'The Flash' Fan Theory Suggests Cicada Isn't This Season's Big Bad

This season on The Flash, Barry Allen and his allies have found themselves facing a foe unlike any they've faced before -- the metahuman serial killer, Cicada. However, what if Cicada isn't really the big bad Team Flash thinks he is?

That's the line of thinking that's been growing among fans of The CW's DC Comics-inspired series this season, especially after last week's "O Come All Ye Thankful" which gave fans some insight into how Cicada came to be while also revealing to Team Flash his civilian identity -- Orlin Dwyer. The episode showed how, after his sister's death in a metahuman-related incident, Orlin became the guardian of his niece, Grace. Orlin's transition from, well, train wreck of a human being to devoted caretaker was a rocky one, but just as Orlin had finally started to come into his own as a responsible parental figure, The Thinker's Enlightenment happened.

While Barry (and Nora) were able to stop The Enlightenment, Orlin and Grace were both collateral damage of a sort. Grace ended up in a coma while Orlin was gravely injured by a piece of the STAR Labs satellite that fell to earth. Since then, Orlin has been on a mission to stop metahumans while Grace remains in a coma.

While the episode gives Orlin a backstory and motivation that feels reasonable -- metahumans have cost him people he loves, including the child who his entire reason for being is hung on -- fans have noticed that Orlin doesn't exactly appear to be working on his own or even independently. There's someone else pulling his strings, so to speak: Dr. Ambres.

Dr. Ambres is the physician in charge of Grace's care, but as we've seen she has her own hatred of metahumans and is regularly collaborating with Orlin. She patches his wounds, keeps his activities secret, and even covers up his crimes all while taking care of Grace. She's even the person who inspired Orlin to become Cicada and go after metahumans in the first place. This puts her in a unique position of power, one where she could very well be manipulating Orlin into being Cicada and carrying out her own vendetta against metahumans.

Even more chilling? With Dr. Ambres being Grace's physician and Grace's condition being what drives Cicada to kill metahumans, if Dr. Ambres really is ruthless, she might be deliberately keeping Grace in a coma. If that's the case, and she is doing something like that in order to get Orlin to do what she wants it wouldn't be difficult to see her going as far as killing the little girl in order to get the results she wants out of the serial killer.

If Dr. Ambres is the true Big Bad, it also might explain why the identity of Cicada in this reality is different than the one Sherloque figured out. Nora's arrival in the present did create some minor timeline changes and if Cicada is really just a puppet of sorts for Dr. Ambres, anyone could have been Cicada. It just so happens that Orlin came through the ER at the right time to cross paths with the doctor -- and had the right kind of pain for the doctor to exploit.

And, Dr. Ambres would fit into what showrunner Todd Helbing told ComicBook.com after the Season 4 finale about non-speedster villains.

"It is nice to have a villain that we can change up what Barry's obstacle and the team's obstacles are, and how to take somebody down." Helbing said. "The Thinker, DeVoe, [was] a lot of fun and we certain see the benefits of doing that. Having a meta that isn't a speedster and the new ways that we can pose challenges for those guys is fun. So I think for next season, it's certainly not going to be a speedster."

Who do you think the Season 5 big bad is? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.