Hello new Flash fans and curious readers! Welcome to Flash fandom, and I hope you enjoy your stay 🙂

Part One of this piece covers the Reverse Flashes and major Rogues (the more popular ones). This part covers Gorilla Grodd, as well as some more minor villains who may appear in the television series –­ many of these characters were co-created by the show’s producer/writer Geoff Johns, and he’ll probably revisit them at some point. It’s already known that Girder will appear.

 

Gorilla Grodd
Grodd is his real name. He’s a renegade from a peaceful city of intelligent talking gorillas, and is armed with vast telepathic powers plus a bloodlust for killing and conquering. Grodd has caused great problems for several Flashes and the DC universe as a whole; he’s strong, highly intelligent, extremely powerful, and cruel. He rarely remains caged for long, no matter who tries to hold him.

In the New 52: After a lifetime of being told he’s “the chosen one”, he’s the new king of Gorilla City. He now has a connection to the Speed Force just like Barry Allen, which gives him limited super-speed. He gained telepathy and can also access other beings’ memories by eating their brains, which he does fairly often. He and a cadre of apes twice invaded Central City — killing or imprisoning most of its citizens — and is clearly a force to be feared.

 

Blacksmith
Amunet Black. A businesswoman who ran the Rogues’ underground market (called The Network), she eventually consumed a substance which gave her the metahuman ability to merge flesh and metals. She decided to form her own group of Rogues at a time when most of them were working independently, and had a well-planned scheme to destroy the Flash and run Keystone/Central City. She was ultimately defeated and sent to Iron Heights, at which she still attempted to run things whenever the opportunity arose.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

 

Girder
Tony Woodward. He assaulted a co-worker and was thrown into a vat of S.T.A.R. Labs’ molten metal. This permanently transformed his body into a hulking metal form, which gave him super-strength and great durability (he survived being ripped in half), but caused him to painfully rust. He was a member of Blacksmith’s Rogues and continued his habit of acting inappropriately towards women while part of the team, which is why Magenta ripped him in two.

In the New 52: Appeared briefly, and was killed by Grodd. He seemed similar to what he was like before the reboot.

 

Murmur
Dr. Michael Amar. An insane serial killer with a penchant for cutting out the tongues of his victims ­- and ultimately cut out his own tongue and sewed up his mouth. He also created the Frenzy virus, which caused people’s bodies to liquefy from the inside, and infected many people with it (fortunately, most were saved by the Flashes and Pied Piper). Murmur was part of Blacksmith’s Rogues, and also killed people while working alone.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

 

Tar Pit
Joey Monteleone, the younger brother of a major Keystone City crime boss. He could astrally project his mind into various inanimate substances, but eventually became trapped in a giant body made of burning tar (meanwhile, his real body was in prison). The tar body is strong, gives off tremendous fumes and can incapacitate people with its burning goo, and can’t truly be destroyed. He was never officially a Rogue, but sometimes worked with them and committed crimes in the area on his own.

In the New 52: Appeared briefly, but hasn’t done much. He seems similar to what he was like before the reboot.

 

Double Down
Jeremy Tell. Developed metahuman powers from a cursed deck of cards, which bonded to his body and he was able to control. He could rip off his skin, and the razor-sharp cards flew at his foes and sliced up. Never officially a Rogue, but worked with some of them at times and was associated with them.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

 

Magenta
Frances “Frankie” Kane. She developed magnetic powers and inadvertently killed some family members in an accident, though she learned to control her abilities while training with the heroic Teen Titans. She dated Wally West for a few years. But unfortunately her powers caused a split personality, and after she and Wally broke up she flip-flopped between villainy and regular life, as well as loving/hating Wally. For a while she was a member of Blacksmith’s Rogues, but eventually reformed and worked with some other ex-Rogues to fight Captain Cold’s team. She continued to switch between good and evil even after this, however, depending on which personality was dominant.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

 

Plunder
Probably named Jared Morillo. Morillo is an upstanding cop in the ‘main’ DC universe, but his counterpart from a mirror universe is Plunder, a sadistic sharpshooter assassin. Plunder managed to sneak over to the main DC universe and joined up with Blacksmith’s Rogues, taking particular glee in hurting his police officer counterpart. He was either killed or sent back to his native dimension by Zoom.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

 

The Turtle and Turtle Man
There have been two of them, and their real names are unknown. Between them they’ve fought three different Flashes, mainly using careful plans and ‘slow’ schemes to foil the speedsters’ natural skills. The Turtle eventually gained the ability to steal speed from others, and thus could slow down time around him. Neither were considered Rogues.

In the New 52: Neither has appeared.

 

Warden Wolfe
Gregory Wolfe. He runs Iron Heights prison, and is so dedicated to keeping its inmates off the streets that he treats them brutally. He isn’t exactly a villain, but his methods are so cruel and unethical that he certainly isn’t a good person. He secretly has a metahuman power of his own — the ability to tighten/cramp other people’s muscles, which he sometimes uses to torture prisoners and even uncooperative guards.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

 

Cicada
David Hersch. He murdered his wife a century ago and felt remorse; eventually he dedicated himself to resurrecting her, and created a murder-cult for that purpose. Killing people provided energies which he used to prolong his lifespan, and the cult murdered people whose lives had been saved by the Flash (with the rationale that they’d been destined to die anyway). He did succeed in bringing back his wife after killing his own cultists, but she hated him for what he’d done, and Wally West ultimately defeated him. He was occasionally seen afterwards in Iron Heights, always praying. Not considered a Rogue.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

 

Fallout
Neil Borman. Not really a villain, but was locked up in Iron Heights after becoming dangerously radioactive (basically a walking nuclear reactor) in an accident. Warden Wolfe unjustly used him to power the prison until Wally West put a stop to it.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

 

Peek-A-Boo
Lashawn Baez. Not really a villain, but got in trouble with the local authorities because she tried to steal a kidney to save her dying father. However, she was left embittered and angered at the way she was treated by the Flash and the prison system at Iron Heights, which could lead her to become a villain. She has the uncontrollable metahuman ability to teleport when touched (which is why she couldn’t donate her own kidney), and causes explosions when she disappears.

In the New 52: Hasn’t appeared.

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