When Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti set out to adapt the DC Comics' character Green Arrow for the small screen, they made the character more grounded and realistic. For their second show on The CW, they'll be taking a more faithful approach to adapting 'the fastest man alive' in The Flash.
Obviously, a series starring Grant Gustin as DC Comics' speedster/detective Barry Allen will have to involve superpowers, and already the series has cast several metahuman characters. The Flash will be more science fiction than Arrow, which only recently began introducing characters with supernatural abilities. For Barry, this means he won't simply be facing off against petty criminals, but also villains with destructive and dangerous capabilities.
And the sci-fi elements don't stop with the villains. Barry's backstory - which was hinted at during his time on Arrow and has been teased in the series' trailer - also includes some supernatural and unexplainable events. It's a tragic backstory first given to the character in Geoff John's celebrated Flash: Rebirth comic book, and previous trailers have already shown glimpses of that origin where Barry's mother is murdered by an inexplicable blur.
Rebirth will have a strong influence on The Flash, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the comic. In a new video released by The CW, Kreisberg and Berlanti briefly discuss how excited they are for the villains appearing this season, as well as how they're incorporating elements from Rebirth. Check it out above.
The murder of Barry's mother definitely won't be all The Flash series borrows from John's Rebirth, but it'll likely be the most literal. Berlanti mentions in the above video that fans will notice aspects from Rebirth throughout the season, starting with the pilot, "but how we twist and turn that is hopefully what makes it exciting for the audience as we go along."
Speaking of their excitement for the series' villains, Kreisberg says:
Aside from Batman, The Flash probably has the best villains of anybody in the comic books. It's always our drive to dip as much as we can into the DC Comics playbook and I think that people are going to be amazed to see those amazing Flash villains showing up a lot earlier than people probably expected.
Two of those villains we already know will appear are Captain Cold and Heat Wave. Originally, both of these characters were non-superpowered villains, relying on advance technology for their extreme hot and cold abilities. Yet, thanks to changes made in DC Comics' New 52, Captain Cold and Heat Wave are now metahumans with cold and heat based superpowers.
Considering that The Flash is eager to include those more sci-fi, supernatural elements its story telling, it's very likely that their Captain Cold and Heat Wave will be these newer, inherently super powered versions. In fact, it wouldn't be out of the question that the same S.T.A.R. Labs accident that gave Barry his superpowers, also affected other residents of Central City, turning them into metahumans who will either use their new powers for good or evil.
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NEXT PAGE: The Flash Images Featuring John Wesley Shipp
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The Flash premieres Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 @8pm on The CW.
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A few new images have been released from The Flash ahead of its October premiere. They feature a great look as Barry's super-speed in action as well as John Wesley Shipp (who played The Flash in the 1990s TV show) as Barry's father. Check them out below:
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To make matters worse for a young Barry Allen, his father was the police's prime suspect in his mother's murder and went to jail for the crime. Having his father wrongly accused only furthered Barry's determination to find the true culprit, and his new abilities will definitely help in his ongoing investigation.
In the meantime, however, it looks like super speed will also come in handy when it comes to visiting dear old dad in prison. Will Barry consider springing his dad from jail once he learns he has the power to do so?
Which of The Flash's iconic villains are you most excited to see? And what do you think about The Flash being heavily influence by Geoff John's Rebirth? Sound off in the comments below!
The Flash premieres Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 @8pm on The CW.