It's been three years since the CW released it's second TV Show, the Flash, which surprisingly became extremely popular. Now it is on it's fourth Season and for the first time the main villain is not a Speedster, which was the right move in my opinion. The main villains of the last three Seasons were all Speedsters so it's good to have more variety of villains. And there were even more Speedsters than Barry and the main three villains (Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar).
There were also people like Trajectory, Rival, The Black Flash, Kid Flash, Future Flash, short lived alternate version of the Flash, Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick and so on. And there is a handful of speedsters (good and evil) who will likely appear in the future episodes of the show (unless it gets cancelled after the fourth Season). However, there are also speedsters who were a pretty big part of the Flash's Universe who likely won't make an appearance in the Flash TV Show ever, just because of what we have seen so far. This is my list of speedsters who likely won't see in the Flash TV Show.
Number 5 - Johnny Quick (Jonathan "John" Chambers)
Origin:
Johnny Chambers was born during the events of WWI. At some point in time before WWII, Johnny discovered a special formula called 3x2(9yz)4a which allowed him to increase his speed to superhuman levels. Getting inspiration from the hero of Keystone City and the member of the JSA, the Flash (Jay Garrick), Johnny became a Super Hero himself, simply know as Johnny Quick. He fought alongside Golden Age heroes and even became a member of All-Star Squadron. After WWII he shared various adventures with his friend Jay Garrick and the oldest speedster, Mac Mercury. Max disappeared at one point and Jay retired, leaving John as the only active Speedster, until he retired himself.
Eventually, Johnny established Quickstart Enterprises, a company that made infomercials that helped people to get a new start on life and not be held back somewhat reflective of his fast paced life and its continual restarts with his wife Libby Lawrence who was known as Liberty Belle during WWII. However, John came back to the life of crime fighting when Jay Garrick asked him to help him and Wally West (who was the Flash at the time) stop Eobard Thawne. Since then Johnny became part of the Flash Family.
One of the things John and Max never agreed on was Max's consistent mentioning of inter dimensional source of energy which gives speedsters their speed, believing it was just his formula giving him increased metabolism. It wasn't until Savitar came back and stole the Speed Force from every member of the Flash Family (besides Wally because of his connection, and Max because of his control) that Johnny started to believe that the Speed Force exists. Unfortunately, during the fight with Savitar, the Speed Force started to drive Johnny towards itself, and he started to run incredibly fast, effectively tapping into the Speed Force and saying goodbye to his friend Max.
Why he won't be in the show:
Well, I'm not really gonna bother over that WWII and Jay Garrick thing. It is easy for them to introduce Johnny in a different way. They did it with Hunter Zolomon. However, the main reason why I don't think we will see him is because one of his most important characteristics is the fact that he is the father of Jesse Chambers, also known as the speedster Jesse Quick. Well, we all know that in the show, Jesse Quick is the daughter of Earth 2 Harrison Wells and the girlfriend of Wally West. Since Jesse is already in the show and her father is a completely different character, there is no reason for John to be in the show. Besides him being Jesse's father, he is known for being a member of All-Star Squadron, as one of the main heroes of Golden Age. But it's pretty clear that the show is not interested on focusing on that side of the DC Universe, at least not for the Speedsters anyway. It's not like they decided to focus on Jay's character enough. Why would we assume they will do the same for John? In other words, there is no reason for him to exist in the show.
Number 4 - Reverse Flash (Daniel West)
Origin:
The only evil speedster on this list. Daniel West was the first person who took the name Reverse Flash in the New 52. He was Iris West's younger brother who gained his powers after the accident caused by the Rogues. After becoming Reverse Flash, Daniel started killing every single person who had connection to the Speed Force, in order to absorb it and become powerful enough to move time backwards.
Daniel wanted to go back in time and kill his father back when he and Iris were kids, in order to pay him back for all the things he has done to him and his sister when they were kids but also to give them childhood they deserved. His succeeded, but in doing so he caused a lot of psychological trauma to past versions of himself and Iris, which affected the present timeline and started to turn himself into a monster.
After realizing what he has done, Barry absorbed all the Speed Force from Daniel and reset the timeline, fixing everything Daniel has done, including killing Iris in the fight against the Flash. Afterwards he was sent to the Iron Heights prison where his sister Iris gave up on him for not realizing what he has done is wrong, and that it is their past that makes them who they are today.
