The CW's live-action Flash TV series has just cast two potential supervillains.
The Flash, CW's upcoming live-action TV series based on DC Comics' Scarlet Speedster has found two recurring characters...who may also be potential supervillains. Rick Cosnett and Danielle Panabaker have joined The Flash pilot as the "civilian" identities of Killer Frost and Reverse-Flash. The Flash pilot will pick up from plot threads originally seen in Arrow episodes "The Scientist" and "Three Ghosts" which introduced Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, the man who will soon become the Flash!
Danielle Panabaker (Necessary Roughness) plays Caitlin Snow, who may be better known to recent DC Comics readers as cold-powered supervillain Killer Frost. Deadline describes Snow as "a highly intelligent bioengineering expert who lost her fiancé during an explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs." This is almost certainly the same explosion (from a controversial particle accelerator) seen at the end of the Arrow episode "Three Ghosts" which will indirectly grant Barry Allen his superpowers.
Rick Cosnett (Vampire Diaries) plays Detective Eddie Thawne, described by Deadline as "a recent transfer to the Central City Police Department, whose past is a mystery and who harbors a dark secret." Thawne is another familiar name to DC Comics fans. Eobard Thawne is the time-traveling Professor Zoom AKA the Reverse-Flash. There was another Reverse-Flash as well, Hunter Zolomon, who was a police officer. It's likely that the Reverse-Flash of this show will be an amalgamation of both characters.
[related article: 8 Reasons The Flash is Perfect for TV]
The presence of Reverse-Flash brings some of the Flash TV series into focus. During his appearances on Arrow, Barry spoke about the unsolved murder of his mother, and a mysterious tornado that kept him from intervening. Comics fans may recognize these elements from Geoff Johns' Flash: Rebirth comic series, which direclty tied some of Barry Allen's present conflicts to this dark event in his past.
The casting of Cosnette and Panabaker comes on the heels of Jesse L. Martin landing the role of Detective West, Barry's mentor and the father of potential love interest, Iris West. We'll get you more on this as it develops, but it seems clear that Flash is planning on diving right into its DC Comics roots right out of the gate, far more so than Arrow did in its earliest episodes.
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