set photos of what appears to be the new villain for the upcoming season based on the infamous Flashpoint comic. 

Static Thoughts - The Flash Season 3, What's Next?

Edited by Robert Beach

The Flash season 2 has come to its conclusion and what a conclusion it was. As the title suggest, I’m going to be discussing what could happen in the immediate aftermath of The Flash’s major season 2 reveals and twists, so if you haven’t seen the finale yet, beware of spoilers ahead. 

At the end of the show, Barry foiled the villainous Zoom by managing to summon the time wraiths, the undead monsters that defend the timeline and the speed force that consumed Zoom and dragged him off to parts unknown. However, victory came at a high price as Zoom had killed Barry’s father Henry Allen, a loss compounded by the discovery that Zoom’s prisoner was the Henry Allen of Earth-3 AKA the real Jay Garrick.  

In the face of so much loss and flirting with the dangers of time travel once more, Barry chose to travel back in time and save his mom from being killed by the villainous Reverse Flash, causing catastrophic reverberations through the timeline. 

Panel Vision - DC Multiverse Guide

Edited by Robert Beach

This week marks a major milestone for superhero adaptations. This is the week CW’s The Flash takes a trip to Earth-2. While the Earth-2 of TV is markedly different from that of the comics, I figured now would be a good time to pen my guide to the DC Multiverse. It’s pretty much confirmed Flash will be travelling the other realities of DC’s parallel Earths. 

So I’ve put together a collection of Earth’s to watch out for and what you need to know about them should they pop up. This is also a pretty fundamental baseline for understanding why the DC multiverse exists and how all these parallel universes came to be in the first place. With that said, here’s your guide to the DC Multiverse. 

Panel Vision - Flash Rogues Guide

So, this latest Flash episode featured the first major super villain team-up of the show.  This is something that’s been building for Flash for a long time, mainly because in the comics Flash’s bad guys work together all the time.  Villain team-ups have always been a special event within comics but the Flash’s foes, nicknamed the Rogues, have always been unique amongst them.  Part of this comes from most of the Rogues having low level powers, compared to how indomitable Flash’s super speed powers are.  Really though, what binds the Rogues together is that they’re unique amongst comic book villains.  Most bad guys are psychotic killers like Batman fights or megalomaniacs like Superman battles, the Rogues are all just common criminals, crooks trying to get by.  Given that Flash is dedicated to slowly introducing more and more of the Rogues, I figured now would be a good time to do a Guide to the Flash’s Rogues. 

Panel Vision - Lady Cop, Forgotten Feminist Hero

Edited by Robert Beach

Last week, CW’s Arrow had a very special episode premiered directed by Lexi Alexander, one of the most vocal female directors of color in genre fiction. It was a pretty fun episode and a good way to mark Alexander’s return to the realm of comic adaptation after directing Punisher: Warzone 7 years ago; however, what struck me about the episode was the character played by Rutina Wesley, officer Liza Warner, head of the Star City anti-metahuman task force. 

You may have assumed that Liza Warner was just some random character made up for the episode, but no, she’s actually an adaptation of one of the most obscure DC characters I can think of: Lady Cop, a one-off character from the DC anthology comic 1^st Issue Special, one of the greatest comics of the 1970s. Given that I’m a massive ‘70s comic book geek, I’m also a major fan of Lady Cop, mainly because her first appearance is one of the most amazing and bizarre comics ever written.

Panel Vision - The History of DC Comics' Many Firestorms

Edited by Robert Beach 

This past week CW’s The Flash featured an episode entitled "The Fury of Firestorm." The character of Firestorm has been a major part of the show’s continuity since about mid season 1, but this latest episode has had to deal with the tricky situation of Ronnie Raymond actor Robbie Amell dropping out of the series due to scheduling conflicts with his film career. 

This means working out a way to swap in a new Firestorm actor, a task that would normally be pretty tough if this was any other hero but Firestorm. Firestorm is one of those weird superhero cases where multiple identities and various characters are built right into the characters DNA as well as populating his thoroughly bizarre history. 

The Flash - Family of Rogues Review

Captain Cold returns alongside his villainous father played by the incomparable Michael Ironside on the latest Flash episode, check out my review over on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/10/24/flash-family-of-rogues-review-tv/

The Flash - Flash of Two Worlds Review

Worlds collide and classic comics come to life on CW's Flash of Two Worlds, check out the full review over on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/10/19/flash-the-flash-of-two-worlds-review-tv/

Flash - The Man Who Saved Central City

Check out my review of the Flash season 2 premiere: the man who saved central city, over on Front Towards Gamer

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/10/08/flash-the-man-who-saved-central-city-review-tv/

Jay Garrick's Costume Revealed

So CW’s Flash, the best live action superhero show on the air right now and possibly of all time, started its second season this past week.  The first season started slow and rocky but picked up incredible speed to turn in an incredibly excellent and jam packed extravaganza of comic weirdness and well written characters.  There was compelling human drama amid all the time travel and psychic apes to say nothing of all the DC Universe shout outs and cameos.  I’ve written about the possibilities of season 2 previously but I wanted to take one more look now that CW has officially revealed Jay Garrick’s costume.