Why he won't be in the show:
The reason why I think Daniel won't be seen in the Flash TV Show is pretty obvious. He can't be there because he can't be Iris' brother. Joe's ex wife had only one child after she left, that being Wally, the only other kid Joe has. And there was no mentioning of Joe hanging out with another woman or Francine being with another guy before she died. It wouldn't make sense for Iris to have another brother. It is impossible.
And even if Daniel would somehow exist, he can't be Reverse Flash because the only reason why he decided to become Reverse Flash in the first place is because he wanted to kill his father for ruining his and Iris's childhood. And Joe who is Iris's father in the show is one of the nicest people in the whole show who always wanted the best for Iris and Wally.
Plus, Daniel was essentially a plot device for introducing black Wally West, who hated the Flash for putting him in prison without knowing he was a criminal. And it was Daniel who helped Wally believe that Flash is a hero by telling him that he is a criminal. Not to mention that Daniel is Wally's uncle in comics, because he is Iris's brother and Iris is Wally's aunt. But the show decided to do something stupid and turned Wally into Iris's brother instead of her nephew, which is ridiculous. So, for obvious reasons, Daniel won't be seen in the show.
Number 3 - Impulse/Kid Flash (Bart Allen)
Origin:
Bartholomew "Bart" Allen II or just Bart Allen. Also known as Impulse, also known as Kid Flash and also known as the Flash. That's right, Bart had three different super hero identities throughout his carrier. He was Impulse. Then he became the second Kid Flash. Then after Infinite Crisis he became the fourth Flash (although it was short lived, and he went back to being Kid Flash).
After Trial of the Flash, Barry came to the 30th Century to live with his wife Iris for some time. Unfortunately for them, the Anti Monitor started the first crisis know as Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the only one who could stop his Multiversal busting Anti Matter canon was Barry Allen, which cost him his life. It was revealed that Iris was pregnant and she gave birth to twins, Don and Dawn Allen, who will be later known as Tornado Twins.
Barry's and Iris's son Don married a descendant of his father's long time enemy Eobard Thawne, a young woman called Meloni Thawne. They lived in 30th Century until he and his sister Dawn were killed by the alien race called the Dominators, ordered by Meloni's father, the President Thaddeus Thawne. The Dominators took Bart away from Meloni and tried to experiment on hi, but he was saved by the Earthgov.
However, instead of giving him back to Meloni, the government had him live in their lab in an isolation from society in order to to experiment on him themselves (either to turn him into a super hero, clone him or something else). They raised him in a virtual reality while at the same time analyzing his physical abilities. They even told Meloni that Bart was dead.
Unfortunately for them, his grandma Iris found out what the government has been doing with Bart, including the fact that they had no intention of curing him from his condition. Because he was born with his grandfather's speed and developed it at such a young age, his increased metabolism was killing him. When Bart was chronologically only 2 years old, physically he was 12 years old.
Because of this, Iris rescued Bart and together they traveled back in time when Wally was the Flash, who stabilized Bart's metabolism, preventing him from dying while keeping his super speed. Bart took the name Impulse and lived with a speedster Max Mercury who was teaching him to use his speed as well as how to live a normal life as a normal kid. Eventually he became second Kid Flash and a member of New Teen Titans.
Why he won't be in the show:
Bart's origin story is a bit complexed. It is not something you can just throw at the audience with one or two episodes. You have to be patient. Go step by step in introducing everything you need in order to introduce Bart himself. Like 30th Century, Barry's and Iris' kids, Eobard's descendants, the Flash legacy, all that stuff. And in order to do that you will have to focus on Bart pretty much all the time, or at least 70% of the show should be dedicated to Bart himself. The audience will start to feel like they are watching the show about Impulse instead of the character who's name is in the title, that being the Flash Barry Allen (not that I like CW version of Barry but that is irrelevant). It is a risky thing to do, and I don't think CW is ready to go that far just to add a character a lot of people don't know even exist.
And it will probably be weird for people to see a kid who is two years old have characteristics of a 12-year old while at the same time talking to his grandma and grandpa who are barely old enough to be his parents, even less grandparents (in our timeline at least). And that's not even mentioning the problem with Don and Dawn. What if Barry and Iris acknowledging Bart's existence changes the future thus changing the present because Bart is in the present. That leads to more time traveling stories and we have seen a bunch of those stories in the Flash and Legends of Tomorrow with Rip Hunter.
