Team Arrow may have finished their business in Central City, but there’s another strange visitor coming to The Flash’s hometown this Christmas season. Next week, Barry Allen will come face-to-face with the man who he believes killed his mother: the Reverse-Flash, one of his most dangerous enemies from the comics. The CW has released a one-minute promo of next week’s midseason finale “The Man In The Yellow Suit,” and if the brooding tone is any indication, this may be the most intense episodes of The Flash we’ve gotten yet.
Don’t worry, the yellow-garbed villain isn’t blurry in the video because the camera is out of focus. Although Barry will clash with Reverse-Flash this episode, Grant Gustin stated recently that Barry and Team Flash, as well as possibly the audience, won’t learn who is underneath the mask. So if you’ve been speculating on whether Harrison Wells, Eddie Thawne or someone we haven’t seen yet is the murderer, prepare for a longer wait on that answer. We’ll just have to get used to the voice distortion and blurry body.
So far, fans have only seen Reverse-Flash twice so far in the series: the flashback of Barry’s mother being murdered and in “The Flash Is Born” (when he threatened Joe to drop his investigation into Nora Allen’s death). Whoever the mystery man is, he takes the intimidating Flash villain concept to a new level. Those glowing red eyes and demonic-like voice are certainly doing the trick.
This episode looks like it will parallel the Arrow Season 1 episode “Year’s End,” which had Oliver going up against main villain Dark Archer and losing…badly. I suspect a similar outcome for Barry. He’s only been a superhero for several months while Reverse-Flash has been running around for years. He’s honed his powers to the point where he can time-travel, while Barry just learned to run on water. Of course, Barry also has Team Flash and Dr. Tina McGee (played by Amanda Pays, who starred as the same character on the 1990 Flash TV show) to help him, and judging from the preview, it looks like they’re able to trap Reverse-Flash behind an energy field…temporarily. Let’s not kid ourselves, there’s no way that S.T.A.R. Labs sci-fi cell is going to hold this powerful speedster.
We may not know who he is yet, but his endgame is clear from that line in the trailer: “Your destiny is to lose to me, Flash.” A boastful statement or actual knowledge of the future? Either way, we’ll find out when Central City’s protector and his twisted doppelgänger clash in an emotionally charged battle next Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on the CW. Don’t blink or you might just miss the whole showdown.
