'The Flash': Who Is Fallout?

On tonight's midseason premiere of The Flash, Barry went on trial for the murder of Clifford DeVoe, also known as The Thinker. But just because The Flash is facing significant jail time doesn't mean that the rest of Central City comes to a halt. There are still metahumans, and tonight, we met a new one.

Spoilers for tonight's episode of The Flash below.

Early in the episode, we see a man at the bank opening a new account. But as he speaks to the teller, she gets a little lightheaded, and the guy gets this interesting green glow to his face. When the transaction ends, he walks away and the teller collapses.

We later discover that the man is Neil Borman, and if you're a comics fan, that name might just ring a bell for you. In comics, Borman was a mason who was hired to do some work at a nuclear plant. However, during some nuclear tests an explosion destroyed where Borman was working, sending Borman and his coworkers into the reactor's cooling system below. Borman was the lone survivor, but because of the accident his whole body's molecular structure altered. Everywhere he went, he spread radioactive energy.

In comics, Borman is unaware of this, and inadvertently killed the people closest to him, ultimately turning himself in to Iron Heights. He's abused there, forced to power the entire facility, and while The Flash finds out and stops it, Borman -- now known as Fallout -- remains at Iron Heights, eventually appreciating the place as home.

It sounds like The Flash is going the same direction with the character. The show's official character breakdown refers to Neil as "a blue collar, likeable, good guy just trying to make ends meet, but unbeknownst to him, he has radiation emitting meta powers that could cause the whole city to suffer a nuclear, catastrophic explosion."

And while that description seems ominous, tonight's appearance may not be the last time we see Fallout. The show's character breakdown hinted there may be more Fallout in The Flash's future.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.