The Flash: Will Wally Get Superspeed This Season?

With Wally West set to arrive in the midseason finale of The Flash in just over a week, there's a question that's hanging in the air: how much like the comic book version of Wally will he be?

Obviously, he's Iris's brother instead of her nephew, and so the odds of him following Barry around like a little lost dog and becoming The Flash's biggest fan might not be as great as they were in the comics. Depending on his age and how he behaves, he might or might not date Linda Park anytime soon.

But what about the speed?

Way back before Wally was even introduced, showrunners had said they hoped to.

"We made the Wests African-American so that we could ultimately head in that direction, absolutely," Berlanti said back in 2014 when asked whether we might ever see an African-American Flash onscreen. "That's our hope."

Needless to say, that got a dramatic response from the audience, and Kreisberg followed it up with a confirmation of what many comic book fans had already assumed: that comic book Wally West was reinvented as an African-American character in part to accommodate the TV series.

"What's very cool is in the New 52 they hadn't reintroduced Wally [yet]," Kreisberg said, adding that because they were working with DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns on the show, "when they reintroduced Wally, they made him African-American. So now and forever, Kid Flash will be African-American."

Then recently, Candice Patton, who plays Iris West on the series, raised some eyebrows with a comment in which she referred to Wally, Barry and Jay as "three Flashes." You can check that out below.

"Wally is coming. Keiynan Londsale who's been cast to play him is a great Australian actor. We're really excited to have him. He's not there yet so we don't know much about what kind of role Wally will take in season 2, but I'm sure it'll be good," Patton explained, before saying, "We'll end up having three Flashes on one season, which is really amazing, if you think about it. Jay, Barry, and Wally West."

Of course, those characters are all The Flash in the comics, so she could easily have just been saying that out of excitement, not because he'll get fast right away.

Our guess? We'll see him gain speed at some point...whether it's permanent or temporary, and whether he stays here or moves back to Keystone and only shows up when he's really needed? Those are whole different questions.

The Flash returns on Tuesday with the first installment of a two-night, two-part crossover with Arrow. Then on Tuesday, December 8, The Flash's midseason finale will introduce Wally West. The show airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.