Warning: The next comprises SPOILERS for The Flash collection finale.A frequent criticism in regards to the many speedster villains populating the Arrowverse in The Flash grew to become canon within the collection finale. Over 9 seasons, Barry Allen confronted quite a lot of metahuman menaces, with distinctive and strange superpowers. Regardless of this, it appeared just like the overwhelming majority of the chief villains that Staff Flash confronted every season have been evil speedsters who put Barry Allen’s declare of being “The Quickest Man Alive” into query.
The collection finale of The Flash, “A New World, Half 4,” pitted Barry Allen in opposition to an previous pal, because the resurrected Eddie Thawne grew to become the brand new Unfavorable Pace Pressure avatar. Empowered by an odd blue crystal, which additionally gave him the facility to control time itself, the newly dubbed Cobalt Blue assembled his personal Legion of Doom, made up of the numerous evil speedsters who didn’t destroy The Flash prior to now. Whereas this did end in an epic high-speed battle throughout Central Metropolis, it additionally evoked a frequent criticism about The Flash’s villains.
Reverse-Flash Mocks The Unoriginality Of The Flash Villains
To explain the workforce Eddie Thawne assembled as uneasy allies could be an understatement. Zoom and Godspeed got here to blows virtually instantly, given their mutual have to kill rival speedsters to spice up their very own powers. Savitar had ego points, viewing himself as a literal god of pace. Nevertheless, it was the Reverse-Flash Eobard Thawne who did probably the most to undermine the workforce’s unity, mocking the opposite villains and describing them as “barely spinoff.” This echoed a frequent criticism of The Flash‘s villains and the truth that many of the collection’ massive bads have been evil speedsters who needed extra energy, making every successive season’s storyline extra repetitive.
The Flash’s Repetitive Villain Downside Has Existed Since The Early Seasons
The Reverse-Flash particularly singled out Zoom on this regard, recalling Zoom’s plan to assimilate himself into Staff Flash by posing as their ally, whereas scheming to steal Barry Allen’s energy in The Flash season 2. Thawne identified this was the very same factor he had performed as Harrison Wells in The Flash season 1. Savitar had related points in The Flash season 3. Whereas Savitar did not make use of the identical deception, he did have the identical need to extend his pace by any means essential, making him look like one other imitator of the Reverse-Flash.
Conscious that the collection’ chief villains risked turning into a unending chain of evil speedsters, the writers of The Flash season 4 modified issues up with the introduction of The Thinker. The seasons which adopted launched different villains, like Cicada, Mirror Monarch and Bloodwork, who might problem Barry Allen whereas not having the ability to match his pace. Sadly, this created a distinct downside, with The Flash being frequently bested by villains he ought to have been capable of defeat simply, given how highly effective Barry Allen had turn into. This in the end led to The Flash introducing extra speedster villains, like Godspeed, the Crimson Loss of life, and the Unfavorable Flash, within the later seasons.
The Flash Finale Does not Handle To Repair Its Villain Downside
Regardless of Eobard Thawne acknowledging the issue that almost all of The Flash’s largest enemies have been all pale imitations of him, The Flash finale did nothing to deal with this concern. Cobalt Blue’s plan to overwhelm Staff Flash by throwing a number of evil speedsters at them was a dismal failure, primarily as a result of no one knew higher than The Flash’s allies take out an evil speedster. It seemingly by no means occurred to Cobalt Blue or the Unfavorable Pace Pressure that Staff Flash had ample expertise combating evil speedsters after 9 seasons, in addition to protocols for stopping Barry Allen if he went rogue. This made their final stand extremely anti-climactic.
It didn’t assist issues that, together with his workforce seemingly defeated, Cobalt Blue absorbed the powers of his fallen allies, shouting that he could be the true Quickest Man Alive. It was the very same evil speech that had been given by each different evil speedster throughout all 9 seasons of The Flash, with the very same gimmick. Even Cobalt Blue’s motivation was an identical to that of the Reverse Flash, wanting to interchange Barry Allen and stay the lifetime of a hero. The one distinction was Cobalt Blue motivated by his love of Iris West.
Sarcastically, Barry Allen wound up profitable the conflict by making the identical fundamental level the Reverse-Flash had in the beginning of The Flash collection finale. Eddie Thawne deserted his vendetta after Barry identified that the Unfavorable Pace Pressure was making him act just like the Reverse-Flash and that “You have turn into the particular person you died making an attempt to cease.” Whereas this did create a peace of kinds between the Unfavorable and Constructive Pace Pressure Avatars, it did nothing to resolve the issue that The Flash had little selection in its evil speedster villains.
The Flash collection finale is now out there for streaming at CWTV.com