Barry Allen, perhaps the most well-known of all speedsters who have called themselves the Flash, will be getting his own, standalone pilot on the CW. As I mentioned in a previous article, superheroes are in the spotlight right now. Be it in movies, television, mini-series, merchandise, video games, or controversy superheroes are everywhere we turn. The CW capitalized on this with their show Arrow, featuring the DC Comics vigilante Green Arrow.
With its success in mind, the network decided to expand their superhero repertoire, likely to compete with ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D based on the government agency in Marvel Comics and its portrayal in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The hero selected for this expansion was DC’s Flash.
The Flash has long-since been a staple of DC as a member of the Justice Society of America in his original incarnation as Jay Garrick and later a founding member of the Justice League of America once the cowl was handed over to Barry Allen.
Originally, a three-episode arc of Arrow was slated to act as a backdoor pilot for a series about Barry Allen. However, once footage of these episodes was seen by network executives, the Flash was given his own standalone pilot. Barry will still appear in Arrow, but that arc will be focusing on his origin story with his costume making its first appearance in his own pilot, rather than in Arrow like the CW had originally planned.
Barry Allen will appear in episodes eight and nine of the second season of Arrow. These episodes will air on December 4 and December 11 of this year. He will be portrayed by Grant Gustin. The Flash series will be developed by the co-creators of Arrow (Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg), the Arrow pilot director (David Nutter), and the Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics (Geoff Johns).
While Barry Allen’s appearances on Arrow have been filmed, Flash’s pilot is still in the works.
