It's time once again to visit the Baddies That Need Movie Love: a look at some of the villains that I feel need to grace the big screen. We have been lucky to see some of our favorite rogues, but there are many that still need to get some love, so to speak. This go-round, I'll be taking a look at a villain for The Flash and his potential movie that seems to be in the works. We all know that The Flash does not have the most impressive list of foes, but with a bit of imagination and some killer CGI, The Shade could turn out to be a formidable opponent.
First, a bit of history on the character. The Shade, also known as Richard Swift, first my his appearance in the 1940's for National Comics. He has taken on two generations of superheroes, most notably the Silver and Golden age versions of the Flash. Eventually, he became a mentor for Jack Knight, son of the Golden Age Starman, who the Shade also faced.
Originally, the Shade was portrayed as a thief who used a cane that could manipulate shadows. However, in 1994, the character received a reinvention, becoming a Victorian era immortal who obtained the ability shadows. His immortality was gained via an unexplained mystical event. In 2009, Shade was ranked as IGN's 89th Greatest Villain of All Time.
Shade is at present one of the best, if not the ultimate, channeler of the power of the Darklands, a quasi-sentient, extra-dimensional mass of malleable darkness which he can channel to various effects, both as an absence of light and a solid substance: he can summon and control "demons" from there, summon and dispel shields and areas of complete darkness, create all kinds of constructs out of shadows (in a similar manner to a Green Lantern, with the exception of the color of the constructs), transport himself and others through it over massive distances, and can, if necessary, use it as a last-ditch prison dimension
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I'm not afraid to admit that I am skeptical about a Flash movie, but in the right hands and with the right script and actors involved it could work, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Out of Flash's list of rogues, Shade is among the top I'd like to see take on the fastest man alive. As I mentioned earlier, with a bit of manipulation and CGI, Shade could become a really cool villain to watch. Not only could he be a dark and simplified version of Green Lantern, as mentioned above, but if you add in an element of martial arts, the interactions between the Flash and Shade could be incredible.
So who would I cast in the role? None other than the ever-impressive Vincent Cassel. The actor most recently made waves with his role in the critically acclaimed
Black Swan alongside Natalie Portman. He also impressed with roles in
Eastern Promises and
The Brotherhood of the Wolf among others. He has proven to be capable of martial arts types roles with his part in the
Ocean's Twelve, where he played a rival thief to George Clooney's gang of thieves. Cassel could easily take a role like this and make it something truly incredible and amazing to watch.
If a Flash movie is going to be made, I'd want it to be a darker tone, and do its best to avoid being a total cheese fest. Adding a character/actor combo like this one is definitely a step in the right direction.