Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Flash season 7, episode 8, "The People v. Killer Frost."

The Flash season 7's New Forces storyline takes an unexpected turn as it creates a new speedster villain for the Arrowverse, one who is different from Barry Allen's previous threats. Ever since it began its run in 2014, the show has used multiple speedster villains against The Flash. From Reverse-Flash, Zoom, and Savitar to Godspeed, Team Flash has had its hands full with fighting speedsters who used their powers for evil. Season 7 will even feature Godspeed later on as the real iteration hasn't been revealed yet. However, before they can get to Godspeed, Barry has a different speedster villain to deal with; a threat he didn't see coming.

Ever since Iris West revived the original Speed Force, which has the form of Nora Allen, they have been awfully suspicious when it comes to the New Forces. After several episodes, The Flash season 7 has revealed the Speed Force's true intentions in episode 8, "The People v. Killer Frost." Barry and Speed Force Nora track down the Strength Force's conduit Fuerza, whose real name is Alexa Rivera when she isn't in her other form. While they run tests on Alexa to see what triggers her Strength Force transformation, the Speed Force takes matters into their own hands by attacking Alexa. Even though the episode doesn't clarify if Alexa died from the lightning blast or not, the Speed Force takes its role as a rival to The Flash, as they want to take out the New Forces, but with lethal methods.

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One of the things that earlier seasons of The Flash were criticized for was its over usage of Barry going up against another speedster. While Reverse-Flash will likely always remain as the show's best villain, Zoom and Savitar were simply a little too similar to Eobard Thawne. Even though Godspeed's identity and motives haven't been fully explored yet, they're obviously still evil. Despite The Flash vs the Speed Force revisiting that early formula, the Arrowverse is doing it in a refreshing way. The Speed Force in itself isn't pure evil as they don't have the motives that Thawne, Zoom, and Savitar had.

Barry Allen and Nora Allen in The Speed Force in The Flash

Instead, it's a conflict of different ideologies: whereas Barry wants to help the people affected by the New Forces, the Speed Force wants them dead. While The Flash is definitely depicting the Speed Force as an antagonist, they are not a one-dimensional villain who wants to cause harm for the sake of it. In some ways, it can be debated whether or not the Speed Force falls more into the anti-hero category as opposed to being a villain. While they and Barry want to stop the New Forces as a common goal, Team Flash's methods differ from theirs.

What is also helping The Flash season 7 is that Barry has to go up against a rival who looks like his dead mother, giving this conflict an emotional component. Will it be easy for the fastest man alive to fight someone who looks like the parent that Reverse-Flash murdered when Barry was just a kid? It will probably be easier said than done, as it makes Barry Allen's new big bad a more personal one. That helps this speedster vs. speedster arc stand out a bit from the previous ones The Flash has done in the earlier seasons.

NEXT: The Flash: Why Cisco's Carlos Valdes & Wells' Tom Cavanagh Are Leaving