Not so secret origins – The Flash

By David Cromie on December 18, 2013 • ( Leave a comment )

Good news for fans of the scarlet speedster, his triumphant return to television has happened. There is not too much I can say at the moment because we don’t know too much, all we know is that so far so good.

The Origin

I have to say they managed to take the original origin story and put a more, for lack of a better word, realistic spin on it. The original origin was – during an electrical storm, Barry returned to an experiment after a short break. All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning streaked through a window, shattered a chemical cabinet and covered Barry in the electrified chemicals.

Now I have been tempted to try this just in case but it may not work the new origin is similar to the last only it now includes a particle accelerator (we had been hinted at the STAR labs accelerator all season, first off it was in Central City and second it has the word accelerator in it, that’s a pretty big hint). We hear on the news that there has been an incident and then suddenly there is a wave of red light and you’re followed by lightning and chemicals then boom, the episode ends, but my god what an ending.

The Casting

This part is crucial and at first I was not happy with it, after all it was the mean gay guy from Glee, who in the end learned the error of his ways, could he really be hero material?

He can sing but can he be a speedster?

With Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), the studio went for tall, dark, handsome, brooding, looks good shirtless, the kind of man that if your girlfriend left you for you would be like well, I can’t compete with that (#mancrush). With the casting for Barry they went a different direction, they went for the cute boy look, not to cute, but I think this distinction will help the series set a different tone.

The Rouges

In Arrow we have seen then take on some pretty nasty villians and they managed to even ground them in reality Count Vertigo, Soloman Grundy, Huntress (not really bad just not on the side of the angels), the 3^rd Doll Maker and Deadshot to name but a few, so who can we expect to see in the Flash Spin off.

Captain Cold	Leonard “Len” Snart was a criminal who wanted a chance to get rid of the Flash. Seeing an article about a weapon that might disrupt the Flash’s speed, Snart made a gun and exposed it to the radiation. However, instead of slowing the Flash down, the gun could freeze anything to absolute zero, which was discovered when Snart accidentally fired at a watchman. Calling himself Captain Cold, Snart started out on a criminal career.
Mirror Master	While working in a prison workshop, Sam Scudder accidentally created a mirror that could hold an image for a period of time. When he escaped, he made more mirror gadgets, and became the Mirror Master. He has created many different mirrors that can do various things like travel into other dimensions.
The Pied Piper	Hartley Rathaway was born deaf, but was cured after his rich parents sought a way to make him hear. Once he could hear, he became obsessed with music and sound, and made many sound-based weapons. Originally a criminal, he reformed and came out as gay at the same time.
Weather Wizard	Mark Mardon escaped from prison to his brother’s house. His brother had just made a wand that could control the weather. Mark wanted the weapon and he and his brother got into a fight, and his brother was killed (although Mardon originally said he was dead when he got there, he has apparently told the truth to Captain Cold).
The Trickster	James Jesse, a circus performer coming from a family of trapeze walkers, invented shoes that used compressed air to “walk” on air, enabling him to become a successful aerolist. Inspired by Jesse James, James made other weapons and became the Trickster.
Captain Boomerang	Digger Harkness was a master of boomerangs which he learned how to use in the Outback. When a mascot was needed for a boomerang company, Harkness was hired, but used the costume and boomerangs to commit crimes. Had many trick boomerangs.
The Top	Roscoe Dillon used many top-themed weapons to commit crimes, eventually learning how to spin himself at great speeds, which increased his intelligence and enabled him to dodge bullets. He died, but his mind was so powerful that it took over the minds of many people to keep living, including Henry Allen and Senator Thomas O’Neill, whose body was reformed by Dillon to look like the original Top.
Abra Kadabra	Abra Kadabra is from the 64th century, at a time when science has made stage magic obsolete. However, he wants a career as a performing magician, so after he was exiled back in time he finds an audience to entertain and soon clashes with the Flash (Barry Allen). His “magic” is actually based on advanced technology, disguised with supernatural trappings.
Heat Wave	Mick Rory is obsessed with fire and at a young age burned down his house, killing his family. He then made a heat gun and used fire to rob and kill.

There are other villains I have not mentioned but these are the core ones, also he could take on already used Arrow Villains and even unused generic DC bad guys, the DC universe is so rich you really can’t guess where they are going to go.

I’m a massive fan of the Flash and to be honest his old 90’s series wasn’t that bad, it was just sadly a product of its time, limited by people’s perception of comic books and technology, so heres hoping for a great new start.