The Flash: Earth-1 Julio Mendez Revealed [SPOILERS]

Tonight’s episode of The Flash gave us a unique version of a previously-seen character, as well as an homage to the 1990s The Flash series.

Alex Désert originated the role of Julio Mendez on the 1990s series, in which he was the CSI partner of Barry Allen (John Wesley Shipp). The Mendez character was reinterpreted in the modern-day Flash‘s season three premiere, in which he was the captain of the CCPD in the ‘Flashpoint’ universe Barry accidentally created.

But on tonight’s episode, ‘Untouchable’, Mendez’s Earth-1 counterpart was shown, this time reinterpreted as a jazz musician. He was shown leaving a music venue before running into Clive Yorkin, a metahuman with the power to kill people by touching.

This was where the Earth-1 version of Mendez met his untimely end, as Yorkin used his powers to kill him.

This is a particularly amusing reinterpretation of the character, considering its similarities to the show’s Earth-2 counterpart of Joe West. In the second season, Joe was shown as a fedora-wearing lounge singer, before being killed by a metahuman.

The Flash is no stranger to borrowing and reworking characters from the 1990s series. Both James Jesse/The Trickster (Mark Hamill) and Tina McGee (Amanda Pays) are reprised roles from the previous show, and of course the 1990s Barry Allen, Shipp, has been a regular fixture of the show as Henry Allen and later Jay Garrick.

THE TOUCH OF DEATH – Barry (Grant Gustin) and the team at S.T.A.R. Labs work together to bring down Clive Yorkin (guest star Matthew Kevin Anderson), a criminal meta-human who is methodically killing people by causing them to decompose at an accelerated rate. Joe (Jesse L. Martin) becomes his next target but it’s Iris (Candice Patton) who is caught in the crossfire. The Flash mentors Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale) and begins to elevate the newer speedster’s training to another level.

Rob Hardy directed the episode written by Brooke Roberts & Judalina Neira.

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The “Untouchable” episode of The Flash will air Tuesday, February 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.