7) The Return Of The Pied Piper
After impressing on the underrated musical show Smash, Andy Mientus had a memorable turn midway through season one of The Flash as the Pied Pier, a former colleague of the S.T.A.R. Labs crew who went rogue after the particle accelerator explosion.
On the surface, the Pied Piper sounds like one of the lamest super villains ever depicted on primetime TV. Superhuman hearing is possibly the worst power you could imagine, yet the producers made the Pied Piper far more formidable with the aid of special gloves that emit sonic attacks. Mientus’s charisma also added another dimension to the complex relationship he shares with former mentor Harrison Wells, and the fact that he happens to be gay was refreshing for mainstream audiences used to homosexuality often being ignored completely.
Mientus has stated that he would be thrilled to become a regular fixture on The Flash and is even open to starring in his own spinoff show, although this seems a far less likely proposition this early on. The Pied Piper flits between good and evil in the comics, a complexity which is already evident from his few appearances on the show so far, which is why he’s become a fan favourite so quickly.
In hindsight, the Pied Piper could have been a far more interesting addition to the new spinoff Legends of Tomorrow than Captain Cold, although Wentworth Miller is awesome, so that basically works itself out in the long run.
