I’m a lifelong fan of the Flash. I’m also old enough to remember, and to have been a fan of, the 1990 one season wonder, “The Flash.” I liked it, although even at the time it came across as a little bit cheesy. It got some things right about Barry Allen, Central City, and the Fastest Man Alive, but more often than not, it was missing the mark. With CW launching a new Flash series next Tuesday, I’m optimistic. I’ve been surprised at how much I like “Arrow,” and watching that series grow from over the first two seasons. There were some rough patches early on, but season two was much better than season one. With the same producers and showrunners, I hope “The Flash” will hit the ground…running. I’m sorry. Had to say it.
Here are five things I’d like to see in the first season of “The Flash.”
Barry smiled more in two episodes than Oliver Queen did in two SEASONS.
A different tone than we’ve seen from DC Comics screen adaptations lately. I’m a fan of “Arrow,” and I think they got a lot of things right telling Oliver Queen’s story. That said, “Arrow” has a definite grim tone to it—not as dark as Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, not even as dark as “Man of Steel.” The Flash is a brighter superhero than Batman or Green Arrow, and unfortunately, brighter than Snyder’s Man of Steel. While I think Superman should be the spot of hope (oh, THAT’S what the “S” stands for!) in any DC Universe, it looks like Flash is the one who will be carrying the torch. In the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoons, Flash was the one cracking the jokes. He lightened the mood for the rest of the team. With him being the center of this series, that might not work for him…but having a “grim, gritty” Flash would be antithetical to the character. In the “Arrow” episodes that introduced us to Barry Allen, I think Barry smiled more in two shows than Oliver Queen did in his first two seasons. They got a likable kid in Grant Gustin to play the Scarlet Speedster, let’s let him be likable. It’s okay to have an optimistic, bright, hopeful hero. I’m a dad, I have kids, I want them to see superheroes have FUN. They don that in the Marvelverse, and they used to in the DC Universe. Why can’t DC/Warner Bros rekindle some of that?
The Rogues form a family more than other villains
Flash has a rich “rogues gallery” – a set of villains second only to Batman and Spider-Man in the world of comic books. Unlike the villains in Gotham City and Spider-Man’s New York, Flash’s villains are interconnected. They have their own stories, their own relationships with each other—they form a family of sorts more than any other villains. The core group is usually just called “the Rogues,” and includes Captain Cold, Heatwave, Mirror Master, Trickster, and Captain Boomerang. Sometimes Weather Wizard or the Top or Abracadabra is in the mix. In sneak peeks and press releases from CW, we’ve seen about half of these characters mentioned, or seen their actors…I don’t’ want all of them to emerge in the first season. I’d rather see it all grow more organically. These villains are in Central City and Keystone City because of the Flash—but they don’t want him dead. They’re in a sort of tug of war with him over the city, he foils their plans, but it’s almost like they’re children craving attention. He’ll put them in jail, they get out again, but they pretty much go back to their watering hole and plan their next attack. They don’t want to kill people, they just want to get rich. With a cold gun, a mirror, a boomerang…personally I think getting a job might be easier at some point. There are two major Flash villains who don’t fit that mold – Gorilla Grodd and Reverse Flash. The former is a mind-controlling ape dictator from Gorilla City, the latter a psychopath who has a mad grudge against Barry Allen. I’m sure either would be happy to kill the Flash, and they aren’t invited to the Rogues’ clubhouse meetings.
I say go nuts
If you ask a comic book fan what superpowers Flash has, they’d say “he runs fast.” And that’s correct. Thanks to his tapping into the “speed force,” he’s able to run incredibly fast. Faster than the speed of sound, and eventually fast enough that he can run on water, and up the side of a building. There are also things he can do that come across as silly, even in the comic books. Vibrating his molecules so quickly that he can phase through solid objects, Kitty Pryde-style. He has a “cosmic treadmill” that he can use to time travel. There are probably a dozen non-running superpowers that Flash has that he uses on a fairly regular basis. I don’t know that all of them make sense for this series, but the producers have said that there will be more superpowers on this series than “Arrow,” and it won’t be quite as grounded in reality as their show about a bow-and-arrow wielding vigilante. I say go nuts.
One of the things that “Arrow” got right was building a superhero family around Oliver Queen’s Arrow. Tangent – he was called the Hood in the first season, the Arrow in the second–does anyone else hope they just go ahead and call him “Green Arrow?” Maybe with the proliferation of arrows from Roy and Merlyn in upcoming seasons, they’ll have to call him that to differentiate. Okay, back to the Arrow Family. They’ve done a good job of gradually filling up the Arrowcave with allies. The first season brought in John Diggle and Felicity Smoak, both created for the television series. The second season brought in versions of Black Canary and Roy Harper, and there are hints that other heroes may emerge. Every indication we’ve seen for “The Flash” is that we’ll see several heroes in Central City alongside the Fastest Man Alive. We met Cisco Ramon in the “Arrow” crossover; he becomes the earthquake-causing superhero Vibe. Who has been a joke in the DC Universe for as long as I can remember. Ronnie Raymond has also been cast, and he’s half of the gestalt hero Firestorm. The series is using the particle accelerator explosion that creates Flash as a catalyst to bring a lot of other superpowered heroes into the mix. There is an established “Flash Family” that includes sidekicks and speedsters from the past and future, and I’m sure we’ll see some of those. I’m looking forward to some of the C- and D-listers from the DC Universe making appearances. We know Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman won’t show up on these series, but there plenty of other interesting characters with weird powers who could pop up.
The last thing I’d hope for with “The Flash” probably undoes the other four wishes. I want the producers and writers to throw us some curveballs. Don’t just follow comic book storylines, don’t just make this a series that any comic book nerd could have predicted. In “Arrow,” they took the comic book character of Black Canary – Dinah Laurel Lance, and split her up among a few different characters. So is the “real” Black Canary on “Arrow” Laurel Lance the lawyer (with alliterative superpowers), or Sara Lance, who was stranded with Oliver Queen, and trained by the League of Assassins? Oliver Queen’s sister Thea had the nickname of Speedy, who was Green Arrow’s sidekick in the comics. Is she going to end up on Team Arrow? I know some nerds who are outraged that the producers are futzing with continuity and characters. Personally, I like it. The core of the character is intact. The heroism is there, sometimes better than in the comic books. I want “The Flash” to have those surprises, those unexpected moments and character twists. If it means that I don’t get other things on my wishlist, that’s okay.
I want to have a show that doesn’t bore me, and keeps viewers watching. Good writing, strong characters, and exciting adventure will do that. I’m looking forward to “The Flash.” I’m going to watch it no matter what—I hope it’s a series that will keep others watching too.