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My favorite character has always been The Flash - Barry Allen, the Silver Age Scarlet Speedster. While it's debatable (isn't everything?) which hero has/had the best rogue's gallery in comics, the top three inevitable choices (nine times out of ten) will be Spider-Man, Batman and The Flash. In fact, that's how I would rate them, in descending order. The only other heroes whose enemies come close are the Fantastic Four; the gap between them and anyone else who might occupy that fifth slot is huge. A hero isn't made by his enemies but he is defined by them, just as much as he is by his heart and soul. The FF's adversaries were pulled from the entirety of the Marvel Universe, with universe being the operative word; ranging from evil scientists to aliens to actual representations of divinity and universal concepts. Batman's, on the other hand, had one common denominator - the psyche...or madness, if you prefer; there's a reason that so many of his enemies ended up in Arkham Asylum - nearly all of them were nuts! Spidey's normally drew inspiration from the animal kingdom, just as he did. And The Flash, well...
Barry Allen was a scientist; a police scientist but a man of science nonetheless. His foes...his Rogue's Gallery...were usually science-based as well. These were the villains who perhaps coined the term Rogues gallery and many of them, eventually, banded together under that unifying appellation. They are some of the most unique and elemental characters in comics history. The Golden Age of comics was all about Mystery; the Silver Age though...well, that was about Science. Atomics. And no other super hero's enemies (or rogues) personified that ideal more than The Flash. Capt. Cold and Heat Wave, two thieves with similar weapons that operated at opposing ends of the temperatic spectrum. (Yeah, temperatic probably isn't a real word but I'm gonna roll with it anyway); the former, cold and calculating...the latter, emotionally volatile. Gorilla Grodd, a super-evolved and psychic ape. The Weather Wizard. Mirror Master. The Top. Captain Boomerang. Their powers fit their names aptly but there was so much more to these characters than just that. And, of course, last but not least at all....Prof. Zoom, the Reverse Flash. Time-traveling antithesis to the Flash. Yes, there are many others but these are the ones that come swiftly to mind.
Barry Allen is still the most recognizable, the most memorable, of the many people who used the alias of Flash. Surely that's why the makers of this new, updated version of The Flash television series chose him as the man under the mask. Still, it's their own version, an updated melding really of both Barry and his successor, Wally West, into one person. Older comics fans who frown at discrepancies to historical continuity may find fault with certain aspects of this series. I did. Actually that's why I stopped reading comics altogether in the early 2000's. Yet this show hits all the marks it needs to. Refreshing, new takes on a hero and his adversaries that all ring true, even if other aspects of the tale (and history) are played about with. But it's not done so fast-and-loose. It's calculated. It's...inspired! It's freaking brilliant! :D
I've seen virtually every movie and television series that was based from the comics and this one...this one is the best by far! Inspired (and reverent) stories told with skill. Characters of depth, both emotional and intellectual, played by actors that are all perfectly cast. And Rogues!!!
