To make Season 4 a little different from previous years, The Flash went with a non-speedster for its central (city) big bad, but the status quo has understandably remained intact when it comes to the villain-of-the-week approach, since there are still lots of comic book foes primed for live-action. One upcoming enemy will be the intelligence-fueled Brainstorm, with How to Get Away with Murder and White Famous star Kendrick Sampson being cast to bring a new version of the comic character to life.
Having appeared in Supernatural earlier this year, Kendrick Sampson is hopping over to one of The CW's other genre-heavy series to take on Barry Allen as Brainstorm, and the actor has signed on for multiple episodes, so he won't just be a touch-and-go baddie like Hazard was. He'll first appear in the midseason finale, which is coming next week, so perhaps his first act as a Flash villain will leave everything on a cliffhanger.
Brainstorm is the perfect kind of villain to bring into The Thinker's season, and it would have been interesting to get a direct take on either of the DC villains that had that name, but The Flash is tweaking things for the TV version. The single-named Brainstorm will be a new iteration of the Dominic Lanse version of the character from the New 52 reboot. Dominic is a likable TSA agent who finds himself suddenly capable of the extraordinary act of reading people's minds. Not that he necessarily wants to have this kind of power at his disposal. He's likely one of the new metahumans The Thinker's responsible for, and it'll be interesting to see what happens when he's in a room with anyone in Team Flash. Or The Thinker, for that matter.
We probably shouldn't expect Kendrick Sampson to look anything like the comic version of Brainstorm, or Brain Storm. Axel Storm was the original, two-named one, and he had a special helmet that essentially brought his imagination to life, while the Dominic Lanse version was a scientist whose brain was enhanced by a slew of artificial intellects. I suppose reading people's minds is a decent way to go with the change-ups, but only Brainstorm would know my true feelings.
With early-career appearances on shows such as Greek and CSI, Kendrick Sampson later made bigger splashes on The Vampire Diaries and Fox's Broadchurch remake Gracepoint. His biggest break so far came with his starring role in Season 2 of How to Get Away with Murder, and he can currently be seen on Jay Pharoah's Showtime comedy White Famous, as well as the Go90 dramedy Relationship Status.
The Flash's midseason finale airs on The CW on Tuesday, December 5, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Thankfully, we'll get to see the return of Katee Sackhoff's Amunet Black during the episode, so maybe we'll get to hear if she thinks with a British accent, too. Check out all the big questions we have after the "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover, and to see when The Flash and other shows will be returning in the new year, head to our 2018 midseason premiere schedule.
