Six years before the rise of the Black Flame, The Flash already showed a Deathstorm story in season 2. This time around, Team Flash is up against their old ally, who comes complete with a scary redesign and a new set of powers. Now known as Deathstorm, the character became a primary antagonist of The Flash season 8’s storyline.
The Flash season 8, episode 11, “Resurrection,” turned Caitlin’s world upside down with the shocking return of Robbie Amell’s Firestorm. Though there were teases of this ahead of the Black Flame’s identity reveal, there was a great deal of skepticism over whether this character could actually be the real Ronnie. As it turned out, there was indeed a Ronnie Raymond connection, albeit not the one Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) was expecting. Following his full resurrection, the Black Flame stood revealed as Deathstorm, a cosmic entity born from Ronnie’s sacrifice in the season 2 premiere. The villain shares his name with a villainous, undead Firestorm who served as a member of the Black Lanterns in DC Comics.
As surprising as Deathstorm’s The Flash appearance was, it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time the show has included an evil Ronnie Raymond, nor is it the first time it’s used the Deathstorm name from the comics. Months after Ronnie’s death, Barry traveled to Earth-2, where he was attacked by the doppelgängers of Caitlin and Ronnie, who were operating as Killer Frost and Deathstorm respectively. Like The Flash season 8’s Deathstorm, Earth-2’s Ronnie was a cold-blooded murderer who used his nuclear abilities to kill innocent people and wreak havoc in Central City. During a fight with Barry, Deathstorm was murdered by a sneak attack from Zoom.
The Flash TV Show Gave Deathstorm A Second Chance
Many seasons later, the show reintroduced the Deathstorm name in a comic-accurate manner. The Flash season 8’s take on the character isn’t a Black Lantern, but he is an evil, undead incarnation of Ronnie Raymond’s Firestorm, which is one of the two most important elements of his character. The other is his design, which incorporates blue flames and a skull head (not unlike Marvel Comics’ Ghost Rider). The Flash season 8’s Deathstorm uses this look from the comic books, whereas season 2’s interpretation didn’t look much different from the Firestorm that Barry knew on Earth-1.
Since Earth-2’s evil Ronnie Raymond was basically Deathstorm in name only, it’s not a problem at all that the Arrowverse reused the codename. By bringing in a proper version of Deathstorm into the Arrowverse, The Flash created a unique new adversary for Barry Allen and Team Flash to fight that definitely lived up to his comic book counterpart’s menacing image. And since Earth-2’s Ronnie wasn’t able to survive one episode, the new Deathstorm was able to leave a much bigger mark on the series than his predecessor.
Now The Flash Series Is Ending, This Might Be The Last On-Screen Deathstorm
With the Arrowverse series ending soon and DCEU set to release its first solo The Flash movie on June 23, 2023, the hero and all his accompanying side characters are getting a full-scale revamp and can appear in very different forms on the big screen. Since it's a new take on the character in a different canon, this means that Deathstorm can technically appear in the DCEU. Whether he's likely to, however, is a different question. Complications like the canceled Batgirl movie that was supposed to tie into The Flash, as well as star Ezra Miller's controversial status, mean that the much-delayed project would be much better off using fewer Flash villains rather than more. And since there hasn't yet been a living Firestorm in the DCEU, introducing a resurrected Deathstorm wouldn't have the same impact. All told, it's likely that The Flash TV series was the last time the character will show up for a while.