The Flash pitted Barry Allen against his most formidable foe in Season 2 when Zoom raced onto the scene, broke his back, and paraded him around the city to scare the citizens of Central City into submission. Zoom was carried away by the Time Wraiths at the end of Season 2, and he seemingly transformed into the comic character known as Black Flash before he disappeared. Now, The Flash executive producer Andrew Kreisberg has addressed whether or not Black Flash will appear on the show, saying this:
Yes, he will. I will say that you might be seeing him on multiple shows. The classic comic book Grim Reaper aspect... He's a classic character. We have storylines on multiple shows that fit having him turn up. There's something so scary about him, even scarier than when he was just a man, because now it's like he's the Grim Reaper. He is like the Devil, and how do you stop the Devil? So it presents an interesting challenge for the heroes of the respective shows in which he appears.
The Black Flash of DC Comics lore is a mysterious being who fulfills the role of Death for speedsters. When folks with super speed die, Black Flash enters the scene to carry them back to the Speed Force that gave them their powers. Assuming that The Flash's version of Black Flash follows the same rules as the comic Black Flash and only ferries the dead speedsters back to the Speed Force, Andrew Kreisberg's comments at the TCA press tour (via CBR) point to the death of at least one speedster in the not-too-distant future.
There is no shortage of speedsters racing around The Flash at the moment. The Flash, Kid Flash, and Savitar will zip around Central City on a regular basis, and Jay Garrick and Jesse Quick have the potential to pop over to Earth-1 whenever they're needed. Black Flash could be called upon to reap the soul of any of them who die in the rest of Season 3, although we can safely say that Barry at least wouldn't stay dead for long.
Legends of Tomorrow has a speedster of its own nowadays. Former Flash supervillain Reverse Flash has been zipping through history and messing up timelines throughout Season 2 as a member of the Legion of Doom. If one of the Legends finally makes the move to end Reverse Flash for good, Black Flash could visit Legends of Tomorrow to carry him off to the Speed Force. Andrew Kreisberg's mention of "multiple shows" likely refers to Legends of Tomorrow, as neither Arrow nor Supergirl regularly feature characters in touch with the Speed Force.
Of course, the Black Flash who shows up in the Flarrow-verse may not be played by the same actor who brought Zoom to life. Teddy Sears landed a role on the upcoming 24 reboot, and he's currently contracted with Fox. If The Flash intends to go with the idea that Zoom became Black Flash after the Time Wraiths took him away, we can bet that Black Flash will be keeping his mask on a lot of the time.
The Flash returns from its winter hiatus on Tuesday, January 24 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. Take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule to see when the other superhero series will hit the airwaves in 2017.
