We've already heard about a number of various DC Comics characters who will be making appearances on the first season of the new Flash television show, from Heat Wave to Captain Cold to Firestorm, but now a new player has come along who actually has rather important role in the history in the medium. Hartley Rathaway a.k.a. Pied Piper, who was introduced as one of the first openly gay DC characters back in the mid-1980s, is reportedly going to be making his way to Central City sometime after the midseason break on the new series.
This interesting scoop comes to us from TV Line, which has gotten its hands on an early description of how the new character will be portrayed on Flash. According to their sources, after the winter break audiences will be introduced to a new character named Hartley who was previously a student of Dr. Harrison Wells (being played by Tom Cavanagh on the show). Having lost his hearing in an accident, the character wishes to "wreak havoc with an invention of his own." At this point it doesn't sound like the role has actually been cast yet, but that may be something we hear further developments about in the coming weeks.
While Pied Piper originated as a villain for Flash in the comics, using sonic technology packed into a flute to hypnotize people and being closely associated with the supervillain group known as the Rogues, he is actually one of the bad guys in DC Comics history who eventually reformed and started fighting against the forces of evil. The trick is that this didn't happen until after Barry Allen's death in the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover that happened in the mid-80s. It definitely sounds like Pied Piper will be starting as a villain on the Flash TV show, but it's unclear if we will get to see his reformation as well. If it is being planned, hopefully we won't have to wait until Grant Gustin's death scene in order to see it.
Pied Piper's presence in Flash is definitely the headline grabber of TV Line's scoop, but they also casually drop in some other very interesting information. If their sources can be believed, the villain Captain Boomerang is another character who will be appearing in the first season of the show. Why is this interesting? Because it was just reported last week that Spartacus star Nick Tarabay had landed the role of Captain Boomerang on Arrow. In case it's not already clear, there is going to be a good amount of crossover between the two series, and I personally couldn't be more excited to see it.
We're going to have to wait a few months before we actually get to see the likes of Pied Piper and Captain Boomerang on Flash, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves! The series premiere is now less than a fortnight away, with the CW set to start airing Flash on Tuesday nights starting on October 7th.
