The super-speeding superhero from DC Comics, the Flash, is premiering in his own series on the CW this month. But like the companion series "Arrow," he varies quite a bit from any other version of the superhero you've seen before.
Speaking of "Arrow," that series begins its third season on Wednesday. And if you're familiar with the comics character Green Arrow, you know the TV show has varied considerably from its source material.
In "Arrow," many of the familiar elements of the comics Green Arrow pertain. For example, Oliver Queen's vigilante persona (not yet called Green Arrow, but he's getting there) has the same origin as the comics character did in 1959, learning trick archery for survival while being stranded on an island. And later in his career he picks up a sidekick named Roy Harper, who eventually goes by the name Arsenal. And later still, his love interest is fellow superhero Black Canary (just called "Canary" so far on the show).
But everything else on "Arrow" goes through a funhouse mirror. For example, the island on TV isn't deserted, and Ollie meets a lot of important folks there, like the lethal Deathstroke, who started out as a Teen Titans supervillain in the comics. Plus Black Canary in the comics is Dinah Lance, who on the TV show is a lawyer, and it is her sister Sara who is the superhero. Here again, "Arrow" swipes from another DC character's sandbox, namely Batman villains Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins, from whom the TV Canary learns her hand-to-hand combat skills. (In the comics, Canary's origin has nothing to do with either Batman or Green Arrow.)
Oh, and in the eighth episode, "Arrow" will have a crossover with "The Flash." Which is as it should be, because the new Flash got his start on "Arrow." Barry Allen, a forensics scientist with the Central City Police Department, visited Arrow's Starling City in the second season, and soon afterward got hit by a bolt of lightning, turning him into the Fastest Man Alive. And when Barry's own series launches Tuesday, Arrow will guest star to get him off on the right foot.
Then "The Flash," just like "Arrow," will start introducing bunches of characters from the comics. Look for Simon Stagg, a creepy millionaire out of the pages of "Metamorpho." Then we'll see bad guy Multiplex (he can duplicate himself) and good guy Firestorm (who can transmute objects at an atomic level). Then one of Flash's greatest villains from the comics will debut, Captain Cold (who has mastered absolute zero, where atoms — and super-speedsters — don't move at all). And, as mentioned, in the eighth episode we'll see the "Flash" end of the crossover with "Arrow," with Captain Boomerang — originally a Flash villain in the comics — as the bad guy.
Also just like in its parent show, "Flash" will keep the basics of the comics character, but won't be a slave to what has come before — either in comics, or on TV.
