The newest villain of The Flash, Cicada, has made his debut in the second official season 5 trailer ... sort of. The non-speedster big bad, who will be played by American Pie's Chris Klein, can be seen in the season 5 trailer. It's only a very brief peek. Instead, the teaser is more about the situation revolving Cicada's introduction.
To the surprise of no one, one of the underlying causes of Cicada's rise to power is Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen's time-traveling daughter Nora. She revealed herself in the season 4 finale and confessed to her (much younger) parents that she had made a huge mistake. Evidently, Nora didn't just inherit her father's speed; she also has Barry's propensity for messing with the timeline. Nora Allen could be to blame for Cicada.
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The season trailer released on The CW's official YouTube channel is brief. It runs well under a minute but it manages to contain a lot of information in that short amount of time, especially when it comes to Nora and Cicada. The entire teaser is embedded below.
The trailer reveals that Nora's trip to the past has become one-way. Nora is stuck in the present day. She needs the help of her parents and their team to get back to her own time and reverse whatever her mistake is/was with The Flash's timeline. Presumably, Nora's mistake involves her interference in The Flash season 4 finale, where she saved Barry Allen from certain doom, but the trailer isn't clear.
The Flash season 5 trailer is more explicit about the dawn of Cicada as a new villainous presence. It never mentions Cicada by name or shows him in full, but he is described as a "man hiding in the shadows." Cicada's famous lightning bolt shaped dagger from the comics can be seen as well, underlying that this mysterious figure is season 5's big bad. Nora explains that Barry and the team did beat Cicada in her timeline, but according to her father, history has rewritten itself (again). The trailer implies that Nora's mistake has changed how powerful Cicada will be or how Team Flash will need to defeat him.
The one thing that is unclear is how this timeline confusion will incorporate itself into Cicada as a character. In the comics, David Hersch murdered his own wife. Filled with remorse afterwards, Hersch tried to commit suicide. At the last second, though, Hersch was struck with a bolt of lightning, and it gave him the powers of immortality and advanced healing. Hersch transformed himself into Cicada and he built a cult for himself surrounding The Flash. Cicada and his cult followers hunted down and sacrificed everyone The Flash ever saved because of their twisted religion and to feed Hersch's own powers. Perhaps it'll be Nora's interference in time that changes Hersch from a run-of-the-mill serial killer to the superpowered Cicada. There is a running motif (pun very much intended) of lightning in the season 5 trailer.
More: Meet the West-Allen Family In The Flash Season 5 Poster
The Flash season 5 premieres Tuesday, October 9 on The CW.
Source: The CW