Warning: SPOILERS for The Flash #50
If DC fans were hoping to get even more Captain Cold goodness in their lives, then the Flash War comic event has definitely delivered. But in an unexpected way, since this is the time-hopping speedsters of DC's universe we're talking about. Because as satisfying as it may be to see Barry Allen join forces with Leonard Snart a.k.a. Captain Cold, it's even better to see Barry team up with an alternate version of the Rogue from far in Earth's future.
A future in which Commander Cold isn't a thief, an outlaw, or a Rogue. He's a Renegade, charged with protecting time and history from any meddling forces. Forces just like the ones that have forever altered the status quo of the Flash Family and, according to Flash comic writer Josh Williamson, set the stage for the next chapter in Barry's, Wally's, and the newly returned Bart Allen's life.
But first, Barry has to clean up the mess. And that means forging an alliance with Commander Cold... for the time being.
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Nobody who has seen the Arrowverse shows needs to be told why the heroic Citizen Cold from another Earth is a welcome twist on Flash's regular formula. But Commander Cold's path to becoming a hero of the DCU has plenty of twists in store. We'll let Williamson tease the coming team-up himself:
Should we expect that this new Commander Cold from the future will be a secondary story? He's been kept intentionally mysterious so far...
With Commander Cold, he's going to be another one of those subplots we have where he and Barry don't really get along. But to figure out what's going on with these new forces they're going to have to work together. That's a big part of the next arc in the book, that's why he's on the cover of Issue #52.
If things were still as they should be in the DC Universe, then Barry Allen and Wally West's run-in with these future time cops would have an ending in sight. But now that The Flashes can't travel through time, it apparently means Commander Cold is stuck in the present day. For a hero, there are more than enough dangers going around to put him to use. But as a man charged with safeguarding the timestream... being transplanted to the past carries some obvious risks.
Not least of which is the fact that there's already one Cold-themed Rogue in town. And it's only a matter of time before he comes to see who is using his style to do good, instead of thievery.
Will Leonard Snart be inquiring as to who the heck this new guy with his shtick is?
Yes and no? [Laughs] Theres' going to be a lot of people... I'll say this: that mistaken identity thing happens a lot over the next three months, after Issue #52... People keep meeting Commander Cold and thinking he's Snart and realizing immediately that he's not Snart.
Some people will meet him and are like, 'Huh?' And some are like, 'Well, I know you're not Snart, I can tell the difference,' that kind of thing. Right now Leonard Snart is in Suicide Squad, I hope to do a story that crosses over the Rogues with the Suicide Squad eventually, I just don't know when we're going to do it.
The Flash #50 is available now from DC Comics.