Every year around this time, there’s always a lot of speculation from fans over who the next big bad of The Flash‘s upcoming season will be. Usually, we’re able to make an educated guess as the previous season often offers hints at the next major threat to Central City.
Naturally, we assumed that season 6 would follow suit, leading us to theorize that the likes of Red Death or Mirror Master – both name-checked in season 5 – might be Barry Allen’s new nemesis. However, we’ve now found out that season 6’s big bad will be an all-new villain.
This tidbit was revealed in EW’s big preview of the incoming Arrowverse seasons (check out their gorgeous cover shoot in the gallery below). In the words of new showrunner Eric Wallace, this villain “has not been named dropped on the show, but is from the comics.”
As well as that, the aim is to make this sixth main antagonist the most personal foe that the Scarlet Speedster has ever faced. Wallace explained that the super-criminal will have an emotional journey that mirrors Barry’s across the season.
“The emotional journey that the big bad is on mirrors the emotional journey that Barry Allen must face going into season 6. The big bad this season, if we can do our jobs right, will be the most personal villain the Flash has ever faced emotionally since Eobard Thawne. Because this year’s big bad is facing kind of the same circumstances Barry Allen is going through, it’s going to bring them closer together in a darker way than villains that perhaps we’ve seen in the last few seasons.”
This has definitely got us excited to see who the new big bad could be. The Flash is full of easter eggs and references to the comics so you’d be hard-pressed to find a major villain who hasn’t yet appeared or been mentioned on the series in some way.
Perhaps Wallace and his team are taking a fairly minor figure from the comics though and retooling them for the screen. Whatever the case, it certainly sounds like they’ve learned their lesson after Cicada turned out to be a bit of a letdown last season.
Fingers crossed that the identity of The Flash season 6’s big bad will be revealed at Comic-Con this weekend.
