When we left the last episode of THE FLASH, Barry had been captured by Zoom on Earth-2 while Geomancer was literally tearing up the landscape on Earth-1. Time is running out for Barry to get away and for the “away” team of Barry, Cisco and Harry to return to Earth-1…but the bigger question is whether they will survive long enough to worry about that. That brings us to “Escape from Earth-2”, Episode 2.14 of THE FLASH!
SOME SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP
DC is launching a second round of DC Bombshells variant covers featuring retro pinup versions of its characters — and a digital-first series — this summer. The Nerdist has several covers including The Flash #43 by Ant Lucia, featuring Killer Frost.
Newsarama has a round-up of all the covers released so far. One notable difference from the first round is that while the first round was all women, some of the covers feature men this time, including Sinestro, Dick Grayson, and Aquaman (and probably more, but I haven’t looked through the whole list yet).
Update: Apparently the the Bombshells series features “retro-bombshell versions of Batwoman, Wonder Woman and Supergirl in an alternate reality where super-powered female heroes are on the front lines in WWII” as well as “Monsters, magic, mayhem, & Marguerites” (the last item being a reference to the writer and artist on the series, Marguerite Bennett and Marguerite Sauvage).
The CW originally planned to make Arrow episode 2.20 into a back-door pilot for The Flash, bringing back Barry Allen from his two-episode guest spot and showing him after he gains super-speed. The network liked the character so much that they ordered the stand-alone pilot that’s currently in production.
But they’re still establishing background for the Flash spin-off, as two members of the supporting cast are confirmed for Arrow episode 2.19: Danielle Panabaker and Carlos Valdes will appear as Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, scientists based on Killer Frost and Vibe from the comic books. (via FlashFans.org)
Update: THR has more information. Guggenheim explains that bringing in the S.T.A.R. Labs scientists keeps the Flash elements present in Arrow in a much more interesting way than showing Grant Gustin lying in a hospital bed with his eyes closed.
Marc Guggenheim has confirmed that Danielle Panabaker and Carlos Valdes from the #Flash pilot will be in #Arrow 2.19
— Arrow – GreenArrowTV (@GreenArrowTV) March 17, 2014
Deadline reports that Rick Cosnett and Danielle Panabaker have been cast in the roles of Detective Eddie Thawne and scientist Caitlin Snow in the Flash TV series pilot.
Det. Eddie Thawne is described as “a recent transfer to the Central City Police Department, whose past is a mystery and who harbors a dark secret.” It’s a safe bet that “Eddie” is an alias for Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse Flash — especially since Barry Allen’s appearance on Arrow has already hinted at the villainous speedster’s role in Nora Allen’s murder.
Caitlin Snow is “a highly intelligent bioengineering expert who lost her fiancé during an explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs.” As Flash TV News points out, Caitlin Snow is the name of the current (New 52) incarnation of Killer Frost. That’s an odd choice, given that the Flash has his own highly prominent cold-based villain in Captain Cold — a favorite of DC’s Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns, who had a hand in the story.
It seems likely that one or both will be set up as part of the supporting cast now, to be transformed/revealed as supervillains later in the season. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dr. Snow gets worked into Captain Cold’s origin. After all, he was originally a petty criminal who broke into a science lab to power up his weapon. There’s no reason it can’t be her lab. (Unless the people writing the show look up “cyclotron” and realize it’s a kind of particle accelerator.)
Incidentally, I wish Deadline and THR would get a new description for the pilot instead of repeatedly copying and pasting the summary of Barry’s part in “The Scientist.”