Jay Garrick in the comics was the original Flash, created by Gardner Fox in 1940s during the so-called Golden Age of comics.  He was later reintegrated into the mainstream living in a parallel reality called Earth-2, which was populated with other heroes from the Golden Age DC was no longer publishing.  So far his role has been pretty unclear on the show but this costume speaks volumes about what will be happening with him and even though I know this is old news keep reading because ‘Would You Like To Know More’ isn’t just a column about reporting news, it’s a column about wild speculation and in-depth nerdy explanations. 

Comic Rainbow - Flash Family

Welcome back to Comic Rainbow, the show with a pointedly vague brief so I can focus on pretty much whatever I want so long as I’m indulging my color obsession.  In the spirit of undefined focus this week we’re looking at another topical subject: The Flash.  In case you don’t know CW’s The Flash premiered its 2^nd season on Tuesday of this week at the time of writing.  The show had a rocky start but rocketed into the hearts of nerds and common folk alike through its winning combination of comic book craziness and engaging character and story.  I personally love CW’s The Flash, it’s the only DC adaptation of the 2010s to rival the works of Marvel and is the best comic show currently on TV.  This new season is primed to continue the show’s broadening horizons by introducing both the multiverse and a collection of Flash allies such as Wally West, Jay Garrick, and Jesse Quick.  This has got me thinking about the Flash Family, a group of heroes who all draw their power from the speed force, which I discussed previously in “Would You Like To Know More.”  So, this is your full spectrum look at the Flash Family in all its shades, shames, and successes.

Flash Family coming to The Flash Season 2?

Edited by Robert Beach

For my money, CW’s Flash is the best DC Comics live-action adaptation of the decade. In the mangled and mishandled quagmire of grim and gritty tripe like Man of Steel, broken films like Dark Knight Rises, and abysmal failures like Green Lantern, Flash stands above the rest as a stunning achievement. The show is a great blend of well-acted drama, light-hearted adventure, and an infectious exuberance for the source material, which has been greatly lacking from DC’s other endeavors. 

Simply the fact Flash approaches its first season with the gonzo, go-for-broke, mindset that gave us time travel and psychic gorillas right out of the gate speaks volumes about its confidence and passion.  Now the ramp up has begun for season 2, and it seems we’ll be seeing the start of the Flash Family as Jesse Quick, Wally West, and Jay Garrick have all been confirmed. 

Flash of Two Worlds Poster

Early in the year I reported that Jay Garrick, the original Golden Age Flash, would be coming to CW’s Flash show in its second season. At the time, this raised a lot of questions. It had been announced that Jay Garrick would be on the show but now word about his abilities or how he’d be portrayed.  The only thing we’d heard was that he would be playing an older mentor figure to Barry, filling the boots of Dr. Harrison Wells from season 1. Well, we have our first major confirmation that CW is planning way more than that with this amazing Flash of Two Worlds reveal poster.

As you can see from the poster, Jay Garrick will have super speed in his appearance on the Flash and even be sporting a costume drawn directly from his Golden Age depiction. This is pretty good news as it confirms that CW will be working with the classical costume design for most of the JSA as they slowly introduced them over the course of season 2, instead the New 52 costume redesigns. More importantly, this poster confirms that CW is planning to introduce Earth 2 this coming season. 

Gotham, Batman v. Superman, & Flash Casting News

So, there’s been a lot of talk recently about supporting cast in superhero adaptations.  In case you haven’t heard we’ve seen some major announcements about recasting, members dropping out, and new actors across mainly DC Comics adaptations, in particular The Flash, Batman v. Superman, and Gotham.  On Gotham the series is dropping Victoria Cartagena, who played Renee Montoya, and Andrew Stewart-Jones, who played Crispus Allen, from their position as main character.  While they’ll still be on the show they won’t appear as frequently or take up visibility in promotional material.  Meanwhile Batman v. Superman has reportedly cast Scoot McNairy as Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, replacing Rebecca Buller who played the gender-swapped version of the character Jenny Olsen in Man of Steel.  The rumor is that McNairy’s Jimmy Olsen will be handicapped after injuries he sustained during the battle of Metropolis in Man of Steel.  Finally CW’s The Flash has cast Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West, the Kid Flash, for their second season.  The whole thing is a pretty convoluted rigmarole but it’s got me thinking about the importance of diversity and representation in supporting cast. 

Flash's New Season 2 Costume

As CW’s The Flash preps for its season 2 premiere later this year we’ve received a steady drip of teaser trailers and character reveals.  The latest installment of this is the reveal of Flash’s new costume for the upcoming season.  For the most part this costume is looking the same as Flash’s old duds with the major addition of a white circle emblem eclipsing his chest lightning insignia.  The new design could mean a lot of different things but it certainly conveys a central new fact about The Flash as a show overall and its plans going forward.  This new, circle costume actually appeared previously on the show, worn by a future version of Barry. 

It was the future Barry who came back in time with the Reverse Flash the night Barry’s mom died and even convinced his younger self not to save his mom.  It seems clear from the outfit change that The Flash wants to maintain a sense of chronological momentum with its characters moving forward and changing as the series goes on.  This was always sort of in question for The Flash as unlike Arrow it didn’t take the tract of its hero having to really earn his stripes.  Barry Allen is the Flash from about mid-way through season 1 forward while on Arrow Oliver Queen is only considered to be Green Arrow in this upcoming season.