What if Iris doesn't get pregnant? And if she does get pregnant how will her kids travel to the future to grow up and for Don to have a son who will eventually visit the 21th Century? Why would they just leave their children in the future? There are just a lot of stuff to cover if you want to introduce Bart Allen, not to mention him learning how to live like a normal kid. Who is gonna teach him? Cisco? Caitlin? Barry and Iris who are too busy? Wally West? The only reason why the Season 1 and 2 had no problem introducing black Wally West is because that version of Wally he, he didn't have anything going for him except being a stereotype with a teenage parents problems.
Plus, we have seen countless possible futures for the Flash and most of them involve Barry disappearing in the future in year 2024 to face a young version of Eobard Thawne in order for Eobard to one day try to kill Barry via time travel, resulting in his mother's death and him eventually becoming the Flash. We have seen the future countless times. No mentioning of Bart Allenanywhere. Not even a single easter egg (unless I missed something). I don't know if CW plans to make their series ten years old like with Smallville in order for us to see Barry finally "disappearing in the crisis" or even beyond and I don't know what they are actually planning, but because of all the crazy stuff that needs to happen in order for Bart to be introduced the right way and the direction the show has been taking since the first Season, I just don't see it happening at all.
Number 2 - Max Mercury (Maxwell "Max" Crandall)
Origin:
Max Mercury is the oldest, most knowledgeable and one of the fastest speedster in the mainstream DC Universe (he lived in 19th Century). He was a friend of local Blackfoot Indian clan who got massacred. With his dying breath, the Shaman of the clan told Max that the remaining members of the clan who weren't in the village during the massacre were about to be ambushed by the same soldiers who killed the Indians, after coming back from the hunt. Knowing they had to be warned in time, Shaman preformed an ancient ritual on Max before dying, giving him connection to the Speed Force and thus, turning him into the first speedster of New Earth. Using his newfound powers, Max not only stopped the ambush, but he prevented casualties on both sides, even preventing other minor conflicts.
Since then, he protected both a new and the old American's native from one another, always leaving as fast as he came to the scene. He became a legend of the West known as Ahwehota, or as the history remembers him, the Windrunner. As the years passed, Max found himself becoming faster and faster, until he reached maximum velocity, beyond the Speed of Light, he tapped into the Speed Force as he felt it calling him. But he stopped out of fear, and in the process, he moved half a century into the future. Ever sense, Max tried to break the light barrier multiple times in order to tap into the Speed Force. He succeeded multiple times, but he never truly tapped into the Speed Force. Instead, he always traveled forwards through time, always taking new identity. Lightning, Blue Streak, Quicksilver, Whip Whirlwind, Thunderpace and finally, Max Mercury.
Most of Max's life has been a mystery and still is. Besides the information provided, nobody knows anything about him besides the fact that he is the most knowledgeable and probably the most skilled Speed Force Conduit in the DCU, rivaled only by Eobard Thawne and maybe Savitar. At some point after WWII, Max teamed up with Jay Garrick and Johnny Quick. They were the first three Speedsters in the world (ironically, Max was Jay's hero while Jay was Johnny's hero, according to Jay and Johnny themselves) until Max disappeared yet again and Jay retired. At some point Max and Johnny met again in their fight with Savitar. In that fight both Max and Savitar tapped into the Speed Force, but Savitar was trapped there while Max traveled forward through time yet again. Knowing the danger Savitar might unleash when he comes out, Max spend years preparing for him while "probing the Speed Force" in hopes of detecting him in time.
That is one of the reasons why he assembled the Flash Family, in order to stop Savitar.
Why he won't be in the show:
Max had three purposes in Comics. First was him teaching Wally how to get faster and then teaching the entire Flash Family about the Speed Force (he is the one who told them it exists), something his friend Johnny considered to be bullshit. Second was stopping Savitar, and the third one is becoming Bart Allen's mentor and guardian, teaching him how to use his speed but also how to become a social normal kid while acting as a father figure.
