The Flash has featured many unforgettable foes across its five seasons so far, but season 6 will try a different tactic. It was revealed in the first trailer for the next run that Ramsey Rosso/Bloodwork would be the latest big bad threatening Central City. However, showrunner Eric Wallace also stated at Comic-Con over the weekend that Bloodwork would only be the main villain of the first half of the season, with another unknown enemy stepping in for the second half.
“We’re going to divide [the season] up into graphic novels,” Wallace explained at The Flash panel, before clarifying that the mystery second big bad will make themselves known once the show returns after the Christmas break, following the big “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover.
In fact, Wallace went on to explain that this new structure to the season came about because of the game-changing event, saying:
“We found really unique ways to make the season fresh that we never expected, thanks to ‘Crisis.’ This season is really divided up in a way that the episodes before the crossover are pre-‘Crisis’ episodes. Then the back half of the season is all about dealing with the fallout from the events of ‘Crisis.’”
The season 6 trailer deliberately set up Bloodwork – played by Sendhil Ramamurthy – as a dark mirror for Barry Allen via his speech that echoes the traditional opening of the show. He describes himself as someone who once dedicated his life to protecting others – he was a doctor – but not any longer, and he blames his loss of purpose on Team Flash. He reveals his warped new mission at the end of the promo as well, saying: “No one has to die ever again.”
As intriguing as Bloodwork is, we can’t help being excited by who could follow him in season 6B. Could it be one of the villains foreshadowed in season 5? Evan McCulloch’s Mirror Master was referenced in one episode, so it could be him. The one fans’ll be hoping for, though, is Red Death, after the evil dark version of Batman mixed with the Flash was surprisingly name-dropped on screen.
We’ll have to wait and see for now, but be sure to watch out for The Flash‘s return to The CW on Tuesday, October 8th.