Welcome back to The Hollywood Reporter’s weekly DC TV Watch, a rundown of all things DC Comics on the small screen. Every Saturday, we round up the major twists, epic fights, new mysteries and anything else that goes down on The CW’s Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and Black Lightning, and Fox’s Gotham. There have been a lot of news, castings and announcements all summer long about the new seasons premiering this fall, so this week we’re rounding up everything there is to know about The Flash season five…
Family reunion | Fans were given a huge glimpse into the trajectory of season five long before the season four finale even aired. By introducing the “mystery girl” (Jessica Parker Kennedy) as early as the Crisis on Earth-X crossover during Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris’ (Candice Patton) wedding, speculation about her identity began flying wildly with most of the guesses ending up pretty on the nose. She finally revealed herself in the season four finale to be Nora West-Allen, aka Barry and Iris’ speedster daughter who time-traveled from the future but made a “big mistake” in doing so, proving herself to truly be her father’s daughter. With Kennedy as a series regular in season five, expect a ton of West-Allen family drama on top of speedster/time-travel/changing the timeline drama. The Comic-Con trailer for season five also revealed that Nora’s speedster nickname is XS, given to her in the future by her father, and she’s hiding something from Barry and Iris (at least in the beginning of the season).
Slow but steady | Continuing the successful trend from last year, season five will introduce a decidedly non-speedster villain as the big bad. But just because he’s slow doesn’t mean he won’t present the biggest challenge yet for Team Flash. Chris Klein (American Pie, Oz) will bring to life the iconic DC Comics character Cicada, a grizzled, blue-collar everyman whose family has been torn apart by metahumans. Because of his own loss, Cicada now seeks to exterminate the epidemic — one metahuman at a time. Comic book fans know Cicada as religious fanatic/cult leader David Hersch, who believed he was connected to The Flash as he was struck by a bolt of lightning, allowing himself to absorb the life force of others. Cicada and his followers made it their mission to kill everyone that The Flash had previously saved by using lightning-shaped knives. But while The Flash’s version will be different with Cicada not being a cult leader, his powers will still be a big threat for Team Flash. He could still have the same life-absorbing powers on the series that he does in the comics, meaning that Team Flash can’t even touch him. If you can’t touch a villain, how do you defeat him?
By Sydney Bucksbaum – Full Story at Hollywood Reporter