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Another week of The Flash is in the books and it’s time to look back at the episode — which had a lot of story to juggle — and see what kind of secrets were buried in the woods.
…wait, that’s not The Flash. That’s Twin Peaks.
…topical!
So…what did we see? What did we miss?
Read on, and comment below.
The Flash airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
THE NEW ROGUES
The title of the episode, “The New Rogues,” likely just refers to the fact that these characters — members of Flash’s Rogues in the comics — are appearing for the first time.
But in the comics, “The New Rogues” was a team of crooks assembled by Penguin and outfitted with the weaponry of Flash’s Rogues, who were either missing or in prison at the time. The concept didn’t really take hold, and it wasn’t long before the original Rogues reappeared and easily defeated (and killed) their would-be successors.
BROOME INDUSTRIAL
We missed the opportunity to get a screen capture here, but throughout the episode they would periodically cut back to the building where that initial conflict between Snart an Scudder took place — the place where Mirror Master and the Top were born: Broome Industrial.
John Broome is the co-creator of an avalanche of Silver Age DC Comics characters, including Barry Allen, Captain Cold, Kid Flash, Mirror Master and Hal Jordan (the Silver Age Green Lantern).
3 YEARS AGO
Going back to the particle accelerator explosion gives us a better chance that Mirror Master will hang around: Like last year’s Earth-2 villains, the Flashpoint-related baddies of season 3 feel a little more disposable.
It also means we don’t need to explain yet how Cold “came back,” something that had fans wondering if there would be time travel and/or a tie to the second season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow involved with this week’s episode.
Tying the origins of these “New” Rogues in with the origins of The Flash and the other metahumans of season 1 gives them a sense of having “always been there,” supported by their finding Top in jail.
MIRROR MASTER
Introduced here, Sam Scudder is the original Mirror Master, who appeared in the Silver Age of comics. He was working in a mirror factory when he was splashed by chemicals and gained the ability to create mirrors that could serve a number of purposes.
Toward the end of his life, Scudder wasn’t purely evil: after a stint in the Suicide Squad, he and a number of other Rogues teamed up with The Flash to take down Abra Kadabra, who was trying to kill them, and later he would join a team of villains who, under the leadership of the Lex Luthor of Earth-3, traveled back in time to stop the Anti-Monitor during Crisis on Infinite Earths and died for their troubles.
This makes the third major player in the CWverse — after Barry Allen and Kara Zor-El — who dies in Crisis.
EVAN McCULLOCH
The Earth-2 Mirror Master, Evan McCulloch (referenced here by Harrison Wells), was the version created by Grant Morrison and Chaz Truog in 1989’s Animal Man #8.
He was the successor to Scudder, who died during Crisis on Infinite Earths, and remained Mirror Master until at least Final Crisis, shortly before which he and the other Rogues were responsible for the death of Bart Allen, the fourth Flash.
As mentioned in the episode, McCulloch’s powers came from a “mirror gun” which allowed him to simulate Scudder’s abilities.
THE TOP
In the comics, Top is Roscoe, not Rosalyn, but other than that it’s pretty m much as it is here: somebody with a gaudy fashion sense and the ability to induce vertigo in others.
To differentiate him from, say, Arrow’s Count Vertigo, the comics version of Top had the ability to spin at high speeds.
And because old school comics, he had gimmick tops as well.
MAP OF THE MULTIVERSE
Let’s consult our map of the multiverse to see what the two newly-mentioned Earths — Earth-17 and Earth-19 — are like in the comics, shall we?
Earth-17
History is ripe with threats of utter destruction at the hands of nuclear war. With weapons forever primed and ready to drop at the push of a button, the world is in a delicate balance of peace and all out devastation. On Earth-17, the nuclear button was pushed in 1963 and nothing has been the same since.
Fifty years after the fallout, Captain Adam Strange and his Atomic Knights of Justice lead an effort to preserve what’s left of Novamerika, while continuing to defend it. On a nuclear-infused planet where monsters, mutations and mad science have become commonplace, these adventurers know the fragile state of mankind sits on a razors edge between rebirth and heartbreak. As if channeling the famed Conquistador stories of old, this brave group of 21st Century adventurers is on a mission to seek out the elusive Cosmic Grail, the only weapon that can defend Earth-17 from a threat worse than any nuclear war—Darkseid the Destroyer.
Although the road ahead is completely unknown, the quest for the grail must endure in order to rebuild and defend this crumbled world and the still hopeful people who live upon it.
Earth-19 (where “H.R.” Wells comes from)
Innovation is king. New art styles are being explored. Profound and exciting advances in science are being made, and the air crackles with discovery. New electrical technologies have been introduced to this world in the throes of an industrial revolution, and change is the only constant. It’s a place where intellect and culture combine in fervent discussions against a backdrop of elegant post-Victorian era aesthetics. King Edward rules this 21st century empire where the past feels like the future. This is Earth-19.
Earth-19 may appear to lag a century behind other worlds in the Multiverse, but that doesn’t mean its citizens are completely behind the times. Quite the opposite. They are focused on progress and that can only be helped by the arrival of the super-humans. Bat-Man, Accelerated Man, The Wonder Woman, The Shrinking Man and others all stand ready to defend the Modernist world and its values. If any Earth is prepared to handle unusual and trying challenges, it’s Earth-19.
You think we might see either of those?
Also of note: At one point one of the Wellses called Earth-1 “Earth Prime,” which is the short-lived post-Infinite Crisis designation for the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Earth-1, in its altered form.
TWIN PEAKS
About 25 years ago, Twin Peaks first aired and was a massive hit.
That momentum was lost quickly, and the show ended after only two seasons — but will return next year on Showtime, with its original writers and director (who hadn’t stuck around very long, even in the context of a two-season show) back on for 18 episodes (at least).
The story centered on an eccentric FBI agent sent to the Pacific Northwest to investigate the murder of a teenage girl whose body had been found wrapped in plastic. His investigation unspooled a web of local corruption and intrigue, supernatural and extranormal phenomenon, and more.
Interestingly for comic book fans, in one of the early issues of his ’90s X-Factor run, writer Peter David eastablished that Valerie Cooper, X-Factor’s liaison to the United Nations, was in fact a relation of Special Agent Dale Cooper, of Twin Peaks fame.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Here are some things that we’ve seen too many times to get too excited about them, but we still feel like we have to at least mention for any potential new readers:
BIG BELLY BURGER
We’ve talked about this a million times — but it’s the CWverse’s favorite fast food joint, which originated during John Byrne’s run on the Superman titles in the ’80s.
KILLER FROST
This is the first time we’ve seen the Earth-1 (or is it Earth Prime?) version of Killer Frost in action, even though we did know that Caitlin was starting to develop some powers.
