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 - Guide to All CW Superheroes

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Edited by Robert Beach

In 2012, the world of TV superheroes changed forever. That was the year CW partnered with DC to produce a new superhero show after the success of their 10-year Smallville series. The show was called Arrow, and it wasn’t good. And yet, it persisted, and, in 2014, it spawned a spin-off show with The Flash. Then, in late 2014, everything changed with the first annual Flash/Arrow crossover. Suddenly, both shows were changed out stripped-down realism, empty cynicism, and minimal ambition. Grandiose vision, weird sci-fi exuberance, and an attempt to emulate the sprawling expanse of the Marvel Universe in the realm of TV took hold. 

This led to a third TV show of Legends of Tomorrow and a crossover with NBC’s Constantine. Finally, the little experiment CW started gave birth to its crown jewel: Supergirl, a hit family adventure series that has become THE version of the Superman mythos for a generation. Given that all 5 shows of the CW universe (CWniverse, CW-verse) are on a break (or canceled in Constantine’s case), I’ve taken it upon myself to make this semi-chronological guide to all 37 superheroes of the CWniverse. Yes, pull up a chair. 

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. 

Who Was That At The End of the Season Finale to Legends of Tomorrow?

Edited by Robert Beach 

CW’s ambitious superhero team time travel show Legends of Tomorrow has completed its first season and what a wild ride it was.  The show opened strong with a series of top-notch 2-episode storylines that used the time travel gimmick to explore a number of unique genres like ‘50s monster movie, ’70 spy thriller, and post-apocalyptic action adventure. Overall, the action and adventure of the series was top notch even as the later episodes tended to lose focus and slip a little in quality, falling into a much more syndicated approach than the early 2-part story collection.

In the end, Legends of Tomorrow’s ambitions were probably bigger than its abilities. Despite that, strong performances and amazing technical acumen made the show a damn fun ride and earned it a second season alongside CW’s 4-night superhero line-up.  Legends of Tomorrow was already gearing up for its second season with a surprise reveal at the end of the season 1 finale. Who gave the titular Legends a grave warning at the end of season 1?  

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 - 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. 

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/

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. 

Is the Justice Society coming to CW?

As the summer begins to wind down all the big networks have started ramping up for the fall premieres.  By this I of course mean that the small handful of networks to feature comic book adaptations or genre shows are prepping for the fall while everyone else continues to push their summer blockbuster shows like Tyrant, Under the Dome, or The Humans.  Among the ramp up to the autumn of genre shows has been a ton of character reveals coming out of CW for their shared universe of superhero shows, which includes The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow.  There have been a bunch of reveals of ultimately obscure characters like Atom Smasher, Mr. Terrific, Hawkman, Baron Blitzkrieg, Vandal Savage, and Jay Garrick, to appear in the coming seasons.  Individually these reveals wouldn’t really matter but taken as a whole they actually build up to a pretty startling picture, especially given statements by producers about Flash season 2’s emphasis on parallel realities and Legends of Tomorrow’s bent towards time travel.  The big question I’ve ended up asking myself is…is CW planning to introduce the Justice Society of America?