13 August 2021
4 villains from the comic books the Flash has conquered
The seventh season of The Flash is now on Showmax, with new episodes weekly. The season picks up the pieces after the Mirrorverse crisis from Season 6. Barry Allen and a depleted Team Flash fight the Mirror Mistress to save the city, as well as the team’s co-leader Iris West.
But Central City never stops attracting villains and speedsters. This season brings Speed Force and others to help Flash against a new villain: a psychopathic speedster obsessed with Barry Allen’s future son, Bart Allen.
Here are four epic bad guys Barry Allen has defeated on the show.
Reverse-Flash
Several versions of Reverse-Flash have appeared over the years. From The Rival (enemy of the first Flash, Jay Garrick), Hunter Solomon (a former FBI agent), Daniel West to Professor Eobard Thawne.
Eobard Thawne’s Reverse Flash is the most popular; he is a time criminal from the 22nd century and an archnemesis of the Flash. Thawne is a fanboy whose adoration of the Flash turns into an obsession. The show didn’t delve deeper into his past, but according to the comics, he’s a fanboy-turned-hater. He obsesses over being faster than the Flash.
During a time-travelling adventure to kill the Flash, he loses his speed and gets stuck in the 21st century. Knowing he needs a speedster to return home, he kills and assumes the identity of renowned scientist Dr Harrison Wells, gains control of S.T.A.R Labs and weaponises the particle accelerator to give Barry Allen super speed.
Eobard Thawne is the creation of John Broome and Carmine Infantino and first appeared in The Flash issue 139 in 1963. He has a genius intellect and is often faster than Flash.
Savitar
A future version of Flash, Savitar is a self-proclaimed God of Speed and one of the Flash’s most formidable enemies. Like most of Flash’s speedster villains, he has a God complex and sees other speedsters as mere mortals. And Savitar is genuinely a mighty speedster with a cult following that remained loyal during his imprisonment in the speed force, but his arrogance and ego often lead to his downfall.
Savitar wants to kill Flash’s soulmate, Iris, which will push present-day Flash towards his dark side and eventually create Savitar in the future. This makes him a complicated villain for the Flash. He knows everything about the Flash and weaponises that knowledge.
Savitar first appears on The Flash in season 3 and is portrayed by Grant Gustin in his true form. Stuntman Andre Tricoteux plays his armoured version.
Killer Frost
Killer Frost wasn’t always a villain. She was a founding member of Team Flash, the brilliant bioengineer Caitlin Snow. She worked on the particle accelerator, which accidentally gave Barry Allen super speed and provided medical support when he was comatose after the accident.
Snow had a dormant meta side that began manifesting in season 3. She first it when a portion of her hair became blonde. She kept it a secret from Team Flash, but her Killer Frost side manifested whenever she became enraged.
Caitlin’s frosty side dominated her after she used her powers to rescue the Flash from Savitar. She later teamed up with Savitar after revealing his true self (a future Barry Allen) to her and accepted her as Killer Frost rather than try to cure her.
Grodd
Grodd is a super-intelligent gorilla created in S.T.A.R Labs (under Eobard Thawne masquerading as Dr Harrison Wells) in collaboration with General Wades Eiling to make super soldiers with telepathic abilities. The experiment was shut down after Wells discovered Eiling’s inhumane approach.
After the particle accelerator incident, Grodd escaped S.T.A.R Labs and was later used by Thawne to distract Team Flash. Grodd tormented the Flash and his friends with his telepathic powers. He kidnapped Dr Caitlin, whom he was fond of during his time at S.TA.R. Labs, so she can help him create more super apes, but Team Flash devised a trick to save Caitlin and send Grodd to Earth-2 Jungle.
Grodd returned with an army of apes to exact his revenge.
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