Three seasons have come and gone for “The Flash” on The CW. Viewer ratings have been strong enough that the show, starring Grant Gustin, has become a strong component of the network’s “Arrow-verse” adaptation of the DC Comics universe. Still, there has been a shortcoming or two regarding the entire series run so far. While Barry Allen/Flash (Gustin) has quite the selection of a rogues’ gallery in the show, the main antagonist for all three seasons aired has been invariably a super-fast being themselves. To a man they have all been dark reflections of the heroic Flash.
The CW has realized it too, so that they have announced that season 4 will not have any speedster bad guys.
Three for three
A new direction is being charted for the fourth season of “The Flash” coming in the fall on The CW. This was announced by the network during their panel at the Television Critics Association press tour. The change in the show’s gears is manifest in several new elements: a reduction of the angst hanging over Barry Allen’s life, the introduction of a new superhero ally in Elongated Man (Hartley Sawyer), and as stated just now, the phasing out of evil speedy super-humans as the main thorn in the Flash’s side.
Fans would recall that in the inaugural season of “The Flash” the hero struggled against the future-time super-villain Reverse Flash who assumed the identity of mentor figure Dr.
Wells. In season 2 Barry next battled an alternate-universe speedster in Hunter Zolomon, alias Zoom, whose triumphant gambit in the finale spurred Flash’s creation of a new timeline. In the new “Flashpoint” universe he then confronted the so-called God of Speed Savitar, actually a speed “clone” of Barry’s that had been driven insane.
As a result of his anguish over the matter, Barry imprisoned himself in the Speed Force, where he will re-emerge from in season 4.
No more speedster villains
The CW president Mark Pedowitz was candid and to the point when he revealed what would be in store for “The Flash” in the next season. The show is now through with speedster seasonal antagonists, he said.
The series will also dial back on the grim angst suffered by Grant Gustin’s character, bringing back the fun factor that was there back in season 1. Perhaps the greater presence of bright yellow on Flash’s new costume is a visual indication of these course corrections that the network is putting on the show.
Clifford DeVoe will star in a recurring role as the Thinker, the main baddie that Barry Allen will tangle with when “The Flash” starts its fourth season on October 10, on The CW.
