The Flash Casts Kausar Mohammed as Fast Track

By Jenna Anderson

The Flash's eighth season is continuing full speed ahead, as the long-running The CW series has continued to flesh out its ever-growing lore. In recent years, the series has surprised fans by introducing elements from relatively recent DC continuity, particularly from the DC Rebirth run of The Flash comics. That trend seems to have continued in this week's "Keep It Dark", which culminated in the live-action debut of a speedster character from the Rebirth era, portrayed by 4400 and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous star Kausar Mohammed, who is joining the series in a recurring role. Spoilers for this week's episode of The Flash, "Keep It Dark", below! Only look if you want to know!

Part of the episode saw Barry Allen / The Flash (Grant Gustin) tracking down evidence of a new speedster, after advanced technology was stolen from Ivo Labs. After trying to find out their identity, and getting nowhere after interrogating Eobard Thawne (Tom Cavanagh), Barry finds the speedster returning the technology back to the lab. After they chase each other around the room, the speedster reveals she was actually the person who previously created the technology in question, and that she was using it to help improve her artificial and semi-permanent speed. She introduces herself as Dr. Meena Dhawan (Kausar Mohammed), and Barry offers to mentor her to help her get acquainted with her powers. 

Created by Joshua Williamson and Neil Googe, Meena first debuted in The Flash #3 in 2016. A scientist and former ARGUS employee, Meena became the leader of STAR Labs' Speed Force testing center, after the Speed Force storm gave powers to people throughout the city. Under the superhero name Fast Track, Meena became an ally and even love interest of Barry's, and the pair fought against Black Hole and Godspeed. After Meena was presumed dead, she later resurfaced as a Black Hole agent who was brainwashed by Grodd, and was eventually freed by Barry and returned to work at STAR Labs.

Meena's potential appearance on The Flash has been teased since Season 7, with Chester P. Runk (Brandon McKnight) shown reading her book Quantum Gravity & the Universe. But with "Keep It Dark", Meena finally makes her debut — and fans will have to wait and see exactly what her role on the series entails. The CW's official description of Meena calls her a titan in the scientific community who deftly balances her hunger for envelope-pushing scientific experimentation with a strong moral compass. These qualities lead Dhawan to discover a new way to democratize the gift of super-speed, finally allowing all humankind to reap the benefits traditionally relegated to meta-human speedsters. But her discovery also sends Dhawan down a path to become something much greater than she ever expected – a heroic allyship between The Flash and Central City's newest exciting speedster, Fast Track.

The Flash airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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