In short, just like with Johnny Quick, there is no reason for him to be in the show. Original Wally West is not in the show so if we focus on Barry and black Wally, both of them know how to use their speed properly and Barry consistently gets faster. Not to mention they already know enough about the Speed Force, and in case they need more info, Harrison Wells can always help with that, and there is always Cisco and Caitlin in the show. In Season 3, Savitar has been stopped so that role is pointless. As for being Bart Allen's guardian, that is not an option either because Bart is not in the show, and for reasons already mentioned, I don't think he will be in the show anyway.
If anything, Max is a source of information and a mentor/teacher for the Flash Family, and both Season 1 Eobard Thawne and Earth 2 Harrison Wells played that role in the show and the later still does so. And he is doing that pretty effectively. There is no point in bringing up his relationship with other heroes either, since Johnny Quick does not exist either and it is pointless to put him in the show for reasons already stated, not to mention that Jay's character is barely developed anyway, which is unfortunate.
Number 1 - Wally West (Original)
Do I even have to explain myself here? It's Wallace. Of course it is Wallace. You are not suppose to expect Waid's Flash in the show. They are throwing that at our faces for two years now. It is pretty clear that the show wants to focus on Barry Allen and black Wally West. As you can see there are no "origin" and "why he won't be in the show" sections here, because not only everybody knows who the real Wally West is but the reason why he won't be in the show is so damn obvious I don't even have to spend more than five minutes typing this. As I said before, the show wants to focus on Barry Allen and black Wally West only (and Jay Garrick with few exceptions). In my opinion there are two reasons why New 52/black Wally West is Kid Flash instead of Post-Crisis/Rebirth/original/white Wally West.
First one being the fact that Wally in the show first appeared in the 9th episode of the second Season titled "Running to Stand Still" which was released at December 8 2015. During that period DC was still focused on it's New 52 run and the Flash was no exception. When this episode came out, Flash in the comics (who was Barry at the time) was dealing with Eobard Thawne coming to kill him, which is the first Flash story arc after the one with future Barry Allen, where black Wally West was introduced, which happened in Flash Annual Vol. 4 #3 that came out a month after the release of the final episode of the Season 1. At the time black Wally West was just a rebooted, New 52 version of the original Wally West we all know and love. However because DC figured out that this is not Wally West we will know and love, with DC's Rebirth relaunch, they retconned black Wally into being the son of Daniel West instead of his nephew and being the nephew of Iris' second brother Rudy, who is the father of his cousin, the original Wally West from Post-Crisis (a plot device used to bring Wally back, but that is a story for another day).
The second reason being the fact that (again, in my opinion) CW didn't want to kill off Barry Allen in order to replace him. And because comic book fans love Wally West plus the fact that Wally's character is so popular and great because he is one of if not the best hero who took the name of another deceased and/or retired hero, CW would have to kill Barry in order for Wally's character to have purpose. But because they don't want to do that (and they can't do it either because we all know Barry will be alive for quite some time because of that 2024 crisis) they gave is black Wally West instead (which also makes sense because he was THE Wally West at the time, until it was revealed/retconned that he is actually a cousin of the real thing), who's way easier to develop because of his small number of appearances. And with him you can give the Flash his Kid Flash without having to turn him into new Flash. And because black Wally is not an iconic but pretty new and obscured character, the writers have freedom to do what they want with him and use him the way it fits (well, aside from doing something as stupid as turning Iris into his sister instead of his aunt, what's next, Aunt May is older sister May, like WHAT.THE.HELL).
This, plus the fact that it would be weird to have to Wally Wests and two Kid Flashes, is enough of an evidence we need to realize that there just won't see Wally West we all know and love. Not that I have a problem with black Wally West, but is there anyone who actually cares about him? I mean, for Barry Allen fans it is probably better for them not to see this version of Wally in the show, because it either means he is useless or Barry dies (which honestly won't be a huge problem for me but that's not happening because it can't happen for obvious reasons). Although technically it will probably be better not to see Wally in this show because, well, Linda Park is probably the most important part of Wally as a comic book character and as a person, and she would be too old for him because he was hanging out with Barry. Imagine Mary Jane hanging out with Uncle Ben. Jesus...
===============================================================================
That's my blog. I wrote this for no particular reason. I wanted to post something. Hopefully you didn't get bored by reading all this. Feel free to share your thoughts on this topic and please don't spoiler Season 4.
Log in to comment