Another DC Comics hero is coming to life on The CW.
The network’s president, Mark Pedowitz, announced Tuesday at the Television Critics Association press tour that the CW’s planning to introduce The Flash on their existing series “Arrow” before attempting to put the character front and center on its own TV show.
“We plan to introduce a recurring character and the origin story of Dr. Barry Allen, who you know as the Flash,” Pedowitz said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “We do want to expand upon the DC Universe. We think that there are rich characters we can use, and we felt like this was a very organic way to get there.”
According to reports, the super speedster will appear in episodes 8, 9 and 20 under the guidance of “Arrow” writer/consultant Geoff Johns and co-creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg. But when viewers first meet him, it will be as a regular guy.
“The character will be as grounded and realistic as possible,” Kreisberg said, according to Deadline. “That’s how we’ll get to know him. Then his life will get a bit faster.”
Episode 20 will be directed by David Nutter, who helmed the pilots of “Arrow” and “Smallville,” and Kreisberg said that’s when viewers will get a wider look at Flash’s world.
“Part of the fun for the audience … is to see how we view our Arrow take on the Flash legacy,” he said. “Some of it will feel very familiar to DC Comics, some of it hopefully will feel different, fresh and exciting. The same way we approached ‘Arrow’ is the same way we’re approaching Barry.”
If the backdoor pilot works out, it’ll be the second time Flash has appeared on the small screen. In 1990, CBS also tried its own “The Flash” TV series starring John Wesley Shipp, but that ended after one season.
Kreisberg thinks there’s renewed interest in the hero because even with his superpowers, “there’s something really relatable about Barry … He got his powers by accident. He isn’t a God, he isn’t an alien, he wasn’t seeking this out,” he told press.
But that said, the producers reassured reporters that Barry Allen will be The Flash — powers, red costume and all.
The second season of The CW’s “Arrow,” which is loosely based on DC Comics’ “Green Arrow,” will premiere on October 9.
