The CW has released a new video introducing a new character from The Flash, who goes by the nickname “Detective Pretty Boy.”
Videos by ComicBook.com
The detective, played by Rick Gosnett, obviously gets the nickname from his looks. He also has a pretty arrogant attitude.
“He’s a little full of himself, a little overconfident about his abilities,” says Candice Patton, who plays Iris West. “I mean, he probably can back it up, but I think it rubs people the wrong way, and I think it even rubbed Iris the wrong way when she first met him…but usually those are the guys you kind of fall for.”
So what makes “Detective Pretty Boy” so interesting, besides Patton’s hint that he’ll be competing with Barry Allen for Iris’ affection? His name is Eddie Thawne, which should set off a few alarm bells for any fans of the Flash’s comic book adventures.
Fair warning that the rest of the article contains SPOILERS for fairly old Flash stories that may be retold in The Flash TV series. If you’re not familiar the Flash’s comic book history and don’t want to know anything that might spoil the TV show, you should probably stop here.
Thawne is a scientist from the 25th century who uses the reverse power of the Speed Force to travel through history, altering it to his liking and taking revenge on those who have wronged him prior to them having done so. Thawne even goes back in time and kills Barry Allen’s mother, triggering the events of Flashpoint, which led to the New 52 reboot of the DC Universe.
Eddie Thawne’s first name is slightly different, but changing an unusual name like Eobard to something more common like Eddie seems like a pretty natural move for a television series. It also doesn’t scream “supervillain!” quite so loudly. The trailer for The Flash already made clear that Barry Allen’s father being framed for the murder of Barry’s mother will be a going concern in the series, and even shows a yellow blur that sure looked a lot like Reverse-Flash. I think it’s less a question of whether or not Eddie Thawne is the Reverse-Flash, and more a question of how long it will take for him to become the Reverse-Flash.
The Flash airs this fall on the CW.
