Last Tuesday, the 5th season of Flash came to an end and with that we've had five full seasons each with their own big bads for the main hero to face. The 5th season was distinct in that it had two different big bads while past seasons only had one big bad (and usually a supporting villain), but how do all of the main villains rank up so far against one another? In my opinion, this is the order in which I would rank them based upon their time on the show so far. Spoilers for seasons 1-5 of The Flash ahead.
(Image Source)
6. Cicada 2
I could feel that something about the second Cicada was going to be lackluster the moment she appeared, and the rest of the season did nothing to waylay those fears. Cicada 2 ended up being a one-note, generic villain who was run by nothing by hate with no real characterization or personality below the surface. It didn't help that the actor played the character in some of the hammiest ways possible, furthering the idea that Cicada 2 was meant to be seen as this evil, unstoppable monster, but instead she came across as a character-less, static villain who chewed up scenery. That's a shame for the show's first female big bad.
(Image Source)
5. Cicada
I really wanted Dwyer to be higher up on the list, because I did really enjoy him, it is just the story killed his chance at being one of the greater foes. I loved his backstory regarding him and his niece, and I found it very touching, especially with the episode devoted to his backstory regaling his tale. But then they killed him off, and before that the brunt of the season saw him continuously defeated by team Flash. The idea of a metahuman serial killer who drains powers was genius, but the execution didn't land.
(Image Source)
4. Savitar
This is a villain who gets a lot of flak from fans but I really enjoyed him as the season 3 villain. I do think that his unmasking was too late in the season for them to properly characterize him, but that time we got was valuable to the character. Even at the start of the season, Savitar beating Flash across the city cemented him as a powerful foe, even more so when he did the same to Jay Garrick and the other heroes. The plot around the team trying to stop Savitar's murder of Iris was very fun, and while the face reveal came a few episodes too late, the effort team Flash put into trying to discover his identity made it more and more compelling.
(Image Source)
3. Zoom
This is the villain we got following up from season 1, and Zoom was a scary, dangerous, evil speedster who managed to subjugate Central City after reigning over it in Earth 2. His backstory was a twisted version of Barry's which helped to not only layer the character, but made him a counterpart to our hero, as well as using a villain who was more powerful rather than being smarter, differentiating him from Thawne. Zoom's eventual plan to destroy the multiverse was a bit far fetched, but throughout the season he was a force to be reckoned with, and his return in the Flash's 100th episode was one of the most welcome returns.
(Image Source)
2. Thinker
I couldn't have anticipated how much I would end up liking season 4 of the show, and a big part of that I owe to Devoe as the villain. He brought a ton of nuance and stoic narcissism to the role as the character evolved from a mild mannered professor to a sociopath bent on rebooting the worlds' intelligence. The hallway fight scene in which he rampaged through dozens of ARGUS guards is one of my favorite scenes in the show, and I absolutely loved the fact that his hyper intelligence is what helped him constantly defeat the Flash. I still remember the sense of stress and urgency that the finale brought as the team hid from Devoe, and he deserves much more credit than I've seen a lot of the viewers give him.
(Image Source)
1. Reverse Flash
I don't think many fans would agree with me on this one. Reverse Flash was the original big bad, the cunning and evil Thawne disguised as Harrison Wells. Season 1 remains for many as the strongest season of the show and it can easily be seen why, with a strong narrative, deep and compelling mysteries that were paid off beautifully, and most of all a villain that kept fans guessing even when it seemed all had been revealed about him. His defeat felt like an earned one, as a villain with a long history with our hero. With these appearances later in the show, I feel like the character has gotten a little weird, played a bit more vocally raspy and cheesy to the point that his evilness seems to be his personality; but that doesn't dull for me the impact he made during season 1. Reverse Flash is Barry's arch nemesis in every sense of the term, and no future villain will change that.
(Image Source)
Comments
Post a Comment