As of yet there’s hasn’t been much in the way of Flash news out of San Diego Comic-Con. And yet there’s been plenty of new stuff out there recently, mostly regarding the upcoming Flash TV series. The biggest news is at the end, because it’ll be behind a cut for spoilers.
CBR has an interview with Grant Gustin about the costume, some villains, and reading DC Comics for research. There is a major spoiler for the pilot episode contained in this interview.
Video interview with Jesse L. Martin (Joe West) at Access Hollywood about being Barry’s father figure and other aspects of the series.
Plastique is being added to the cast. She joins the list of Firestorm characters who will appear in the series.
Newsarama reports that
On alternating Mondays starting in September, The Flash: Season Zero and Arrow: Season 2.5 will hit digitally. Season Zero is written by Andrew Kreisberg and the FlashTV writers are writing, with art by Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, and Kelsey Shannon. The series will take place between the pilot and the second episode of the show.
The biggest news is behind a cut. There are spoilers about characters who will appear.
During a question and answer series with Geoff Johns and Greg Berlanti, Johns says that Wally and the Pied Piper will appear in the series.
Geoff Johns: Eventually we’re going to introduce Wally West at some point, so when we reintroduced him in the comic books we’re like “let’s make him black.” That’s what we’re going to do in the show eventually. It’s like one tiny example.
Question: The Sara/Nyssa relationship came up last season on “Arrow” in a really great, fluid way. How much of the sexuality of characters can we expect moving forward either in “Arrow” or “The Flash?”
Geoff Johns: The Pied Piper, he’s a great gay character and we’ve talked about him a lot
Greg Berlanti: We’d like him to be in the first 12 or 13 episodes this year. Also, we have Captain Singh. Singh is in the pilot (played by Patrick Sabongui) but we haven’t dealt with his sexuality but he is gay in the comic book so he’d be on “Flash” as well. [In “The New 52” book series, Singh is actually in a relationship with The Pied Piper] Then, Nyssa and Sarah are still out there in the “Arrow” universe. We’d like to make that a part of both the shows this year.
What do you think? Are you excited about the reveal of Wally and Piper? Anything else?
While it was a good thought to re-introduce Wally as an African American to match the proposal for the television show, I really, really hope they learn some kind of lesson from the comics and try to put a little more care into his portrayal. If the criminal/delinquent aspects of the character were Geoff’s idea, he probably should have known better.
And there’s a big elephant in the room because of the change, too. What’s it say if the white version of the character was good enough to become the Flash, but the black version eternally stays de-powered or a sidekick? They’re going to have to address that in the books as well.