The Flash Is Bringing Back The Best Character For Its Final Season
Season 9 of The Flash brings back John Diggle, Bloodwork, and best of all, the Kid Flash, Wallace West.
The Flash is the last of the Arrowverse shows still standing, and after Superman & Lois was revealed to be in another universe, will bring the groundbreaking CW superhero universe to a close at the end of its next, and final, season. As a celebration of the show, which will be airing its ninth season, familiar faces and fan-favorite characters are coming back according to a report from TVLine. The three returning characters mentioned in the report are Arrow veteran John Diggle (David Ramsay), season 6 villain Bloodwork (Sendhil Ramamurthy), and Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale).
The best of the three is of course, Wallace “Wally” West, Kid Flash, featured on the show during seasons 2 through 4, and then on Legends of Tomorrow. In the Arrowverse universe, Wally is the son of Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) and younger brother of Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton), which is a huge departure from the original comic version but in line with the New 52 Flash comics. Originally looked down upon by fans for not being the proper comic version of Wally West, Lonsdale’s interpretation of Wally was so well-received that he changed how fans looked at the character in the comics.
David Ramsay played John Diggle on Arrow, starting back in the 2012 pilot episode and continuing through the entire Arrowverse, most recently making an appearance on Superman & Lois. Unlike Kid Flash, John Diggle has no direct comic analogue, for the most part, though fan theories pointed to him being the Arrowverse version of John Stewart, one of Earth’s Green Lanterns. Since the finale of Arrow, Diggle has had a mysterious box that he recovered from a meteor, strongly hinting that, just as one of his alternates mentioned during the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” cross-over, he will be a Green Lantern.
Bloodwork, portrayed by Heroes alum Sendhil Ramamurthy, was one of the scariest villains faced by Team Flash thanks to his unique blood-based powers granting him a wide array of abilities. Unlike other villains, Ramsey Rosso, Bloodwork’s civilian identity, started out as a hero(ish) before descending into villainy. Ramamurthy was such a success during that season, that showrunner Eric Wallace had always wanted to bring the character back for The Flash’s final race, with a role as terrifying as Kid Flash’s will be heartfelt.
Though Arrow debuted to critical and fan acclaim, over the years, the expansive Arrowverse started to lose standing with fans prior to the pandemic. None of the shows, from Flash to Supergirl, Constantine, or Batgirl, were ratings juggernauts, with most of the success coming from selling the shows to streaming networks. The longest lasting impact of the Arrowverse will be in how it brought characters, like Kid Flash, Vixen, Vibe, and Captain Cold to life, providing a level of fan service unheard of outside of the MCU.
Exactly when Kid Flash, Diggle, and Bloodwork will reappear is currently unknown, but each will have a significant role to play, and hopefully that mysterious box gets opened and a certain piece of jewelry gets put on Diggle’s finger. The Flash season 9 premieres on February 9th, starting Grant Gustin’s sprint to the series finale.
