[WARNING: As the title of this feature notes, and this warning further notes, the following article is full of SPOILERS for Season Three of The Flash. Read no further beyond the picture below, lest ye be spoiled now and forever. Thank you.]
Fall is upon us and with it comes the return of our favorite network television shows. It may be a quaint tradition in these days of streaming media but it cannot be denied that anticipation is running hot and heavy for the premieres of all the shows that make up the shared multiverse of DC Comics inspired series on The CW‘. For those who lack the time to binge-watch everything before the premieres next week, we’re happy to offer these brief refreshers as to what happened last season and what to look forward to in the year to come.
The Flash
“I promised him I’d run. So what’s what I’ve been doing. Running. As fast as I can.”
Season Three pitted Team Flash against Savitar – a self-dubbed God of Speed who also had the ability to empower others. Savitar created new villains such as Alchemy and Shade but also gave Wally West a connection to The Speed Force, turning him into Kid Flash. Savitar also encouraged Caitlin Snow, who had been trying to hide her development of cooling powers like her evil Earth Two counterpart, to embrace her dark side and transform into Killer Frost.
In the end, Savitar was revealed to be a future-version of Barry Allen, who needed to kill Iris West in order to insure his own existence. Ironically, after months of planning how to best protect Iris from Savitar, it would be Iris West who saved herself and the man she loved by shooting the man Barry Allen might become. Unfortunately, this action threw The Speed Force out of balance and Barry Allen had to sacrifice himself to reset the scales of reality.
The Season Four trailer revealed that Iris has been leading what remains of Team Flash, with her father, Detective Joe West, Kid Flash and Cisco “Vibe” Ramon doing what they can to fill Barry Allen’s boots. Caitlin Snow is also back on Team Flash, having apparently gotten her head together in the six months that passed between the end of Season Three and the first episode, The Flash Reborn, where a new villain requires that Barry be removed from The Speed Force.
Casting announcements for the new season have revealed that the new big bad , as predicted by Savitar, will be a new super-genius villain called The Thinker. Backing him will be The Mechanic – an original villain who will build all of The Thinker’s gear. The new season will also feature Blacksmith – a villain with metal-control powers who runs an black market for super-villains in the Central City underground. Thankfully, the heroes will have some help, with Elongated Man joining the STAR Labs team!
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The Flash returns to The CW on Tuesday, October 10 at 8 pm EST/ 7 pm CST.