Posted in: CW, HBO, Preview, TV | Tagged: barry allen, grant gustin, season 8, the cw, The Flash

The Flash Season 8: DC FanDome 2021 Unveils Barry's Gold Boots

Published Sat, 16 Oct 2021 12:27:11 -0500

When The CW's The Flash returns for Season 8, the five-part special event "Armageddon" finds a powerful alien threat arriving on Earth under mysterious circumstances. But this threat isn't like any Barry (Grant Gustin), Iris (Candice Patton), Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker), and the rest of our heroes have faced before, being pushed to their limits in a desperate battle to save the world. Joining them are Javicia Leslie's Batwoman, Brandon Routh's The Atom, Cress Williams' Black Lightning, Chyler Leigh's Sentinel, Kat McNamara's Mia Queen, and Osric Chau's Ryan Choi. But on the big bad side, we have Tom Cavanagh's Eobard Thawne aka Reverse-Flash, Neal McDonough's Damien Darhk, and Tony Curran's Despero. So at DC FanDome 2021, fans got a look at Barry's new costume with gold boots:

Created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky and first appearing in the DC Comics' Justice League of America #1 (1960), Curran's Arrowverse take is a powerful and intelligent alien possessing incredible telepathic powers who left his homeworld—Kalanor—under mysterious circumstances. Now he's facing a deadly mission on Earth, one whose outcome will decide the fate of humankind and put him on a collision course with Team Flash. Now, showrunner Eric Wallace is offering EW (along with a preview image we can't post yet) some perspectives on what viewers can expect from Curran and the newest big bad.

About That "Pivotal" Exchange Between Barry & Despero Shown in EW's Exclusive Image: "That's actually the scene where we really learn about Despero's alien origins, which is what makes that scene so fascinating to me. [Curran] has a big speech in that scene. No spoilers, [but] it's a very intense moment in his relationship with The Flash. You'll see throughout the episodes how Despero tests Flash in various ways. This is one of those moments. That's what makes it so pivotal. I think the audience is going to learn something new about Despero that they never knew because we do have our own take on the [DC] mythology for the character."

Despero Was a Perfect Choice for a Number of Reasons: "I wanted to put a truly classic DC villain in this five-part event that I knew fans would get excited about. Also, and I can't say too much without revealing too much of the story, there's a certain element to the story itself that involves the powerset of Despero, [which] makes him the perfect fit for the story." And as for Curran's non-comics look? Wallace strongly urges fans to be patient: "Be careful what you see. Your eyes can sometimes deceive you."

Curran's Vincent Van Gogh on "Doctor Who" Made an Impression: "When Despero shows up on Earth, you can kind of understand why he's here [and] see it from his point of view. That was kind of important to get across, but then to not be afraid of the bigger side because, as fans of the comics know, Despero has a lot of powers. This isn't a guy who just stands there and talks for five episodes. You'll see him using some of his familiar powers from the comic books. That's where Tony's experience in other sci-fi genre shows really came into the play because he immediately understood. [He said,] 'I love the Shakespearean bigness of it, but I also understand he needs to be relatable to the audience on a very grounded level,'" Wallace explained. "I think the audience is going to flip out when they see how dynamic, exciting, and unpredictable Tony is in bringing this particular version of Despero to life. This is not exactly the Despero that you might know from the comics, or the Justice League cartoon. This is our own version that Tony is really bringing something unique to it that I think is going to help make him the definitive Despero."

So with 3 Big Bads Lined Up, How Bad will "Armageddon" be for Barry? "What happens when you have one bad guy? Well, bad things happen. What happens when you have more than one bad guy? Multiple bad things happen, and it makes for a really terrible day for The Flash. Let's just say the Flash is about to have the worst day he's ever had in eight years."