Details On How Public Reacts To THE FLASH, 'Reverse-Flash' And Avoiding A "Freak Of The Week"
Producer Andrew Kreisberg reveals when The Flash will become a publicly recognised superhero in Central City, teases plans to introduce the "Big Bad" (a.k.a. Reverse-Flash) in season one, and reveals how they're avoiding the "Freak of the Week" formula used by Smallville...
If you've seen the pilot episode of The Flash (or any of the trailers for that matter), you'll know that just like in the comic books, Reverse-Flash appears to be responsible for the murder of Barry Allen's mother. There's a lot of speculation about how that iconic villain will be introduced, but when TV Guide caught up with producer Andrew Kreisberg recently, they got a few details on when. "The mystery of what happened to Barry's mother and everything that happened that night will be answered over the course of the first season," he revealed. "We don't believe in stringing people along for too much. There's a very clear mystery and a very clear plot and a very clear Big Bad who will emerge and we have all that worked out. At the end of this year, you will feel like you got the satisfactory answers to your long mystery and launch new mysteries." It sounds like they may handle Reverse-Flash in a similar way to how Arrow introduced Deathstroke then.
One concern which has been niggling fans is some apparent similairities with Smallville. The fact that Barry Allen would only be known as a red streak sounded too much like that show's "Red/Blue Blur", but it turns out that the young hero will embrace his superhero identity and become recognised by the public not too far into season one. "In the beginning, he's more of a rumor. It's really Iris' (Candice Patton) story. Iris is the one who first really believes in this mysterious streak, this blur. He doesn't even get called The Flash until a little deeper into the season. But it's fun. It's fun and it's different. And we try to treat it as it would happen in the real world, where if somebody tells you about this mysterious red blur that pulled somebody out of a building, you would have skepticism and trepidation. There are a lot of people who are afraid of him at first too. But pretty soon, in the early part of next year, The Flash is going to make a big public appearance and Central City will be on its way to celebrating The Flash rather than fearing him."
